The First Thing You Need to Know About Losing Fat

Never Try to Build Muscle and Lose Fat at the Same Time

by Marc Perry

The following is a chapter found in the Get Lean Guide by Marc Perry.

I rewrote the article for practice.  You can find the original and a ton of other useful info at BuiltLean.com

Mike did not feel good.  He was overweight at 5' 10", 200 pounds and 25% body fat.  The weight was affecting his performance at work, not to mention his self-confidence, and his love life.  

Mike went on a strict diet and lost 30 pounds.  That's great!  He was happy with his results but the way he looked in the mirror wasn't quite what he was expecting.  He lacked definition and had a bit of a muffin top, definitely better but not the lean, toned, beast he was hoping for.  

Unfortunately 10 of the pounds Mike lost came from muscle.

If Mike had followed a program that burns fat while protecting muscle, he would have achieved his goal faster and been happier with the results.  After losing 20 pounds of fat and 10 pounds of muscle, his body fat was still 18%.  If he had lost 30 pounds of fat, his body fat percentage would be an impressive 12%.  Now that's lean!

I have to admit I spun my wheels for years because I didn't understand that muscle gain and fat loss require completely different approaches.

Losing fat is a catabolic process while muscle building is an anabolic process.

The following is an oversimplification, but building muscle requires eating more calories than you burn while lifting heavier and heavier weights.  Fat loss requires you to eat less calories than you burn and does not necessarily require you to progress the weight you are lifting.

Professional bodybuilders and fitness models do not attempt to build muscle and lose fat at the same time.  Instead, these people go on a muscle gain cycle of around 3-6 months, and then go on a fat loss cycle of 2-3 months.

If you're reading this report, then your body fat is probably around 15% or above.  If this is the case, I strongly encourage you to focus 100% on losing fat (without losing muscle of course).

Once you get your body fat percentage down into the low double-digits (or reach your first plateau), then you can shift to muscle building.  Either way, you'll be happy with the results!

Mike should be proud.  Losing 30 pounds is an accomplishment.  If you want to lose weight AND look great, then don't ignore maintenance level exercising.

You can find all the help you need to develop a program to get the lean, toned, athletic body you want at BuiltLean.com