Gaining Muscle and Losing Fat Is an Ideal Goal for a Fit Body

Most bodybuilders are very keen to build muscle, while they lose the fat around their midriffs and other places where this has a tendency to accumulate.  Many people think of weight loss, when they are actually thinking of reducing fat.

When any person starts a program of lifting weights, you will be expending a lot of energy, eat more calories because you feel hungry and in all possibility will have added to the content of fat in your body. So while you muscle has bulked, so has the fat, and your body is a lumpy one with fat deposits in unwanted places. This is when you need to get into a low calorie diet while you still do a lot of cardio exercises.  Aim to lose one or two pounds a week and adjust your diet accordingly and you may even be able to build muscle during the three or four months of being on this diet and exercise regime.  

It can help if 20 percent of the meals you take are normal, while the rest can always be low calorie. These normal meals are best taken after a workout. You need to keep on increasing the weights that you are lifting, as muscles soon get used to a particular routine. Progressively lifting heavier weights will lead to muscle tears, and during the recovery period or rest, which is just as essential, the body will create new tissue and thus add to the muscle. Increased muscle leads to a higher metabolic rate and this will mean that you are burning calories even at rest.

One of the most effective ways of burning body fat without any loss of muscle is to go in for high intensity interval training. You have to warm up for five minutes and then do intense exercise, even if it is something as simple as sprinting. The time for this intense exercise need not be more than a minute, but must be done to the full capacity of your muscles and body. You can then rest for about a minute and a half, and repeat this cycle for at least twenty five minutes. This will almost surely build muscle while you lose fat.

Diet changes can also help to build muscle while losing fat. Your body requires a lot of energy during workouts, so you must increase the carbohydrates you eat both before and after any workout. Keep a check on your calories and reduce those that you were going to consume later in the day, as you will have given your body the energy that it needed when it was needed.  Keep varying your calorie intake, and have more calories on the days that you work out, and reduce them on your rest days. This will suit the requirements of the body. Also make sure that you eat at fixed times during the day.

Eat when you need to exercise or when the body requires energy and keep your body on a stricter diet at other times. If you keep your body starved and still work out, your body may target the muscles for energy and you may find yourself losing muscle instead of gaining it. At the same time control your calories, so they are never in excess to become fat.