Build Muscle and Lose Fat: How Aesthetic Treatments Can Help

Too many refined foods, irregular routines and other factors have made obesity and muscle weakness common problems today. With rising health awareness and a growing emphasis on appearance and body shape, “building muscle and losing fat” has become a common topic. This article tells you what building muscle and losing fat means, how to do it, whether you can do both at the same time, and which aesthetic treatments can help you reach your ideal body shape

What Is Building Muscle and Losing Fat?

Building muscle

This refers to increasing the amount of muscle in the body. Even if your height and weight stay the same, your body looks leaner because the muscles become firmer. Protein is the key element for muscle growth. When cells are stimulated by strength training, they need amino acids to repair damaged tissue, which optimizes muscle protein synthesis more effectively and promotes muscle growth; the more muscle mass the body has, the more calories it burns, which in turn raises the basal metabolic rate

Losing fat

This refers to lowering the proportion of body fat. Besides burning calories through exercise, you also need to create a calorie deficit. The body burns glycogen and loses a lot of water with it; when glycogen runs low, the body starts breaking down muscle and fat for energy, so in the early stage it is easy to lose water and muscle. Generally speaking, fat loss means losing subcutaneous fat, and with less fat under the skin, the body’s curves can be effectively sculpted, and you look slimmer

“Building muscle and losing fat” means preventing muscle loss while reducing body fat. Muscle mass can be increased through diet control and exercise training, giving you a leaner, slimmer physique.

Why Build Muscle and Lose Fat?

Building muscle and losing fat is suitable for three main groups:

1. High body fat

A body fat percentage above the standard not only causes obesity but also impairs bodily function and raises the risk of cardiovascular disease and fatty liver. By building muscle and losing fat, you can lower body fat, avoid the “skinny fat” body that results from ineffective weight loss, prevent chronic disease, and raise your basal metabolic rate.

Ministry of Health and Welfare: Body Fat Standards by Age

2. Insufficient muscle mass

Sarcopenia, caused by aging or a sedentary, inactive lifestyle, leaves muscle mass insufficient. This weakens the limbs, worsens balance and raises the risk of falls, and can even affect blood pressure, blood sugar and metabolism, harming overall health.

The purpose of building muscle and losing fat is to help muscles gain strength and train endurance. It not only keeps muscles firm but can also prevent skeletal misalignment, protect the internal organs and promote blood circulation.

3. Body sculpting

Building muscle and losing fat can sculpt the body, creating firm muscle definition while reducing fat, so the figure is not only slimmer but, more importantly, has more defined curves, without looking gaunt or paper-thin, which is more visually appealing.

Build Muscle First or Lose Fat First? Can You Do Both at the Same Time?

Building muscle and losing fat are two different things, and opinions differ on which to do first. Some say they can be done at the same time, but this is harder and is more achievable for gym beginners, women, people with high body fat, and experienced lifters returning after a break.

• Build muscle first:

When gym beginners and lean people first start building muscle, they will gain some fat to a greater or lesser degree, causing weight to rise and muscle definition to look unclear. There is no need to worry too much, because building muscle also raises the basal metabolic rate, and together with the calories burned in daily activity, this helps with fat loss later on

• Lose fat first:

Generally, people with excessively high body fat (over 30% for men, over 35% for women) are advised to lose fat first and build muscle afterward, keeping calorie intake below calorie expenditure, which is commonly known as a “calorie deficit”. Building muscle while body fat is high and weight is heavy will limit training intensity, whereas building muscle after losing weight reduces the load on the body and makes later training more effective

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3 Ways to Build Muscle and Lose Fat

Building muscle and losing fat comes down to keeping nutrition balanced through diet and strengthening muscle tissue through resistance training. However, diet and exercise alone make it hard to reach your goal in a short time, and you may hit a plateau along the way and see little progress. This is when aesthetic treatments can help you sculpt your body with ease.

1. Diet control

To sculpt your body, pay attention to calorie intake: create a calorie deficit while still meeting your basal metabolic rate, eat more whole foods, and avoid refined foods (bubble tea, cake, snacks...) and fried or grilled foods that put a heavier burden on the body.

Building muscle: calorie intake > expenditure ➔ create a calorie surplus. Besides protein, pay attention to carbohydrate intake (such as rice and whole-wheat bread). These easily digested and absorbed carbs give the body energy and stimulate muscle synthesis.

Losing fat: calorie intake < expenditure ➔ create a calorie deficit. Losing fat does not mean not eating or eating very little, but eating the right way. High-fiber vegetables and high-quality protein, for example, are low in calories yet increase satiety, and are healthy eating habits for fat loss.

2. Exercise training

Exercise falls into two main categories, aerobic and anaerobic:

3. Aesthetic treatments

Want a great body but too busy, or just too lazy to exercise, or stuck on a plateau despite eating boiled healthy meals every day? Aesthetic cryolipolysis and muscle-building, fat-reducing devices can help you slim down while lying down!

NAISS CLINIC offers:

(1) CoolTech cryolipolysis, for quickly eliminating stubborn fat

CoolTech is a non-invasive cryolipolysis technology. It targets fat and flab that diet and exercise cannot get rid of, using precise -10°C cooling technology and a 360-degree vacuum negative-pressure applicator to hold the treatment area. The frozen fat cells undergo apoptosis, and the normal lymphatic system then clears the apoptotic cells, reducing fat.

It is scientifically proven to effectively reduce fat by 50%, with no downtime, so it does not interfere with daily life. It can be used on the abdomen, flanks, arms, inner and outer thighs, back, chin, knees, bikini line, lower gluteal fold and other areas. For people who want to improve fat in different areas, sculpt small areas, reach fat-loss goals quickly, or lose fat but are afraid of surgery, cryolipolysis is a good choice, delivering fat reduction without surgery!

(2) Talent-A muscle stimulation, to firm and sculpt your muscle lines

Talent-A is a non-invasive muscle-building and fat-reducing device. Using the principle of high-intensity focused electromagnetic field stimulation, it makes muscles perform passive exercise, and eddy currents stimulate motor neurons, strengthening muscle groups at different layers from superficial to deep. The magnetic field intensity and frequency can be adjusted to individual needs, letting muscles contract intermittently and improving muscle firmness.

A 30-minute session is equivalent to 2 hours of exercise. It has three main benefits: increasing muscle density, strengthening the pelvic floor muscles and relieving muscle pain. It can be used on a very wide range of areas, including the abdomen, thighs, arms, buttocks, shoulders and the muscles and joints throughout the body, and it can also help with muscle tension, postpartum diastasis recti, tightening the female intimate area and strengthening the male prostate. It suits people who do not exercise or have insufficient muscle mass, people who exercise regularly and are not overweight but want to sculpt their lines, people who want to strengthen their muscle lines after liposuction, people who want to improve a flat or sagging buttocks, and people with postpartum diastasis recti, all of whom can reach their goals with Talent-A treatment.

Muscle-Stimulation Fat Reduction vs. Cryolipolysis! Do Non-Invasive Fat-Reduction Treatments Really Work? Pros, Cons, Costs and Suitable Candidates Revealed

Comparison of CoolTech cryolipolysis and Talent-A treatments:

Maintaining a healthy routine, controlling your diet and doing appropriate exercise training are the keys to staying in good shape, but various uncontrollable factors can get in the way of the perfect figure. Aesthetic treatments can help you get twice the result with half the effort and give you a helping hand on the road to looking your best!