"Can I simultaneously gain muscle and lose the fat?" is one of the questions that I get asked every now and then by my friends. Well my answer to that would be "Yes, but is difficult". The difficulty here doesn't lie in the following of an arduous regime, but the time it'd take to achieve the final long term goal.
Let us consider a sample person Y, weighing W with lean mass M and F, the body fat content (W = M + F). Our sample Y would love to attain a weight W' with lean mass M' and fat content F'. Ideally he would like (a) M'>M and (b) F'< F. The question that turns up here is if both (a) & (b) are approachable together. Let us see what each (a) and (b) demand.
Clearly, (a) calls for something extra to be added to the body, and hence needs calorie (energy) surplus. Ideally, most if not all of the calorie surplus should come from clean foods which means complex carbohydrates, lean protein and good combination of unsaturated and saturated (yes, some saturates are required for a balanced fat intake) fat. Usually the macro-components are taken in a specific distribution like 40/40/20 or 50/30/10 and so on. Cardiovascular training is best kept at minimum as it may result in loss of otherwise vital calories. The outcome one should expect out of this would be :
M' = M + mass-gained and F' = F + little-fat.
On the other hand, (b) requires a energy deficit in the calorie intake. The deficit is best created by combining diet manipulation with cardiovascular training done 3 to 5 times a week. The diet has to be clean with carbohydrates limited only to breakfast and the post-workout meal. The macro components are to be tweaked with most of the calories coming from protein. In this case,
F' = F - fat-lost and M' = M - slight-muscle.
Yes, these two seem like two opposite pathways and indeed they are. Hence, the ideal thing to do is to go for (a) (a.k.a Bulking) and (b) (a.k.a. cutting) in phases one after the other. An ideal combination is to bulk for 4-6 months and then cut for 2-3 months. Doing otherwise will be no different than pedaling backwards with a will to go forward!
Let us consider a sample person Y, weighing W with lean mass M and F, the body fat content (W = M + F). Our sample Y would love to attain a weight W' with lean mass M' and fat content F'. Ideally he would like (a) M'>M and (b) F'< F. The question that turns up here is if both (a) & (b) are approachable together. Let us see what each (a) and (b) demand.
Clearly, (a) calls for something extra to be added to the body, and hence needs calorie (energy) surplus. Ideally, most if not all of the calorie surplus should come from clean foods which means complex carbohydrates, lean protein and good combination of unsaturated and saturated (yes, some saturates are required for a balanced fat intake) fat. Usually the macro-components are taken in a specific distribution like 40/40/20 or 50/30/10 and so on. Cardiovascular training is best kept at minimum as it may result in loss of otherwise vital calories. The outcome one should expect out of this would be :
M' = M + mass-gained and F' = F + little-fat.
On the other hand, (b) requires a energy deficit in the calorie intake. The deficit is best created by combining diet manipulation with cardiovascular training done 3 to 5 times a week. The diet has to be clean with carbohydrates limited only to breakfast and the post-workout meal. The macro components are to be tweaked with most of the calories coming from protein. In this case,
F' = F - fat-lost and M' = M - slight-muscle.
Yes, these two seem like two opposite pathways and indeed they are. Hence, the ideal thing to do is to go for (a) (a.k.a Bulking) and (b) (a.k.a. cutting) in phases one after the other. An ideal combination is to bulk for 4-6 months and then cut for 2-3 months. Doing otherwise will be no different than pedaling backwards with a will to go forward!
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