Pack on muscle and lose fat at the same time

Perhaps the most common question or request that someone ponders when they first begin training. This simple question is quite packed, and there are a ton of answers depending on who you ask. The problem is that most are correct in the way they are looking at the problem.

The process of losing fat and building muscle has been given the term “Body Recomp”. Building muscle is an anabolic process (build-up), while fat loss is a catabolic process (break down). This means that your body generally needs to be in a caloric surplus to add muscle yet a caloric deficit to build muscle. These are polar opposites and makes it seem as though weight loss and muscle growth can’t happen together.

However, this is not the case. To answer this question at face value, the answer is “yes”. I feel confident in answering “yes” to most who ask me this question because the vast majority are either a) new trainees or b) overweight/obese. If you fall into one of these categories, performing a body recomp is surprisingly easy. This is because the stimuli placed on the body are so new that your body responds relatively easily. It is also important to remember that even though we are in a caloric deficit, our bodies can still produce energy from our fat stores.  

This question gets a bit more complicated the more advanced your training age is and/or the lower your body fat. Still, many papers have shown that it is possible to perform a successful body comp in advanced athletes, which suggests that protein is the key.

One method which has shown promising results is using a very high protein diet in conjunction with a heavy-resistance program. One study from Antonio, et al (2015) found that when consuming a high protein diet (3.4g per kilogram of body weight), resistance-trained men were able to increase their bench and squat, lose fat mass, and increase muscle mass. They performed this study after another study in 2014, which showed athletes who consumed very high protein diets (4.4g/kg) resulted in a hypercaloric state of 800 calories but no fat gain. Similar findings were found by Layman et al (2003), which compared the ratio of carbs to protein. They found that a lower carb:protein ratio of 1.4:1 (Protein 1.6g/kg) could lose more fat and gain more muscle with higher reports of satiety compared to a diet that used equal calories but a carb:protein ratio of 3.5:1.  

Sleep is yet another important factor due to its importance in recovery androgenic hormones, recovery, stress hormones, and energy levels. A study from Wang et al (2018) compared two groups to see the effect of restricting a person of 1 hour of sleep, five times a week, on their body composition. They found that while both groups lost weight, the sleep derived group lost more fat-free mass (muscle) then the well-slept group.

Whether you are just beginning or a veteran at a gym, if body recomposition is your goal, here are the guidelines you should follow:

  * Follow a high protein diet of 2.6-3.5g/kg of fat free mass

  * Follow a resistance program which trains both strength and hypertrophy in a progressive manner

  * Be sure to get plenty of sleep

For guidance on your body recomp journey, or if you want personalized training and nutrition advice, come down to Prepare for Performance or send us a message to see how we can help you achieve your goals!