Lose Weight Build Muscle

"The Secrets The Pros Use To Lose Weight Build
Muscle And Get On With Their Lives"

As a personal trainer, I'm often asked if it's actually possible to lose weight build muscle at the same time.

Instead of simply rehashing the same rehearsed answer that I usually give, I'm going to up the ante a bit and discuss whether or not it's possible to lose weight build muscle and still make time for your life outside of the gym!

To answer the first part of the question...it is possible to lose weight and build muscle at the same time, but it involves a bit of creativity on your part.

While building muscle and losing weight at the same time can be broken down into a simple repeatable process...it can be anything but easy!

In order to build lean muscle mass, your body will need an excess of energy (calories). In order to lose body fat, your body needs to consume fewer calories than it burns throughout the day.

Lean body mass is composed of everything in your body except for fat. Therefore, LBM is the combined weight of muscle tissue, intestinal bulk, water and blood weight, bone weight and the like. The important thing to understand here is that while LBM is not fat, it's not necessarily muscle mass either.

The other important concept to take note of, is the relationship between lean muscle mass and body fat.

Generally speaking, it takes more energy (calories) to maintain 1 lb of lean muscle mass than it takes to maintain the same pound of body fat.

What this means to those of you who's goals are to lose weight build muscle and still maintain a "normal" everyday life, is that if you continue to eat the same amount of calories, increasing your lean muscle mass will directly lower your overall body fat level. 

The only real exceptions to this rule are:

1. You're already in great shape without an excess of body fat.

If this is the case, great!

Focus on increasing your lean muscle mass by making small adjustments to your calorie intake. Keep track of what you are changing and how it's working for you.

The down side to this situation...if you really want to call it a downside!

Is that you will not be able to lose weight and build muscle at the same time. If you are in this category any increase in your lean muscle mass will also trigger an increase in your overall body weight. (Is this really such a bad thing?)

or...

2. You modify your dietary intake as you increase your lean muscle mass.

If you over compensate for the increased metabolic rate that building muscle brings by overeating, you will be canceling out the fat loss benefit of this change.

Remember the relationship between building muscle and losing body fat that we discussed earlier?

Now for the good stuff...

Now that you know it's actually possible to lose weight build muscle mass and get into amazing shape at the same time, you may be wondering how to get it done with minimal impact on your life. This is where the rubber meets the road.

I speak from personal experience when I say that anyone can follow a fat loss muscle gain diet and body building weight training program for a predefined period of time.

Even those of you who are less than motivated can pull it together for 4 - 12 weeks...right?

My question is this...

What happens after the time is up?

Are you going to continue to train as you did during your transformation?

I doubt it!

Without the structure of a well designed weight loss muscle gain program, it becomes very difficult to do the things that brought you the success in the first place.

Instead of thinking in terms of simply following a "muscle gain program" or "muscle gain routine" with a definite end in sight, you need to begin thinking of your goals to lose weight build muscle and still live a normal life, in terms of...

Permanent Lifestyle Change

No doubt about it...in order to lose weight build muscle mass at the same time, you'll need to have a certain level of discipline and control over your immediate desires.

That is the truth about building muscle and losing weight. Anyone who tries to tell you differently, is being less than honest.

The way I see it, this level of self sacrifice and self mastery is what also makes the art of building muscle so rewarding.

It allows you to put yourself to the test and see what you're made of. When you put it all together to achieve your muscle building goals, it's almost sort of a spiritual process.

After you do this once, you begin to realize that there's nothing in this world that you can't accomplish if you want it bad enough!

So before you jump into the fire and plan out your next muscle gain training plan, think ahead to the rest of your life and ask yourself the question...

"How can I apply this principle to my life so that I cause the least amount of disturbance to the things that are most important to me?"

Taking the time to answer this one question as it relates to your particular circumstance, is the key to not only sustained muscle growth, but also the key to living a happier more fulfilling life!

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