How to Build Muscle and Lose Fat

Gary Says:

October 5th, 2007, 7:18 am

Interesting article, but is the 18x your weight in lbs a typo? That would have me eating 1,000 calories over what I do now…and I overeat now!

Mehdi Says:

October 5th, 2007, 7:50 am

Hello Gary. If you weigh 155lbs that would be 155*18 = 2800kcal a day. Add or decrease calories from there depending on your goals (gaining weight or losing weight/fat).

Karen Says:

October 5th, 2007, 8:05 am

Doing cardio directly after strength training isn’t beneficial - it will hinder muscles from repairing themselves and slow down progress in gaining strength. Cardio should be done on alternate days.

Mehdi Says:

October 5th, 2007, 8:14 am

Most people have a familiy/career/business/life to take care off. 3x strength training/week + 3x cardio/week = 6 workouts a week. Add to that the time lost to drive to the gym & come back + time to prepare yourself. How long will you do this? 2 weeks?

One 1 hour session of strength training + cardio 3x a week is simple, effective & realistic. Cardio won’t hinder strength gains if you keep it at 70% intensity, train hard, eat well & recover between workouts.

But if it works for you Karen: continue.

Christine Says:

October 5th, 2007, 8:54 am

Mehdi, where did you get this times 18 number? Someone who is very overweight (like myself) sustains her weight by eating much less. Is this a number related to a person with an average muscle/fat ratio, or a male?

Mehdi Says:

October 5th, 2007, 9:12 am

Christine. 18x is a general rule to maintain your bodyweight. Some need to eat 20x, some 16x (depends on activity levels). 18x is a perfect start.

Why the 18x: a lot of people want to gain muscle but don’t eat enough. A lot of people want to lose weight but are starving themselves to death. 18x is a good rule to start with. Add 500kcal/or remove 500kcal to gain weight/lose weight.

Without knowing what you eat/your lifestyle is Christine: getting into exercise & eating healthy will make a big difference.

Mike OD Says:

October 5th, 2007, 9:14 am

Christine,

If your goal is fat loss you do not want alot of calories. Easiest thing to do is to get enough protein, veggies, healthy fats during the week and then use the weekends to have more selections. There are 100 ways to lose fat…but the only true way is through consistent nutritional habits and monitoring your progress. If you eat for a week and lose no lbs…then you lower your calories a bit until you see progress. While lifting weights is a great way to build strong muscles and should be done by everyone even if just 1x/week, your diet is where you get 90% of your weight loss from. Don’t fall for the “how many calories do I burn during exercise” myth, you have the ability to burn fat all day long. So you can do daily exercise even if walking for 30-60min, but really it’s not going as effective as laser focus on what you eat. Anyone else that tells you otherwise has no real understanding of how the body burns fat. (as I do zero cardio except for maybe a mountain bike ride once a week, lift weights only 2x a week and can still keep my body fat under 10%) Not showing off….just showing it can be done! :)

Elaine Says:

October 5th, 2007, 9:21 am

There are plenty of great sources of information out there for veg*n strength training and unfortunately this isn’t one of them. To be honest I think “eat red meat for two months” and “eat lots of dairy” is terrible advice - I am out to improve my health, not sabotage it.

Re: eating lots. If you are doing weights and cardio three times a week and you’re anything like me, your metabolism will increase quite a bit.. Mine shot through the roof actually and I was eating seven huge meals a day, just to maintain my weight.

Gary Says:

October 5th, 2007, 9:26 am

Mehdi: 18x might work at lower weights, but at 218 that means 3924 calories. I can guarantee you that at that level I’ll gain like crazy. From personal experience zero-gain occurs around 2k-2.2k. A long ways from 3924!

Mehdi Says:

October 5th, 2007, 9:49 am

Elaine. I agree that dairy isn’t one of the healthiest food sources available. Dairy often causes food allergies. I don’t see the problem with Red Meat however. The article is not about dicussing whether vegan/vegetarism is good or bad (which is a personal choice that I respect). The question is about results that you’ll get, those are undeniable. You need testosterone for muscles/strength.

Gary. If you weigh 218kcal without doing strength training & cardio: it will probably be too much. If you do strength training/cardio: you’ll probably maintain weight. As I wrote above: start with 18x your bodyweight & adapt from there depending on a) your goals b) how you react. There are no writting rules about how much calories one person needs. I hope you didn’t understand the 18x as a written rule.

Btw, at 218lbs, 2000kcal is undereating. If you lost weight: great, but you’re probably losing muscles too. Not the point of the article.

Gary Says:

October 5th, 2007, 9:53 am

Ah, gotcha Mehdi. Too focused on the weight-loss aspect and loss sight of the build muscle side of things, which will obvious need fuel under a a training program as you suggest. Thanks for the reality slap!

Zach Says:

October 5th, 2007, 10:03 am

I’d like to share my experience. When I was a child I used to avoid any kind of exercise so I grew up chubby. Since I am on high rsk of diabetes, I decided four years ago to go to the gym. I became stronger with a common routines that exercise group muscles. I ate every kind of protein. I used to do 20 minutes cardio three times a week as a warm up. The problems were that I did not get rid of my fat, the body mass index download from 31 to 27 and got stable. Second, eating red meat increased my cholesterol to very dangerous levels. Just three months ago, I went to visit an endocrinologist in order to lower my diabetes risk, and he put me on a 1000 calorie/day diet. When I saw it I was skeptic I could do my workout. But I was surprised that lowering cholesterol levels increased my energy. I also increased my cardios, I added three hours a week of cardio. I have lost 20 lbs and most of them were fat. I decreased my BMI to 24. My goal now is that this habit will be permanent. Regards and train hard!

Elaine Says:

October 5th, 2007, 10:52 am

Mehdi - the problem with red meat is that it’s a dead animal :) I know we’re not discussing the merits of vegetarianism here, but offering “eat meat” as advice to veggies is counterproductive. It’s just not going to happen.

Googling “vegetarian weightlifting” will give you plenty of results to start with.

Mehdi Says:

October 5th, 2007, 11:03 am

Elaine. Like I wrote above: I don’t see the problem red meat, dead animals taste good to me :)

About the vegan/vegeterian point: my goal was not to offer you red meat, but to offer you awareness. Plenty of people are building muscle/getting stronger on vegan/vegeterian diet. My point: compare results with & without eating meat and draw your own conclusions.

JC Says:

October 5th, 2007, 11:37 am

I’d like to hear your views about the relative benefits of developing flexibility vs strength.

Personally, I feel that developing and maintaining flexibility is, in the long run, more useful to people as they age. Plus, the activities (like yoga) that increase flexibility also increase strength.

Mehdi Says:

October 5th, 2007, 11:55 am

JC. Several exercises, like the Squat or the Overhead Press, need you to be flexible in the first place do perform them properly. You won’t be able to squat below parallel if you’re not flexible in the hip area. Most people need to stretch their hamstrings before they can Squat properly to begin with.

Once you got that base of flexibility, strength training will maintain that flexibility. Don’t know if you have done squats before, but if you try it, you’ll understand what I mean.

I’m a desk jockey. I do a lot of postural realignement, flexibility & dynamic mobilty exercises post workout. Take a look at the egoscue method. Lots of things are inspired by yoga. Yoga is great, except that they sometimes overdo the stretches (like stretching the lower back).

Nicholas David Says:

October 5th, 2007, 12:44 pm

Excellent article. All of this information is correct.

Gringo LOKO Says:

October 5th, 2007, 16:07 pm

I was shocked like others to first read 18x. I had always heard 8x to lose weight, 10x to maintain, and 12x to gain on average. But after thinking about it, yours actually is starting to make sense to me.
gringo

Meredith Simons Says:

October 5th, 2007, 16:56 pm

1g/lbs protein intake is a mistyped unit I guess. The well known formula of 1g protein for 1kg body weight was first introduced in late 60s with the nutrition research boom by John Hopkins Univ. professors. 1g/lbs means multiplying that value with 2.20 which can cause serious side effects to the liver. That huge amount of protein intake will result with tremendous uric acid generation thus causing much serious problems than being overweight.
Please fix it if it was a typo or research before ranting about health and nutrition when you have no formal education on them. Being a self created muscle man doesn’t make you a fitness or nutrition expert.

Mike Pedersen Golf Says:

October 5th, 2007, 16:59 pm

Solid information (with lots of links to your site:-)). Building muscle is hard work and takes time. I’ve been working out since I was 10 years old (34 years) and am not some muscle monster, although I did not ever train to be, I trained for my sports entirely.

People that think they can go to a gym for a month or so and build muscle need to get a “wake up” call. This is not going to happen. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy.

Vik Dulat - Making Money the Easy Way Says:

October 5th, 2007, 18:11 pm

Keep up the excellent posts and I have done something very similar and I am losing weight and building muscle.

Leo Says:

October 5th, 2007, 18:24 pm

@Mehdi: first, thanks for the great article! Whenever you put out strength training or fitness advice, you’ll get plenty of disagreement, but I think in general your advice is solid.

I disagree about the vegetarian strength training part … not because I want to debate whether people should become vegan/vegetarian in this thread … but because there are plenty of vegetarians who get enough protein to gain as much strength as non-vegetarians.

I agree that eating plants gives you less testosterone as meat eaters, but in truth, people eat way more meat than their bodies are supposed to handle, which means they produce *too* much testosterone … which leads to all kinds of health problems, including with the prostate (as men get older than 30, they are much more likely to have prostate problems if they eat meat).

You can gain plenty of muscle without all the excess testosterone. Here’s an interesting article on the topic.

But again, I loved the article, Mehdi!

Rick Says:

October 5th, 2007, 19:03 pm

Good advice for getting in shape. The important message is: burn more calories than you eat, choose healthy food, exercise.

For another calorie tracking site, please check out our calorie tracking site. We designed it specifically for users to tune their calorie intake and exercise balance.

Cheers, Rick

subcorpus Says:

October 5th, 2007, 19:30 pm

you make it sound so easy …
am guessing its not …

Dennis Says:

October 5th, 2007, 19:46 pm

traineo.com is another good way to start losing weight. I like how it uses your friends for motivation and allows you monitor things.

Brian Says:

October 5th, 2007, 20:07 pm

The true key is to set goals and to have support around you so that you stay Motivated!

but anyways good article, great tips

-Brian Piepgrass

Mehdi Says:

October 6th, 2007, 3:19 am

Meredith Simons. Here are some sources for the 1g/lbs protein:
-Practical Programming For Strength Training by Rippetoe & Kilgore
-American College of Sports Medicine recommends 1g/lbs for athletes
You’ll find plenty more sources if you look a the right places. The goal is here to build muscle. 1g/lbs is a minimum. Many consume 2-4g/lbs protein. Acidity is a real concern which is easily solved by eating green veggies: spinach is the best veggie to alkalize your body & counter the acidity. If you need more info, feel free to ask.

Leo. You asked for my opinion on veganism/vegeterianism & building muscle, you have it. Totally agree with you that it can & has be done by many. If it works for you: continue, I love my red-meat too much ;) Thanks again for having me guestpost on Zen Habits Leo.

foo Says:

October 6th, 2007, 4:18 am

I have a question about this.

I am 6′5 and I weigh 320. 320 does not look as bad as it sounds at my height but I’d like to get back to 250; when I am there again I will be utterly ripped because of the amount of muscle I’ve gained in the last couple of years.

But 18×320 calories = 5760.

WHAT? I am working out heavily but if I eat 5760 calories I’d look like the michelin man.

Can someone explain?

Mehdi Says:

October 6th, 2007, 4:28 am

Foo. I wrote these above in the comments. Don’t fix yourself too much on the numbers. 18x a guideline. Skinny guys will need 20x, overweight people will need 14-16x.

Start with 18x your bodyweight & adapt from there. Strength training + cardio leads to a caloric deficit, meaning you can eat more to stay at the same bodyweight. If you want to cut down to 250, you’ll need to remove cals. How much nobody can tell you. Maybe you’ll lose weight at 4000kcal, maybe you’ll need to cut down to 3000kcal. I think 4000kcal + strength training + cardio + healthy food will give plenty of results.

Best is to start with 18x bodyweight & decrease 500kcal weekly. As long as you lose weight: continue eating same amount of daily kcals. if you don’t lose weight, remove another 500kcal. Etc, until you’re at 500kcal & while additioning with exercise/food/cardio. Good luck.

Joe Says:

October 6th, 2007, 5:09 am

Thanks for the tips…I love red meat too…now I just need the motivation…any tips on that?

Jedd Says:

October 6th, 2007, 5:18 am

Thanks for the article. Makes a lot of sense. Will try it out!

Mehdi Says:

October 6th, 2007, 5:52 am

Joe: motivation to build muscle/lose fat? Set goals, build the exercise habit & keep a training log somewhere. Motivation to eat red meat: it builds muscle.

51-life Says:

October 6th, 2007, 12:19 pm

Thanks for sharing

Veronica Says:

October 6th, 2007, 13:17 pm

Another good free site for tracking food intake.

Spark People
http://sparkpeople.com/

Rick Says:

October 7th, 2007, 20:03 pm

eat lots of dairy products, even if you’re a vegan? Is this guy an idiot? First off, vegans are not going to eat lots of dairy products, they aren’t going to eat ANY dairy products. Why? BECAUSE THEY ARE VEGANS!

Second, dairy is toxic to most people and is an extremely inefficient source of protein and minerals and a very efficient source of saturated fat. Cow’s milk is a great food. If you’re a baby cow. If you’re human, not so much.

This article is beyond simplistic and moves into dangerous. I can see about half the readers in here just wandering in to do some deadlifts with their compromised postures. Great way to blow their bodies up.

jason mcclain Says:

October 8th, 2007, 5:32 am

On the protein concern and vegetarian/vegan lifestyle choice–what I have done is combined a vegetarian diet with sports nutrition for body builders.

You can purchase broad spectrum amino acids [the compounds making up completed proteins] that are far more efficient/assimilatable than the meats and animal fluids mentioned in this post. While some of them are from whey protein isolates–they are just that–isolates–so they have no actual whey in them for those concerned about dairy.

The importance of amino acids can not be overstated. And we are still learning about them and discovering new aminos. To name just one example of their importance, it is recommended for healthy immune cell [killer t-cell] production to consume 70grams of assimilatable protein a day [predigested or from a source with a high bio-efficiency rating[.

Insufficient protein intake results in a compromised or lowered immune function. However, the source of the protein is critical. Compared to products like Amino Fuel from Twin Labs, I do not really consider meat of much value nutritionally. Perhaps a filet mignon once a quarter for pure pleasure…but as a protein source? Grossly inefficient.

I personally love it that we can integrate two seemingly conflicting diet or nutritional philosophies and get better results than with one or the other by themselves.

Chris Says:

October 8th, 2007, 12:26 pm

I would HIGHLY recommend cycling as a cardio workout. It works your legs, abs, and arms (you’ll see what I mean when you start doing longer distances). Its easy, cheap, and you can easily measure how you are doing. Make sure you bring water.

Elliot Says:

October 9th, 2007, 13:12 pm

Question - I started doing 15 minutes of High Intensity Interval Training (30 to 45 seconds of high intensity followed by 1 to 2 minutes of slower paced)
Then I do strength training for 20 minutes then finish up with 12 minutes of High Intensity Interval Training..
Will I lose Muscle by doing it this way?
Is it better just to do strength and cardio on different days?

Mehdi Says:

October 10th, 2007, 7:08 am

Elliot. Better is to do strength training first, then HIIT for 15min max.

deanowe Says:

October 11th, 2007, 15:10 pm

lose the fat,gain muscle=me going to the gym and losing the wife…

dave Says:

November 28th, 2007, 9:59 am

I have lost 3 stone over two years and have now joined a gym i am trying to put on muscle ,ok my body shape is changing but i still seem to be loosing fat and not alot of muscle going on.but my body weight stays the same any tips on increasing my muscle growth iwould appreicate an answer…dave

krisanta Says:

December 5th, 2007, 4:10 am

Diet and nutrition is the single most important factor in wanting to gain weight. You can do all the weight training you want, but if you are not feeding your body the necessary food and nutrients it requires for maintenance and growth, then it will all be a waste of time.

Source: http://www.ngweightgain.com.sg/how-to-build-up-muscles.

Taylor Ryan Says:

January 6th, 2008, 20:17 pm

Great info for what I am looking for, but I have to agree with above comment, 18x sounds like a lot to me. Everything else is a great place to start for a sound nutrition plan

Drew Says:

January 14th, 2008, 17:45 pm

Hi Mehdi,

Very informative article.
Regarding Red-Meat, I cant eat Beef for relegious reasons.
Can Lamb or Goat give same amount of Testosterone and protein ?
I do eat Kangaroo ( I am live in Australia ) occasionally.

Taylor Ryan Says:

January 17th, 2008, 22:42 pm

Great post. I have noticed since I have switched to an ALMOST 100% organic diet and no processed foods the biggest difference in my body! I feel that my energy is up and I look better than ever!

james Says:

February 2nd, 2008, 15:43 pm

Any tips for building muscle and losing for skinny guys?

The Deck Cleaner Says:

February 12th, 2008, 22:16 pm

Karen Says:
October 5th, 2007, 8:05 am
Doing cardio directly after strength training isn’t beneficial - it will hinder muscles from repairing themselves and slow down progress in gaining strength. Cardio should be done on alternate days.
——————————————————————————–

That is the silliest thing I have read. Thats like saying don’t work out for an hour because the second half hour will negate the first half hour. Doing cardio on alternate days, now that WILL overtax your system and slow down recovery and make injurt probable and muscle growth slow or halt. Train, Eat, Rest.

John Mclain Says:

February 15th, 2008, 3:15 am

Yea doing cardio after a strength workout isn’t going to slow down muscle recovery. When you work out and do strength training you are essentially slightly damaging your tissue. You only have a finite amount of muscle, but as you damage this tissue, satellite cells become activated and form new *muscle like* tissue where the original damaged tissue was torn. Hence muscle growth. So cardio is not going to slow this down seeing how it will take some times for the satellite cells to be activated.

Sasha James Says:

February 21st, 2008, 18:12 pm

Very , very good and useful stuff you have here . I just would like to see more specific subject themes in weight lifting topics. I try my best to learn , apply and give to others high quality stuff and I’m happy to see websites like this one doing the same.

http://www.advice-masters.com/

Handsome Says:

March 15th, 2008, 19:59 pm

As you have mentioned before, body building is like an art and a lifestyle. It is not just a sport.

Sarah Fox Says:

April 1st, 2008, 15:19 pm

I’m a bit confused… I’m 5ft 8 and weigh 159 lb’s and want to lose abound a stone and a half.. I’ve started swimming for an hour twice a week and do an hour cardio interval training followed by weights for an hour in the gym. Should I be leaving recovery time inbetween swimming and weight training or is it ok to do it the day after? Also, I just want to be toned and want to avoid getting really muscly (although I should imagine that may take some time!), that said, I was always very slim and athletic before having children.. Is there anything I should aviod to stop getting too muscly and should I leave rest inbetween swimming and gym?

Muscle Post Says:

May 1st, 2008, 20:55 pm

I think you’ve got some great advice in this post. Certainly not comprehensive, but some great ideas for people to think about. Great site!

Cardiovascular Activities Says:

June 24th, 2008, 15:43 pm

Instead doing 30 minutes right after strength training you can do also cardio at other days, but then better 40-60 minutes. And I agree, it is important that you do not exhaust yourself and breathe only slightly heavier than when having a rest.

Kathy Mead Says:

August 25th, 2008, 1:15 am

I like this article. diet and lose fat is very important to me in the way to build my muscle~

Westys Workouts Says:

September 1st, 2008, 7:50 am

Great article. Simple, to the point and skips through all the tech stuff. It’s just what we need to get the job done. It’s good to see someones out there helping people get this job done easily.

Westys Workouts Says:

September 1st, 2008, 7:53 am

Quote: The Deck Cleaner Says:
February 12th, 2008, 22:16 pm

Karen Says:
October 5th, 2007, 8:05 am
Doing cardio directly after strength training isn’t beneficial - it will hinder muscles from repairing themselves and slow down progress in gaining strength. Cardio should be done on alternate days.
——————————————————————————–

That is the silliest thing I have read. Thats like saying don’t work out for an hour because the second half hour will negate the first half hour. Doing cardio on alternate days, now that WILL overtax your system and slow down recovery and make injurt probable and muscle growth slow or halt. Train, Eat, Rest.

Me: Just for the record… your body enters a catabolic state after about 45-60 mins of training. Dangerous and toxic chemicals are released into your blood and it’s better to stop training, eat well and feed your body at this point. Train cardio on different days to your weights for best gains.

Westy

Build Muscle fast Says:

November 26th, 2008, 0:13 am

Hi,

Very good article. It covers everything that you need to reaaly build muscle and lose weight. The only problem is that most people do not have the self control or the discipline to follow through! I also agree with this statement “Cardio. Do 30 minutes of cardio after your strength training”. For some reason there is a comment misconception out there that cardio makes it harder to build muscle, and as you point out the opposite is true.

Cheers

eleanor rigby Says:

December 12th, 2008, 6:01 am

I have read that the problem with the omega oils is that most of us have way more omega 6 and 9, which makes for a very unhealthy balance. What we need to do is even things out by increasing the omega 3’s a lot. Most of the foods we eat in North America are extremely high in the omega 6 and 9, and entirely lacking the 3’s.

Alla Darwish Says:

February 12th, 2009, 3:45 am

Hello,
I like your article, i think its the best way to exercise. But i have read alot about losing fat and gaining muscles, all the articles say that i cant lose fat and gain muscles at the same time. I have to start bulking for the first 3 or 4 months and then the cutting period. What do you say about that? please help.

UK supplement store Says:

May 28th, 2009, 17:42 pm

liked the artical mate i have to agree i think a a nice bit of cardio is a must i always think that fitness helps a lot with strength you can push that little bit extra when your fit

cristin Says:

June 15th, 2009, 4:33 am

well go fat or not is not very important actually but health. those tips need your consistent practice. just do it right now. right food actually means a lot .