How To Achieve Weight Loss Without Muscle Loss? Know Tips & Tricks

The core treatment of the obese population is weight loss, as it helps relieve or completely eradicate the metabolic risk factors for diabetes, coronary artery disease, and obesity-related cancers. 

The weight-loss-associated loss of lean body mass is believed to reduce the potential health benefits of diet-induced weight loss and potentially increase sarcopenia (a condition characterised by muscle loss and muscle weakness). This blog aims to present an overview of what has been established on muscle loss consequent to weight loss and its contribution to overall physical capabilities. 

It is only natural that in order to lose weight, one must lose some muscle, however, if you lose too much muscle strength and function, it can directly harm the health of one’s body. 

Nevertheless, if one is informed and knowledgeable about the right information and the right process, one can lose fat and keep the muscle mass intact. Read the blog to know more about weight loss without muscle loss.

Table Of Contents

1. How To Achieve Weight Loss Without Muscle Loss? 

2. Tips On How To Lose Fat Instead Of Muscle?

3. Is It Possible To Lose Weight Without Building Muscle?

4. How Do You Preserve Muscle While Losing Fat?

5. The Final Say

6. FAQs

7. References 

How To Achieve Weight Loss Without Muscle Loss? 

The ideal weight-loss strategy is losing weight safely and effectively for optimal fat loss and maintaining muscle. It is particularly relevant if you wish to retain the fitness level, as well as the physical activity and overall function. 

If you have been on a rigorous workout routine to lose weight, you may be concerned that you may also lose some of the muscle mass. The way to achieve weight loss is to consume calories that are less than the calories you burn in a day and to exercise frequently. Here are some key points to know to achieve weight loss without muscle loss.

• Regular exercise can help shed off body fat. In the case of losing weight without exercise, you are likely to lose your muscles. 

• It is not possible to slim down in particular body areas, but you can focus on reducing your overall body fat percentage. 

• Ideally, it is better to shed some pounds every week for a long period. 

• Weight loss, attained through a calorie-restricted diet, reduces both fat and fat-free or muscle mass. 

• In normal-weight people, fat-free mass loss usually contributes to more than 35% of total weight loss, while in overweight or obese individuals, the contribution of fat-free mass to weight is 20-30%.

• Therefore, to achieve weight loss without muscle loss, you will need to strike a balance between limiting yourself and pushing yourself as much as you can.

  
  

Also Read: 12 Ways To Break Weight Loss Plateau

Tips On How To Lose Fat Instead Of Muscle?

After knowing about the major points of achieving weight loss without muscle loss, here are some of the tips on how to lose fat instead of muscle:

1. Eat Enough Calories 

During the first few weeks of weight loss, people should consume about 300-400 calories less than they usually do. For men, this should be about 400-600 calories. Any further, your body may enter a state of starvation mode and try to hold on to as much body fat as it can.

2. Have a Well-Balanced Diet 

Consuming enough protein, particularly from lean protein sources like fish, chicken, and egg, can enable your muscles to have the necessary nutritional sources. Besides facilitating increased satiety, protein helps maintain lean body mass under caloric restriction as part of the diet. 

There are a range of different factors that may influence your protein needs, such as weight, gender, and activity level. However, quality research shows that most current evidence suggests a protein requirement of 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight per day to preserve lean body mass in a calorie-restricted state.

Also Read: Try This 7-Day Protein Diet Plan For Weight Loss And Get Amazing Results! 

3. Create A Varied Training Plan

If you need to burn fat while preserving muscle mass, you should do strength training and cardio workouts. These include pullups, squats, and deadlifts. It is often associated with preserving muscle mass and is believed to be more efficient than isolation exercises.

4. Consider Weight Lifting

Weightlifting is critical for preserving lean and well-shaped muscles. The other way of encouraging hypertrophy is to increase the weight being lifted because it is an important factor in building up the overall muscle mass. 

Also Read: 5 Weight Lifting Benefits For Women With Exercises

5. Losing Weight Slowly And Not Drastically

While you may be enthusiastic about the new healthy lifestyle or the new exercise program, you shouldn't rush. During the first few weeks after you begin the new exercise program, you should be patient. The last thing you would wish is to over-train your body or injure your muscles and make them cripple before they can fully heal up. 

Research indicates that crash dieting may lead you to lose your body’s muscles rather than losing fat. While diets like shock diets cause more weight loss, most of the lost weight is muscle mass. The basal metabolic rate (BMR) can decrease if you lose your muscle mass. 

6. Get Enough Sleep

It is very imperative to get adequate sleep and have lower stress levels for an individual to burn fat in the body and recover muscle after exercise. Poor sleep quality has been linked to subsequent weight gain in studies that have been conducted. 

This is largely due to the nighttime hormones leptin and ghrelin, which regulate appetite. Low leptin and excess ghrelin increase hunger signals and lead to weight gain.

Is It Possible To Lose Weight Without Building Muscle?

Here are some tips to help you lose weight without gaining unwanted muscle: 

1. Create A Calorie Deficit 

To shed weight correctly, it is advisable to cut down on your daily diet by half a thousand to one thousand calories to reduce one to two pounds weekly. An average person needs to eat 2,000 calories per day to maintain weight and 1,500 calories to lose weight. 

Also, if you do not eat enough calories, then your weight loss also becomes hampered. This occurs in your body when it enters starvation mode and, thus, slows your metabolism and starts to obsess over the few available calories, hence making weight loss a difficult task.

2. Consider Aerobic Exercises

It is a good form of exercise for calorie burning, and that does not stimulate much muscle growth. Aerobic exercise is effective when it comes to burning unnecessary calories and is also beneficial for your heart. 

Any activity that raises your heart and lung rate and makes you sweat can be considered cardio exercise. Some examples of such activities are walking, jogging, hiking, swimming and dancing.

Also Read: Explore The Best Aerobic Exercises For Weight Loss

3. Stay Hydrated

Hydrating the body is essential for the body to function effectively, such as in the digestion process, metabolism-boosting and burning fats. Drinking a glass of water before a meal can help you feel full and ensure that you are tracking your water intake. 

This helps you control your calorie intake by reducing your food intake. Cold water intake in a study of overweight children was linked to elevated temporary resting energy expenditure. 

4. Eat More Fibre

Water-soluble fibre helps in weight loss as it does not break down in the body; instead, it moves through the digestive system until it reaches its beneficial bacteria in the intestines. The fibre that is utilised by the bacteria in the intestines is referred to as prebiotic fibre. 

Prebiotic fibres are associated with a beneficial effect on weight loss because they promote changes in intestinal microorganisms. Visual water-soluble fibre, such as the beta-glucan of oats, regulates appetite. Fibre forms a gel that slows stomach emptying, keeping you fuller longer. 

5. Drink Coffee 

Black coffee is low in calories and a better option than other drinks with a lot of sugar. Besides, it has caffeine, a strong stimulant, which can increase your metabolic rate. 

Coffee is likely to assist with weight loss, but the consumption should not be close to bedtime because it will interfere with your sleep at night. Caffeine works by interfering with adenosine receptors, which is why you cannot sleep.

How Do You Preserve Muscle While Losing Fat?

Most of the people on dieting are striving to cut down body fat rather than losing muscle tissue. This difficulty tests one’s discipline as the body metabolises muscle tissue to obtain energy when you are at an energy deficit. This can be avoided, though, and muscle mass maintained when on a diet if particular rules are followed.

Also Read: Food Calories Chart & Tips For Weight Loss 

The Final Say

Now you know the answer to “Do you always lose muscle when losing weight?” Well, If you want to lose weight without losing muscle mass, you will need to make some changes to your weight loss program to ensure you are nourishing your muscles without increasing fat storage or simply achieving weight loss without muscle loss.

Some loss of muscle mass is normal, but weight loss must be sustainable. Slowly reduce as much muscle loss as possible. Set achievable and realistic goals. Monitor your progress over several months. Challenge yourself to focus on improving your performance and building strength, and make your weight loss journey healthy and sustainable! 

FAQs

1. What are the weight loss muscle loss symptoms?

Here are some of the common weight loss muscle loss symptoms:

• Weakness

• Fatigue

• Fevers

• Chills

• Night sweats

• Loss of sensation

  
  

2. What foods should be included in the diet plan for weight loss without muscle loss?

One must eat lots of protein, carbs, and fresh fruits and vegetables in order to improve your performance and focus on weight loss without muscle loss.

3. Does losing muscle cause weight loss?

Weight loss involves the loss of both fat and muscle, with muscle loss being more dependent on nutrition and physical activity than fat loss.

4. When does my body start losing weight from muscle loss?

Your body does not lose muscle mass in the first place if you follow the methods to shed kilos correctly. Only when you follow a crash diet and exercise incorrectly, does your body start losing muscle mass.

5. How to lose stomach fat but keep muscle?

Here are some of the tips to follow to lose stomach fat while keeping muscle:

• Avoid crash dieting

• Carb cycling

• Consistent physical activity

• Getting rest is crucial

• Protein supplements

• Improved physical performance

  
  

6. What is the ratio of fat to muscle loss during cuts?

A healthy ratio of fat loss to muscle loss when losing weight is typically around 60% fat loss and 40% muscle loss. 

References

• Preserving Healthy Muscle during Weight Loss - PMC 

• How to improve your strength and flexibility - NHS 

• Effects of dietary protein intake on body composition changes after weight loss in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis 

• Metabolism and weight loss: How you burn calories - Mayo Clinic 

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