How do I gain muscle without losing weight?

[Something Funny]

I didn't really exercise that much this year, and I ate a ton of junk food, so I've gained about 9-10kg. I went from 71 kg, the weight I've been at most of my adult life, to about 80kg right now. And, to be honest, I kind of like feeling bulkier. But I don't like how all the extra fat looks around my waist, chest, etc.

Is there a way for me to start exercising, grow muscles, lose fat, and stay around the same weight, or will I just lose all that weight? 

It's worth noting that I've never been into body building. I am mostly into different forms of functional and strength training, and I would like to keep it that way.

Edited 18 hours ago by Something Funny

[Michael569]

Regular exercise will be important but you've gotta start paying attention to your diet as well otherwise the weight won't move. 

Just head to the nearest gym, speak to one of the trainers, book a few sessions so they can create a training routine for you then continue on your own. Sign up for at least 6 months.

With regards to diet, if you're unsure where to begin, either consider hiring a professional (nutritionists/dietitian) or use AI to help you educate yourself or even create some sort of a meal plan.

With time, patience and some commitment, you'll start seeing first results within a month. 

Edited 8 hours ago by Michael569

[Leo Gura]

Pro bodybuilders figured this out back in Arnold's day. What they do is they gain muscle and fat at the same time most of the year. Then they do a short fat-cutting phase which also loses them muscle but they use steroids to maximize keeping muscle while losing fat.

To gain muscle you basically gotta gain fat too. You can't only gain muscle. And when you cut fat you will also lose muscle. This stuff is not magic.

Edited 8 hours ago by Leo Gura

[Something Funny]

1 hour ago, Michael569 said:

Regular exercise will be important but you've gotta start paying attention to your diet as well otherwise the weight won't move. 

 

But that's what I wanted. I guess it's not possible, but i wanted my weight stay the same, just switch fat for muscles.

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

To gain muscle you basically gotta gain fat too. You can't only gain muscle. And when you cut fat you will also lose muscle. This stuff is not magic.

I see, that's a shame 

[Hardkill]

Yeah, you can only gain muscle with only adding a small amount of bodyfat on you if you are beginner at bodybuilding or strength training and gain 1.5 - 2.0 lbs. of fat, protein, and carbs every month.

You also don't want to gain more than 20 to 25 lbs of bodyweight during your first year because any more than that during your first year will only cause you to put on total unnecessary body fat no matter how hard and consistent you work on building muscle mass/strength and no matter how good your muscle/strength building program is. Unless you take steroids or any other kind of PEDs, which would be a terrible mistake, especially as a beginner.

Once you become an intermediate, which is when you've made all of the beginner gains you could make after working out hard and consistently on a good muscle/strength building program like Starting Strength or 5x5 Stronglifts or beginner's version of 5/3/1 for about a year, then you are going to have to add about 10 lbs. of bodyfat for the rest of year as you work on gaining more muscle/strength.

[Something Funny]

@Hardkill The more I think about it, the more I realise that I don't want to bother with all that stuff. I guess I will just train normally and let my body figure out the weight.

[The Renaissance Man]

13 hours ago, Something Funny said:

Is there a way for me to start exercising, grow muscles, lose fat, and stay around the same weight, or will I just lose all that weight? 

Yes, just train hard. It's true that doing bulking and cutting cycles as Leo said is optimal, but it's not required at all to get to intermediate levels.

There are studies showing how beginners can literally build muscle and lose fat at the same time. The more advanced you are though, and the harder this is. But once you get there you'll decide what to do.

TRAIN HARD!

 

Possible objections:

• Without following a diet you can't gain muscle or lose fat. BS. False. Stimulus -> Adaptation. If you train hard, you'll get adaptations for a LONG TIME before diet becomes a problem. I built 15kg of muscle just eating to maintain my weight (I gained weight over time as I started with low bodyfat anyway). No diet. Many athletes get to top levels just through training, with shitty diets.
• You have to gain fat to put on muscle. False. If you put on fat you'll also gain muscle at optimal rates. But with a maintenance diet the muscle gain rate will just be a bit slower. As I said, I put on 15kg of muscle without ever bulking or cutting. 15kg is a complete transformation of your body. Even 3kg is noticeable. Lifetime drug free, just training hard.

Here's your hierarchy of concerns. No sense to go to the next level if you're not willing to do the previous ones.

1. Go to the gym
2. Train hard
3. Train harder
4. Train harder!
5. Refine diet

Need to get the priorities of muscle building straight here. Not every tool has the same influence.

Edited 4 hours ago by The Renaissance Man

[Something Funny]

@The Renaissance Man thanks. Did you follow a specific program for building muscles?

[PsychedelicEagle]

IME, you CAN gain muscle without gaining fat. Even if you're an experienced lifter. The huge caveat is: it'll just take A LOT longer (esp. for non-beginners) versus doing the age-old bulking and cutting cycles. See the video attached.

It's up to you to decide what you want. If you don't want to lose weight, the best is to consistently track your food intake and your weight, and adjust as you go. Using an app like Cronometer can help you make fine adjustments, and become more aware of how much calorie/protein is in the different foods you eat.

 

Edited 2 hours ago by PsychedelicEagle

[The Renaissance Man]

@Something Funny I did calisthenics, but I trained for strength, not for muscle size. But muscle will come automatically as a result of that. The programs I followed were pretty mediocre as well, nothing specific. Training hard was made easier by the fact that I loved the sport and seeing results. I could never do bodybuilding, I find it too boring.

[Something Funny]

@The Renaissance Man ok, perfect

[The Renaissance Man]

You don't need to do calisthenics by the way. Any solution of resistance training that gets you to the gym 3-4x week and makes you train HARD and consistently (strength training helps because you have objectives to reach) will work. It's simple: stimulus -> adaptation. Really that easy. People find excuses before they ever apply enough stimulus to cause adaptations, and wonder why the results don't come.

Crossfit, calisthenics, powerlifting, weightlifting, bodybuilding, hybrid training, powerbuilding, a personal merger of them, a personal selection of them, etc etc etc

Good luck on your journey!

Edited 1 hour ago by The Renaissance Man

[Something Funny]

@The Renaissance Man no worries, I know what I want to do. Thanks