Building Muscle. You need a caloric surplus to gain weight. And if you’re skinny you’ll want that weight gain to be muscle. But you can build muscle without gaining weight too. It comes down to: Stress. Strength training stresses your body. Your body adapts to the stress by growing stronger and building muscle.
Nutrition. 1g/lbs protein daily at least to build muscle. Body-weight in lbs x 18kcal daily so your body doesn’t burn muscle for energy.
Losing Fat.
I wrote a full guide on how to lose fat fast in the past.
Here’s the short version:
Burn More. Weight lifting and cardio burn calories. Muscle burn calories. More muscle means more calories burned, even when at rest.
Eat Clean. Don’t worry about calories. Quit the junk food, eat clean and avoid hunger. Track your body fat weekly using a fat caliper.
Professionals. Bodybuilders play a different game. They cut to drop below 10% body fat. The lower you want to decrease your body fat, the more you have to look at the details. And one goal at a time is always easier.
Impractical. Your body is not made to stay below 10% body fat for long. Body fat is emergency storage. Trying to get lower for extensive periods means lots of cardio and counting calories.
Unnecessary. Picture above: Russian strongman Michael Sidorychev.
You can see his abs although his body fat is above 10%. Why? Because he’s strong.
Building Muscle While Losing Fat.
You can build muscle while losing fat. Just like you can build muscle without gaining weight. Or gain weight without gaining fat. Get stronger, eat healthy. Leave the details to the bodybuilders.
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