Why do you need to lose weight first to gain muscle mass?

Most newcomers who come to the gym for the first time are forced to think about what to do at the "beginning of the journey": lose weight or gain muscle mass? Or listen to a highly qualified trainer feverishly working on a newcomer, and start immediately "pumping muscles" and simultaneously "melting fat" (fashionably calling it "recomposition"). So, the answer to this question will be in this article. The answer is outrageously simple, before gaining muscle mass, you need to lose weight and lose weight thoroughly (most beginners still have about 25% or more body fat). And only after losing weight, start thinking about surplus and heavy strength work. How much weight should I lose? There is a rather categorical opinion here, by the well-known Lyle McDonald, that if your goal is to gain muscle mass, then if your body contains 15% or more fat (about 24-27% for women), then instead of gaining quality muscle mass (I am not talking about types of nutrition, types and kinds of training and the number of approaches/repetitions, etc., only about the amount of fat in the body), you will shift the absorption of surplus calories to a greater extent, from the path of building muscle mass, to the path of building fat mass. And your mass gain will turn into classic fat building. Therefore, first you need to lose weight to 10-12% for men (22-24% for women), and then gain muscle mass. Having reached 15%, lose weight again to the previously indicated values, and so on in a circle. That is, this means that gaining muscle mass in conditions of decreased insulin sensitivity (of varying degrees of neglect) of muscle tissue, growing elevated blood glucose levels, decreased leptin sensitivity, the presence of estradiol levels above threshold values gracify.co.uk/is-a-thick-or-thin-yoga-mat-better/, decreasing testosterone levels (both total and free), aromatized into estradiol, growing prolactin levels, etc. is a road to nowhere. But it is up to you to decide. And yes, if you think that the most important thing in getting your body in order is exclusively sports, and diet plays a lesser role here, then you are mistaken, sports in both weight loss and muscle mass gain is a maximum (if everything goes well) of 30 percent success. But still, due to the existence of such a thing as a "SET POINT" (this is a genetically determined and/or long-term maintained level of body weight and amount of fat; this notorious Set Point is also responsible for the tendency to regain fat after finishing another diet) [15] , I am inclined to adhere to the point of view of the "Step-by-step reset-gain" strategy (expressed by one smart person). It might look something like this: Let's start (let's say) with 25% --> bring it up to 15%, stop --> 2-4 weeks of stabilization on maintenance calories with training gracify.co.uk/why-do-you-need-a-yoga-towel/ --> start gaining mass --> reached 18% --> start losing weight ... And then: 18% --> 13%; 17% --> 12%; 15% - 10% This strategy will allow us to consolidate the result of weight loss and more smoothly move the SET POINT (to give the body a chance to get used to the new weight). Well, this is if we talk about how to do it correctly, or close to it, but of course the owner is the master, someone can decide to lose weight immediately from 30% to 10%. Just in any case, be prepared that the process is not fast, if you do it wisely and without harm to your health. So, to get to the heart of the matter in more detail, why is gaining weight while being fat a sham? ABOUT TESTOSTERONE AND ESTRADIOL According to NHANES data, increasing body fat (measured by BMI and waist circumference) was directly correlated with levels of total and free testosterone, total and free estradiol, and SHGB (sex hormone binding globulin). By the way, for the correct determination of testosterone and estrogen levels, it is necessary to pay attention to the SHGB levels, on average, in overweight men (BMI> 30 kg / m 2 ), SHGB levels are significantly lower, as is the total testosterone concentration, than in men with normal weight (36 ± 22 nmol / L SHGB versus 50 ± 27 nmol / L, and total testosterone: 10.5 ± 5.4 nmol / L versus 14.1 ± 7.4 nmol / L), although the concentrations of free testosterone did not differ between these groups. For a 50-year-old white non-smoker, every 5.2 cm increase in waist circumference or 2.7% increase in body fat reduces free testosterone levels by 2%. Why 10-15%? Below we will provide information regarding hormonal levels in the “dry” version (body fat percentage from 10-11% to 17-18% for males). In 1990, scientists conducted an experiment where they overfed 24 male twins, aged on average 21, from a fairly lean starting state (around 11 percent body fat) to a surplus (1,000 calories more daily: 50 percent carbohydrates, 35 percent fat, and 15 percent protein) for 100 days. The daily routine includes activities such as reading, playing video games, playing cards, and watching television, as well as free walking for 30 minutes a day. Scientists tried to establish in what progression the growth of adipose tissue would be observed in thin people under given parameters. The achieved results are reflected in the table below. After 100 days of surplus, the average weight gain was 8.1 kg, with a range of 4.3 to 13.3 kg (body fat percentage increased from 11% to 18%). For every 1 kg of muscle gained, there was about 2 kg of fat. In 2013, the same scientists (the same A. Bouchard C and Tremblay A), using the unpublished (apparently) data obtained in the 90s, decided to supplement the research materials with additional data on the status of hormonal levels during this surplus period [10]. What can be gleaned from this is that, ultimately, an increase in body fat to 17.8% did not significantly negatively affect the blood levels of adrenaline, noradrenaline, thyroid hormones, growth hormone, IGF-1, adiponectin, ghrelin, fasting insulin, free and total testosterone, progesterone, androsterone, dihydrotestosterone, pregnenolone, androstenedione, cortisol, and GSPN. Also, in 2015, a study was published in which 58 pairs of twins took part, and it was found that in men, active accumulation of visceral fat occurs when 20.6% of body fat is reached, in women when 39.4% is reached (it was also concluded that the accumulation of visceral fat in adults is not caused by genetic predisposition, but rather is the result of an increase in the total amount of fat in the body). Also, given that the percentage of body fat was determined using DEXA, and this is a more accurate method than by the thickness of folds or bioimpedance, and DEXA data is always higher than data obtained using fold measurements or bioimpedance, then in essence the results of this study again bring us to the announced 15% for men. 15% is the fat limit for many men who want to effectively build muscle mass. This is the bottom line to all of the above.