Fat Loss while on SS

[xprodigy92]

Dear Coach, I always hear that you can't gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Is this true?

[Mark Rippetoe]

It's hard to do without chemical assistance.

[CraziED]

First you have to understand the simple physiology that is required for each task:

Build Muscles: Excess calories
Burn Fat : Calorie reduction

Therefore you will have to choose which option you want to accomplish in the present time prior to executing the method required.

A word of caution, if you try to accomplish both at the same time and try to take in a "balanced" calorie intake, then you may be moving in either direction very slowly. Better to select and devote to one than both at the same time and accomplish little.

But then again, Rip and others have experienced that if you concentrate on building up your strength with a calorie intake that is a little over maintenance for muscle gain and recovery, you may experience some solid (physically visible) body-altering fat loss during the novice training period.

Once you're pass the novice (its based on your strength adaptability not a metaphysical number of months) , then by that time, your diet alone would have the biggest impact on your fat loss - same principles apply for calorie intake.

Am I right, Coach?

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

I have had other experiences....a few times in my life I've had long layoffs due to various reasons where I lost muscle mass and accumulated bodyfat. Once I returned to training bodyfat started dropping and muscle mass increased. But in a normal state then I would agree that it is quite difficult.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Ed and Andy are both right. And there are worse problems to have than having to eat too much for a while.

[ltgrady]

This post was a bit of a surprise to me. I thought by building muscle you burned fat faster (speeding up metabolism) and it would help you lose weight.

I'm a pretty overweight guy and I started the program about a month and a half ago. I've been gaining strength, adding weight on my workouts and feeling much stronger. However, I haven't seemed to lose much weight. I seem to have gone down a belt loop but in 5 weeks i've only lost 10 pounds after lifting 3 times a week plus a day of cardio and radically changing my diet to lots more protein & veggies, no sugar, tons of water, and complex carbs. I haven't been drinking a gallon of milk but i thought since my primary goal is to lose weight as I gain strength all those calories probably aren't a good idea. Plus i've been adding weight so I figure as long as that continues i'm ok.

Am I going about this wrong? Should I be doing a ton more cardio and lighter lifting to drop fat, then get back on the program to try and build muscle? Or should I just be patient that the muscle i'm gaining is heavier than fat i'm losing and i'll eventually see the fat loss? I admit i'm a little frustrated by the lack of weight loss but I feel great and I know i'm getting stronger.

[Mark Rippetoe]

You are doing it correctly. Just keep training, and eating to train better, and the fat loss will continue just as it is now for quite a while.

[OITW]

When I started SS, back in about April 08, I weighed 207. I have been very inconsistent on SS, not reading the fine print, deployments, letting life get in the way, etc., but yesterday when getting weighed for my annual Navy physical I came in at 238, which by the chart calculates to 29.5% body fat, setting off red lights all over the clinic (they also didn't like my answer that I did 20 minutes or more of continuous aerobic exercise only twice a year at the annual physical fitness test). For my height, the highest the Navy says I can weigh is 211 (6'2"). I am now officially a fat boy.

Folks, if I have gained easily twenty pounds of muscle when I have been this inconsistent, and at my age (46), what might I have done had I done the whole program correctly and consistently from the beginning. Thanks to SS, I'm in the best shape of my life, but I'll spend the rest of my career fighting off the lilliputian Nazis of the height/weight chart. I'm thrilled with the RESULTS, the MEASURABLE GAINS IN PERFORMANCE--screw the long slow distance weenies and the starving six-packers.

Really, Coach, I don't know why you even bother with the people who think SS is for weight loss.

[Steve Hill]

The obvious answer is that muscle is (far) more dense than fat. If you put on muscle at the same rate you lose fat by weight, then you will get thinner. Your belt will be looser (or down one or several notches). You will look more muscular. You will obviously be stronger.

This is a concept that my wife, medical professional that she is, continues to fail to understand - looking at how much she weighs, rather than how she looks and how her clothes fit.

[dalej]

This post was a bit of a surprise to me. I thought by building muscle you burned fat faster (speeding up metabolism) and it would help you lose weight.

I'm a pretty overweight guy and I started the program about a month and a half ago. I've been gaining strength, adding weight on my workouts and feeling much stronger. However, I haven't seemed to lose much weight. I seem to have gone down a belt loop but in 5 weeks i've only lost 10 pounds after lifting 3 times a week plus a day of cardio and radically changing my diet to lots more protein & veggies, no sugar, tons of water, and complex carbs. I haven't been drinking a gallon of milk but i thought since my primary goal is to lose weight as I gain strength all those calories probably aren't a good idea. Plus i've been adding weight so I figure as long as that continues i'm ok.

Am I going about this wrong? Should I be doing a ton more cardio and lighter lifting to drop fat, then get back on the program to try and build muscle? Or should I just be patient that the muscle i'm gaining is heavier than fat i'm losing and i'll eventually see the fat loss? I admit i'm a little frustrated by the lack of weight loss but I feel great and I know i'm getting stronger.

Personally, I'd say be patient. The weight didn't come on overnight, and it's not going to go off overnight. Only 10 lbs? You've been losing weight at 2lbs/week while your probably putting on muscle so I'd say your doing great. If it were me, I'd be more concerned with the changes in my belt than the numbers on the scale as that's probably a better indicator of the changes in body composition. If you're really concerned with fat loss, maybe look at getting a qualified person to measure your body fat and have it checked every few months. But, like Coach Rip says you're probably best to just keep training hard and eating well. The bathroom mirror, your belt and the plates on the bar will tell you how you're doing.