Preserving muscle mass is important for everyone, especially people who want to lose weight. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you’ll burn since muscle tissue requires more calories to maintain. If you’re trying to lose body fat, saving your muscle mass is vital to your future progress. You’ll also look and feel better when you maintain or build more muscle tissue. The more muscle tissue you have, the thinner you’ll appear compared to your weight. One cubic inch of muscle mass weighs more than a cubic inch of fat. That means a pound of fat needs a bigger container than a pound of muscle. It’s like comparing the container for a pound of feathers to a pound of metal.
Focus on losing weight more slowly.
You can lose more weight with an extremely low-calorie diet, but that rapid weight loss means you lose muscle mass. Slow the weight loss by eating more calories, but still fewer than your body needs to maintain weight. One study followed two groups of obese people. One group ate an extremely low-calorie diet of 500 calories for five weeks. The other group ate a low-calorie diet of 1250 calories for 12 weeks. Both groups lost similar amounts, except the first group lost it in just five weeks. That group also lost significantly more muscle mass.
Add exercise to the mix.
Your body needs cardio, but it causes loss of both fat and muscle tissue. Instead, strength-building maintains and builds muscle mass while also burning calories. Doing intense workouts like HIIT—high intensity interval training—burns even more calories. It’s a technique that alternates the intensity of the workout between high intensity and a recovery pace. When you combine it with strength-building, you’ll maximize your weight loss and maintain or even build muscle tissue.
Focus on your diet and where you’re getting calories.
Your body needs protein to build and maintain muscle tissue. A nutritious diet is vital to that effort. Some people feel that cutting all fats from the diet is necessary for weight loss, but that’s not true. Your body also needs healthy fat. You need approximately 15% of your calories from a source of healthy fat. Fat is necessary for building muscle tissue and burning body fat.
- Find the number of calories for your ideal weight and reduce your intake to 500 calories lower. Then, increase your exercise time by doing strength training at least twice a week. You’ll build muscle and slowly lose fat.
- Women shouldn’t worry about building too much bulk. Your hormones work against the potential to build excess muscle like men do. You’ll get a leaner, toned look.
- Get adequate sleep and stay hydrated. Sleep helps your workout be more productive. It also helps balance the hunger and satiety hormones so you’re not constantly hungry.
- When you burn more muscle tissue, you’ll notice you’re more tired and sluggish. It makes exercising harder and negatively affects your gym performance. Burning excess muscle mass can make you feel moody and negatively impact mental health.
For more information, contact us today at Iron Fit San Antonio