Gaining muscle / burning fat dichotomy... am I missing something?

[durron597]

Reading a lot of the posts on here make it sound to me like burning fat requires negative calories, while building muscle requires positive calories. Both of these statements seem pretty obvious to me... except there seems to be a big dichotomy: what if I want to build muscle AND burn fat at the same time? Like, really dig deep into the fat reserves while still getting my body to build muscle. Is it even possible? Should I be focusing on one or the other whichever is more important to me with respect to my diet, or can I work on both approximately equally at the same time?

[guids]

generally, when you are first working out, you can gain muscle and burn fat at a negative caloric balance, after about 1 to 2 years depending on how you train it is much better to focus on one or the other.

[edfurlong]

Why is your title wrong? [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[guids]

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Why is your title wrong? [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

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ya, I know, I was going to PM NT! about it, but I forgot about it. personally, I wish it was aka angus macgyver

[thirddan]

its also inefficient...if you decide to try and get both at the same time most likely they will both suffer and you will have wasted a good deal of time and effort for sub optimal results...

[durron597]

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its also inefficient...if you decide to try and get both at the same time most likely they will both suffer and you will have wasted a good deal of time and effort for sub optimal results...

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so what would you recommend for someone who is just starting out?

[thirddan]

most likely moderate weights for moderate reps while you get accustomed to the lifts and actually putting your body under this kind of stress...most newbs can get stronger using sets of 10-12 and you might be able to burn a bit of fat as well...as for whether to try and gain size or lose fat i would have to know more about you...

[SamG]

durron, I want to do this, too -- I'm skinny-fat -- and I've read different things. If you're new to weight training, it should be possible, but most people seem to think it's better to focus on one or the other.

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so what would you recommend for someone who is just starting out?

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Hard to say without knowing anything about your current build, weight, etc.

[mindflayer]

I am not the expert, but here is my 2c.

I just subscribed to Mens Health and am trying to do a similar thing. Lose weight and gain lean muscle mass.
I say similar, because burning fat and losing weight are not the same.
Losing weight requires net -calorie.
Burning fat does not.
In general to gain muscle,
use weights. Your body will hurt and rebuild muscle. It will be a good idea to have higher protien intake, so your body has the tools to build muscle.
To burn fat,
do long fatburning exercises like a slow jog. Optimal heart rate at 65-70% of max.

To lose weight, it is probably better to skip the gain lean muscle goal first. To me this is a psycological thing because it is MUCH harder to see your body toning up as you gain the muscle mass. You might have total weight 170.. and fat of 25% then .. a week later have the same weight but be 23% fat; (a HUGE improvement) but unless you take a body fat test every week you are not going to "see" the improvement. You are much more likely to stick with the program if you went from 170 to 168 in lbs. After you lose the weight it will be easier psycologically gain the weight as muscle .

[guids]

[ QUOTE ]
I am not the expert, but here is my 2c.

I just subscribed to Mens Health and am trying to do a similar thing. Lose weight and gain lean muscle mass.
I say similar, because burning fat and losing weight are not the same.
Losing weight requires net -calorie.
Burning fat does not.
In general to gain muscle,
use weights. Your body will hurt and rebuild muscle. It will be a good idea to have higher protien intake, so your body has the tools to build muscle.
To burn fat,
do long fatburning exercises like a slow jog. Optimal heart rate at 65-70% of max.

To lose weight, it is probably better to skip the gain lean muscle goal first. To me this is a psycological thing because it is MUCH harder to see your body toning up as you gain the muscle mass. You might have total weight 170.. and fat of 25% then .. a week later have the same weight but be 23% fat; (a HUGE improvement) but unless you take a body fat test every week you are not going to "see" the improvement. You are much more likely to stick with the program if you went from 170 to 168 in lbs. After you lose the weight it will be easier psycologically gain the weight as muscle .

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Losing weight requires net -calorie.
Burning fat does not.

this is not true for 99% of people. Unles you are on roids, or young 16 to 20ish and full of testosterone/going through puberty