Bodybuilder & Fitness Coach Reveals the Key to Combine Weight Loss and Muscle Gain

Among the most popular topics in the fitness industry is the age-old question of how to gain muscle and lose weight at the same time. Speaking from experience, I know how challenging this aspect of working out can be, especially if you’ve tried several different techniques. In many cases, even the concept of dieting or modifying your diet may not work while you continue to push yourself at the gym. However, that may have to do with the approach being taken while in the gym itself, according to bodybuilder and longtime fitness coach Mike Israetel.

During a sit-down with Chris Williamson of the Modern Wisdom podcast, the host and Israetel primarily discussed the concept of fat loss, and specifically explored different approaches and common beliefs. However, the topic of resistance training came up, and led to several noteworthy comments.

How to Utilize Resistance Training for Weight Loss and Muscle Gain

After initially calling the role of resistance training in fat loss “super,” Israetel took a deeper dive into the subject. He noted the difference in impact between combining a diet with resistance training for building muscle and specifically losing fat, compared to not including the weight-lifting approach as a primary focus.

“Resistance training [alone] doesn’t really help you lose weight. It does in the sense that it burns calories, but it doesn’t burn a crazy amount of calories,” Israetel said. “It’s a good amount, but nothing too insane. Resistance training builds and preserves your muscle mass.”

“So if I have someone lose 15 pounds over the course of 12 weeks, reasonable for a larger-size person, [but] they don’t resistance train at all...they’ll lose, like, half of that [in] muscle. Maybe five pounds will be muscle, 10 pounds will be fat if you’re lucky...”

In comparison, when examining results from a 12-week diet where resistance training is an ongoing focus of your workout, a significant percentage of the lost weight comes from fat.

“If you resistance train and you’ve been resistance training consistently already, almost all of that weight loss will be fat,” Israetel said. “Maybe like 13 pounds of it, and only two pounds of lost muscle, and because you keep resistance training after, you’ll regain that two pounds back like three weeks later. So then, measured at three weeks after that 12-week diet, you lost [essentially] no muscle.”

Impacts of Resistance Training on Muscle Building

It’s an extremely interesting piece of information, especially when highlighting how both sides (diet and resistance training) essentially work apart compared to when used together. While these numbers will, of course, depend on the type of dieting you’re doing, in terms of how much weight loss you may see, it’s a method that can benefit many people.

Resistance training can often put a large focus on getting lean muscle, in many cases, as it’s a strong fat-burning approach that’s often recommended depending on the results you’re seeking in the gym. I will attest to the fact that the best results I’ve personally seen from working out came during two different stretches of eating as healthy as I possibly could (given, I was in my 20s at the time), while doing solely resistance training.

For good measure, at the time I’m highlighting my focus was on:

• Resistance training 3-5 times per week
• Eating protein-focused breakfasts and dinners
• Avoiding things like candy and fast food (probably 90 percent of the time)
• Working in some form of cardio each day that I worked out (boxing, jumping rope, running, etc.)

At that time, I didn't specifically keep track of weight because I was focusing on building lean muscle rather than muscle mass, so it wasn’t exactly the same. However, the results were noteworthy enough that when I saw this clip, it made a tremendous amount of sense as a great approach to losing weight and gaining muscle simultaneously.

Related: Fitness Expert Explains a Unique Workout to Train Less and Build Muscle Faster