Lose fat or build muscle, where to start?

Setting fitness goals is an exciting time but working out what your first move is can be the hardest part. People commonly ask: “What should I do first? Lose fat or build muscle? Can I do both at the same time?”.  Setting realistic goals will allow us to achieve the results we want, sustainably and successfully. 

Losing Fat

If you're in a position where you think you have fat to lose, do this first. This is because, if you go into the “Build and Shape” program with me you’ll be in a slight calorie surplus meaning you might put on a bit of weight. But the main goal of this program is to gain muscle mass while keeping body fat low. If this is something you’re happy to do, you feel “lean” enough and you’re willing to gain a bit of weight then 100% go for it. 

Revealing your gains

The main aim of the “Cut and tone” program is to lose body fat while maintaining or gaining muscle as much as we can. I find when girls start with the program and go into a deficit, their bodies reveal the muscle definition they’ve wanted, and most of the time they don’t want to go into a gaining phase and they're happy with the muscle definition they’ve achieved in the deficit. 

Does that mean you can lose fat and build muscle at the same time?

It almost sounds too good to be true right? That’s because it is (for some people). This can be the case for beginners, those at maintenance or in a slight deficit. But it’s not for everyone, it depends on the person and it can be a lot of pressure trying to achieve both things at once. This can also slow our process down making it hard to lose fat and also gain muscle when it would be easier to just choose one. 

Focus on one goal at a time

This will make the process a lot easier and stress-free. If you’re trying to do too much at once, it’ll be difficult to achieve your goals and you might be setting yourself up for failure by setting a goal you won’t be able to achieve. When we focus on one thing at a time like cutting or building this will help us achieve our intentions and we’re able to focus on that one thing.