Building Muscle vs. Losing Fat

It’s okay to want to change shape or body composition. Wanting either of these things does NOT make you a salve to diet culture, provided you’re doing it for the right reasons and following the right process. You can also still alter your body composition without sacrificing your intrinsic eating cues and by following principles of intentional eating. In fact, in many circumstances, using intentional eating strategies can actually HELP with alterations of body composition.

But trying to lose fat or gain muscle as an athlete, is often a little trickier than it is for the average Joe; you’re trying to fuel sport, life and everything in between, so how do you make sure the macros and the energy intake fit your goals and your needs as an athlete?

Muscle Gain Nutrition: Fuelling Growth

A nutrition plan aimed at muscle gain, by the nature of thermodynamics, must be one centred around a caloric surplus. This is because you need to not only be fuelling the activity your body is currently engaged in, but you also need to be adding EXTRA body mass.

Key Elements of a Muscle Gain Nutrition Plan:

1. Caloric Surplus: Typically, a surplus of 250-500 calories per day is recommended, depending on your goals and starting point. This extra energy fuels the growth process.
2. High Protein Intake: Protein is essential for muscle repair and growth and so is key when it comes to building muscle. Aim for about 1.6-2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily.
3. Adequate Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates are the primary fuel source for intense training. Ensure you’re getting enough carbs to support your workouts and replenish glycogen stores as you don’t want to be sacrificing your training quality simply because you’re over-focusing on protein.
4. Healthy Fats: Fats are crucial for hormone production, including testosterone, which plays a significant role in muscle growth. Incorporate healthy fats from sources like avocados, nuts, and olive oil.

It’s important to note that while the above is a good, basic foundation for muscle growth, it will NEVER happen without stimulation from training. Think about it, if it were that easy to build muscle, everyone over-eating would suddenly look super jacked and strong simply due to the macros they ate, regardless of if they went to the gym or not! For athletes, you will achieve some stimulus for muscle growth from certain types of training for example over-geared sessions on the bike. But the gold standard is getting in the gym and lifting heavy stuff. Simple as that.

If you’re looking to build muscle, the off-season when you’re focusing on building overall strength and ensuring your body is a rock solid foundation for the specific training stresses later down the line, can be a great time to consider this change. It also gives you time to shed any additional body fat you might add during this period, which is not conducive to good health and performance at other times.

It is on this note, important to mention that a caloric excess, is likely to lead to at least some level of fat gain. THIS IS OKAY. When you’re building muscle, you want MASS. This will help you to shift that heavy stuff I referred to earlier, thus helping you to really maximise on your gains. Don’t be frightened of added mass; recognise that it’s there to help you and it’s all temporary.

Fat Loss Nutrition: Shedding the Excess

On the flip side, a fat loss-focused nutrition plan requires a caloric deficit to get your body to rely on its fat stores for the energy it needs.

Key Elements of a Fat Loss Nutrition Plan:

1. Caloric Deficit: A deficit of 300-500 calories per day is typically recommended for gradual and sustainable fat loss.
2. Moderate to High Protein Intake: While in a calorie deficit, maintaining muscle mass is crucial. Protein helps preserve lean muscle while losing fat, so maintain your protein level at 1.6-2.2g/kg to help with this.
3. Controlled Carbohydrates: Again, you need carbs for your training, so don’t sacrifice them, just focus on well balanced meals and snacks and good quality nutrients that you enjoy, and fill you up.
4. Healthy Fats: Again, don’t cut fats too low; they’re essential for overall health and maintaining metabolic function.

Depending on how much fat you have to lose, there are various times of the year to consider fat loss nutrition. It could be, tat if you have a large excess to lose (which is mainly a benefit for your general health), then the off-season could be a great time to do it. While focusing on building muscle in the gym is usually associated with muscle gain, if you’re overweight, then getting in there and using this period as a time to focus on body composition instead of sport might be a beneficial shift in focus. It can also be rather more challenging to keep up with the rigours of endurance training or race specific sessions where you really want to be feeling your best, if you’re in a calorie deficit. Nobody ever performs their best when they’re trying to lose weight!

That said if you’re just looking to shed the few pounds of fat you gained in the gym when you gained some muscle mass (think a less extreme and far healthier version of the bodybuilder’s “cut and bulk” phases) then focusing on a small calorie deficit just out of the off season when you’re moving towards slightly more race specific sessions but you’re not at the pointy end of the season can be a great time to consider this for a few weeks.

It’s important ti acknowledge and accept what the impacts of a calorie deficit will be on training: You will have slightly less energy, you won’t achieve peak performance at this time and you may have to adjust your training slightly with this in mind. However, if you do this under the right conditions with the right guidance, there’s no reason it can’t slot perfectly into the season training plan you’ve already devised.

Can You Build Muscle and Lose Fat Simultaneously?

The idea of gaining muscle while losing fat—often referred to as body recomposition—is the holy grail. If I had a £1 for every time a client came to me with this goal, well let’s just say I’d be sitting here looking at a very shiny new custom build adventure layout T6… However, it’s challenging to achieve both simultaneously, especially for seasoned athletes. Here’s why:

1. Contradictory Caloric Needs: Building muscle requires a caloric surplus, while losing fat necessitates a deficit. Achieving both at the same time can be like trying to drive in two directions simultaneously.
2. Beginner’s Advantage: Novices or those returning after a long break might experience “newbie gains,” where they can build muscle and lose fat concurrently due to the body’s high responsiveness to training. However, as you progress, these simultaneous gains become harder to achieve.
3. Strategic Cycling: For experienced athletes, it’s often more effective to cycle between phases focused on muscle gain (bulking) and fat loss (cutting) rather than trying to do both at once. This allows for more targeted and effective results in each phase and more effective training.

Even athletes want to look and feel good. But eating as an athlete needs to be about feeling good, feeling strong, aiming for specific challenges and acknowledging the real needs of our bodies to accomplish those, rather than the expectations we place on ourselves from synthetic magazines and posters. There’s nothing wrong with identifying the benefits of body recomposition if they really exist, but that’s why objectivity from a professional is often so much more important for athletes; by the time you realise you’ve got it wrong, you’re already in the bin, hating racing and wondering where all your sparkle went.

Don’t be afraid to aim high and play around with your body composition, but do it for you, for your challenges and do it in a way that keeps your relationship with food positive and healthy.

Need help doing that? Yeah, I thought so. Book a call with me to explore your goals and what you need to do to get there.