Losing weight is not the same as losing body fat. Losing weight is when we get on the scale and see that the number that seems to “define us” has decreased compared to previous times. To improve our health and fitness, losing body fat is the most important. By losing weight we are losing mass muscle but we can still have the same body fat (something we do not want). On the contrary, if we gain weight, it may not be due to an increase in our fat mass, but because if we are training. There are many tips to lose weight, but they may or may not be resourceful. For example, some training can allow you to have gain muscle mass, and muscle mass also weighs!
The percentage of our fat mass and our weight that corresponds to our muscle mass can be known by various techniques such as anthropometry. Anthropometry is where folds and diameters are measured and by means of such formulas, you can know what percentage of fat and muscle you have. There are also other, more sophisticated machines, that measure this and there is also the bio-impedance technique.
I advise you not to become obsessed with the number you see on the weight scale. It is quite understandable that if you do not exercise, you will continue to gain weight. Without exercise, our body fat is increasing. Yet, by performing physical exercise, two things can happen:
- There will be an increase in overall weight because of muscle mass increases.
- There will be a decrease in overall weight because body fat decreases.
But do not believe that you can get only one or the other, in this post I will tell you 6 tips to lose weight without losing muscle mass! ?
1. Energy Expenditure
Energy expenditure is essentially the foundation base for this topic. It refers to what you approximately spend throughout the day. To lose fat you essentially have to eat less than what you spend or spend more than what you eat . There are many strategies to achieve this. The one that I consider the most important is to eat real foods. By avoiding foods that are ultra-processed, heavy in saturated fats and sugar, we get is to eat fewer calories and eat better. But in addition to eating well, it is essential for us to exercise. With exercise and healthier foods, we can reap much greater benefits. This is a key tip to lose weight without losing muscle mass. As in addition to losing fat, we can maintain or increase our muscle mass.
A recommendation that I always give is to start with a caloric deficit of 100 or 200 kilocalories a day, and according to the speed at which your weight reduces, we will adjust the diet accordingly. For example, you spend about 1500 kilocalories a day. Therefore, you can start by consuming about 1400-1300 kilocalories per day. In addition, we also have to understand that losing more than half a kilo a week is not advisable. If you need help counting and keeping track of your calories, you can always download an app or create a planner.
2. Inger More Proteins
Another tip to lose weight while maintaining or increasing our muscle mass is to ensure our protein intake is optimal. To achieve this, we can move in a range of 1.8-2.5 grams/kg of body weight. Protein intake is very important as your body uses this to repair and rebuild tissues and to make enzymes, hormones, etc. Ultimately making protein an essential building block for muscles, bones, blood, etc.
3. Engage in Daily Activities
In this section, when I discuss daily activities, I am referring to the activities we engage in OUTSIDE of exercise. For example, going shopping, climbing stairs, etc. All this will help us to spend more calories during the day and is an effective tip to lose weight. Some suggestions for daily activities can include walking or biking to your destinations rather than using cars/transit, doing things household activities like mowing the lawn, going for a walk, etc. All this will make us become a more active individual. In addition, another recommendation to consider is taking 10,000 steps a day. This can be counted using an activity bracelet that counts your steps and keeps track of your calorie intake as well.
4. Force Training
Strength training is a key tip to lose weight and maintain muscle mass. My recommendation is that you do hypertrophy sessions. These are about 8-12 repetitions per exercise, a minimum of 10 sets per week per muscle group and with a frequency of 2-3 times each muscle group per week. In terms of intensity, as you can also use various machines to help you receive quick results. With strength training, we help maintain our muscles while achieving significant caloric expenditure.
5. Cardio Training
Cardio comes in handy to help accelerate the fat loss process, but we have to take into account the interference process. Also, cardio is very effective for those individuals who want to improve their overall performance. For example, through cardio, while you burn fat and lose calories, it increases your overall lung capacity, reduces your risk for any heart-related diseases/problems, and reduces stress. It also can create discipline and routine in life.
Although, oftentimes, individuals tend to combine strength training with cardio. While these are both effective techniques, by combining them, you do not reap as much benefit as you normally would. In order to ensure that these two types of workouts do not interfere with each other, we can:
- Separate the two sessions for about 3-6 hours. For example, if we do a strength session, we should separate the cardio and do it at least 3 hours later.
- Try not to do intense sessions consecutively. For example, an intense leg workout followed by HIIT (high-intensity training), will result in fatigue which can cause potential injuries.
- We must also alternate between the body parts. For example, if we do a strength session for our legs, we will try not to focus on our legs during the cardio session (and vice versa)
6. Concurrent Training
Concurrent training is essentially a combination of other training methods. This type of training refers to doing strength work and cardio work. This is also considered the best method to lose fat while maintaining muscle mass.
I hope you found these 6 tips to lose weight very helpful and that you take advantage of it. By using these tips as an outline and creating a routine, you can definitely improve your overall physical condition and your health!
