Should I Lose Weight Before Building Muscle? Does Muscle Turn to Fat?
When on a mission to change your body composition, should you lose weight before building muscle? The answer really depends on your current level of fitness and eating habits, along with several other factors. Here is what you should consider, according to a dietitian.
When working with my private practice clients, most of them come to me with goals of losing fat and building muscle. My experience as both a dietitian and a personal trainer provides me with robust tools to properly guide clients to reach these goals.
However, the key is to first provide information on how to change body composition in the right way. This includes understanding the difference between body weight and body composition, how the body gains muscle, and what happens to body fat during weight training.
Toning vs. Building Muscle
Magazine cover vocabulary has unfortunately distorted what the word “toning” means, especially when it comes to women’s health and fitness. So many clients define their fitness goals as “I just want to tone.”
While the process of toning and building muscle are similar, what people usually mean by this is that they want to look more muscular, without necessarily looking bigger in size.
However, the difference between toning and building muscle is that you first have to build muscle by bulking up. Then lose the fat around it to look toned. Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to lose fat and gain lean body mass at the same time unless under very specific conditions.
Where Do You Lose Weight First?
So, where do you lose weight first in order to look toned? It's important to understand that when someone loses weight, they cannot just lose it at the specific spot on their body where they would like it to be lost. For example, doing more ab exercises won’t lose you belly fat. If you are looking to tone up by losing some fat, the body will respond by burning fat all over.
Should I Lose Fat Before Building Muscle?
So, you want to tone up or pack on muscle. First off, you want to be eating in a calorie surplus. This means eating more calories than your exercise burn and basal metabolic rate (BMR). Your BMR is defined by the calories you burn from just existing, meaning actions out of your conscious control like breathing, digestion, and keeping your heart beating.
Where many people run into trouble is by eating in their calculated calorie surplus and engaging in weight training much earlier than they probably should. This is because it’s usually a better idea to lose some fat before you start a muscle growth journey if the following applies to you:
You have a body fat percentage higher than 15% as a male
You have a body fat percentage higher than 25% as a male
You’ve already been bulking for 3-4 months
What Happens If I Start Bulking At The Wrong Time?
Science has shown that the body gains lean body mass more efficiently when you are lean versus if you are overweight. This is because if you have too much fat tissue when you start eating in a calorie surplus to gain muscle, then you’re going to end up with a bulk that’s way too short to gain any significant amount of muscle before it’s time to start cutting again.
Or, you’ll end up with so much extra fat tissue, even if you did manage to gain some muscle, that it’s going to be much harder to “cut” or tone up by losing all of that fat. And it’s much harder to lose weight than it is to gain it.
However, the leaner you are when you start your bulk, the longer you get to eat in a surplus (which is way more fun than eating in a calorie deficit) and you get to spend more time on muscle gain.
What Type of Exercise is Best For Building Muscle?
Now, does walking build muscle? Or other light exercises like jogging? Maybe. If you have never had a consistent exercise regimen before, your body is likely to respond to even light exercise with a bit of muscle growth.
This is simply because your body is using its muscles in ways that are more strenuous than just your everyday activities, and may start to grow them to adapt. However, the amount of growth you see is very unlikely to be as substantial as a bodybuilder or someone who is primarily focused on weight training.
Does Fat Turn Into Muscle?
I’ll make this simple: no. The whole concept of “turning fat into muscle” is a myth and a biological impossibility. Considering fat tissue is made of completely different types of cells and compounds than muscle tissue, it’s not achievable for one to morph into the other.
People who use this phrase are probably referring to the process in which the body loses fat and reveals the muscle gain underneath, giving the misconception that you “turned your fat into muscle.”
Does Building Muscle Make You Gain Weight?
When you have lost your desired amount of fat mass and are at an ideal body fat percentage to start building muscle, you should know that, if you are successful, you will gain a sizeable amount of weight.
This is not usually cause for alarm. Since muscle tissue is much more dense than fat tissue, you can gain a relatively modest amount of muscle and see the scale rise quite a bit. Also, it’s pretty rare to gain some muscle without also gaining some fat in the process.
This is because when you are eating in a calorie surplus, even if you are exercising heavily, we can’t program the body to only gain weight from muscle. We typically have to carry some fat with it as well. This is why many bodybuilders go in cycles of cutting (fat loss) and bulking (muscle gain) again and again until they’ve reached their desired body composition.
5 Tips to Gaining Muscle Mass
So, it’s been established that if you have a high body fat percentage and/or have been bulking consistently with not much progress in the muscle gain department, then you should lose some fat first. However, if you’re ready to start building that lean mass right now, here are some best practices to consider first.
1. Eat a nutritious diet.
This is by far where people sabotage themselves the most. Many people think because they need to put on weight they can just eat whatever they want in infinite amounts. However, this way of eating typically results in minimal muscle gain, but maximum fat gain. Diet quality matters not only to your health, but to your muscle gains as well.
This was greatly illustrated in the 2014 muffin study when participants ate muffins made with saturated (bad) fats or polyunsaturated (good fats). Even though both groups were consuming the exact same calorie surplus and gained the same amount of weight, the good fat group gained significantly more weight from muscle, while the bad fat group gained mostly fat. This suggests that the body does not respond well to gaining muscle when diet quality is poor.
2. Pay attention to macronutrients.
It’s not just calories that matter–macronutrients are also imperative to how efficiently your body will gain muscle. Typically, you want to follow a high-protein, high-carb, moderate fat diet. However, you’ll want to talk to a registered dietitian to find the exact grams of these nutrients that will work for you personally.
3. Follow a solid weight training program.
This should be designed by a personal trainer. Though you can absolutely get some results by piecing together cool workouts you’ve seen on YouTube or social media, there can be some trial and error involved with this method that can significantly slow your body transformation journey. A personal trainer can put together a schedule of workouts with your goals in mind for the quickest road to progress.
4. Get quality sleep.
Studies show that the optimal amount of sleep for recovery is 7-9 hours per night. Your training may even require more depending on how extensive it is. Weight training requires the body to repair its muscles as it sleeps. If your body does not receive the adequate amount of time to do so, it could result in muscle breakdown, which is not what we want.
5. Don’t overdo it.
Strong work ethic in the gym is certainly admirable. However, if you do too much of it, it can be counterproductive. Overtraining causes a myriad of problems in the body including sleep disruption, muscle weakness, muscle breakdown and inflammation.
These issues cause muscle loss and impeded muscle gain, and can lead to fatigue and injury so severe that you may not be able to exercise at all. Thus, it’s important to consult with a fitness professional about the frequency of your exercise and listen to what they have to say about rest days.
The Bottom Line on the Question: Should I Lose Weight Before Building Muscle?
The answer is: it depends. If you have a high body fat percentage or have been eating in a surplus for a few months with no results, you should lose some fat before you try to bulk up. This process will keep you healthier and make both gaining muscle and losing some fat to tone up afterward much easier.
The reason many people struggle over long periods of time with toning and building muscle is because they are engaging in a lot of guesswork surrounding their diet and exercise program. This results in a lot of wasted time and frustration.
Given that I am both a registered dietitian and personal trainer, I can work with you to develop a personalized plan in both avenues. If you’re ready to get started, check out my services today.