If you’re wondering if it’s possible to lose weight and at the same time build muscle. The short answer is yes, it is. Below I’ll be discussing the steps you can take to go from fat to fit and build muscle.

The optimal approach to take

The approach for people who are skinny fat or overweight in terms of resistance training is going to be similar. If you are going to join the gym, then try slowing down your reps and practice time under tension while building mind-muscle connection.

To know more in detail about them click (Time under tension) & (Mind muscle connection). If your not going to go to the gym and think of doing home workouts like push-ups, sit-ups or, let’s say pull-ups. Only if your slightly overweight, by all means go for whatever you can do and try to progressively overload your exercises. In short, try to do more than what you did yesterday. If you can’t, it’s alright, try again tomorrow. The goal is to be progressive, not  immediate.

Things to avoid or incorporate if you are moderately overweight or obese 

Due to being moderately overweight, you won’t be able to do more than half of the calisthenics exercises that other people would be able to do without their weight limiting them. There are two solutions to this situation. One, start doing LISS cardio, which is walks, jogging, biking etc.

Do them for as long as possible every day and try to lose weight with cardio and a diet which should consist of mainly protein and fiber. If you can join the gym, it’s going to be better for you as lifting won’t be hard for you compared to someone who is skinny. More weight on your body will allow you to lift weights more easily while being able to build muscle at a greater pace.

Do not even try doing HIIT cardio if your  too overweight, as explosive movements can do way more harm to you than good. Not only is HIIT not good enough for weight-loss purposes, it’s not recommended for moderately overweight or obese people. Do not let any of this discourage you, it’s only to make you aware of what is going to be better for you and what is going to negatively affect you.

The advantages to having having more weight

Now the pro’s to having fat on your frame is that you don’t have go through a lot of hurdles skinny people do. First, you don’t need to think that hard about eating more, as the fat on your body is going to be used as energy.

You don’t need to bulk up or force feed yourself. You do need to track your calories and try to stay in a slight deficit so that you can keep losing weight through a diet while building muscle.

Your muscle growth is likely to be faster as you already have the mass on you. If you do it right, you will be losing weight and your muscles would be growing along as well, but be careful. Tracking your calories is an important factor for being able to do so.

Dietary control

Since your goal is to go from fat to fit. You need to effectively manage your calories. Make sure to watch out for what kind of calories you consume. Avoid consuming oils like olive oil, avocado oil or oils in general. Oils have way too many calories in just a tablespoon. Try air frying your food if you have an air fryer. If not, use as little oil as possible or substitute with a cooking spray. For example, a tablespoon of olive oil has 119 calories. That’s just 46 calories less than 100 grams of chicken breast, which is 165 kcals and all protein.

The chicken breast will make you full as it takes longer to eat and is a protein. Not only does your body have to burn calories to digest the protein. Protein is known to have a longer satiation effect, making you feel full for longer. There is no doubt olive oil is a healthy fat just like nuts, which are also dense in calories. Just 2 tablespoons of olive oil can take you over 240 calories. That is going to not only increase your caloric intake but make you feel like you ate nothing.

That’s why you should always check the calories of what you consume and if it satiates your hunger or not. Do not turn to a salad with vegetables that has calorically dense things like ranch dressing (tbsp.=73 kcals) and croutons (1cup/30g = 122 kcals) in it. These are examples of how certain things can have way more calories than one might realize.

Limit your intake of sodas like Pepsi if possible. If your unable to do so from the start. Replace it with diet Pepsi and save the calories until you are able to leave it entirely. Substitute coffee full of cream and sugar with black coffee if you like drinking it.

Coffee, if drunk black, has almost zero calories. Now, if you don’t like the taste or can’t drink black, you can add some low fat milk of choice. But make sure the calories are as-less as possible as your adding to something that already has no calories. Whatever you add is going to decide if your coffee becomes another meal or not.

Conclusion

• If resistance training, your approach stays the same. utilizing Time under tension & mind-muscle connection
• Do not do HIIT cardio for weight-loss or if your moderately overweight to obese.
• You don’t need to bulk up or eat more to build more muscle. You have all the energy you need.
• You still have to track you calories as you need to lose weight as well.
• substitute whatever you can for lower calorie versions and avoid calorically dense food items from your diet entirely or monitor their use.
• Use MyFitnessPal for proper calorie tracking. https://www.myfitnesspal.com/
• To know how you can get visible abs. Read how-to-get-abs-the-best-tips-you-will-ever-need

If you liked what you read or have any questions. Leave them in the comment box below.