How to Lose Fat & Gain Muscle - 5 Secret Truths You Need to Know

By Kevin Yates

If you want to lose fat and gain muscle there are 5 "secrets" you need to know to achieve your goal. Too many times people attempt to build muscle and lose fat at the same time only to be left frustrated by failure in the end.

You may be in this group. The 5 "secrets' I am going to reveal are some of the main reasons why you haven't been able to lose fat and build muscle like you want. There's more to it than simply showing up at the gym and getting a pump.

Perhaps you've reduced your calories and lost some weight only to end up feeling weak and hungry after a few days or a few weeks and unable to maintain your diet. Then you gained back those few pounds you lost and maybe a couple extra.

The purpose of this article is to show you exactly how to lose fat gain muscle and get it done quickly using 5 simple secret strategies that are guaranteed to help you finally build muscle and lose fat. With that said, here are the 5 secrets you need to know:

1. Do NOT train for the pump- Contrary to what the popular muscle building magazines preach month after month, building muscle has nothing to do with the pump. The pump you feel after a hard resistance training workout is from blood rushing to your muscle cells to replenish the "energy" you lost during exercise. But, this is not the primary muscle building mechanism. The way you build muscle is by properly fatiguing your muscles which causes damage to your muscle cells. When your body recovers from this damage it rebuilds your muscle cells stronger to better handle the stress in the future.

2. Know how many calories you need- This is where things get a bit tricky so I'll try to keep it as simple as I can to avoid any confusion. If you want to lose fat you have to burn more calories than you consume. However, you must be careful not to overdo it. Cut calories too much and you also lose precious muscle in the process.

On the other hand, to build muscle you need to consume more calories than you burn so your body has a surplus of energy to add lean muscle. Again, be careful because if you consume more calories than your body can use you only add fat.

I suggest choosing one goal first then once you get to that goal try for your other goal. For example, you could go into a 6-12 week fat loss phase where your main concern is to lose fat and maintain your current muscularity. After you reach your fat loss goal then you shift into a muscle building phase where you try to maintain your current body fat percent (within about 2%-3%) and add as much lean muscle as you want.

3. Balance your calories- In the end, calories in versus calories out determines whether or not you lose WEIGHT. However, it's the type of calories you consume that determines whether or not you lose or gain fat and whether or not you lose or gain muscle. This is very important. You don't simply want to lose weight if you're merely losing muscle, right? And, you also don't want to simply gain weight if you're only adding body fat. So, balance your calories with the proper amounts of carbohydrates, protein and healthy fats.

4. Increase your LBM- LBM (lean body mass) is muscle. Every pound of muscle you have burns somewhere between 15-50 calories per day. When you increase the amount of muscle you carry you burn more calories which means you stay leaner.

5. Do NOT train body parts- This is a huge mistake the majority of people trying to lose fat and gain muscle make. Instead, train hard 3 days per week with a total body workout. Do not go overboard on the volume . You should never train more than 60 minutes per workout at the most. Rather than adding more exercise aim to increase the intensity of your current routine. Intensity is the key that most people miss and is why they struggle to build muscle and lose fat.

I hope this helps you reach your muscle building fat loss goals.

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