No love handles here: Yes, it's totally possible to lose weight AND build muscle.
Dear Davey,
I’m quite skinny but I have a ring of fat around my mid-section – it’s like a pair of stubborn love handles.
Obviously, I’d like to burn my stomach fat – but I also want to build muscle.
Is it possible to do both?
From,
Joe
Hey Joe,
In short: Yes, it’s totally possible to burn fat AND build muscle. In fact, the two can go hand in hand.
Muscle is a very interesting thing. Adding more muscle to your body increases your body’s metabolic rate. In other words, as you build muscle, you increase your body’s caloric requirements. If you increase your body’s caloric requirements but don’t increase your caloric intake through the foods you eat, a calorie deficit is the result. Since your body needs to get those calories from somewhere, excess fat is the target.
(If you created a calorie deficit but weren’t engaged in strength training, your body would target and breakdown muscle, too. But because your body needs muscle to power through your strength training routine, fat will be burned instead.)
By engaging in effective strength training workouts and monitoring your caloric intake, you can certainly shed stubborn belly fat. Having said that, know that belly fat – in men, in particular – is usually the last place that it comes off.
Of course, no workout routine is complete without some cardio. Instead of sabotaging your results with endless hours of treadmill jogging (it’s ineffective), I’d recommend a few sessions of high intensity interval training (often called HIIT) each week. Doing cardio for longer than 45 – 60 minutes can result in decreased muscle mass, but HIIT sessions are short and intense; the result is cardio that burns fat without reducing muscle.
That’s my prescription for you.
Love,
Davey
Thank you Davey, helped a lot.
From another Joe =)
good solid advice. Also good to note,which Davey has on numerous other occasions, is that you can’t spot reduce by doing endless crunches and sit ups. While that can help develop your abdominal muscles, you’ll never be able to see them if there is a layer of fat on top of them.
Hey Davey, I know you do a whole lot of talk about healthy weight but what if I were to be to small and have a really small body fat ratio? Is there something i cna do with trying to gain weight and work out that would not excide to many hours of my day? I tryed to get a specialist but the money is way out of my reach and these are the few questions I have that I would like to be answered. I weight 128 I am 6 feet 2 inches tall I have a waist for a male of 29.
This post really helps me out too. Cheers!
im religiously following your advice-cardio-machines-free weights-incline sit-ups.Protein shakes-supplements-testosterone boost.result is added strength-increased muscle-and weight loss.im still less than 20 lbs-to go to reach my goal.this advice your advice is invaluable-i am stoked-and i will succeed.i think your new weight loss programme is just the ticket to completing my weight loss-and gaining greater strength.you see im in the final stretch.but equally important im planning my continued workout routine well after my weight loss.this advice through time and patience-will pay off.i will succeed.
Great post. I like to cycle my carbs around my workouts. Before, during and after a workout ill have more carbs then i would do on a non workout day, and i aviod them in the evening all together. I find this helps alot with not gaining fat whilst still gaining muscle.
“(If you created a calorie deficit but weren’t engaged in strength training, your body would target and breakdown muscle, too. But because your body needs muscle to power through your strength training routine, fat will be burned instead.)”
Protein wasting or muscle utilization is only going to happen under extreme starvation and/or ultra endurance events. Your body will never utilize your muscle fibers as an energy source first or even second…always as a last resort. The statement would be correct if you said the muscle fibers would shrink in size (no hypertrophy) do to stopping weight training; not because of having a caloric deficit without a strength training aspect. Fat will be burned because it is an energy source, once you body depletes the energy it has within the blood it will start to break up the stored energy sources, with muscle being the very very last resort.
This is for everyone/anyone that can answer… since HIIT is supposed to be a super intense but shorter workout, how long should you do it for? I know I am usually whooped after 10-15 minutes.
this was my question! thanks davey!