Losing fat, but bulking up!

Just a question about nutrition really. As I am getting back into lifting weights again and general working out, I want to put on muscle and lose fat.

Will I naturally lose fat if I build muscle due to the fact that I will be burning more calories by having more respiring tissue?

In other words, do I need a strict working out diet in order to build muscle and lose fat eg. just high protein diet?
Or will I also need to work on CV work as well? Is it a necessity in order to losing fat?

Hope you can help

Reply 1

G4ry

I'm contemplating sticking my boot in here as i've seen what happens when people ask for fitness advice and the experts come out.

So i'll start with: i'm no expert.

If you're going to be lifting weights you need to be eating protein to repair the muscles you're breaking down. I think you should include CV in your workout because if you only lift weights it's not really going to make you fitter or help your heart. You'll just end up carrying excess bulk and be completely unfit. Someone will probably say that you can become fit from just lifting weights and i'm honestly sceptical that the 2 can equate. I think it's about finding a balance, do weights and also CV.

I don't think you really have to go crazy with diets; life's for enjoying. But try and cut out junk food such as chocolate, crisps (they're really bad) and eat more fresh fruit and vegetables. Then i guess if you really want to bulk up you'll probably have to eat about 5 meals a day if you want to take it seriously.

Reply 2

octanethriller

You're diet should be pretty high in protein anyway if you are looking to bulk up. In terms of losing fat, you can add cardio and that gives you more leeway in terms of how clean your diet will be. If you're not keen on doing cardio then make sure your diet is up to scratch.

Reply 3

theepw

Will i lose fat naturally if I bulk up/add more muscle?

Im just wondering whether thats an effective way of losing fat, or whether just bulking up will lost fat at all...

Basically, I just want to know if bulking is an alternative to CV in order to lose fat. I do like CV exercise, but I'm just wondering whether building muscle will be just as effective?

Reply 4

G.O.A.T

Hold up a second. There are two main phases that ur body can be in anabolic (posh for building up) or catabolic (posh for breakign down). At any one point in time your body is in one of those two states, builiding up or breaking down depending on wat u are doing.

anabolic (building up) if u do lots of weight training with no cv training u will build up your body that means putting on MUSCLE and FAT. You cannot put on one without putting on the other. however u can limit the propertions of each that u put on. For instance when u do weight training with soem cv training u can put on muscle and limit the amount of fat that u put on. No matter wat u do wen you rin the building up phase u put muscle and fat on.

catabolic (breaking down) if u do lots of cv training and control your diet. Your body will start to lose matter. You will lose both muscle and fat. You can however limit the muscle loss and try to maximise the fat loss.

But 2 sum up at any one time you are either

1. putting on muscle and fat
2. losing muscle and fat

its a complete myth that u can magically lose fat and out on muscle at the same time. All bodybuilders are recommended to slim down (lose all fat the they want, also losing some muscle) then to bulk up.

Reply 5

Cheer up

So long as your diet is reasonably clean, you shouldn't put on too much fat, so you just have to enusre that your calories are coming from decent sources. Put in a few months decent bulking and then cut off the fat early next year if it's really bothering you.

Reply 6

theepw

Right I see. I was just thinking that although you would put on fat and muscle if you were weight training, surely your % fat would be lower than if you were not weight training.

Only reason I am saying that is the fact that I have heard that if you have more muscle, the more respiring tissue you have and the more calories you are naturally burning at rest level.

So I am just wondering whether weight training will naturally help you lose fat. But I am hoping to do CV exercise along with weights too, eg. treadmill/rowing machine/bike machine

Reply 7

MagicNMedicine

well yes weight training does burn calories, and it does have some value in helping your CV system

when you are a beginner you can get some muscle gain and fat loss at the same time, but after that you either have to be in a bulking or a cutting phase - most people would bulk up for 3 months or so then cut, which would involve the same intensity of weights work but with a controlled diet and increased cardio

Reply 8

theepw

oh right I see what you mean.

When you say cardio, do you mean exercises like exercise bikes and rowing machines?

As for diet, when weight training, and wanting to put on muscle, is it best to have smaller protein meals during the day, rather than 3 bigger meals as per usual?

Reply 9

G.O.A.T

Eating smaller meals throughout the day will help to trick your body into increasing its metabolic rate (burn more calories). As your body knows it will get topped up in a few hours with more calories it will burn wateva u put in it straight away. When u starve or have fewer meals your body thinks ok im not gonna get more calories for 6,7 or 8 hours so wateva i get i best store some and cut down the rate at which i burn calories.

Reply 10

MagicNMedicine

good advice from goat, and also it ties in with the anabolic and catabolic states as well, generally your body will build and store for the first couple of hours after eating, and then start to dip into the stores (including muscle) after the two hours. So if you are keeping protein coming into your system every couple of hours, you will limit the time your body is in a catabolic state.