Wouldn’t it be lovely if all your jiggly bits could turn into solid muscle? The bad news: it’s not really possible. For starters, muscle mass and fat are completely different. Muscle is an active tissue that burns calories, even while you’re asleep. The more you move around, the more calories your muscles will burn. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you’ll be able to burn too.
On the other hand, fat is a storage of excess energy. A little fat is necessary to keep you warm and for some cushioning on your body, but this excess fat serves no purpose and just packs on extra, unwanted weight.
Losing fat and growing muscles at the same time can be difficult because the process of achieving these goals are very different. For instance, to lose fat, your body needs to lose more calories. This means eating less and working out sufficiently. To gain muscles, you need to take in more calories as you will need more energy to put in the work to build muscle.
Strategy: gain muscle, then lose fat
Although you can’t turn fat into muscle, the key is to use the two processes together. Remember, the more muscle you have, the more calories you’ll burn. So, the key is to gain muscle to kick-start the fat loss process into overdrive. To do this, you’ll need to exercise consistently and adjust your diet.
Do the right workouts
Although many people’s go-to fitness plan is aerobic exercises, it’s not good for building muscles.
Resistance training and a protein-packed diet work best. Resistance training is great for building muscle as your muscles oppose a force. When this happens, your muscles are stimulated to grow. Besides weightlifting, you can also train with resistance bands and with push-ups and squats where you’ll use your body’s own weight.
Aim for twice a week of resistance training and try to work on all your major muscle groups (arms, legs, back and shoulders). As your muscles get stronger, your muscle fibres will get bigger too.
Pack on the protein
To prevent yourself from losing muscle while you’re losing fat, eat the right foods, particularly protein-rich items. You need to figure out how many grams of protein you need to eat for your body type in a day and then divide the total by the amount of meals you eat each day. Generally, those who want to gain muscle while losing weight should eat 1.6-2g of protein per kilogram of body weight.
For example, if a man weighs 100kg, he’d multiply that by 1.6-2g and the total will be 160-200g of protein per day. He can spread the 200g over five meals so that the absorption is evenly doled out. People who are more active will need more protein for energy.
The best sources of protein comes from animals and vegetables. Lean meats, eggs, soy, seeds, nuts and legumes pack an excellent protein punch. If you’re worried you aren’t getting in enough protein, talk to your doctor about a protein supplement. Remember to read labels for fat content as you need to lose weight consistently too while you’re gaining muscle.
Good to know
- Don’t worry if you seem to be gaining weight when you start building muscles. This is normal as you are gaining lean muscle mass, while you’re shedding fat. Even if the scale doesn’t show it, you’ll be able to see positive changes when you look at your body.
- Muscles burn more calories than fat. This will make it easier for you lose weight and keep it off. Furthermore, you won’t need to restrict your intake as much once you’ve gained enough muscle to burn excess energy.
References:
- https://kbandstraining.com/how-much-protein-should-i-eat-weight-loss-secrets/
- https://www.livescience.com/60904-can-you-turn-fat-into-muscle.html
- https://www.livestrong.com/article/392136-can-gaining-muscle-make-you-gain-weight/
- https://www.bodybuilding.com/content/the-myth-of-turning-fat-into-muscle.html
- https://www.health.com/fitness/do-you-want-to-change-fat-to-muscle
