why can’t you build muscle at a caloric deficit, if you have fat reserves available?

Question

This seems counterintuitive. I mean, if my bills exceed my income, *but* I have a million dollars in the bank, I can still buy new stuff.

I can spend the energy from fat reserves on any amount of exercise, after all – so why can’t I spend it on building muscle? Why does *that* energy have to come from a caloric surplus?

In: 3

Answer 1

You actually can gain some muscle on a calorie deficit.

*But* there are serval caveats:

You need to be in only a minor calorie deficit.

You need a diet that is still high enough in protein. (You need to eat protein in order to build muscle, your body can’t turn fat into muscle.)

You need to have a large enough fat reserve.

You need to not have a lot of muscle in the first place.

You need to follow a good lifting program. (duh)

So if all of those line up you can indeed gain some muscle while losing a bit of weight, but for a lot of people it is really difficult to ensure that all of those are perfectly lined up.