3321: Should I Lose Weight Before Building Muscle? by Eric Bach of Bach Performance on Fitness Goal Strategy

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Should I lose weight before building muscle by Eric Bach of BachPerformance.com?

And I'm Dr. Neal, your host and personal narrator.

I read to you every day from the best articles online with a little bit of my commentary at the end.

So with that, let's get right to today's post and start optimizing your life.

Should I lose weight before building muscle by Eric Bach of BachPerformance.com?

If you're like most in the gym, you'd like to lose weight and build muscle ASAP.

But what kind of weight and muscle and how soon?

Most would say they want to drop 15 pounds of body fat and replace it with lean muscle yesterday.

Before you start down this road, here's sage advice I wish I had received when I first started training.

Chasing fat loss and muscle growth simultaneously ensures you'll struggle to do either.

There is a fine distinction most lifters miss.

At any given point in time, like this very second, you're either anabolic, meaning building or catabolic, meaning breaking down.

During a training phase, you'll have periods of both.

However, if you try to do both simultaneously, progress is almost non-existent.

When you don't see progress, you lose motivation.

When you lose motivation, you stop being consistent and change programs and diets to the point where it's impossible to make progress.

The fastest way to lose fat and build muscle is to get lean first, then build muscle.

Take a trip down memory lane.

When you started training, you probably built muscle and lost fat.

As a beginner, resistance training and healthy eating are a shock to your system and body recomposition is possible.

You make the fastest gains of your life and you often expect to continue on the same trajectory.

Unfortunately, making progress gets harder the longer you do it.

The process takes longer and reaching new levels of success requires changing your strategy.

This is precisely where most lifters stay stuck.

Their expectations are out of alignment with what's physically possible, so they chase physiologically conflicting goals.

Losing fat and building muscle requires two different protocols.

Losing body fat requires your body to be in a caloric deficit and burn stored fuel for energy.

Building muscle requires your body to be in a calorie surplus and have additional calories to recover from training to grow.

Fat loss and muscle growth are on two opposite sides of the physiological spectrum.

By chasing two goals, your body receives conflicting signals.

You'll succeed faster by narrowing your focus to either fat loss or muscle growth.

Here are five reasons to lose weight before building muscle.

One, the best reason to lose weight before building muscle.

It's actually pretty simple.

Fat loss is incredibly motivating.

Research routinely shows you can lose one to three pounds of fat per week following an intelligent plan.

Building muscle takes much longer.

One to three pounds of lean muscle each month is fast progress.

Fat loss is an exponentially faster process.

You can theoretically lose 15 pounds of fat in 408 weeks and keep it off.

Adding 15 pounds of lean muscle will probably take you at least a year if you're 100% consistent with your training and diet.

Because you'll lose fat faster and see quicker results when you step out of the shower each morning, you'll be more confident and most of all, consistent.

Two, improved health and energy levels.

A handful of incredible changes happen inside your body when you lose body fat.

First, relative strength increases.

You'll be stronger for your size as long as you're holding onto strength and muscle with this strategic training plan.

You'll move your body through space easier.

Whether going for a run, playing a pickup sport or grinding through a long day, everything you do becomes relatively easier.

Second, you'll improve your hormonal health.

Body fat acts like a hormone leading to health issues and more body fat.

Researchers found body fat triggers the release of hormones in your body and usually those hormones are not good.

Here's a list of hormones and health issues seen with higher body fat amounts.

Leptin resistance, which leads to an inability to regulate appetite.

Adipenectin.

This can reduce insulin sensitivity and increase inflammation.

Resistant also reduces insulin sensitivity.

Lipocallan2 also reduces insulin sensitivity and increases inflammation.

Isthmine1 related to immune function.

Atoms1 contributes to blood vessel formation and ovulation.

And Camarin increases inflammation and raises blood pressure.

When you lose fat first, evidence shows you may improve appetite control, decrease inflammation, improve immune health, improve sexual health, decrease blood pressure, and have healthy blood vessel formation.

And third, you'll improve insulin sensitivity.

When your body is more sensitive to insulin, you can control your blood sugar and more effectively build muscle and lose body fat.

Better insulin sensitivity helps you enjoy your favorite foods without gaining as much body fat and instead burning it off as energy or building muscle.

Three, you'll look bigger when you're lean.

Most lifters want to build muscle and lose fat because it will improve their look.

Getting leaner helps you look bigger.

I'm always amazed when I go on a diet and drop 8 to 10 pounds.

I get compliments that I've bulked up.

Body fat hides muscular shape and definition.

When you get leaner, you'll reveal a more muscular shape and more definition.

Your shoulders will appear wider.

Your waist will appear smaller.

And from an aesthetic point of view, you'll look bigger and more impressive.

If your primary goal is to look better, getting leaner is the best way to do it.

Four, you'll learn how much muscle you really need.

Some chase growing to a certain weight on the scale as a gauge of their success.

I fell into this trap years ago when trying to build muscle for football.

Weighing a certain amount had its credence and a sport predicated on high-speed collisions like football, but body weight is a poor indicator of success in the gym.

Particularly if your goals are based on how you look and feel.

Don't get me wrong, you need lean muscle mass to build your best body.

If we take men as an example, most men have a good amount of muscle.

Unfortunately, most men carry significantly more body fat than they realize.

Because they're fatter than they think, their expectations of what they should weigh are worked, creating huge mental trap.

Unrealistic expectations blur our view of actual progress.

When progress appears to be lacking, confidence withers and consistency struggles.

I recommend guys try to get down to 10-15% body fat.

In other words, you should have some visible abs before you attempt to bulk up.

And five, you'll add lean muscle easier when you're lean.

When you're leaner, like less than 10-15% body fat for men, your body will be healthier and your insulin sensitivity will be improved.

The result is you can eat at a calorie surplus, a requirement to build significant amounts of muscle, while limiting fat gain and building muscle.

When you're leaner, you have a better grasp of how much muscle you want to gain.

As a result of practical expectations and a body that's optimized for lean muscle growth, you can set practical goals and build a plan around building lean muscle.

Which brings us back to our original question.

Should I lose weight before building muscle? And the answer is, it's entirely possible to lose fat and build muscle.

The best way to do it is by getting lean first.

Once you're lean, focus on building lean muscle. You'll be healthier, happier, and most of all, you'll accomplish your goal faster.

You just listen to the post titled, Should I lose weight before building muscle?

By Eric Bach of BachPerformance.com and I'll be right back with my commentary.

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Dr. Neil here with my commentary.

Getting lean doesn't have to be super dramatic.

When we talk about diet changes, it can be something simple.

Let me give you an example.

It may be something like cutting 100 calories from our daily calorie total each day.

Now, that may sound like a lot of calories, but let's put this in perspective.

If we swap one can of a typical regular soda with one can of zero calories sparkling water,

we just cut 100 to 150 calories right there.

Another example.

If we swap one Snickers bar, which is 250 calories,

with the 100 calorie version of a Snickers bar, that's 150 calories saved.

Now, I often get the question, well, what about some macronutrient targets?

What do you recommend?

If I'm trying to get lean, how many calories should come from carbohydrates, protein, and fat each day?

Now, of course, the recommendations I'm about to share with you are very general,

so it would be worthwhile to talk to a registered dietitian to sort of hone this in for you.

But in general, here's what I recommend.

Aim for about 50% of your calories coming from carbohydrates each day,

and those calories should come from whole grains specifically.

Then, about 30% of your daily calories should come from protein sources,

and then 20% should come from heart healthy fats.

But again, if counting your macronutrients and your calories each day isn't quite for you,

think of simple daily swaps instead, like swapping that regular soda for sparkling water.

Alright, that'll do it for today. Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you so much for sharing this show with someone.

I hope you have a great rest of your day, and I'll be back here tomorrow as usual,

so I'll see you there with your optimal life awaits.