Can you lose fat and gain muscle at the same time?

[Sssloou]

If so how and how do you track this?

I am turning my life around from bad eating habits and sedentary lifestyle from which I am overweight (also post memo 54) ..... to date I have competed C25K and have revamped my “diet” - to a sustainable healthy way of eating. I have lost a stone over the past 2 months but I want to gain muscle and strength now - but still have another 2 stone to get into healthy BMI.....so want to lose much more fat.

Any ideas?

Just read somewhere to shift the mindset to prioritise building muscle and the fat loss will follow naturally? But will this be seen on the scales - or should I use another way of measuring body shape (I don’t care about the scales)

Yes, I did. It's just a change in body composition, so your scale weight doesn't give a true indication of progress. Better to measure.

I did a lot of lifting & also a fair bit of metabolic conditioning, ie Crossfit but with a gym that was into heavy weights.

Even though I've put a lot of weight back on, I'm still smaller than before I lifted. I now do some light exercise tho, as I knackered my hip.

Yes. I am in the throes of doing it. If you have a look at the MyFitnessPal forums or Google "Body Recomposition" you will find a ton of info.

In a nutshell, exercise with a view to building muscle (i.e. mostly weight training), eat sufficient protein to support building muscle, get enough sleep and keep your calorie deficit to between 300 and 500 per day.

It is a very slow process and you will see fluctuations on the scale that may alarm you (building muscle involves some level of water retention). Progress photos and taking measurements would be your best bet - especially the measurements.

Yes, photos are an excellent idea. Just don't accidentally post them on your public FB page...

@wandawombat

Yes, photos are an excellent idea. Just don't accidentally post them on your public FB page...

Is this the voice of experience speaking?!

Yes.

The quick summary for a body recomp is eat at a smallish deficit and weight train. I've been slowly recomping for a few years (I can't stomach the idea of a bulk/cut cycle). I've recently started Caroline Girvan's epic heat series of workouts on YouTube. She has done a few series of 50 workouts (all free) and she is fantastic.

The quick summary for a body recomp is eat at a smallish deficit and weight train.

This is what I've done over the last 3 years. It's a bit up & down as I comfort eat, and had a tough time during this most recent lockdown (in England). But I track my calories in & out via my FitBit. I set it at a daily 500 calorie deficit.

The FitBit macro analysis also helps me sort out protein intake - I find that the more protein I eat - particularly breakfast, the more satiated I feel, and I can taper down to eat very little in the evening. I exercise in the morning: 2 metcon sessions a week (very tough) and at least one heavy lifting session. The rest is lighter gym workoutsand/orPilates & yoga, plus 5 (90 minute) ballet classes a week.

Yes, weight doesn’t change but body shape does and you can really see it. I lift but I don’t eat less, if anything I eat more!! I’m not sure you should eat less if your weight training really.

Can I ask when people talk about lifting, does this involve bodyweight exercises? I need to overhaul my lifestyle, which I will be doing in Jan. For Xmas I am getting dumbells and a kettlebell. My plan for whole of Jan is to do bodyweight exercise for 20-30 mins 3 times a week until i get into a habit and then change exercises and start including dumbells etc. Does this sound a good Idea? Will bodyweight exercises be enough to make any difference?

When I started with my PT (first time ever in the gym) I spent a month just doing body weight exercises. Squats, static and walking lunges, step ups (do them slowly) to get better balance and used to the movements. I'd say it's essential rather than rushing into heavy weights.

Also just walking around holding weights for grip.

I tend to basically monitor my progress using muscle definition, especially on my legs, and how loose some clothes feel!

If you are monitoring weight it could also be worth having a spreadsheet where once a month you enter your measurements for waist, hips, chest, thigh and biceps.

I started a weight loss programme, 2 months later started lifting. In 18 months I lost 38kg and more than doubled some of my PB's at the same time.
I've gained a lot of weight with being too relaxed on the diet front and having a baby, currently rebuilding my strength levels and trimming fat levels. Now doing it with fasting and my usual lifting. Only doing 2 days a week atm as 4.5mth post c-section but will increase that back to 3 times a week in around 6 weeks.

I don’t have bathroom scales- I go by my clothes. I have been following Caroline Girvan since July last year.
Initially as I started to bulk up I was bigger- that freaked me out. Then I lost some fat - not by eating less- if anything I needed to eat more- now I have just really billed up again and I am at the slightly freaking out stage as some clothes are really tight- I am sure I will lose more fat again.
My mindset has changed though to exercising because I want to lose weight to exercising because I want to be staring. It is very liberating.
I have small boobs but now they seem a bit bigger and sit higher as my pecs are developing!

Yup. A reasonable level of fat loss will nowhere near be met by a reasonable level of muscle gain, though, so it'll appear as 'Not losing as much weight as you thought you would' rather than 'Not losing weight' or 'Gaining weight'

We can lose weight from fat much quicker than we can gain it in muscle, basically.