Will building muscle mass and getting big help me lose weight?

4 Comments

1. Yes it will.

2. Yes, the more muscle you have the more calories your body burns.

3. It’s not the most effective way to lose weight. Usually muscles will only be visible unless your body fat percentage is very low. Jogging and running are great for burning fat and can help build your calves. Another good tip i thought I should through in is to drink LOTS of ice water. Ice water will burn calories and if you drink it daily in around 1 to 2 months you might lose a few pounds alone. Basically just eat less or even just try to eat healthier and fat will slowly burn away, thus making muscles visible.

4. Oh, HELL YEAH adding muscle helps you lose body fat! Muscles are greedy, greedy bastards and demand calories. This means that they’ll eat some of your fat as well. Now, you still need to strike a balance. Fat is your body’s long-term energy storage, and it really hates to lose it. If you don’t eat to add mass, the muscles will start to eat the fat too often, and then the body says, "Oh my, the muscles are eating our long-term energy! We’d better get rid of the muscle!"

   I always laugh when people are scared to lift because they don’t want to "get bulky." Adding mass is difficult because there are so many factors involved. Anytime you go for a couple hours without eating, your body falls into "catabolism," which basically means it starts to break down the muscle because you’re not feeding the muscle and the body doesn’t want to sacrifice its fat. When you do feed the muscle, the body realizes that it’s not starving and it lets that fat be sacrificed. I know, you gotta eat to lose fat…who knew?

   When people add mass, they typically go on a bulking diet, which consists of eating massive quantities of anything. Since you’re concerned about the fat, go on a "clean bulk," which is where you eat massive quantities of healthy food. I did this and had great results, even though I’m a woman, and here’s a sample of a day’s diet:

   Meal 1: 1 cup oats + handful blueberries + 6 egg white omelet with spinach and broccoli and pepper
   Meal 2: 2 cups fat free cottage cheese + 1 whole large papaya, cut up
   Pre-Workout: 1 apple + natural peanut butter + 32g protein shake.
   Post-Workout: Protein shake made with 16oz fat-free milk or soy milk with 40-60g of protein powder added in.
   Meal 3: 12-16oz lean cooked meat + 2 cups steamed veggies with various spices (but no salt)
   Meal 4: Large salad made with mixed greens, a whole tomato, a whole carrot, a whole cucumber, 6oz lean meat, and balsamic vinegar instead of dressing
   Meal 5: 1lb grilled salmon + 2 cups brown rice
   Meal 6: 2 scoops casein protein mixed with 16oz fat-free milk

   I’m a 5’7 woman, and as I ate meals like that, my exercise regimen looked like this:
   6 days per week – 5×5 lifting (one muscle group per day) during lunch, running after work (the type of running depended on the day)
   5 days per week – Abs after the 5×5 (type of abs depended on day)
   2 times per week – Yoga class

   I lost fat and gained great muscle mass. I love this regimen!!

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