When someone asks you what your fitness goals are, do you say 'lose fat, gain muscle?' If so, you really need to think hard about this answer.
While it's perfectly normal to want to firm your body while increasing the amount of lean muscle mass you have, it's almost important to realize how each of these outcomes is achieved.
By understanding your body's mechanisms better, you're more likely to work towards an appropriate goal and see the best results.
Let's look at a few important factors that you should bear in mind if you want to lose fat, gain muscle and create an impressive body.
The Calorie Requirements The main point you should note is that fat loss and muscle gain require two different calorie levels.
To ensure that your body turns to body fat stores for fuel, you'll have to consume fewer calories than you burn each day.
On the other hand, if you want to build lean muscle mass, you'll have to provide your body with additional nutrition on top of what's required to maintain your body weight.
See what I mean? The biggest problem people run into with this goal is addressing the calorie intake issue without a structured plan.
The Types Of Workouts Now, switching gears, let's look at the workouts that are required to lose fat and gain muscle.
In both scenarios you'll have to apply an overloading stimulus, allow time for rest, and be sure that each muscle is targeted correctly.
Since the workouts won't differ all that much, it's mostly the nutrition that's going to make the biggest difference in how you go about the two goals.
How To Lose Fat and Gain Muscle Successfully So, is it really possible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time? Fortunately it is, providing your program is structured correctly.
It's important to ensure that you have a much higher intake of calories on the days that you lift weight, in order to promote muscle gain.
Then, on the days that you perform cardio exercises and do little or no lifting, reduce the calorie intake dramatically.
This way you'll build muscle on workout days and lose fat on the other days.
This method can be really effective if you're very diligent with your diet and make sure that you're pre-planning your food intake to correspond with your workouts.
Also note that if you're just new to exercising, then it's much easier to lose fat and gain muscle since the body will be responding to the whole new stimulus of exercise in the first place.
So, although it's easier to tackle one goal at a time, it's certainly possible to lose fat and gain muscle simultaneously.
With a disciplined approach and a sound strategy in place, you can look forward to some great results.