One of the comments a reader left on our website is how can he or she lose fat while gaining muscles? In a way he is basically asking – is it possible to replace fat with muscle tissue?

Yes you can do that but, it depends on several factors.

It is well documented that the more muscle tissue one has, especially of  the fast twitch muscle type, the more fat you are able to lose. It is certainly easier for most people to build muscle mass first knowing that they will be putting on more fat in the process.

After going on such a fitness weight training program for a few months, they will then start doing high reps/low weight workouts so they can start showing their newly built muscles. This is the most common method of fitness weight training for muscle mass and fat loss.

To perform fitness weight training which will develop muscles while burning off fat, you will need to stick with compound exercises like deadlifts, squats, bench press, lats pulldowns and military presses. These are the exercises that employ not only the big muscle groups but also the surrounding smaller muscles. Do them with free weights instead of using the exercise machine, so the auxiliary muscles are exercised more.

Your fitness weight training should aim at around 8-12 reps per set, with weights set to about 80% to 90% of the maximum weight you can lift for a particular exercise.

Before starting this program, work out the maximum weight you can lift and then reduce that by about 20% until you can just lift 8 to 12 reps. Set the weight so the last 2 or 3 reps are really hard but don’t do the exercise to failure.

Do 3 sets per exercise to start with and do full body workouts 3 times a week on alternate days. Remember to keep increasing your weight in small increments as you become fitter.

Your daily protein consumption should be restricted to about 1.5 multiplied by your body weight (in kgs). Plan to eat that total amount of protein over 6 small meals. This is important for if you increase your protein intake, you may be putting on extra fat.

When you do our proposed fitness weight training, you will find that your body will be burning fat faster even when you are resting due to your higher metabolic activity. This is the main reason why weight training is so effective for losing weight.