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I am 6' 2", 210LBs, have cut my rice and bread intake in a half(and also removed all unnecessary calories I would eat before). I also take 50-75 grams of ON 100% golden whey protein per day and eat around 200 grams of meat/chicken/fish + milk daily. But after two weeks I found that it seems I lose more muscle than fat!

My body type is something similar to the last photo on the first row (21-23%), but my belly is more similar to the second photo at the bottom (31-33%). :

enter image description here

I am trying to get rid of the belly and at least become completely something like the 21-23% photo but it seems it doesn't work well.

I don't know how to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time? Or at least hold muscle and lose only fat. It seems I can not do even the second one.

I don't know if it is because of my workout routine(I do 3-4 * 8-10 sets with most of the power)?

It is because I eat fewer calories than it's needed to keep muscles?

Or what?

PS: I also added cardio exercises to my workout for 2 days per week and I try to at least burn 400-500 calories with respect to the treadmill, elliptical, climb-mill machines calorie meter.

C. Lange
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user3486308
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  • How much weight are you losing, and how much do you lift (as in sets/muscle group/week)? Also, you should know that calorie meters on workout machines tend to be very optimistic about how many calories you use. And even if they were true, your body is generally good for compensating energy spent during exercise - either by making you hungrier, by unconsciously lowering your physical activity, or even by lowering your basal metabolic rate. (Not saying you shouldn't do cardio, but lifting should be your priority since it counteracts muscle loss.) – gustafc Mar 31 '22 at 08:30
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    Gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time is the typical "chasing two rabbits" problem. Few questions on the site already about this, have you searched around? – C. Lange Mar 31 '22 at 15:23
  • Similar and/or possible duplicates: https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/44174/losing-stubborn-fat-whilst-building-muscle or https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/25700/how-can-i-quickly-build-muscle-and-slowly-lose-fat or https://fitness.stackexchange.com/questions/37876/diet-for-muscle-building-and-fat-loss – C. Lange Mar 31 '22 at 15:27
  • @gustafc: Not much weight loss. I think at the first day I was 209.45lbs and today I am 207lbs. I think I lose my muscle bulk after workout day and it's because they can not feed well as before and can't do recovery/gain process. Also I feel more muscle pain. I do weight liftings every other day plus two day per week cardio exercises between them. I lift as much as I can(like before) but it's harder when you feel your muscles are hungry and not fed/recoveried well. – user3486308 Mar 31 '22 at 16:09
  • Pics 3, 4, 5, 6 are depictions of healthy fit strong individuals - who are not bodybuilders. Compare pics of body builders with martial arts people, commandos, strongmen, climbers, weightlifters, wrestlers/boxers - all of who are incredibly fit and strong but do not usually have the sculpted physique you see in magazine covers. If you want to achieve pics 1, 2, either join a body building program or join a gymnastics club. They'll sort you out. – ahron Apr 02 '22 at 08:28

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Firstly, it's important to understand that losing fat and losing muscle are two separate processes. When you're trying to lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit, which means eating fewer calories than you're burning. However, if you want to lose fat specifically, and not muscle, then you need to be careful not to create too large of a calorie deficit. If you do that, your body will start breaking down muscle for energy instead of fat.

So how can you make sure you're creating a deficit that's mostly coming from fat? Start by eating at a slight calorie deficit (around 10-20% below Maintenance level).

Thomas Markov
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Zack The Coach
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