Don’t let instant gratification delay your long-term goals.
Many individuals who are deliberate with their nutrition and consistently resistance train have two primary goals: build more muscle mass, AND lose body fat.
These goals are by all means achievable, however it’s important to recognise that they are conflicting and occur at a different “rate”. Fat loss can result in a dramatic visual change to someone’s physique in a relatively short period of time, whereas changes in muscle mass are far more gradual and generally take years of consistency to be deemed “significant”.
With this, it’s understandable why pursuing a fat loss phase is more instantly gratifying than committing to a building phase, as you can SEE the visual changes in a shorter period of time. The reason for this is because weight loss recommendations are to lose between 0.5-1.5% of your bodyweight per week, whereas in a building phase it’s recommended that you gain 0.5-1.5% of your bodyweight per month. Not only is this change in scale weight quadruple (at minimum), however we also need to consider that adipose tissue takes up a larger surface area compared to skeletal muscle mass. Therefore, even if it was a 1:1 ratio, the size of your body would STILL change more if you lost fat at the same rate at which you gained muscle.
If building a significant amount of muscle mass is your long-term goal, then it’s important to commit to this and fall in love with delayed gratification. Otherwise, falling victim to continuously chasing instant gratification through fat loss phases by prematurely implementing mini-cuts, dieting too often, or being hesitant to push bodyweight up in the first place, will ultimately contribute to endless wheel spinning.
If you have a long-term vision for how you want to look from a muscularity standpoint, then appreciate that this is going to take time. Be at peace knowing that changes in body composition will be less noticeable to begin with, however trust that your efforts are compounding, and with patience you WILL build something truly significant!