How to lose body fat and preserve muscle mass

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How to lose body fat and preserve muscle mass

If you are someone who’s been putting hours at the gym trying to get in shape and want to get rid of fat, your goal would most probably also include to not lose muscle mass in the process. In order to prevent losing muscle but just fat, there are a few nutrition and fitness guidelines that can help you achieve just that!

Starting with the main concern which is to lose fat, you’ll have to be in a caloric deficit, implying that you need to consume fewer calories than you bun each day and exercise on a regular basis. Frequent physical exercise helps getting rid of fat, so someone who says they lost fat just by dieting and not exercise, there’s a high chance they lost their muscle mass as well. It is not possible to lose fat on a specific part of your body, what you can do is lower your overall body fat percentage; It’s a slow process, losing weight way too quickly may contribute to muscle loss as well, so it’s advisable to lose a small amount of weight in week over a longer period. Doing moderate- to high-intensity cardio for at least 150 minutes a week can also help lose fat, example of some cardio exercises you can do are;

  •         Cycling
  •     Boxing
  •       Running
  •     Basketball
  •        Soccer
  •        Volleyball

Just doing cardio will help with losing fat, but you still want to be preventing losing muscle, in order to make that happen, you can; Increase intensity. You must push yourself and get out of your comfort zone, pushing the muscles to their maximum potential will not only build lean muscle, but also effectively build strength. Do strength training at least 2-3 times a week. These include;

  1. ·        Body weight exercises
  2. ·        Weight lifting
  3. ·        Resistance band exercises

 

Second thing is to maintain that hard earned muscle you have grown over the years, how to do that? Its simple; you need to find a balance between restricting yourself and pushing your body out of its comfort zone as much as you can. Remember, the same workouts and eating plans do not show the same results for everyone because everyone is built different; you should know what works best for you and follow that routine. There’s still not enough research to determine which exercise is most effective in preventing muscle loss, however exercising in general is a very important aspect of maintaining muscle mass, as a study done in 2018 which examined the effect or restricting calories along with both resistance and endurance training in older adults with obesity suggested that when individuals followed some sort of eating and exercise, they were able to retain muscle mass even whilst going through a caloric deficit.

Giving yourself an adequate time to recover between workouts is also very important if you are following a calorie deficit plan and going all out in the gym. Get plenty of sleep, at least 8-9 hours at night which will help refuel your energy levels for the following day.

Next up is eating healthy. Following a healthy diet plan to boost fat loss and maintaining muscle mass. Consuming healthy foods make you feel full, which makes it less possible for you to over eat. Make sure you are well hydrated before you workout, replace beverages with unhealthy sugars with drinks such as green tea, coconut water and fresh vegetable juice. You can also consume an easy to digest meal that has lots of carbs in it. Within 45 minutes of getting done with your workout, consume a meal that contains protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats. Energy levels are drained during that time, to refuel yourself, carbohydrates after a workout can help. They will aid in the recovery process and may even help boost that process as they help replace glycogen stores that were used for energy during the workout.

Carbohydrates that are ideal to consume after a workout session include;

  • ·        fruits
  • ·        sweet Potatoes
  • ·        whole wheat pasta
  • ·        milk
  • ·        oatmeal
  • ·        grains
  • ·        legumes
  •       Protein rich foods for muscle gain include;
  • ·        lean meats i.e. turkey & chicken
  • ·        seafood
  • ·        nuts
  • ·        eggs
  • ·        low fat dairy products
  • ·        beans
  • ·        buckwheat
  • ·        brown rice

  •         quinoa
  •        protein shakes
  •      Healthy fats can also be included in your post workout meal such as;
  •        avocado
  •         nuts


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