Burning Fat and gaining muscle simultaneously.....

[Braidyn]

Hi everyone, I'm new here and have a question I was hoping someone out there might be able to help me with...
My fitness goal is to gain muscle and burn fat. Obviously, this is a pretty common goal. But I'm wondering, is it possiblt to do both at the same time? I'm not interested in really "toning up", I am already fairly toned, I want to take it to the next level, actually build some defined muscles. I do cardio about 20 - 40 minutes 5 times a week, sometimes intense, sometimes just a moderate bike ride, I don't want to be burning away my muscles, but I do have a bit of fat that I'm determined to demolish at the same time. Is it possible to do this? - gain muscle and burn away that extra fat (all i have to show after my first year in nursing school....)? Or am I more likely to burn away my muscles??? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Bladezz33]

Cardio...

It sounds like you are doing too much cardio 5x a week. I cut mine out in February (was doing 4-5x HIIT WITH Ripped Fuel!!) got my advice from Krypto (it was hard, trust me

I am dedicated now more to lifting heavy and diet. I think if I am correct - you have to re-evaluate your ratios for a cutting diet and lift till failure.

And yes, you can maintain LBM while cutting (losing fat). It's all in how fast you want to get cut (weeks vs. months), if your goal is to lose fat fast, I believe then you will lose "some" muscle.

I am sure you will get more feedback soon! There is great advice on here [img]/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Thigmotaxi]

Ah, a nursing student. Study up, on your own, on metabolism. In order to be able to treat diseases like diabetes you will need as much data on this as possible.
Look up "gluconeogenisis" in your texts.
In the past, on this sight, I have had some people challenge reality regarding this subject.
The body's primary fuel substance is glucose (dextrose)
and when there is a paucity of blood sugar the body breaks down its own proteins to make glucose for fuel. Lipids are the final fuel to be used in all situations. The body uses fats to produce "ketone bodies" which do not allow
optimal functioning, but will produce adequate energy supplies to sustain life.
Back to your question in light of how the human animal uses energy sources. NO you cannot burn fat while developing muscle. In the process of gluconeogenisis
the amino acids of your muscles are used first and the result is the loss of muscle tissue while dieting. As your bodyfat percentage decreases; so does your muscle size and strength.
Do not take my word for this, you are in school, look it up. You will need this knowledge.

[soccerchick]

yes you can do both at the same time. i have [img]/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

just make sure your diet is clean, you do not overlaod on the cardio (2-3 times a week of HIIT is enough), you train properly, and get enough rest!

i'm going to suggest a t 40/30/30 or 40/25/35 protein/carb/fat ratio of your foods. do you know what you are currently taking in? how about your calories (how many)?

how is your current diet overall?

[Bladezz33]

I beleive you can do both - my measurements are proof. Over 5 weeks I took BF% test and at the end gained 6 lbs. LBM and lost 2% BF due to heavy lifting of weights and diet.

I think you are overanalyzing this whole thing [img]/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Factors depend on HOW FAST you lose the weight and diet. The faster the loss the probability that majority will be muscle loss.

[img]/forum/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

It is possible, but you need to put your FOCUS on one or the other and get your nutrition just right.

I went from 140 lbs at 22% bodyfat (so 109 lbs lean mass) to my current weight of 141 lbs at 16% bodyfat (118.5 lbs of lean mass). So I gained 9.5 lbs of lean muscle while losing 8.3 lbs of fat since I started keeping track.

I actually gained more muscle mass than that tho cause when I first started lifting, I weighed 132 lbs, probably about the same bodyfat, but I didn't get into the diet and bodyfat checking part of it til about a year later. So at 132 lbs and 22% bodyfat, that would be 103 lbs of lean mass, so I'm guessing I've put on about 15.5 lbs of lean mass since I've been lifting, 3 years now.

Coincidentally, I seem have an easier time gaining muscle than losing fat. Seems I have to starve even to keep my bodyfat level at 15%.

Drop the cardio to a minimum if you really want to gain muscle, 90% of gaining muscle or losing fat is due to your DIET. [img]/forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]