Losing fat while gaining muscle: Scientists say it’s Possible with Right Diet!!

by: Robbie Durand

Many bodybuilders’ will tell you that you can’t build muscle and lose fat at the same time. Most bodybuilders will tell you that it’s either one or the other but the newest American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reports that gaining muscle and losing fat is possible. A previous research study suggests the type of diet you are following plays a big role in how much muscle you lose while dieting.

For the study, 40 young men underwent a month of hard exercise while cutting dietary energy they would normally require by 40 per cent of what they would normally require. The researchers divided their subjects into two groups. Both groups went on a low calorie diet, one group used low protein (1.2 grams per kg of bodyweight per day), one with higher levels of protein (2.4 grams per kg of bodyweight per day). At the end of the study, the higher-protein group experienced muscle gains — about 2.5 pounds — despite consuming insufficient energy, while the lower protein group did not add muscle. In terms of weight loss, the results showed that the high-protein group lost about 10.5 pounds and the low protein group only eight pounds. All of the participants, by virtue of the demanding six-days-a-week exercise routines, got stronger, fitter, and generally were in much better shape.

The results showed that, during a marked energy deficit, consumption of a diet containing 2.4 grams per kg of bodyweight per day was more effective than consumption of a diet containing 1.2 grams per kg of bodyweight per day in promoting increases in lean body mass and losses of fat mass when combined with a high volume of resistance and anaerobic exercise.

So for a dieting bodybuilder, here is how you find out how much protein you need.

Weight in Pounds/ 2.2 converts your weight in pounds to kg.

2.4 grams of protein X weight in kg.

Example, 200 pounds

200/2.2 = 90.9

2.4 X 90.9 = 218 grams of protein per day

Thomas M Longland, Sara Y Oikawa, Cameron J Mitchell, Michaela C Devries, and Stuart M Phillips. Higher compared with lower dietary protein during an energy deficit combined with intense exercise promotes greater lean mass gain and fat mass loss: a randomized trial. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, January 2016 DOI: