Loose body fat yet build mucle mass at the same time.

hi everyone

Hopefully those of you with far more knowledge of this kind of stuff can help me out.

So i'm hitting some walls as to what to do. I've been working out very heavily for the last two months and will be for at least a few months more. These workouts include usually about 2 hours of both cardio and heavy muscle building every day. So i'm basically trying to build muscle mass, however i'm also trying to heavily reduce my overall body fat %. I hear things such as I need to eat enough to maintain the growth of new muscle (which makes sense to me) but then I also hear that to loose the fat for the reduction in my overall body fat % I need to watch my calories?

I suspect the answer is simply... "just eat enough calories, but get them from good foods?".... in a nut shell... eat well?

Any help or suggestions would be great.

Thanks everyone!

cant be done. to build muscle you need a calorie surplus. to lose fat you need a calorie deficit. gaining muscle means gaining an amount of fat also.....

decide which you want...

lose.  not loose, lose.

loose body fat is a terrible thing; it's not what you want.

Original Post by pgeorgian:

lose.  not loose, lose.

loose body fat is a terrible thing; it's not what you want.

 I'd like to cut my body fat loose.

Original Post by jenningermany:

Original Post by pgeorgian:

lose.  not loose, lose.

loose body fat is a terrible thing; it's not what you want.

 I'd like to cut my body fat loose.

 second that! let the loose fat RUN FREE.

Alright. This is an easy one. Your first priority is to gain muscle.  To build muscle you need the extra weight\calories. Once you feel happy with the general amount of muscle you have built, in theory alot of your fat will have been converted into muscle. If there is any extra body weight you wish to lose by that point, focus on your cardio. But continue to do some muscle work to maintain it while you lose weight. I am doing the same exact thing.

Original Post by trickmunns:

Alright. This is an easy one. Your first priority is to gain muscle.  To build muscle you need the extra weight\calories. Once you feel happy with the general amount of muscle you have built, in theory alot of your fat will have been converted into muscle. If there is any extra body weight you wish to lose by that point, focus on your cardio. But continue to do some muscle work to maintain it while you lose weight. I am doing the same exact thing.

Great Thanks Trickmunns. This is what I kind of thought was the case. I'm just trying to get the different between a long distance runner and a sprinter (i'm looking for the sprinter look). Both are fit, but the sprinter is more built. Kind of how some people have really strong abs but you can't see them because they have too much fat overtop... that's sort of what i'm trying to avoid.

Peace

Original Post by trickmunns:

Alright. This is an easy one. Your first priority is to gain muscle.  To build muscle you need the extra weight\calories. Once you feel happy with the general amount of muscle you have built, in theory alot of your fat will have been converted into muscle. If there is any extra body weight you wish to lose by that point, focus on your cardio. But continue to do some muscle work to maintain it while you lose weight. I am doing the same exact thing.

 this theory is wrong/misleading. People still will use it, but you cant convert one type of mass into another. You either gain muscle and lose fat, or gain fat and loss muscle. you gain in a ratio of 3p muscle to 1p fat. that extra body weight can be lost by yes, cardio, but it's putting yourself in a calorie deficit that's the bigger picture (cardio + diet). True when your cutting, you want to do weights still as before to perserve the muscle mass you have gained. And yes, it's better to build muscle first and cut after so that you have the extra calories burnt a day from the muscle you have gained.

Original Post by silverbutterfly:

Original Post by trickmunns:

Alright. This is an easy one. Your first priority is to gain muscle.  To build muscle you need the extra weight\calories. Once you feel happy with the general amount of muscle you have built, in theory alot of your fat will have been converted into muscle. If there is any extra body weight you wish to lose by that point, focus on your cardio. But continue to do some muscle work to maintain it while you lose weight. I am doing the same exact thing.

 this theory is wrong/misleading. People still will use it, but you cant convert one type of mass into another. You either gain muscle and lose fat, or gain fat and loss muscle. you gain in a ratio of 3p muscle to 1p fat. that extra body weight can be lost by yes, cardio, but it's putting yourself in a calorie deficit that's the bigger picture (cardio + diet). True when your cutting, you want to do weights still as before to perserve the muscle mass you have gained. And yes, it's better to build muscle first and cut after so that you have the extra calories burnt a day from the muscle you have gained.

Okay so for example... if i'm burning usually around 2500-3000 calories a day from my exercise and cardio and taking in about 2000-2500 calories form food each day (from healthy sources). then am I basically on the right track? I can't imagine taking in less then 2000 calories when i'm burning 2500-3000 a day could be healthy and productive for building up muscle. I would assume with this set up I could be both trimming down excess fat and still building and growing muscle yes?

Figet84 was right on her post above. Unless you are new to lifting weights ie newby gains, you cant do both at the same time. Muscle gains needs a calorie surplus while fat loss needsa calorie deficit.

If you are burning 2500-3000 a day here are your options:

Eat 350-500kcal/d MORE then this amount of clean carbs/fat/protein to gain muscle.

Eat 500-1000 kcal/d LESS then this amount to lose 1-2 pounds a week.

:)

Original Post by silverbutterfly:

Figet84 was right on her post above. Unless you are new to lifting weights ie newby gains, you cant do both at the same time. Muscle gains needs a calorie surplus while fat loss needsa calorie deficit.

If you are burning 2500-3000 a day here are your options:

Eat 350-500kcal/d MORE then this amount of clean carbs/fat/protein to gain muscle.

Eat 500-1000 kcal/d LESS then this amount to lose 1-2 pounds a week.

:)

OK thanks for all your input guys. I'll keep you posted on how things go.

thanks