Losing Weight and Building Muscle: What You Need to Know

Losing weight and building muscle are two popular fitness goals that require different approaches. To achieve both goals effectively, it's essential to understand the basics of weight loss and muscle building.

Losing Weight

When it comes to weight loss, creating a caloric deficit is crucial.

How Many Calories Should You Eat to Lose Weight

To lose weight safely and sustainably, aim for a caloric deficit of 300-500 calories per day (usually decreasing normal caloric intake by 5-10% initially), which can lead to 1-2 pounds of weight loss per week.

What Workouts Should You Do to Lose Weight?

Incorporating both cardio and strength training exercises into your fitness routine can be beneficial for weight loss. Cardiovascular exercise, such as running or cycling, can help you burn calories and improve heart health, while strength training can help you build muscle and increase metabolism.

It is important to note that you need to prioritize weight training to build and preserve muscle, and use cardio only as needed to increased caloric expenditure . It is key that your diet should place you in a calorie deficit, and that cardio may in fact not be necessary to lose weight.

Be Careful Not Lose Weight Too Fast (OR You’ll Lose Muscle Too)

When losing weight, it's important to consume adequate amounts of protein to support muscle growth and repair, engage in resistance training exercises to maintain muscle mass, and avoid losing weight too quickly, which can result in muscle loss.

Building Muscle

To build muscle, you need to create a caloric surplus by consuming more calories than you burn. Additionally, strength training exercises, such as weightlifting or bodyweight exercises, can stimulate muscle growth and increase strength. Aim to consume 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight and engage in resistance training exercises 3-4 times per week.

How Many Days Per Week Should You Lift?

Ideally you will workout 3-5 days a week to build muscle. The more advanced you are, or the quicker you want results the more days per week you would train. In a perfect world you would be able to train most muscle groups twice per week.

Looking for a 5-day muscle building workout program? The Look Like You Lift program includes all the muscle building compound exercises you need like squats, deadlifts, rows, bench presses, and dip, along with isolation exercises to maximize muscles growth.

Combining Both Goals

It is possible to lose weight and build muscle at the same time, but it requires a careful balance of nutrition and exercise. To achieve both goals simultaneously, aim for a modest caloric deficit of 250-500 calories per day, consume adequate amounts of protein to support muscle growth and repair, and engage in resistance training exercises to maintain muscle mass and stimulate muscle growth.

If you are leaner, you may find it more helpful to take a period of time and eat in a surplus to gain weight (muscles and minimal fat) slowly over the span of a few months, and then go into a fat loss phase to lose bodyfat and preserve your muscle mass. This is called Bulking and Cutting, and is used more for leaner, more advanced lifters to continually progress their results.

Final Words

In conclusion, losing weight and building muscle require different approaches, but they can be achieved simultaneously with proper nutrition and exercise. Consult with a healthcare professional or registered dietitian to develop a personalized fitness and nutrition plan that is safe and effective for you.