Get a perfect figure by building muscle whilst cutting down on body fat. This difficult feat is actually simple when you know the secrets. Here is all the information you need to achieve the perfect body balance.

Build Muscle and Lose Weight Simultaneously

You may have heard that in order to gain muscle you need to have a surplus of calories. In order to increase lean mass, your body needs extra calories to help you build it. But, what do you do if you want to gain muscle and lose weight at the same time? Keep reading to find out how you can accomplish both goals at once.

How To Gain Muscle and Lose Weight

If you are going to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time, you will have to follow certain rules. The first thing you will have to do is to decrease the number of calories you consume.

In addition to that, you will need to train hard, do HIIT cardio, and reduce your carbohydrate intake. You will also have to increase your protein intake and eat foods that will help raise your metabolism.

Caloric Reduction

In order to lose weight, you have to consume fewer calories. In order to gain muscle, you need a surplus of calories. The caveat here, when speaking of additional calories to build muscle, is that natural bodybuilders do not require massive amounts of calories to gain muscle.

The calorie reduction required to lose weight while gaining muscle is about ten percent of your total daily energy expenditure. For example, if it takes 2500 calories to stay at your current weight, you should reduce your daily calories by only 250 calories.

You will be giving your body the deficit it needs to help you lose weight, but you will still have enough energy to train heavy so you can build muscle.

Train with Intensity

In order to gain muscle, you need to train with intensity. Anyone who has been bodybuilding for a while will attest to the fact that the greatest lean mass gains come when training hard. This is especially true of mesomorph body types.

In order to keep gaining lean mass while consuming fewer calories, you should focus on compound exercises. Squats, deadlifts, chin-ups, and bench presses are just some examples of compound movements that will force your body to keep building lean mass as you lose weight.

The best way to train is with a three-day split, alternating the days that you train with recovery days. This means you should train one day and rest the next day. If you are training hard with a caloric deficit, you might find that you are slightly more tired than you normally would be.

By giving yourself more time to recover, you can build up your energy so you can train as hard as you can each time you enter the gym.

Do HIIT

When you are trying to lose weight, you might be tempted to do steady-state cardio. While this method of performing cardio exercise will help you burn calories, you also run the risk of losing muscle.

This is contrary to your goals. The best type of cardio to do is high-intensity interval training when you are trying to build muscle and lose weight at the same time.

The debate between steady-state cardio and high-intensity interval training has been going on for a long time, but since one of the first studies conducted HIIT has proved to be the superior form of training when trying to lose body fat.

In a study published in 1994 by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, researchers at Laval University proved that HIIT is better than steady-state cardio training.

The study involved two groups. One group performed HIIT for a period of 15 weeks, and the other performed steady-state cardio over a period of 20 weeks. Although the steady-state cardio group lost more calories, the HIIT group lost nine times more body fat.

One of the reasons for the greater reduction of body fat among the HIIT group is that high-intensity interval training raises the metabolism for many hours after you are finished exercising.

When it comes to gaining muscle and losing weight at the same time, anything that helps you burn more calories at rest will help you achieve your goals faster.

Reduce Carbohydrate Intake

The most expedient way of gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time is to reduce the amount of carbs you eat during the day. Carbohydrates should not be eliminated altogether, but you should try to save the majority of your carbs for after you train.

After training with weights, your body is starving for protein and carbohydrates. Both these macronutrients will be used to help you repair the muscle tissue you have broken down during your workout.

If you are keeping track of the amount of calories you are eating during the day, you will not have to worry that these calories will be used for anything except to help you build more muscle.

Increase Protein Intake

As you decrease the number of calories you consume from carbohydrates, you will increase the number of calories you get from protein. This will help you in two ways.

The first way it will help you is by diminishing hunger pangs. Protein-rich foods help you to stave off hunger pangs longer than carbohydrates. It will also help you because a constant stream of protein foods will help you preserve your lean mass.

Foods to Raise Metabolism

The last area that needs to be addressed when trying to gain muscle is eating foods that will help you increase your metabolism. Foods like green tea, cinnamon, and spicy foods help you burn more calories.

Drinking up to three cups of green tea per day can help you burn as much as 90 calories. Spicy foods like hot peppers contain capsaicin and not only act to help raise the metabolism, but they also help suppress the appetite.

It Can Be Done

Many gurus will tell you that it is impossible to gain muscle and lose fat, but that is not true. By reducing calories and carbohydrate intake, training hard with weights and doing HIIT, you can accomplish both goals at once.

If you eat foods that are high in protein as well as foods that help raise your metabolism, you will have no problem gaining muscle while you lose weight.