How To Build Muscle & Lose Fat Quickly

When you decide to change your body composition for the better, you want immediate results. Building muscle and losing fat improves your health and appearance. You must be patient with your body during the process, however, because dropping fat too quickly and not giving your muscles adequate rest actually comprises your efforts. Fast, when it comes to changing your body, is relative--give yourself at least 12 weeks of focused training and dieting to see noticeable results.

Step 1

Commit to a structured exercise routine. Use a combination of body weight, free weights and machine exercises to train every major muscle group at least two times per week to build lean muscle. Make sure you use weights that are challenging enough to only complete six to 10 repetitions to optimize strength gains. Participate in a cardiovascular exercise that you enjoy to burn fat, such as swimming, running or biking. Shoot for a minimum of 30 minutes a day, three times per week

Step 2

Rest between weight workouts. Give yourself at least 48 hours between trainings for specific muscle groups because muscle growth actually occurs after your workout--when your muscles repair the micro tears induced by heavy weight training. Resist the urge to train too much to speed up your results.

Step 3

Eat mini-meals throughout the day. Divide your daily calorie goal by six to determine how much you should consume at each interval. Split one mini-meal up around your workout. Consume half, which should include about 10g of protein, pre-workout to provide amino acids to your muscles during your routine. Eat the other half, which should contain about 20g of protein at the conclusion of your workout to immediately provide fuel for your muscle growth. Try turkey or egg whites pre-workout and whey or soy protein powder post-workout.

Step 4

Up the amount of protein you consume over the course of the day. Strive for 15 to 30g per mini meal to make a daily total of about 1g per 1 lb. of body weight, or about 30 percent of your daily calories. Protein helps your muscle growth and, as suggested by a 2005 editorial in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition," assists with thermogenesis, satiation and fat loss.

Step 5

Choose your drinks wisely. Forgo alcohol, which can decrease your fat-burning capacity, as reported in the 2010 special edition of "Oxygen Magazine," by as much as 73 percent. Opt for green tea, which contains a compound known as ECGC--studies, like one from Japan published in the January 2005 issue of the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition," show that the ingestion of green tea over a 12-week period increases the fat-burning capabilities of the body.

Step 6

Consume only whole, unprocessed foods. Reduce your intake of saturated and trans fats by choosing lean protein sources. Eat whole grains instead of refined grains. Go for mono-unsaturated fats like those found in nuts and olive oil.

Step 7

Do not skip meals or skimp on calories to accelerate your fat loss process. Eat too little and you risk dipping into muscle stores for energy to complete your workouts; your energy and strength to complete muscle-building workouts will also suffer.

Tips and Warnings

Seek a personal trainer if you are unsure of how to create a strength-training routine.
Be wary of supplements that promise immediate muscle gains and fat burning. Most supplements have not been proven to work in clinical trials and are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. If a quick trick to build muscle and burn fat existed, more people would use it.