Many of us are unhappy with our bodies, and would like them to be more toned, more muscular and with a lot less fatty deposits. When you decide that enough is enough and want to start to build muscle, lose fat and feel comfortable with yourself, you run into one problem.
You can’t build muscle and lose fat simultaneously. As any professional trainer or body builder will say, you can’t build muscle and lose fat at the same time, because they are two opposing processes. In order to build muscle and lose fat, the two processes must be undergone one after another. Here are a few things you should know if you want to build muscle, lose fat and have a healthy body.
For one thing, muscle building is a weight gaining process, so in order to build muscle, one must consume an increased number of calories, which will preferably turn into muscle mass for most part. The increased number of calories will come from the diet and supplements. Fat loss occurs when the calorie intake is lower than the daily necessary, so it’s virtually impossible to build muscle and lose fat at the same time.
In order to lose fat, you must calculate your necessary calorie intake and deduct 500 calories from it, so you can then, based on your calculations, create a diet for yourself.
In order to monitor your fat loss, you should get a fat caliper that measures your body fat percentage, that way you can easily keep track of your evolution. The optimal body fat level varies with age and gender, but for an age ranging from 20 to 40, normal fat percentage is between 8 and 19% for men and between 21 and 33% for women. The diet you must follow in order to lose fat differs from the one you use when you build muscle.
If you maintain the same balance of 30% proteins, 50% carbohydrates and 20% fat, while trying to shed fat, it won’t work quite as well. Of course, you might be tempted to cut the fat in your diet, but that’s not what you should be cutting, instead, focus on cutting the carbohydrates and on upping the proteins. Without the carbohydrates to burn, your body will start burning the stored fat, which pretty much fulfills your objective.
Upon reaching the fat percentage you desire, you can recalculate your necessary calorie intake based on the calorie requirements of your body after weight loss, and then either maintain that weight through your diet or proceed with a muscle building diet and exercise regime. In order to calculate the number of calories you would need in order to build muscle, you must take the number of your necessary calorie intake and add 500 calories to it. There you have it, all you have to do to build muscle and lose fat is to pay a little attention to your diet, count your calories and stay healthy.