Does your metabolism prioritize body fat over aminoacids and muscle at +15% bf?

[lucifer92]

I found someone who said this:

"If you really are at +15% fat, your metabolism will prioritize body fat over aminoacids and muscle for fuel, so your body will be able to burn fat and create new muscle (obviously not as much as in a surplus) given the right conditions (training, hormones, rest). Just get in a good program, stay in a deficit, and keep cardio at a minimum (mostly LISS).

Things change a lot when you want to get sub 15%, the battle then is to lose as little muscle as possible."

Is any of this true? Or just wishful thinking?

 

[john.patterson]

There isn't a true yes or no answer to this question - there are a lot of factors that can impact this. First off, your body doesn't always default to prioritizing one energy source over another. Aerobic and anaerobic exercise will dictate what the main source of fuel your body uses. For example - with LISS cardio, your body will use more fatty acids for energy. But with something like HIIT or heavy lifting, your body will use the fastest available energy source (carbohydrate or in some cases amino acids).

To answer the second question with muscle gain and fat loss- the main factor here will be the time you've been training. If you're new to lifting and haven't been training consistently, it's possible to do a recomposition where you put on muscle while loosing fat. This can truly only happen naturally when you are new to training thought.

If you've been lifting consistently for over a year, it's very challenging to loose fat and build muscle at the same time. If you're eating in a deficit there is no way for your body to build new muscle tissue since you aren't providing enough nutrients and energy to support growth.

 

[u_e_s_i]

Give your body a reason to hold onto or build new muscle and you'll burn more fat.
Factors like how much growth hormone, glucagon and testosterone you have in your body play a part. The more of these things you have the more fatty acids you'll liberate and have for burning. The lower your cortisol and estrogen the less muscle you'll burn. Note that suppressing estrogen can be detrimental to making muscle gains. All of the above has been proven