Gain 5 Pounds of Muscle, Lose 3 Pounds of Fat

[T_Nation]

by Chris Shugart

1.1 – Protein’s Magic Number?

It’s possible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time, even if you’re an experienced lifter. The secret? Protein intake.

How would you like to gain about 5 pounds of muscle in the next 8 weeks? That’s huge for an experienced lifter. Let’s sweeten the deal: How would you like to lose 2-3 pounds of fat at the same time? Sign me up, right?

Well, that’s exactly what happened to a group of female lifters in the following study. And here’s the fun part: They did it by eating 250 extra calories daily. How did they gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously? By training hard and eating more protein. Let’s break it down.

High vs Low-Protein Women

This study comes from the lab of T Nation contributor Dr. Bill Campbell. He and his team recruited 17 resistance-trained women who could deadlift at least 1.5 times their body weight. All the women did a supervised weight-training program along with some HIIT-style cardio for 8 weeks. However, they were split into two groups:

• A High-Protein Group: This group consumed 1.1 grams of protein per pound of body weight. To help them reach this goal, they were provided with protein shakes. So, a 150-pound female consumed 165 grams of protein daily.
• A Low-Protein Group: This group consumed around 0.4 grams per pound of body weight. A 150-pound female in this group consumed 60 grams of protein daily.

Now, Dr. Campbell expected the women in the high-protein group to naturally decrease their carb and fat intake. That’s what normally happens when a person eats more protein. But this didn’t happen. When he examined their MyFitnessPal logs, he saw that they kept their carb/fat intake the same while adding extra protein. That means they consumed more calories than expected: about 250 more than their previous intakes.

The same kind of thing happened in the low-protein group, only they didn’t increase their carb/fat intakes, which is usually what happens with a low-protein diet. So, they ended up eating 285 calories less than before. Keep that in mind as we look at the results.

Here’s What Happened

• High-Protein Group: Every woman in this group gained muscle, 4.6 pounds on average. They also lost 2.4 pounds of fat.
• Low-Protein Group: Some lost muscle, some retained muscle, and some gained muscle. But, averaged out, this group gained a bit of muscle (just over a pound). This was somewhat unexpected, but Dr. Campbell notes that the women did a supervised lifting program, which may have been more challenging than their normal workouts. They also lost 1.75 pounds of fat, likely because they were in a caloric deficit (285 calories or a 17% deficit).

What Can We Learn?

1. The high-protein women all gained muscle and lost fat simultaneously... as experienced lifters, not untrained newbies. Weirdly, you still hear trainers say that’s impossible. Well, it is possible. So there.
2. The high-protein women lost more fat than the low-protein women even though they ate more calories! Protein: It’s kinda awesome.
3. High-protein women look better naked. That’s just basic science.

This study backs up the results of similar research showing that a person can eat more calories without gaining fat if those extra calories come from protein and they’re lifting weights.

The high-protein eaters in this study consumed 1.1 grams of protein per pound of body weight. That’s a fine goal, but most people can keep it simple and shoot for 1g/lb of body weight. (If you’re very overweight, just choose a healthy realistic weight and shoot for that many grams of protein daily.) Make it easy and do as the women in the study did: add protein shakes.

Ideally, choose one with micellar casein. It’s time-released and slow digesting, leading to a constant release of amino acids into the bloodstream, which prolongs protein synthesis over several hours, unlike whey. It also has the dual ability to prevent muscle breakdown (catabolism) during diet phases and keep you full even longer than other protein sources. That’s why we make micellar casein a big part of the MD Protein (Buy at Amazon) formula.

Need more protein info and guidelines? Check these out:

• A Rebel's Guide to Protein Intake
• The Protein-First Eating Strategy
• A Power Protein for Muscle Gain and Fat Loss

Reference

1. Campbell, et al. Effects of High Versus Low Protein Intake on Body Composition and Maximal Strength in Aspiring Female Physique Athletes Engaging in an 8-Week Resistance Training Program. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2018 Nov 1;28(6):580-585.

[Markdavid]

Chris, really appreciate all the articles and recipes (more protein recipes please). What is the percentage of caesin vs whey in MD protein?

[Juicewrld]

This is what I am doing now and I swore I was trimming up, nice to see some data.

[OTay]

Protein is obviously important but, they did not gain 5 lbs. of muscle. They gained 4.6 lbs. of fat free mass, which includes water, glycogen, etc. That makes sense since they were in a 400-calorie surplus (some higher) compared to the low protein group for 8 weeks.

The high protein group also started off fatter and weaker. The low protein group at baseline were eating higher calories so, despite being in a deficit and having their protein cut in half still added FFM and improved more in squat strength. The low protein group’s results are actually more impressive. They were in a deficit were stronger to begin with and still made progress.

I think the low protein group may have actually put on more actual muscle. If the high protein group actually put on more muscle, would you not expect their RMR to have gone up like the low protein group? This points to it being water, glycogen, bloat.

[Juicewrld]

Have to say, am now very confused. Can fat be burned while in a gaining phase?