Should you consume more or less calories than you burn - for great muscle growth AND fat loss WITHOUT metabolism downshift?

It seems like the real goal is really an improvement in body composition, which is nearly everyone's goal. Most people say they want to lose weight, but what they mean is they want to look better with their shirt off. Scale weight isn't as important as how you look/feel and how your training is progressing. On top of this, you want to add muscle. I think it is entirely possible to improve body composition while adding muscle and getting stronger. It is not a rapid process and it takes discipline, but I wouldn't say it's impossible. I think that, as a simple overview, you should be lifting intensely as well as doing varied high intensity training such as medicine ball throwing, box jumping, kettlebell swings, sprints, high rep cleans and so forth. The combination of these will likely lead to the most efficient improvement in body comp. Most importantly, you will have to be acutely aware of what you're eating. Generally, I would say that on heavy lifting days your diet should be very pro-growth. You should get lots of protein (~2 g/kg should be plenty) from meat/dairy/some supplements/cheese, a decent amount of whole food carbs (~250-300 oughtta do it) and plenty of good fats from sources like olive oil, avocado, good cheese etc. I would also have the majority of your calories after your workout to hopefully ensure that they're put to the best use. On lighter or rest days your diet should be lower overall calories as well as lower carbs, and no simple sugar or refined flour (really that goes for every day). You might look into carb-cycling protocols, of which there are many, as people have used them to pretty good effect for getting lean. Overall I think this question is easy to over think, but the main recommendations are fairly simple. 1) Eat big on days you train hard (make sure you're doing sufficient volume and intensity and doing compound lifts like bench/squat/deadlift/pullups/lunges etc.) 2) Lower calories and lower carbs on light days, but maintain good protein and fat sources 3) Be extremely diligent and disciplined in your routine for a couple months and assess the changes (muscle gain/loss, fat gain/loss, strength gain/loss) to see if you're on the right track.

Hi everybody, Thank you very much for your answers!@ So far my conclusion is that one should exercise and try to build muscle a lot in order to increase metabolism. Also see: Exercise and food intake should then result in a 15-20% calorie deficit. I found some more info on the web that might be of interest to others. I have done the calculations with my values. ------------------ Online calculator for Basic Metabolic Rate: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/metric-bmr-calculator.php = 1950 (in my personal case) (The subsequent info is from the same site) ---------------- Caloric need: If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) :  Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2 --> 2340 If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) :  Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375 --> 2680 If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55 --> 3000 If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) :  Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725 --> 3360 If  you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or  2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9 --> 3700 Calorie Needs to gain weight Once  you know the number of calories you need to maintain your weight (using  our BMR Calculator in conjunction with our Harris Benedict Equation,  you can easily calculate the number of calories you need in order to  gain weight. If you want to gain body  weight, you need to consume more calories than you burn. One pound of  body weight is roughly equivalent to 3500 calories, so eating an extra  500 calories per day will cause you to gain one pound a week. For  optimum health, if you increase your calories to gain weight then  (health permitting) gradually increase your level of physical exercise  in order to maintain or increase your lean body mass. The benefits of  exercise on physical and mental health are well documented and shouldn't  be ignored. Calorie Needs to lose weight There are approximately 3500 calories in a pound of stored body fat. So, if you create a 3500-calorie  deficit through diet, exercise or a combination of both, you will lose  one pound of body weight. (On average 75% of this is fat, 25% lean  tissue) If you create a 7000 calorie deficit you will lose two pounds  and so on. The calorie deficit can be achieved either by  calorie-restriction alone, or by a combination of fewer calories in  (diet) and more calories out (exercise). This combination of diet and  exercise is best for lasting weight loss. Indeed, sustained weight loss  is difficult or impossible without increased regular exercise. If  you want to lose fat, a useful guideline for lowering your calorie  intake is to reduce your calories by at least 500, but not more than  1000 below your maintenance level. For people with only a small amount  of weight to lose, 1000 calories will be too much of a deficit. As a  guide to minimum calorie intake, the American College of Sports Medicine  (ACSM) recommends that calorie levels never drop below 1200 calories  per day for women or 1800 calories per day for men. Even these calorie  levels are quite low. An alternative  way of calculating a safe minimum calorie-intake level is by reference  to your body weight or current body weight. Reducing calories by 15-20%  below your daily calorie maintenance needs is a useful start. You may  increase this depending on your weight loss goals. ----------------- Below is an answer by Josh Leeger, who was kind enough to write a great answer. @Josh: I thought I would take the work of repasting your answer off your hands. In case you do want to repost in your own name just do so and I will delete this message. Josh Leeger Thanks  David. I'm a believer in the intake of high levels of calories for  people who are exercising intensely (pretty much regardless of their  final goal - seeking muscle gain and/or fat loss). When you exercise  intensely, your basal metabolic rate can be higher (on average) than  when you do not. This is because your body is working to adapt to the  demands you've put upon it. Eating fewer calories than "burned"  during intense exercise can lead to depletion which can descend into an  overtraining state. Mark Twight of Gym Jones fame summed this up best  with his phrase - "dig a hole so deep you can't get out of it." This  is all in reference to people who are exercising intensely, though. By  that I mean that they're training 6 days per week and hitting their  upper thresholds at least two of those sessions. A caveat exists for  people whose starting condition isn't very good. These people often  can't hit the intensities needed to create massive physiological  deficits. They just aren't conditioned to do that safely (yet). For that  group, caloric restriction may be necessary in the short term, until  they've achieved a good baseline level of conditioning. People who  are casual or recreational exercisers usually need to moderate their  diet as well (quality and quantity). For these folks, I refer to my  friend Nate Miyaki's dietary recommendations. Nate is here on Quora  too... I know it's an "it all depends" answer, but it really does depend!! Hope that's helpful! ----------------------------------------------

You generally have to choose - muscle growth OR fat loss - you can't do both at the same time. Believe me, I have tried, despite all the reading I have done and all the trainers I have talked to, all of whom said it can't be done. It just doesn't work. I am currently trying to get ripped, which has heretofore been impossible for me since I have always focused on size and strength rather than being "cut". To do so, I am doing HIIT (high intensity interval training) for cardio, 15 minutes every other day, and a specialized circuit routine developed in consultation with two trainers at my gym. One of the things I had to give up was the idea that I might get bigger while doing this routine though - it will maintain my strength and size, but will mostly focus on getting my metabolism super revved up and keeping it there, also known as EPOC (excess post exercise oxygen consumption). By keeping your system revved up for weeks on end, your body burns off excess fat and more importantly, by eating correctly during that time, your body learns to burn fat for energy, which gets you ripped. At least that's the theory. Check back with me in August to see if it worked.