Bodybuilding Fat Loss: Burn Fat First Before Building Muscle

Written by Francis Lucas on Tuesday, 29 May 2012.

Bodybuilding Fat Loss: Burn Fat First Before Building Muscle
Many new gym-goers who have decided to start pumping iron in the gym want to burn fat fast and build muscle at the same time. Physiologically, it’s impossible to do both simultaneously because you need a caloric deficit to burn fat fast, and a caloric surplus in order to gain muscle.

If you want to maximize the results of your weight training workouts, prioritize bodybuilding fat loss goals over muscle gain. You should focus on trimming fat without losing muscle mass before you can bulk up. Trying to achieve two goals at the same time might compromise your results because it is difficult to devote an equal amount of time to two things.

Building muscle without gaining fat is by no means easy. Your body needs to be in an anabolic state, where tissues get energy for growth and maintenance from carbohydrates, fat, and protein, in order to increase muscle mass. Men and women who have a high percentage of body fat should lose fat first before they can start the muscle building phase of their workout programs.

Having excess body fat stored in your body will hide the mass and shape of the muscles you have worked hard for in the gym. Your muscles appear bigger and more defined when you are lean. Once you have trimmed down, you will have a better idea of how much muscle you want to add to your frame.

How to Achieve Bodybuilding Fat Loss

Losing fat is not easy. Building muscle is even harder. Both goals require a lot of commitment, determination, and patience. The good thing is, your workouts don’t need to be too different whether your goal is to burn fat fast or to bulk up.

You need to combine a nutritious diet with a well-rounded exercise program if you want to sculpt the body of your dreams. Diet alone will not help you effectively keep fat off. There is also no such thing as spot training or trying to lose fat in just specific areas of your body.

Relying on just aerobic exercises or cardio will not effectively help you burn fat fast. A study conducted by Pennsylvania State University researchers found that men who were on a fat loss diet and did aerobics plus weight training lost more 44 percent more fat compared to those who only dieted, and 35 percent more fat than those who dieted and did only aerobics.

Aside from weight training, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) can also help accelerate your metabolism for up to 48 hours. Both are important components of an effective fat loss regimen. Whatever type of exercise you perform, you can maximize your results by using Sweet Sweat, the thermogenic workout enhancer. Click here to learn more about the science behind Sweet Sweat.

About the Author

Francis Lucas

Francis Lucas

Francis is an SEO copywriter and Internet marketing professional. When not blogging or creating content for web pages, he can be found running, dreaming that he is God’s gift to basketball and soccer, conspiring with the Dark Side, and inflicting his idiosyncrasies on family and friends.

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Comments (4)

  • Gareth

    Gareth

    07 June 2012 at 14:56 |
    I used to argue with my friend that you could turn fat into muscle so it's a good job I learnt my lesson on that one pretty qucikly. Always focusing on maintaining decent abs. Number one priority for me.
    reply
  • Wat

    Wat

    15 June 2012 at 23:18 |
    Eating carbs while trying to lose body fat is tebrlriy inefficient. When in glycolysis (burning glucose as fuel) you have to lower your calories (which not only slows your metabolism but catabolizes lean tissues as well) exercise heavily to deplete your glycogen stores before burning body fat.The core of Atkins program is converting the body from glycolysis (burning glucose as fuel) to ketosis (burning fat as fuel). Dietary fat levels need to be at >65% of total calories, if not, the body will still remain in glycolysis by converting 58% of excess protein into glucose (via gluconeogenesis). It takes minimum of 3 days to convert a body to ketosis, (but only one bite to convert back to glycolysis). People feel sluggish the first week but most feel better than ever thereafter.You can lose more body fat eating protein fat (don't eat protein alone) than not eating AT ALL. To lose weight fast, eat all you want, but nothing but meat, eggs, healthy oils, mayo, butter half an avocado a day (for added potassium). Keep the calories high the fat percentage high, at least 65% of calories. Green vegetables some cheese will continue weight loss but at a slower pace.The first 2 weeks eat several cups a day of (mostly) lettuce celery, cucumbers, radishes, mushrooms, peppers more variety of vegetables thereafter add 5 grams per day additional every week (20 grams day first 2 weeks, 25grams 3rd week, 30grams 4th week etc) til you gain weight, then subtract 10grams. That will be your personal carb level (everyone is different depends on how active you are.) Start with meat, fats salads for 2 weeks and then slowly add in more green veg, wk4 fresh cheeses, wk5 nuts seeds, wk6 berries, wk7 legumes, wk8 other fruits, wk9 starchy veg, wk10 whole grains. You will learn how your body reacts to different foods. The first week is just water weight but fat is lost thereafter if you keep your calories high enough. Otherwise the body will strip it's own lean tissue for nutrition. Although that may look great on a scale it will make it MUCH easier to accumulate fat in the future (since all that pesky lean tissue burning up calories will be gone). The body won't release fat stores if you lower calories below what it needs. It will slow metabolism to compensate store every spare ounce as fat. If you continue lowering calories, it will continue lowering the set point, til it can survive off nothing store fat on anything. The body will only release it's fat stores if it knows there is plenty of nutritious food.Simple carbohydrates (sugar, flour, bread, cereal, pasta, potatoes, rice) trigger insulin which can store the calories eaten into fat. The more protein the more the fat burning hormone glucagon is released. The more carbohydrate the more the fat storage hormone insulin is released.Simple carbs are addictive can be disastrous to health. The best way to break the addiction is NO carbs for 3 days. Make a huge batch of deviled eggs, eat one every time you want something have huge omelets with bacon, sausage, peppers, mushrooms cheese. Pork chops smothered with peppers, mushrooms cheese pork rinds dip or tuna/chicken/turkey/egg salad steaks a huge sugar free cheese cake. Eat so much you won't feel deprived of anything. By the 4th day, the addiction will be gone you can start making healthy choices.High insulin levels promote inflammation, weight gain, hunger unbalance other hormones. Controlling insulin levels will balance out other hormones allow human growth hormone (HGH) to be produced naturally so lean muscle will be gained even without exercise. Any exercise will greatly increase muscle mass with high HGH levels.Ground flax seed (2 Tbsp) 1/4 cup water, artificial sweetener, mix in a raw egg let sit 10 min. to absorb liquid, put some cream cheese in the middle nuke 2 minutes. Suggested for daily fiber needs.As long as you have
    reply
  • health and fitness

    health and fitness

    13 July 2012 at 03:15 |
    wow!that is great tips for decrease belly.
    reply
  • muscle maximizer

    muscle maximizer

    02 January 2013 at 07:42 |
    Well I really liked reading it. This tip offered by you is very
    practical for proper planning.
    reply

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