Fat vs. Muscle: Our Short Guide For Fat Loss & Muscle Gain

Fat burning and muscle building aren’t mutually exclusive goals – you can accomplish both at the same time. And you don’t even need to be on a diet to do it!

But how?

To lose fat and gain muscle, your body needs to be in a caloric deficit and a caloric surplus. Yes, it sounds confusing and you’re not alone there. Let’s compare and contrast both fat and muscle first.

Density

Fat tissue is less dense and bulkier compared to muscle tissue.  A pound of fatty tissue has more volume than a pound of muscle tissues, so fat takes more areas under your skin. For instance, Mary, who is a 170-pound female with 25% body fat, looks leaner than Magdalene, who has the same weight as Mary but with 45% body fat.

Muscle tissue, on the other hand, is denser than fat tissue. The denser the thing is, the less space it takes up, right? This goes the same to muscles. An exact amount of muscles will occupy fewer physical areas than the same amount of fat. If you have lesser body fat, you’ll have more muscle definition and a toned physique.

Calorie Usage

During metabolism, fat utilizes fewer calories, while muscle uses a higher amount of calories. Let’s use Mary and Sarah as an example. Mary, who has 25% body fat, will have more muscle and consequently needs more calories to keep her system running. Also, she can burn more calories than Sarah, even if she’s resting. So, Mary can both eat more calories and maintain her weight, compared to Sarah with more fat tissue.

Considering both’s calorie usage, aiming for fat loss and muscle gain would often conflict with one another. Consider this:

• Muscle building requires eating more calories
• Weight loss requires fewer calorie intake

Remember this: if you’re taking up calories to gain muscle mass, you’ll gain weight. But if you’re at a calorie deficit for weight loss, you’ll not be getting the fuel that your muscles need to grow bigger. So how come fat-loss and muscle gain possible at once? The following would tell you how.

Cardio for Fat-Loss, Strength for Muscle Gain

There’s no need to be so worried about the balance on calorie intake when aiming to lose fat and gain muscle. But, you need to do a combination of exercises. Incorporate both cardio and strength training into your workout routine. Cardio workout without strength training would compromise muscle mass, while strength training without cardio would compromise fat loss.

A study about women who did a combination of cardio and strength training for three months discovered that the subjects lost 10% of their body fat, while increased 9% of their muscle mass.

If you’re a beginner and mainly want to gain muscle, lift weights 3 times/week. You can use different gym equipment you can conveniently have at home.  A few good examples are barbells, dumbbells, and other resistance machines.

Opt for weights that are challenging yet possible for a set of 15. Do this strength training with two moderate-intensity cardio sessions for 20 to 30 minutes, three to four minutes a week. Here’s a sample of 20-minute cardio-strength circuit training you can do at home (don’t forget to always start with a warm-up, and end with a cooldown!)

1. Strength: Mountain Climber (eight times)
2. Cardio: Curtsy Lunges With Gliding Discs
3. Strength: Hip Abduction/Adduction With Gliding Discs (eight times)
4. Cardio: Alternating Knee-Up With Propulsion on Step (four times on each foot)
5. Strength: Dynamic Bridge (six times on each side)
6. Cardio: Sliding Jumping Jacks on Discs (16 times)
7. Strength: Squat and Rotate With Body Bar
8. Cardio: Propulsive Lunges on the Step (repeat for the whole duration)
9. Strength: Kayak Rows With Body Bar
10. Cardio: Leap, Lunge and Squat (two times)

Depending on your time constraints, you can do cardio and weight workouts on the same day. It doesn’t matter which one you should do first. You can vary your routine and try various combinations to figure out the one that is best and right for you.