Can You Have Your Cake and Eat It Too — With Steroids?

A common rejoinder to the biological fact that it’s impossible to both put on muscle mass while getting lean is that steroids allow you to do both.

Wrong.

If you’re trying to get big and strong, you’re still going to put on some body fat, even if you’re taking steroids. Because, again, to gain muscle mass, you need to increase the amount of calories you’re consuming, and that’s going to result in some body fat accumulation.

To be sure, steroids will increase the ratio between muscle mass and body fat accumulation compared to going all natural. That is, you’re still going to put on some body fat while you’re taking steroids because you’re consuming excess calories. You’re just going to put on much more muscle mass than you would without taking steroids.

If you’re trying to get lean, you’ve got to reduce calorie consumption. That’s going to result in you losing body fat and some muscle mass in the process. Anabolic steroids will mitigate, but not eliminate, muscle and strength loss during this “cutting phase.”

So, no, anabolic steroids aren’t magic. While they can certainly help, they don’t completely eliminate the body’s inability to get bigger and stronger without getting a bit fatter, nor the body’s inability to get leaner without cannibalizing some muscle tissue.

For more info about why you can’t gain muscle without getting a little bit fat (even with steroids), listen to my podcast with doctor and strength coach Jordan Feigenbaum:

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