# muscle gaining and loosing fat



## jamesd2004 (Feb 11, 2007)

hey everyone,

im sorry if this has been posted before (which probs has) im new to the sport and hobby of working out and muscle building.. i have a question is it possible to loose weight and gain muscle at the same time, im a 20 years old male, i am not Fat, but im not tottally thin and 'CUT' as it were.. i would like a Beach type figure for the summer and want to look athletic and fit..... at the mo i try to work out about 4-5 days a week in the Gym doing weights (and i have my 2 protein shakes too a day) am i in the right direction if i use these 4 points: 1) working hard pumpking iron in the gym 2) drinking protein shakes 3) eating (healthy) 2000-2500 calories a day 4)doing Cardio workout (on a bike, running machine etc..) my question is:::will this make me GAIN muscle mass, whilst LOOSING weight (as im doing cardio aswell) in the long run?

thanks

James


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## skizxi (Sep 16, 2004)

Hi mate and a warm welcome to the borad.

Now looking at your post I think you may not be eating enough kcals.

If you post you stats, deiting and trainning in the right sections the people on here will point you in the right direction. You will also need to be more specific ie how much cardio are you doing ect?


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## scott134 (Jan 31, 2007)

Hello mate.

If you post what weights you are doing each time you go to the gym, you'll get more help as well. 4-5 times a week could be overtraining, depends on how often you're training the same muscle either directly or indirectly.

Go to the articles section and have a read through, there are some really useful ones that have helped me a lot.

In short it;s not usually possible to build muscle and burn fat at the same time, but it can be done and it's usually easier to achieve both when you are a begginer and your body is adapting.

Good luck.


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## SD (Sep 3, 2004)

You can gain muscle OR lose fat, doing both is possible but is such as game of fine balance that unlees you are an expert who knows there body really well, then its gonna be near impossible imo.

To gain muscle, eat, eat, eat, train, eat then rest.

To lose fat, cardio, eat in moderation, train, rest

To do both, do enough cardio to burn kcals but not so much you burn muscle. Eat enough to support muscle gain but not so much that you gain fat instead.

Doing both requires fastidious record keeping, on diet, training, body fat, to fine tune your programme for your needs. A lot of experimentation is necessary.

You are better off, gaining muscle until mid spring then cutting up to summer, usually about 6-8 weeks of dieting and cardio. This is simpler.

hth

SD


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## Jock (Apr 8, 2003)

With SD on this one, it's difficult for your body to be in more than one state, attempting both (without meticulous knowledge of your own body, diet, workouts etc) is only going to lead to failure.

Stick with one or the other IMO.

Jock


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## jamesd2004 (Feb 11, 2007)

hey thank you for your welcome and all ur replies to me, much apprecitaed... for my stats im about 5ft 9 and weigh 9st 7 (133 lbs) i try to train 5 times a week (mon-fri) doing mainly work out on chest and arms... but i do do work on my back and legs too. my diet with he protein shakes aside is liek fish, vegetables, chicken..the usual healthy stuff, i eat pasta too.. i want to have an athlectic body, not so much a bodybuilders body, but more like a fit, athletic you know 'beach type' body

thaks again to u all.


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## scott134 (Jan 31, 2007)

Hi, to be honest, you can't have that much fat anyway. I'd concentrate on bulking up. Your diet sounds good, but have a look in the diet forum at some other peoples diet, then maybe post up what you eat in the same format so people can give you tips on what to eat and when to eat it.

With your training, try not to train the same body part within 3 days of the last time you trained it. So if you do chest on Monday, don't train it again until Friday, this will give it time to recover, which is when it grows. Same goes for all body parts. Don;t neglect your legs either, they help you build an 'athletic' physique. Concentrate on squats and straight-leg deadlifts. Both great workouts and increase your weight a little bit every week.


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## jamesd2004 (Feb 11, 2007)

ah i see yea... i just want a nice body really, i have a tiny bit of fat around my stomach which i want to get rid of, but at the same time i wanna build muscle..


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## jamesd2004 (Feb 11, 2007)

so should i be doing cardio at the same time? as i dont wanna gain anymore fat??!


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## LEWIS (Oct 28, 2005)

yes cardio - ive been advised to do this in morning before breakfast - 45 min fast walk 2/3 times a week


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## the_ironman (Sep 15, 2006)

I think if you follow a decent training routine and diet you can lose fat and build muscle at the same time, but doing a lot of both at the same time is pretty tough. So you might lose 10 pounds of fat and gain 2-3 pounds of muscle. But you're not going to lose 10 pounds of fat at the same time as replacing it with 10 pounds of muscle.


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