Q: You mention that by focusing on building muscle now, it will be easier to lose weight later by cutting fat. I am just confused a bit, because I thought that in cutting fat, the body goes in 'starvation' mode and uses up our muscle as oppose to body fat. Why won't that be the case when we have gained more muscle? Thank you in advance for answering my question. I love your site.

A: First off, thank you for the compliment! It's great to hear that my site is helping you!

Now on to your question... I usually use the word 'starvation' to emphasize severe caloric deficit (undereating by more than 1000 calories per day). I wouldn't call a well-designed fat-burning diet aimed at losing one pound per week 'starvation' (to lose one pound per week, you need to undereat by about 500 calories per day). A good fat-burning diet will put your body in caloric deficit, but not starvation. So how does having more muscle mass help you lose fat faster? One: more muscle means higher metabolism means more fat burned around the clock (whether at rest or active) and two: more muscle means more muscle left over even after your body burns some muscle along with fat (which is common under caloric deficit). So it's not so much that having more muscle upfront will somehow prevent the muscle loss that often happens during weight loss, but that it will allow the fat loss to proceed for longer and allow you to end up with less fat and more muscle at the end of the weight loss phase. Check out http://www.mikesfitness.com/content/burning-calories-muscle-cardio for a related discussion of the benefits of muscle mass in fat loss.

One thing to note is that if you choose to focus on building muscle first and cutting fat later, you need to be careful to not put on too much fat in the muscle-building phase. While beginners, especially if they are overweight, can build muscle and lose fat simultaneously, for most other people building muscle will usually require overeating to gain weight and will usually result in some additional fat buildup. So the key is to minimize the fat gain during the muscle-building phase because obviously, if you gain 5 pounds of muscle, but along with it 10 pounds of fat, then you're probably worse off than before you started. So how do you go about minimizing fat gain while overeating to build muscle? The two most important things is to have a good clean diet and to gain weight VERY SLOWLY -- as slow as 1-2 pounds per month if you really want to minimize fat gain. This is not easy to do because few people can control their diet with such precision. But you can help it by eating only good foods, eating small to medium sized balanced meals with a good amount of protein in each, and eating often. Then keep careful track of your weight (weigh yourself in the morning on an empty stomach) and adjust your diet to keep that weight gain on track for those 1-2 pounds per month (or whatever pace you choose -- it's realistic to gain one pound of muscle per week, for beginners). Add calories if you're not gaining fast enough and reduce calories if you're gaining weight too fast. Paying a little attention to your diet, your training, and your progress will pay off in a big way over months and years!