How to Lose Weight and Build Muscles at the Same Time

How to build muscle and burn fat concurrently 

If you have ever tried to either lose fat or build up your muscle, then keep in mind that majority of the information available on the subject are inconsistent and contradictory.
You would read stuff that encourages you to increase your carbs, reduce your carbs, avoid carbs totally, eat one large meal a day, leave protein, or stay away from fats! Some other sources would encourage you to eat fat, take sugar, eat five meals a day, workout, take drugs, do this or that and you'll lose weight in no time.
There's yet again a third group of people who are interested in selling out their products for weight loss to you. These type of commercial companies gain millions of dollars yearly on sales. While most of these products can be effective, they often have side effects, and users are condemned to a lifetime of use. This is because, when you stop taking those supplements, you tend to increase size.

With all this contradictory information on the topic of weight loss, knowing how to achieve your weight loss goals can prove difficult and sometimes seem farfetched. Apart from that, things tend to get far more complicated if your weight loss goal is to lose fat while you at the same time, build muscle!

This is another issue in the weight loss universe that has caused so many debates. One group claims it is factual while another group claims it is not. Have you ever heard that it is possible to lose weight while you build muscle all at the same time? What do you think? Is this factual? Assuming it is possible, how does it work and how can you achieve it?
Just like with the entire weight loss concept, the answers depend on who the question is posed to.
Some weight loss experts will convince you about one thing while your bodybuilding experts will tell you something entirely different. You may face quite a challenge deciding who to,". Having knowledge about which sorts of foods are probably going to kill you and which kinds of foods will make you stronger can be overwhelming.

Within the weight loss universe, there exist a wealth of routing information about fat burning and muscle building.
So to tell you what is what, let's try as much as possible to synthesize all the information and make it something meaningful and useful to those who are not striving to become bodybuilding champions.

Is it even possible to lose weight and build muscles at the same time?
This is the simple question that must be answered before we can proceed with any other discussion. Is it in any way possible to lose a substantial amount of fat and still end up gaining muscle all at the same time?

One thing everyone in this world has probably heard is several times in their lives is that; “whenever something sounds too good to be true, then it most likely is." this statement is true in almost every case. Also, there will always be some people who will try to convince you that spending $2 for a lottery for is a good form of investment, and if you are desperate to believe them, you will. The same thing applies to the issue of weight loss and muscle building. You may be convinced into accepting something as fact if you listen well enough and deep down in your heart you want it to be true. However, this should not be the case as something ought to be considered as right or wrong only based on empiricism.

So on the matter of weight loss and muscle building should you believe what the experts say?
As we established earlier, a lot of the information regarding fat loss and muscle gain at the same time fall into two different camps.

One of these two camps will tell you what you want to hear; "Yes! It is pretty easy! Just follow the below instructions and stick to these foods and avoid these other foods like the plague. The information gotten from this camp appears to be targeted toward people who can't afford a personal trainer.  People who can't make time to work out in a gym, have the time but lack the will to determine workout, or simply don't have the time to study exactly how much protein/calories/carbs/fats/minerals /cholesterol, they take in daily. The problem always has and would always be the fact that we want to result in no time, but we also aren't interested in living our lives with restrictions, who would?!

On the second camp, however, it's an entirely different ball game. They would confidently tell you; "Yes. It is very possible, but will probably be the most difficult thing you've ever done in your entire life. This affirmation targets all those who are struggling to either become or look like bodybuilding Champions or to in the least look like them. These people targeted by, this strong camp, see it as a rule, viewing it as extreme and may even be fanatical in their nutritional and fitness routine. For all you know, if something is usually easy, it simply means you are probably not trying hard enough, and you need to work harder. Anyone who is not willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in their journey to reach their goals is lazy and nonchalant.

So we've seen those who say it's possible but easy we've seen those who said it's easy not very difficult, but we will also consider the group of people; “Not it's not in any way possible for you to lose weight and build muscles at the same time. So just do your daily exercises and eat only vegetables.
Note that this third group will be discounted for the article, not just because they are insufferable kill-joys, but mainly because there is more than enough information to the public that discounts their unrealistic pronouncements.

We've agreed that it is possible to lose weight and gain muscle at the same time, so let's consider how we can do it.

So, how can you lose weight and build lean muscle in your quest to lean?
This can be a bit tricky and even very complicated, but with the right knowledge, complicated can get simple in no time, and it all starts with some basic physiology.

What the first thing to you need to learn is how exactly does your body gain and lose muscle/fat. It all starts and ends with energy; the energy is supplied to the body through any and every food we consume. After that, this energy is expended by your body when you engage in working, exercising, and also by simply living your life.
Many people have heard about the Biblical story of Joseph; a prisoner who was asked to interpret the dreams of the Pharaoh.
(don't be afraid, the article is not going to get all Biblical, so just stick with it for a moment please.)
In his dream, Pharaoh found himself standing by the river Nile, as he saw seven fats and seven skinny cows coming out from the river. As the fat cows stepped out, they started grazing and retained their chubby body. After the fat cows had come out another set of seven ugly and bony cows went out of the river. While Pharaoh was still confused about what was going on, the skinny and ugly cows ate all the fat and beautiful cows and then Pharaoh woke up from the sleep and the troubling dream stopped.

This dream of Pharaoh was followed by another similar dream where he saw large stalks of wheat eating other stalks of wheat. But one illustration is enough for now.

Pharaoh summoned told Joseph and told him about his dream, being a foster dream interpreter, Joseph was able to tell Pharaoh that both dreams signify a prediction of seven years of abundance in food and prosperity and seven that would be at once followed by seven years of famine. After the interpretation, he encouraged Pharaoh to save a good percentage of the grain produced during the year’s plenty food and prosperity so as to avoid famine in the later seven years.

Aside from the fact that this is a good story, this biblical tale is also illustrating how our body stores fat and builds up muscles. Let’s move into the concept of Bulging Biceps muscles;

Whether you are familiar with the specifics, or you are familiar with the few general concepts in muscle building, you know that muscles are built or worked by lifting weights.
The thing is that most of us do not understand how exactly lifting weights can build up muscles. So let's get into that now.

There are lots of fancy words that can be tossed around to make you feel impressed with my vast store of knowledge; I could use words like" protein synthesis" and even "peptides," but our aim is to make things as basic as we can. You don't need to major in physiology in other to some of these concepts, but a basic knowledge is recommended.

Whenever you use your muscles for any activity but especially during weight training, they go through what is known as the process of protein degradation. Simply put, your muscles are worn out. Your muscle proteins are broken down into different constituent parts and as such, they become weaker. This is just one out of two processes your muscles go through daily.

The second process it goes through occurs as a result of degradation is known as protein synthesis in you. This occurs when the muscle proteins that were initially broken down are built back up. That is to say, the proteins in your muscles are replaced and strengthen once again.

As you live your life daily, these two processes, work to balance each other out. You lose and gain back virtually equal amounts on the long run. On the other hand, whenever you are engaged in weight training, your muscles do not at once rebuild what it lost. Their best bet will be to build a little extra just in case this crazy weight lifting continues over time.
Your muscles tend to become stronger and bigger. As long as the process of synthesis outpaced the process of degradation, your muscles will keep growing bigger and stronger. It is also important that you supply them with required food from which your muscles can build those proteins up fast.

The concept of Bulging Bellies
Just as it is with muscle growth and degradation; the process of addition and subtraction fat in your body also depends on balance. Thus, weight loss or gain depends on the balance between your energy gained by your body and the energy expended.
You'll recall the Pharaoh story at this point.

When you eat, your body uses the energy it gets from that food to push everything our body does. More like how electricity powers up your house energy from deed powers up every single function in your body; from your heart beat to thinking with your brain to working out and just by simply getting up from your chair or bed and walking to the living room. Everything that happens is fueled by the energy from food.

Your body takes the food you eat and burns it like your vehicle burns gas, hydrogen or electricity. However, unlike your car, and more like in the illustration of Pharaoh providing for his people, the first action your body takes is to store up food that it does not immediately use.  Guess what form it is stored as? Yes, you guessed right, this food is stored in the form of fat.

There are no two ways about it when you eat significantly more food than your body needs to fuel itself through the day, you become just like the fat and cows. If you consume significantly less food than your body needs to function through the day, you become more a lot more like the bony cows. This happens because when there is no food available to burn off, your body, just like Pharaoh’s country during the famine, starts burning off what it originally stored.

About the Conundrum
Now this is the good part. You may feel overwhelmed with knowledge and decide to practice what you've learned so far as you beat your chest in confidence and say these two things with;
If my plan is to increase muscle mass, I need to power them up by feeding them; eating more than I expend.
Then if I want to lose fat; I can do the opposite. I need to take in less than you expend.
So what do I do when I want to burn fat and increase muscle mass at the same time?

The part you've been waiting for!  How is it possible to build lean muscles?
Be careful with cardio workouts
Weight training; When you are working towards burning fat and building muscle, you need to engage in heavy weight training in small sets at a minimum of 3 times a week.
Cardio; as regards cardio, 1-2 hours of HIIT per week in 20-25 minute chunks would be ideal. The first thing you need to remember is the fact that, when it comes to exercises that stress your heart out, your goal isn't just to burn off fats in your body. Your main aim is to maintain muscle vigor and muscle mass while fat is burnt off.
When you engage in time-consuming, low-intensity cardio workouts, you are sure to burn a lot of excess fat, but the problem is that you burn this fat at the expense of your muscle.
The best way to go is “low and slow” when you are barbecuing ribs, but, just like with every other goal, you must learn to strike a balance, if you want to achieve your fat burning and muscle building goals.

About the food; what should you eat?
Exercising all day, every day is only a single half of the entire equation. Yes, you need to burn energy as this is important in your body system, but something that is also as important is the need to fuel your body so as to become that champion you've been dreaming of from day one.
Weight loss is a pretty simple concept.  If you want to lose weight, you need to decrease your calorie intake and workout more. It's that simple you know. As long as you burn more than you consume, you are most certainly going to burn off fat. In this case,  if burning body fat is your goal, then it doesn't matter what you eat. What counts is the number of calories consumed. It doesn't matter if it's carb, protein, fiber, veggies or any other kind of food. What counts is the number of calories per meal. So don't be fooled by the don't eat carbs rule or no any other crazy diet rule will not count. Eat what you like but watch out for calories.
When it comes to the issue of muscle building, on the other hand, all calories aren't the same. Let us compare it to a group of college friends.
You can refer to all fats and carbohydrates as the crazy party people. These will do all sorts of crazy things, steal a test, car, and even watch the door while you reprogram the school's system.
The consider the proteins as the smart friends who would help you with school work and still bail you out when those carbs have fled the scene when you commit a crime.
In your quest to lean, you will want to eat more of protein. This is because protein is responsible for muscle building. And your calorie consumption will be a bit lower. Making it more important for you to take in enough of the calories made of muscle stuff.

In a study conducted to determine the relationship between protein and lean mass build, researchers brought together a group of 40 overweight people, whose BMI were greater than 25. All participants were male with a mean age 23 years. All participants were randomly made to consume either a high protein diet of at least 2.4 kg. Daily or a controlled protein intake of about 1.2g/kg. A daily diet which was energy restricted by about 40%. All participants also started six days a week exercise program during the duration of the study, which was about four weeks. The result of the survey, reveals that there is a significant relationship between protein intake and body mass index. As was expected participants on a 40% calorie restricted diet lost a significant amount of body fat and achieved lean muscle building.  Several other studies conducted affirmed the single fact; protein plays a significant role in bodybuilding and fat burning in individuals.
Many individuals have shared their testimonies about how they have successfully achieved their goal in their quest to become lean.

When you should eat it
One big problem most people face when we try to both lose fat and gain muscle is not knowing what to eat. It is popularly believed that a person who wants to lose weight, you on no account eat after 8 pm, but some other experts believe that; "a calorie is a calorie," and the body doesn't have a clock!
The truth is that it doesn't matter if these two opinions are wrong or not, the fact is that, when you want to burn off fat and gain some muscle, your body actually cares when you eat what you eat.
Which brings us to the subject of “cycling.” OK so pick up your helmet and let's go! Just kidding. This is not the kind of cycling you think. We are talking about calorie cycling.

What is calorie cycling
The term calorie cycling is simply used to refer to when an individual on a diet eats more on the days when he or she doesn't than every other day. However, the purpose of eating more is specifically to help you build muscle, so don't get too excited when we talk about a workout or “training day yet, ” we are not talking about your HIIT cardio workouts.

This particular concept is quite simple. On any day you do weight training just take in more protein calories,  but on any other day when you are not going to do your weight training. All these extra calories will aid your body in the process of reconstitution of your damaged muscles as well as building stronger muscle.

You need to keep this three numbers in mind for properly calorie cycle. You must determine your maintenance calorie count; the number of calories your body needs in order to maintain your present weight (be sure to consult with your doctor).
Secondly, you must determine your calories on a training day ( traditionally 15% increase above your maintenance amount.
The third step is to identify the remaining day calories which are a 10% decrease from your initial maintenance amount.

The second key to the puzzle: time of day
Note- the fact that you have the permission to eat more on the day you do your weight training day doesn't mean you should eat too much. As soon as you must have determined your training day calorie increase, it is recommended that you wait until after you've finished your workout before you eat those additional calories or the workout may just be in vain.
If you want to get the best results from your workout, a good technique is timing. Time your workout end by 6 pm, after that, consume your additional calories for training day between 6 pm and your bedtime. The idea is to ingest the extra calories at a time when your muscles need it the most. This way you don't need to wait too long to finish them.

Supplements use
Anyone who has spent time trying to lose weight or gain muscle or both would know that there are more than a billion supplements that can be found on the market which is intended to help you reach achieve wealth loss goals.
You may have at one time had some doubt about the effectiveness and dangers of such supplements. The truth is that many supplements when taken illegally and when misused can be very harmful to your body. They may be some helpful supplements on the market, but I don't want to start diving into that now. If you want to consider the use of supplements, then I recommend that you speak to a doctor.

The answer to that question that was raised at the beginning of the article is it fact or fiction that you can lose fat and gain muscle at the same time is a big yes. Although it involves complicated process, it is achievable.

Individually, each seems fairly straightforward process to, accomplishing. Dining both together, on the other hand, requires a degree of balancing, which involves proper types of cardio, weight training, diet, and timing in order to achieve maximum results at the adequate time.
Let us review what we’ve learned in this article:
• Weight training: You need to engage in heavy weight training with small sets at a minimum of 3 times a week.
• Cardio; do not do more than 1-2 hours of HIIT in 20-25 minute chunks weekly.
• Diet: you must strive to determine your maintenance calorie count, your training and rating day count. Also, you should endeavor to maintain enough protein in your diet.
• Timing; don't take on training day calories except on your weight training days, and all workouts should end by 6 pm and be sure to eat the extra calories only after a workout.
Now, you know the process, so go forth and lose! And gain! Simultaneously!

We have agreed it is possible to lose weight and build muscle. Do not forget what Pharaoh learned: if you’ve got a seen and cared for the fat and sassy cows, then look out for a band of bony and ugly, cows! Or I misunderstood what that biblical story was all about? I don't think so.
In any case, it is accurate to say that losing weight and gaining muscle can be a difficult and confusing process, and there are a lot of conflicting opinions out there about if it is possible and how it can be done.
Most importantly, remember that slow and steady wins the fat/muscle race. So a quick fix on an illegal bodybuilding supplement or an extreme workout will not do you any good. So be sure to check with your doctor before you start up  quest build muscle and burn fat.

What to Keep in mind when trying to lose weight and Build Muscles