Is it possible to shape and build my muscles while losing fat at the same time? I’m a 47-year-old male who’s probably 30 pounds above my ideal weight. Ideally, what I would like to do is lose the belly and reveal a nicely developed set of abs underneath. Is this double the work? Should I wait to lose the fat first?

Is it possible to shape and build my muscles while losing fat at the same time? I’m a 47-year-old male who’s probably 30 pounds above my ideal weight. Ideally, what I would like to do is lose the belly and reveal a nicely developed set of abs underneath. Is this double the work? Should I wait to lose the fat first?

Not only is it possible to simultaneously burn fat and build muscle, it’s the system I’ve advocate for all of my career. So, you’ve come to the right person with your question.

Muscle building and fat building aren’t mutually exclusive acts. In fat, one actually helps with the other. Your body expends a lot of calories as it adds muscle to your frame – calories that would otherwise have gone to creating fat. Couple this with a diet that depletes the body of excess calories and you have the perfect formula for sculpting your physique.

Here’s yet another reason why this combination works: muscle itself has a higher metabolic need than fat. Muscle requires more calories to exist than does fat, so the more muscle you gain while either maintaining or decreasing your caloric intake, the more fat you burn.

To maximize muscle gain while burning fat I recommend training at a relatively quick pace, with no more than 90 seconds rest between sets and keeping the rep range 10-15, which is enough to build muscle, but also for stimulating the body to draw on fat reserves. This, along with two hours of cardio per week and just a 10% reduction in your caloric intake will result in a new body for you within six months’ time.