Tired of being lied to ALL THE TIME when it comes to fat loss and muscle gain? It's a touchy subject that people try to explain away with fancy terms like "Positive Nitrogen Balance" and "Body Recomposition" when they show off their epic transformations. Now I will admit that a lot of these transformations you see ARE possible, BUT when you see someone go from FAT to RIPPED & HUGE in only 45 – 60 days…. we have a problem here. (5:50)- Why Are You Skinny Fat? | Should You Bulk Or Cut? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwgpxNiSO_Y&list=PLacPhVACI3MPmdZvXralM2yDlAFdJObWC&index=29&t=3s PUSH, PULL, LEGS PROGRAM!- BUILD MUSCLE & STRENGTH –http://muscularstrength.com/Push-Pull-Legs
Here is the real kicker. It's almost impossible to know how big of a surplus you are going into each day and even if you count every single gram of food going into your mouth your easily going to be 5-10% off. You think your eating 3k calories a day but your really eating 2.7k.. or potentially 3.3k. Suppose you eat beef. No 2 cuts of beef are exactly the same fat content. I love my steak but I can take the same cut of beef like NY strip and it will have wildly different calories from cut to cut. When you eat other packaged foods did you know they are allowed to have upwards of 20% inaccuracy in the amount of calories? You think your consuming 400 calories but your really consuming closer to 500 or possibly closer to 300. Things like NEAT can also vary wildly day to day. Combine all those together and you truly have no idea how many calories your consuming each day or burning through NEAT (fidgeting, foot tapping, moving around at desk, etc). I always find it hilarious when people come up with some precise number of calories they consumed for the day (example: I consumed 2906 calories today) or I burned 950 calories today. You literally have 0 idea how many calories your truly burning day to day.
Also the amount of muscle gain per year is wildly off here. Most natural guys would be lucky to put on 12 pounds even in first year. If you gained 25 pounds half of it is likely fat and water. And if your truly eating 500 calories over because you found some magical way to calculate NEAT and the exact calories from food everyday given everything I said almost that entire surplus will be fat.
So me gaining a fckton of muscle over the last 2 months and my weight not slightly going down is an imposdible thing. Good to know. I must be living in a fairy tale or i simply know magic. How many times does this theory have to be proven to be wrong before it dies.
To be honest, I tried the caloric deficit with positive nitrogen balance and made 0 gains for a year. Starting eating like a fuckin dog (good protein rich whole foods) I saw the most gains ever and my lifting numbers went up, plus I started training for strength 5 sets of 5.
Well I dont think u need to be in a surplus to build muscle it may not be optimal but u can build in maintenance calories or slight deficit now obviously probably in new lifters it's way easier but I agree on a lot of things in this video. The thing is not everyone gainz 20 to 25 pounds of muscle in a year of lifting tho. 15 pounds ok mabye 20 if u do it very well but cmon who gainz 25 pounds of muscle unless ure severely underweight
Ok, I won't lie, I'm having some doubts about what I've been doing lately… I'm a 19-year-old male. My body fat percentage is around 20%. Recently when working out, I thought building muscle was what I needed to focus on. However, I have been told it would be a good idea to lose fat. What do you all think?
This video proves that you don't understand mechanism of building muscle and losing fat on a fundamental level. Every time you eat you're in a temporary caloric surplus, anabolic processes exceed catabolic processes and you build some muscle and gain some fat. After awhile, when you go with no food for quite some time or train you're in a temporary caloric deficit where catabolic processes exceed anabolic processes and you break down fat and muscles. This process happens REGARDLESS of calorie intake, net calorie balance will only decide about the rate of muscle/fat gain to muscle/fat loss in anabolic/catabolic states, where reaching a certain level of calorie deficit will lead to even the muscle gain and muscle loss in the process.
The fact that catabolic state consumes more calories than anabolic state provides doesn't mean you'll break down more muscles since missing energy can be taken from your bodyfat. To make it happen your body needs to take more calories from your bodyfat than the calorie deficit value is, which is totally possible in a proper enviroment (training/nutrition/recovery/moderate calorie deficit).
If this wasn't a thing even in a bulk/cut periods we'll always gain or lose exactly same amount of fat and muscles.
As far as i remember it was well explained by people such as Jeff Nippard, Eric Helms or Greg Doucette.
Hey Scott, I enjoy your content and have profited in the gym from your information. This is one video where I might disagree a little bit. I admit that I'm not an expert and I'm relying on a combination of my own personal experience and information that I've gleaned from other sources.
So my disagreement really stems from this one point. People in the Fitness industry often refer to being in calorie surplus or calorie deficit in black and white and overly simplistic terms. This is understandable because trainers like yourself are trying to convey complex information to people who don't have the background, or often the interest level and patience to deal with the complexities.
What does it actually mean, in practical terms, to be in calorie deficit or calorie surplus? The obvious simple answer is that you either burn more calories than you take in, or you take in more calories than you burn. However, this truism is often less useful than it appears because the reality is more complex. One common simplification is that people treat calories burned like it is a constant when it is not. Another common simplification is that people treat calories taken in as though it is reducible to only the food you ate in a given day when, in some cases, it is not.
First, calories burned. Your body is built to be able to regulate its own metabolism based on circumstances and environmental factors. This regulation is mostly accomplished by a system of hormones that tell your body when to amp up metabolism and when to suppress metabolism. This system is built to self-regulate and maintain a given (healthy) weight. So, if a person who is normal weight with normal hormone balance and no medical conditions suddenly starts eating more calories, they will initially gain weight, but their metabolism will relatively quickly amp up and will remain high until they lose the extra weight. Provided they don't eat badly enough for long enough that they break the hormone regulation system and the self-regulation of metabolism gets out of whack. Likewise if the same person lowered their calorie consumption they would initially lose weight, but soon their metabolism would self-regulate down and they would stop losing weight. Their metabolism would then stay low until they went back to a normal diet and regained the weight they had lost.
This system is great and really quite amazing, but it isn't foolproof. It can be short-circuited by long term dietary problems that cause medical conditions that in turn throw the hormone regulation system out of balance.
Second, calories in. A normal weight person has relatively small stores of body fat. As such the calories available to run their body on a daily basis all come from food eaten in the course of the day. A person who is significantly over-weight with high levels of body fat, on the other hand, essentially has tons of stored energy laying around. As a result if the hormone regulation system is working properly or optimally, they could literally go for days or even weeks (in some cases months and no I'm not saying this is a good idea, or that it is the whole story) without eating and their body would still have enough ready energy to run itself.
If a person without large stores of body fat reduces the number of calories they eat in a day, then their body has no choice but to lower it's expenditure of calories on the systems that run the body. To do otherwise, over a long enough period of time, would result in disability and eventually death. So, for this person, the calories they eat on a daily basis are their total calorie budget for running their body. In this case, what you say is true and it is near impossible for them to build muscle while losing fat. Precisely as you say, the two conditions are opposite and mutually exclusive.
However, if a person has large stores of body fat, then they have WAY WAY more energy available than just the food they eat in a day. Their body is perfectly capable, assuming they get their metabolism and hormone systems into working order, of burning fat for energy. That is the whole reason fat exists and why your body stores fat in the first place. As a result, a person who has large stores of body fat can cut back on the number of calories they eat in a day, which would seem to mean that they are in "calorie deficit" but in reality their body still has plenty of energy available to run itself at normal, or even above normal levels. In other words, for this person, a lower level of calories in, does not mean that their body is actually in calorie deficit. It means their body has to get its calories from stored energy rather than from food energy.
A crucial point here, of course, is that you can't get your protein needs met by burning fat. You can get energy, but not necessarily all the other nutrients you need.
As a result, for a person who is significantly over-weight, I would say it is very possible to lose fat and build muscle at the same time with careful diet and good work outs.
Here is where the personal experience comes in. Last December I weight 371 pounds and I had weight trained in the past, but I hadn't been in the gym for months and not seriously training for years. I had a heart attack, found out I had diabetes, and high blood pressure, etc.
I put myself on a regimen of intermittent fasting and exercise. After I was cleared medically from heart issues, I got back to weight training. Over the summer I weight trained very aggressively and I was at the same time on a pretty aggressive intermittent fasting plan. In addition to the fasting, I should mention, I cut back heavily on sugar, particularly soda, but not really on carbs in general.
In that time I lost over 70 lbs (now 295), and I made significant strength gains in the gym. Of course, some of my more muscular look now is from fat loss making the muscles more visible etc. However, I'm pretty convinced that areas like my shoulders, traps, and arms also are bigger. I'm pretty certain that I have gained a significant amount of muscle during a time when I was also losing a lot of fat.
As a side note, I also have made significant progress in fixing my diabetic issues and have been able to get off some of the diabetic medication I originally had to take. I'm fairly convinced that a lot of the obesity problems we face as a society are due to our diet causing hormone problems, particularly insulin resistance.
I'll be interested to hear your thoughts and feel free to tell me if I'm mistaken or my information is bad. I always want to learn.
My problem with this topic is that it is always treated by and for people who are already lean and have low body fat percentage. I've seen lots of fat people, myself included, constantly on caloric deficit and still building muscle.
I lost 7 lbs of fat and gained 2.2 lbs of muscle in a 30 day period so not sure what the hell you're talking about Scott. I am 6 months in to a body recomp and that was the result from my last reading.
I weigh 160 pounds ,cant i just eat like 160 grams of protein and eat fewer fats and carbs and while still having a calorie deficit ; so i will loose fat and gain muscle at the same time right?
I mean, when people say "at the same time", they usually mean in a day or a week. In that case, it's obviously possible to gain muscle and lose fat in a 1 day or 7 day time span. Obviously, you cant do both in the same moment.
It comes down to how fast you're synthesising protein vs catabolizing muscle mass over time. You dont need to be in a calorie surplus for the ENTIRE day in order to synthesize new tissue. You can eat at a deficit and STILL gain muscle, especially of youre somewhat fat adapted. This isnt complicated.
hey so i thought id reply to this 🙂 i went on a 6 month extreme 800cal diet a day. I started at 104kg and went down to 78 within 4 months. I also went from benchpressing 50kg -130kg, squat 70kg – 200 and a deadlift from 100 – 220 kg. I did have a really strong body composition before i started, as i have been an ex pro swimmer. I did this a 100% naturally. My diet was 2 protein smoothies a day (fruits and berries for the vitamins and non addictive sugars, and protein for the muscle growth) and a somewhat normal dinner with lean foods. Note that i have one of the slowest metabolisms i know of. For me as long as i have a bit of fat in me say above 12%, i will always gain a decent amount of muscle while «shredding». So this theory of building muscle and loosing fat is not wrong at all, maybe just not optimal for a lot of people with a faster metabolism.
Here i was thinking that protein synthesis and fat oxidation where two completley different processes in the human body with only a few things affecting both as calloric intake for example 🤔 Guess ill just stop loosing fat and gaining muscle simultaneously then once my noobie gains run out 😔
Bullshit. Ive gained muscle while on caloric deficit as a natural lol. Just because you cant do it doesn't mean no one can. Listen to jeff cavalier..the only guy worth listening to
Meh, sorry but you don't even understand basic concepts let alone go deeper into scientific aspects. Do you even know that 1kg of muscle tissue has a lot less calories than 1kg of fat? For example if you would lose 1kg of fat and then build 3kg of muscle (without gaining fat again) you "lost" around 2000 calories of energy but your weight still increased by 2kg. This is physics. Facts.
Also there are hundreds of studies where natural lifters gain muscle and lose fat. So even without science and logic it has been proven several times by pure observation.
Also all you come up with is some broscience bullshit like nooby gains… Yeah nice in depth analysis…
Overweight people can definitely lose fat and gain muscle. I've done it and I guarantee I built muscle because I went from 80 lb bench press max to 315 in one year and lost 90 lbs on the scale. I could bench press this little guy on my screen 20x and I could knock him out flexing my peck. So the answer is yes you can do it.
Legend says that when Scott and Jeff disagree a hole is ripped open in the space-time continuum.
In all seriousness, though, there are SO many nuances to this subject. Let me try to pick this apart really quick:
The idea behind Jeff’s perspective revolves around being in a fed vs. a fasted state. Throughout the day (meaning a 24hr period), your body shifts between the two, typically multiple times. Our bodies enter a fasted state as we sleep, and then typically yo-yo between the two as we eat our meals while we’re awake.
While we’re in a fed state, we have excess calories. Insulin levels are high and, due to insulin’s anabolic properties, our bodies boost protein synthesis and begin storing fat.
While we’re in a fasted state, our bodies are catabolic. We aren’t necessarily catabolizing statistically significant amounts of muscle during this time period, but, we definitely aren’t building any. It’s during this fasted state that our bodies begin the beta oxidation process and mobilize the fatty acids into our bloodstream to be used as energy.
In a way, you can think of the alternation between fed and fasted states as micro bulks and cuts. It is true that we can’t build muscle and burn fat at the same time, but we can both build muscle and burn fat in the same day.
Note that this process becomes increasingly difficult the longer you train. As your newbie gains diminish, your meal/nutrient timing, micronutrient composition/quality, etc. become absolutely essential to get right in order for this to still be possible.
So… given my background as a certified personal trainer and nutritionist, I’d argue that Jeff is more correct on this subject than Scott, but, I’d argue that for most, the discipline required to maintain the precision and accuracy required to make this work (assuming natural and newbie gains are gone) is unrealistic. Jeff can do it easily because it’s his entire life.
However, I believe strongly that going through bulk and cut periods is unnecessary and unhealthy. Once you have reached your target weight, focus on recomp. I have found that the most effective way of doing this (for most) is to be in a net caloric surplus on training days and a net caloric deficit on rest days, ensuring a neutral energy balance for each week. This way, you never have to bulk for any amount of time that results in the buildup of fat.
HOWEVER 2.0, a traditional bulk/cut cycle (assuming a clean and controlled bulk and healthy cut) is going to be far easier and likely at least marginally more effective for experienced lifters. That said, my personal preference is to sacrifice some of the potential muscle growth that MIGHT come with a longer bulk for the ability to be lean year-round.
You can definitely build muscle while losing fat. Most of your biological processes require energy, and that energy can come in any form, whether it’s from carbs, fat, or protein. For general energy needs, your body burns carbs first because it’s the easiest. Then fats. Your body can burn protein, but it is really hesitant in doing so because protein comes from muscle tissue.
If you are eating enough protein to build muscle, but not enough food overall to maintain energy stores, your body will begin to use up its glycogen stores, and once those get depleted, its fat stores (fat is literally just stored energy, that’s all it is). That’s literally the whole reason why humans have excess body fat. There are some processes that require body fat specifically, but your body won’t let you go below 2%, usually it won’t let you go below 5% (for males anyway, for females this is higher).
So yeah, you can build muscle while burning fat. It’s just harder to do. As long as you present a high enough stimulus, you can do it. It’s just that people lose drive when they’re in a deficit so they’re unable to.
All fat is, is stored energy. When your body needs it, it will use it. Your body burns fat MUCH more readily than protein. These people are retarded to say otherwise.
Tired of being lied to ALL THE TIME when it comes to fat loss and muscle gain? It's a touchy subject that people try to explain away with fancy terms like "Positive Nitrogen Balance" and "Body Recomposition" when they show off their epic transformations. Now I will admit that a lot of these transformations you see ARE possible, BUT when you see someone go from FAT to RIPPED & HUGE in only 45 – 60 days…. we have a problem here.
(5:50)- Why Are You Skinny Fat? | Should You Bulk Or Cut? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwgpxNiSO_Y&list=PLacPhVACI3MPmdZvXralM2yDlAFdJObWC&index=29&t=3s
PUSH, PULL, LEGS PROGRAM!- BUILD MUSCLE & STRENGTH – http://muscularstrength.com/Push-Pull-Legs
So much of this video is filler!!!
Here is the real kicker. It's almost impossible to know how big of a surplus you are going into each day and even if you count every single gram of food going into your mouth your easily going to be 5-10% off. You think your eating 3k calories a day but your really eating 2.7k.. or potentially 3.3k. Suppose you eat beef. No 2 cuts of beef are exactly the same fat content. I love my steak but I can take the same cut of beef like NY strip and it will have wildly different calories from cut to cut. When you eat other packaged foods did you know they are allowed to have upwards of 20% inaccuracy in the amount of calories? You think your consuming 400 calories but your really consuming closer to 500 or possibly closer to 300. Things like NEAT can also vary wildly day to day. Combine all those together and you truly have no idea how many calories your consuming each day or burning through NEAT (fidgeting, foot tapping, moving around at desk, etc). I always find it hilarious when people come up with some precise number of calories they consumed for the day (example: I consumed 2906 calories today) or I burned 950 calories today. You literally have 0 idea how many calories your truly burning day to day.
Also the amount of muscle gain per year is wildly off here. Most natural guys would be lucky to put on 12 pounds even in first year. If you gained 25 pounds half of it is likely fat and water. And if your truly eating 500 calories over because you found some magical way to calculate NEAT and the exact calories from food everyday given everything I said almost that entire surplus will be fat.
That’s not what Jeff from ATHLEAN X says tho. Why the confusion and conflicting theories?
The accent is so confusing and interesting
The emphasis on "Naaatuuuraaal liiifttter" was gold.👍👍
So me gaining a fckton of muscle over the last 2 months and my weight not slightly going down is an imposdible thing. Good to know. I must be living in a fairy tale or i simply know magic. How many times does this theory have to be proven to be wrong before it dies.
Although i don’t agree with you completely, what u said in the video makes perfect sense.
To be honest, I tried the caloric deficit with positive nitrogen balance and made 0 gains for a year. Starting eating like a fuckin dog (good protein rich whole foods) I saw the most gains ever and my lifting numbers went up, plus I started training for strength 5 sets of 5.
Nope sorry it’s basic Thermodynamics you are building muscle not fat bro
I'm gaining strenght and losing fat at the same time. Not sure about size
Jeff Cavaliere that it is possible to burn fat, and build muscle simultaneously, by positive nitrogen balance.
– What is your opinion on that?
Well I dont think u need to be in a surplus to build muscle it may not be optimal but u can build in maintenance calories or slight deficit now obviously probably in new lifters it's way easier but I agree on a lot of things in this video. The thing is not everyone gainz 20 to 25 pounds of muscle in a year of lifting tho. 15 pounds ok mabye 20 if u do it very well but cmon who gainz 25 pounds of muscle unless ure severely underweight
Lol, the way Scott pronounced Omar's name made me laugh. OMAHHH. Keep up the good work, Scott.
Ok, I won't lie, I'm having some doubts about what I've been doing lately…
I'm a 19-year-old male. My body fat percentage is around 20%. Recently when working out, I thought building muscle was what I needed to focus on. However, I have been told it would be a good idea to lose fat. What do you all think?
You can use your own fat stores and build muscle with the energy from it.
I have been lifting for about a year and haven't put on 25 to 30 lbs of muscle.
This video proves that you don't understand mechanism of building muscle and losing fat on a fundamental level. Every time you eat you're in a temporary caloric surplus, anabolic processes exceed catabolic processes and you build some muscle and gain some fat. After awhile, when you go with no food for quite some time or train you're in a temporary caloric deficit where catabolic processes exceed anabolic processes and you break down fat and muscles. This process happens REGARDLESS of calorie intake, net calorie balance will only decide about the rate of muscle/fat gain to muscle/fat loss in anabolic/catabolic states, where reaching a certain level of calorie deficit will lead to even the muscle gain and muscle loss in the process.
The fact that catabolic state consumes more calories than anabolic state provides doesn't mean you'll break down more muscles since missing energy can be taken from your bodyfat. To make it happen your body needs to take more calories from your bodyfat than the calorie deficit value is, which is totally possible in a proper enviroment (training/nutrition/recovery/moderate calorie deficit).
If this wasn't a thing even in a bulk/cut periods we'll always gain or lose exactly same amount of fat and muscles.
As far as i remember it was well explained by people such as Jeff Nippard, Eric Helms or Greg Doucette.
Hey Scott, I enjoy your content and have profited in the gym from your information. This is one video where I might disagree a little bit. I admit that I'm not an expert and I'm relying on a combination of my own personal experience and information that I've gleaned from other sources.
So my disagreement really stems from this one point. People in the Fitness industry often refer to being in calorie surplus or calorie deficit in black and white and overly simplistic terms. This is understandable because trainers like yourself are trying to convey complex information to people who don't have the background, or often the interest level and patience to deal with the complexities.
What does it actually mean, in practical terms, to be in calorie deficit or calorie surplus? The obvious simple answer is that you either burn more calories than you take in, or you take in more calories than you burn. However, this truism is often less useful than it appears because the reality is more complex. One common simplification is that people treat calories burned like it is a constant when it is not. Another common simplification is that people treat calories taken in as though it is reducible to only the food you ate in a given day when, in some cases, it is not.
First, calories burned. Your body is built to be able to regulate its own metabolism based on circumstances and environmental factors. This regulation is mostly accomplished by a system of hormones that tell your body when to amp up metabolism and when to suppress metabolism. This system is built to self-regulate and maintain a given (healthy) weight. So, if a person who is normal weight with normal hormone balance and no medical conditions suddenly starts eating more calories, they will initially gain weight, but their metabolism will relatively quickly amp up and will remain high until they lose the extra weight. Provided they don't eat badly enough for long enough that they break the hormone regulation system and the self-regulation of metabolism gets out of whack. Likewise if the same person lowered their calorie consumption they would initially lose weight, but soon their metabolism would self-regulate down and they would stop losing weight. Their metabolism would then stay low until they went back to a normal diet and regained the weight they had lost.
This system is great and really quite amazing, but it isn't foolproof. It can be short-circuited by long term dietary problems that cause medical conditions that in turn throw the hormone regulation system out of balance.
Second, calories in. A normal weight person has relatively small stores of body fat. As such the calories available to run their body on a daily basis all come from food eaten in the course of the day. A person who is significantly over-weight with high levels of body fat, on the other hand, essentially has tons of stored energy laying around. As a result if the hormone regulation system is working properly or optimally, they could literally go for days or even weeks (in some cases months and no I'm not saying this is a good idea, or that it is the whole story) without eating and their body would still have enough ready energy to run itself.
If a person without large stores of body fat reduces the number of calories they eat in a day, then their body has no choice but to lower it's expenditure of calories on the systems that run the body. To do otherwise, over a long enough period of time, would result in disability and eventually death. So, for this person, the calories they eat on a daily basis are their total calorie budget for running their body. In this case, what you say is true and it is near impossible for them to build muscle while losing fat. Precisely as you say, the two conditions are opposite and mutually exclusive.
However, if a person has large stores of body fat, then they have WAY WAY more energy available than just the food they eat in a day. Their body is perfectly capable, assuming they get their metabolism and hormone systems into working order, of burning fat for energy. That is the whole reason fat exists and why your body stores fat in the first place. As a result, a person who has large stores of body fat can cut back on the number of calories they eat in a day, which would seem to mean that they are in "calorie deficit" but in reality their body still has plenty of energy available to run itself at normal, or even above normal levels. In other words, for this person, a lower level of calories in, does not mean that their body is actually in calorie deficit. It means their body has to get its calories from stored energy rather than from food energy.
A crucial point here, of course, is that you can't get your protein needs met by burning fat. You can get energy, but not necessarily all the other nutrients you need.
As a result, for a person who is significantly over-weight, I would say it is very possible to lose fat and build muscle at the same time with careful diet and good work outs.
Here is where the personal experience comes in. Last December I weight 371 pounds and I had weight trained in the past, but I hadn't been in the gym for months and not seriously training for years. I had a heart attack, found out I had diabetes, and high blood pressure, etc.
I put myself on a regimen of intermittent fasting and exercise. After I was cleared medically from heart issues, I got back to weight training. Over the summer I weight trained very aggressively and I was at the same time on a pretty aggressive intermittent fasting plan. In addition to the fasting, I should mention, I cut back heavily on sugar, particularly soda, but not really on carbs in general.
In that time I lost over 70 lbs (now 295), and I made significant strength gains in the gym. Of course, some of my more muscular look now is from fat loss making the muscles more visible etc. However, I'm pretty convinced that areas like my shoulders, traps, and arms also are bigger. I'm pretty certain that I have gained a significant amount of muscle during a time when I was also losing a lot of fat.
As a side note, I also have made significant progress in fixing my diabetic issues and have been able to get off some of the diabetic medication I originally had to take. I'm fairly convinced that a lot of the obesity problems we face as a society are due to our diet causing hormone problems, particularly insulin resistance.
I'll be interested to hear your thoughts and feel free to tell me if I'm mistaken or my information is bad. I always want to learn.
could someone please tell me when does he talk about the diet or make his point? cause I don't have time for this
My problem with this topic is that it is always treated by and for people who are already lean and have low body fat percentage. I've seen lots of fat people, myself included, constantly on caloric deficit and still building muscle.
I lost 7 lbs of fat and gained 2.2 lbs of muscle in a 30 day period so not sure what the hell you're talking about Scott. I am 6 months in to a body recomp and that was the result from my last reading.
I weigh 160 pounds ,cant i just eat like 160 grams of protein and eat fewer fats and carbs and while still having a calorie deficit ; so i will loose fat and gain muscle at the same time right?
I mean, when people say "at the same time", they usually mean in a day or a week. In that case, it's obviously possible to gain muscle and lose fat in a 1 day or 7 day time span. Obviously, you cant do both in the same moment.
It comes down to how fast you're synthesising protein vs catabolizing muscle mass over time. You dont need to be in a calorie surplus for the ENTIRE day in order to synthesize new tissue. You can eat at a deficit and STILL gain muscle, especially of youre somewhat fat adapted. This isnt complicated.
hey so i thought id reply to this 🙂 i went on a 6 month extreme 800cal diet a day. I started at 104kg and went down to 78 within 4 months. I also went from benchpressing
50kg -130kg, squat 70kg – 200 and a deadlift from 100 – 220 kg. I did have a really strong body composition before i started, as i have been an ex pro swimmer. I did this a 100% naturally. My diet was 2 protein smoothies a day (fruits and berries for the vitamins and non addictive sugars, and protein for the muscle growth) and a somewhat normal dinner with lean foods. Note that i have one of the slowest metabolisms i know of. For me as long as i have a bit of fat in me say above 12%, i will always gain a decent amount of muscle while «shredding». So this theory of building muscle and loosing fat is not wrong at all, maybe just not optimal for a lot of people with a faster metabolism.
So athlene x is wrong?
this shit is annoying. I never know who to believe lmaoo. everyone on YouTube is a snake in the fitness industry it seems like.
Hey guys this is the comment without a heart
Here i was thinking that protein synthesis and fat oxidation where two completley different processes in the human body with only a few things affecting both as calloric intake for example 🤔 Guess ill just stop loosing fat and gaining muscle simultaneously then once my noobie gains run out 😔
Bullshit. Ive gained muscle while on caloric deficit as a natural lol. Just because you cant do it doesn't mean no one can. Listen to jeff cavalier..the only guy worth listening to
Meh, sorry but you don't even understand basic concepts let alone go deeper into scientific aspects. Do you even know that 1kg of muscle tissue has a lot less calories than 1kg of fat? For example if you would lose 1kg of fat and then build 3kg of muscle (without gaining fat again) you "lost" around 2000 calories of energy but your weight still increased by 2kg. This is physics. Facts.
Also there are hundreds of studies where natural lifters gain muscle and lose fat. So even without science and logic it has been proven several times by pure observation.
Also all you come up with is some broscience bullshit like nooby gains… Yeah nice in depth analysis…
What about intermittent fasting though?
Too easy
Overweight people can definitely lose fat and gain muscle. I've done it and I guarantee I built muscle because I went from 80 lb bench press max to 315 in one year and lost 90 lbs on the scale. I could bench press this little guy on my screen 20x and I could knock him out flexing my peck. So the answer is yes you can do it.
Legend says that when Scott and Jeff disagree a hole is ripped open in the space-time continuum.
In all seriousness, though, there are SO many nuances to this subject. Let me try to pick this apart really quick:
The idea behind Jeff’s perspective revolves around being in a fed vs. a fasted state. Throughout the day (meaning a 24hr period), your body shifts between the two, typically multiple times. Our bodies enter a fasted state as we sleep, and then typically yo-yo between the two as we eat our meals while we’re awake.
While we’re in a fed state, we have excess calories. Insulin levels are high and, due to insulin’s anabolic properties, our bodies boost protein synthesis and begin storing fat.
While we’re in a fasted state, our bodies are catabolic. We aren’t necessarily catabolizing statistically significant amounts of muscle during this time period, but, we definitely aren’t building any. It’s during this fasted state that our bodies begin the beta oxidation process and mobilize the fatty acids into our bloodstream to be used as energy.
In a way, you can think of the alternation between fed and fasted states as micro bulks and cuts. It is true that we can’t build muscle and burn fat at the same time, but we can both build muscle and burn fat in the same day.
Note that this process becomes increasingly difficult the longer you train. As your newbie gains diminish, your meal/nutrient timing, micronutrient composition/quality, etc. become absolutely essential to get right in order for this to still be possible.
So… given my background as a certified personal trainer and nutritionist, I’d argue that Jeff is more correct on this subject than Scott, but, I’d argue that for most, the discipline required to maintain the precision and accuracy required to make this work (assuming natural and newbie gains are gone) is unrealistic. Jeff can do it easily because it’s his entire life.
However, I believe strongly that going through bulk and cut periods is unnecessary and unhealthy. Once you have reached your target weight, focus on recomp. I have found that the most effective way of doing this (for most) is to be in a net caloric surplus on training days and a net caloric deficit on rest days, ensuring a neutral energy balance for each week. This way, you never have to bulk for any amount of time that results in the buildup of fat.
HOWEVER 2.0, a traditional bulk/cut cycle (assuming a clean and controlled bulk and healthy cut) is going to be far easier and likely at least marginally more effective for experienced lifters. That said, my personal preference is to sacrifice some of the potential muscle growth that MIGHT come with a longer bulk for the ability to be lean year-round.
Just my 2¢ (okay, maybe a little more than 2¢… 😅)
Sorry Don't believe you. Even Athlean X has proven it's possible to lose fat and gain lean muscle as well as 100s of stories I've seen people do so.
You can definitely build muscle while losing fat. Most of your biological processes require energy, and that energy can come in any form, whether it’s from carbs, fat, or protein. For general energy needs, your body burns carbs first because it’s the easiest. Then fats. Your body can burn protein, but it is really hesitant in doing so because protein comes from muscle tissue.
If you are eating enough protein to build muscle, but not enough food overall to maintain energy stores, your body will begin to use up its glycogen stores, and once those get depleted, its fat stores (fat is literally just stored energy, that’s all it is). That’s literally the whole reason why humans have excess body fat. There are some processes that require body fat specifically, but your body won’t let you go below 2%, usually it won’t let you go below 5% (for males anyway, for females this is higher).
So yeah, you can build muscle while burning fat. It’s just harder to do. As long as you present a high enough stimulus, you can do it. It’s just that people lose drive when they’re in a deficit so they’re unable to.
All fat is, is stored energy. When your body needs it, it will use it. Your body burns fat MUCH more readily than protein. These people are retarded to say otherwise.