How To Build Muscle and Lose Fat At the Same Time

One of the most common questions I get is, “Bob, how can I build muscle and lose fat at the same time?”

This is what we like to call “body recomposition”.

Body recomposition is The American Dream of fitness.

It’s what most people want because even if you don’t admit it, I’m sure you want to look good naked.

So, don’t put all your eggs into the “how much you weigh” basket because the scale can be huge mind fuck.

“But Bob, I’m trying to lose weight. All of my progress relies solely on that number.”

Nonsense.

You’re not here to focus on weight loss. That’s old and fake news.

You’re here to focus on fat loss – which is achieved by building muscle and losing body fat.

Muscle is more dense than fat, meaning it takes up less space on your body.

So, the more muscle you have, the leaner you’ll look.

Yes, that means even at the same weight.

Someone who weighs 160 lbs with 20% body fat, is going to look much different than someone who weighs 160 lbs with 10% body fat.

Because the person with 10% body fat has more muscle.

Therefore, they’ll be more defined and much better looking on the beach.

The problem though, is that building muscle and losing fat at the same time is not easy and it’s not for everyone.

But that doesn’t mean it can’t be achieved.

Let’s dive in!

How to Build Muscle and Lose Fat

First, let’s discuss the difference between building muscle and losing body fat.

That way, you’ll know how this whole fitness things works.

How Muscle Is Built:

Your body consists of around 600 muscles. Yes, that’s a shit load and even surprised me to find that out.

These muscles attach to your bones via tendons.

When they contract (shorten), your bones move and this is how your body moves.

For example, to bend your elbow, your bicep contracts to bring your forearm closer to your humerus (upper arm).

And that is how you grow a bad ass set of biceps.

So how do muscles grow bigger and stronger?

By being placed under stress, which forces them to grow.

For example, think of a flower.

The seed must be placed in soil, watered daily, and given direct sunlight so that it can grow into a big flower.

With muscle, it must be well fed with protein, stressed by lifting weights, and then well recovered so that it can grow into a bigger and stronger muscle.

This creates a signal called Muscle Protein Synthesis. You can think of this as your muscle building signal that activates when you strength train and eat protein.

As nice as it would be to have this activated 24/7 (ahem… steroids), that’s not how this works unfortunately.

Your body is in this constant turnover of either building or breaking down muscle.

So, in order to build muscle, you’ll want to have muscle protein synthesis turned on more than muscle protein breakdown.

The best and most efficient way to do this is strength training while in a calorie surplus. Simply eating more food than your body burns.

That way, the extra food (energy) must be used for something – either being stored as body fat or put towards building muscle.

Now, I know what you’re thinking.

“But Bob… I don’t want to get fat. So why would I eat more?”

You’re not eating to get fat. You’re intentionally eating more to build muscle.

And when you do this, you’ll notice that you don’t turn into a fat blob.

You still stay lean while building more muscle.

How You Lose Fat:

Fat loss is taking something away from your body.

This means, we must be in a calorie deficit for this to happen – eating less food than your body burns.

Calories are the energy your body gets from food, just like putting gas into a car.

Your body’s fuel is either stored energy (fat, glycogen, muscle) or energy that you get from food.

In order for your body to function throughout the day, it burns through that energy.

Once all of the energy from food has been used, your body still has to get energy from somewhere else.

And that somewhere is it’s body fat stores or muscle (which is why you need to eat enough protein).

As a result, you BURN MORE than you eat.

Hence, fat loss.

So, if you burn through all of your energy, you won’t have much, if any, resources to put towards building muscle.

See how this works?

When Can You Build Muscle and Lose Fat at the Same Time?

As you can see, the problem with your body is that it’s not very good at doing more than one thing at a time.

Let me ask you this…

How did Michael Jordan become the best basketball player of all time?

Not practicing baseball, football, or pickleball.

By practicing basketball.

He wasn’t always the best. Shit, the dude got kicked off his high school basketball team.

What made him different than everyone else was his work ethic and mental toughness.

The dude was a maniac when it came to that.

And he needed to be in order to be the best.

If he only put in some work here and there and took some days off, yeah, he may still have made it to the NBA, but he sure as hell wouldn’t have been the best.

The same thing goes with building muscle and losing fat at the same time.

Sure, it’s possible.

But it’s going to be a much slower process and require a ton of patience, which to be honest, we lack in today’s society.

This is especially true with social media and fake natty’s on magazines that promise results in 4-6 weeks, which I’m telling you right now is NOT realistic.

Sorry to crush your hopes and dreams.

If you’re aiming for body recomposition, you’re going to have to start thinking in months and years vs weeks.

If you’re up for that, here are 4 main ways you can build muscle and lose fat simultaneously.

1. You’re a Beginner

When you’re a beginner, you’re lucky.

Because you’ll gain muscle just by thinking about and looking at weights.

Seriously, your body is so sensitive to the new stimulus of strength training that it’s going to adapt at a rapid pace.

This is referred to as newbie gains.

This will be the best time of your strength training journey so embrace it.

Typically, these newbie gains can last 6-12 months, depending on the person.

And this is determined by your strength training age – the time you’ve been strength training.

If you’ve only done boot camp or spin classes in the past, than you’re still a newbie in the strength training world.

Because they’re two completely different exercises modalities.

One builds muscle and strength. The other get’s your heart rate up.

So, the cool thing here is that since your so new to strength training, you can still be in a calorie deficit and build muscle because it doesn’t take much for you to do so.

2. Coming Back From a Strength Training Vacation

Your body, central nervous system, and muscles are like a hard drive.

Remember those things you’d plug into the USB drive of your computer to save your files on? Yeah, those old things.

This means, if you’ve strength trained in the past and built a solid amount of muscle/strength, you already have that information stored within you.

So, it’ll come back much quicker than it did the first time.

This is called muscle memory.

And if you’ve taken a few months or years off to the point where you’ve lost some muscle and are looking a little fluffy, it’s a great way to build muscle and lose fat at the same time.

This is typically what happens when you see those crazy 3 month transformations that leave you scratching your head.

Other than crazy genetics, which is a very small minority of people, most of these people have had muscle before and strength training experience.

Therefore, they can re-comp quickly in 3 months, which isn’t the case for most people.

This is why if you have to take some time off here and there it’s not the end of the world.

Just like it took time to build up your muscle and strength, it takes time to lose your muscle and strength as well.

And even if you do lose it, it’ll come back much faster.

3. Taking Roids

Ahh….good ole ROIDS.

I’m writing this acting like I’ve taken them. Never have I ever… but… I’m not anti-steroids either.

If you or someone else wants to take them, good for you.

The problem that I have is when people lie about using them, which you see all of the time.

It’s like dude or dudette, who cares? Just be honest and more people will respect you.

What’s frustrating about this is it sets up unrealistic expectations for people just to buy a product or service.

And by people, I’m including myself!

When I first started strength training, I would buy the program with the most jacked dude on it because that is what I wanted to look like.

I legit thought that the program created those results.

And… I was wrong and disappointed.

Here is one thing I can promise – you’re not going to look like Arnold being natural.

Anyways, back to the roids conversation.

Remember that muscle protein synthesis thing I talked about earlier?

Well, that can only stay elevated for so long before it’s turned off.

However, steroids make that muscle protein synthesis signal more potent.

They create a stronger and longer lasting signal.

As a result, you can build MORE muscle QUICKER.

So, if MPS usually doesn’t get activated as much in a calorie deficit since you’re losing body fat, taking steroids enhances that.

Hence, you can build muscle and lose fat at the same time.

That said, I don’t recommend taking steroids.

However, if you’re like “fuck you Bob, don’t tell me what to do” then I guess do what you want.

Just make sure you consult with your doctor first and don’t be stupid.

4. You Have a lot of Weight to Lose

This one is very common and it’s almost a double whammy.

If you’re a newbie and you have a lot of weight to lose, you hit the Goldilocks zone.

When you have weight to lose, your body already has extra energy it needs to put towards building muscle from stored body fat.

So in a way, you’re muscles almost act like they’re in a calorie surplus.

And no, you’re body fat does NOT turn into muscle.

It’s basically replaced with it.

Combine this with being a newbie and damn… you’re going to get some amazing progress.

Which is why strength training is so important, even when being overweight.

Because as you continue to diet down to a leaner and healthier body weight, you’re going to be packing on muscle at the same time.

Not to mention, the more weight you have to carry around, the harder your muscles are working all day. So all of that time of being overweight, you’ve actually been putting muscle on your body.

It’s almost like putting a body suit on filled with weights and walking around with it all day.

And because of that, I think you’d be surprised at how much muscle you have around your body fat just form carrying around that extra weight.

How To Build Muscle and Lose Fat at the Same Time:

If you’ve decided that this is the way you want to go moving forward, I’m going to give you a little to do list to help you out.

1. Eat In a Very Small Deficit or At Maintenance

Remember, in order to lose fat you have to be in a calorie deficit.

Unfortunately, there is no other way around it.

If you want to build muscle and lose fat at the same time, you’ll have to make sure your calories are low enough to lose some body fat, but not too low to where you can put any towards building muscle.

Therefore, to find your calories use this equation below:

Take your goal bodyweight and multiply it by 13-15 to find your calorie range.

Note that this is only an estimate.

So, if you’re losing weight too quickly, you’ll probably need to increase your calories.

And if you’re gaining weight, you’ll need to decrease your calories.

I’d say 1-2 lbs a month is really good progress to build muscle and lose fat at the same time.

2. Prioritize Carbs and Protein to Build Muscle and Lose Fat

What you eat matters too.

Carbs are going to:

• Help fuel your workouts so you can push hard in them (in order to create a strong muscle building signal).
• Promote good recovery, which is important to build muscle and lose fat at the same time.
• They’re muscle sparing. Basically, they help prevent your body from breaking down muscle.

So, I don’t recommend going Keto, Carnivore, or any Low Carb diet that’s out there.

Additionally, protein is the essential building block to build your muscles back up.

So, if you’re re-comping, you probably want to eat a little more protein than the minimum of .7g per lb of goal bodyweight.

Aim for 1g per lb of your body weight in protein.

3. Rest and Recover to Build Muscle and Lose Fat

Building muscle is a two step process.

Just like 1+1=2. (Some people will argue this. Simply tell them to f*ck off), building muscle = stress + recovery.

You stress the muscle in the gym, which essentially breaks down the muscle and triggers a cascade of events to build that muscle back up.

Think of it like pulling the fire alarm to alert the fire department and evacuate the building. You strength train to send a signal to your muscles to grow.

Then, the muscle is built back up bigger on your days off.

This is why rest days are important. So make sure you’re getting enough rest.

Aim for 3-4 days of heavy strength training and 3-4 days of off days to recover.

4. Lift Heavy Weight to Force Your Muscles to Grow

You ain’t building shit if you don’t strength train with heavy weights.

This means going to the gym, picking up some weights that are heavy, and challenging your muscles.

I’m not talking about 30 rep sets with pink and blue colored weights either.

I’m talking 5-10 reps while performing big compound movements with barbells and dumbbells.

That right there is what builds muscle and the body that you want.

From there, the goal is to progressively do more over time in order to keep your muscles adapting and growing.

This is going to start the cascade of muscle building events.

Final Thoughts on Building Muscle and Losing Fat at the Same Time:

If you don’t fit in any of these categories, don’t sweat it.

You can still build muscle and lose body fat at the same time, it’ll just be a longer process.

Hang around maintenance for a year and you’ll notice some changes.

But if you want the most efficient results, I highly suggest you have a bulking phase and a cutting phase and then taking a break with maintenance phases.

This will allow you to stay lean over the long haul by cycling through these.

However, if you can build muscle and lose fat at the same time, take advantage of it while you can!

-Coach Bob

Ps. If you want a step by step guide that includes a simple strength training program so you can build muscle and lose fat at the same time, download my FREE Fat Loss Cheat Sheet HERE.