How to lose body fat without losing muscle mass

Any activity we carry out throughout the day will involve a caloric expenditure. Our body consumes energy even to perform actions as passive as sleeping or breathing. Each person consumes a specific amount of calories depending on the weight, sex, height or personal composition. This non-exercise-related calorie expenditure is what in the world of fitness and nutrition is known as “pure.”

The weight loss formula It is known: we must ingest fewer calories than we burn. when we are in calorie deficit, our body uses its reserves to generate the energy necessary to continue working. Therefore, when we are on weight loss regimes, our body burns fat. Now, when we subject ourselves to very demanding diets and routines... or when we don't take the necessary measures, our body generates protein catabolismIn other words, it doesn’t just burn fat… it also burns muscle.

To prevent this from happening, some factors must be taken into consideration. precautions. When we design our weight loss regime, we must give ourselves time. We shouldn't expect a radical change overnight, because although we can lose a lot of weight... the normal thing is that lose a lot of muscle along the way. Balance is always a good ally when we want to maintain a routine over time and achieve lasting results.

Therefore, the best we can do is find synergy between a training appropriate, monitoring a feeding healthy and establishing a routine rest sustainable and sufficient.

Burn fat, but not muscle

As we said before, we must be moderate with our expectations. Although it depends on each case, what we are looking for is a calorie deficit of approximately 500 kcal. Of course it will depend on many factors, but it is a good starting point. In both cases, it is always advisable to have the advice from an expert.

It may seem obvious, but it's important to remember: if we want to lose weight without losing musclewe should practice some sport frequently. And it's not convenient just because we want to preserve muscles. In fact, it's better to exercise more and eat more than not exercise and eat less, even if the calorie deficit be the same. The more you move and the more energy you expend, the better all metabolic processes associated with health function.

The best option to burn fat without losing muscle is to introduce strength training in our routine When we work with load, the muscles activate and eat their own body fat as they develop. The experts' recommendation is to start with our body weight and, little by little, introduce free weight.

Now, just because strength training is necessary doesn't mean we should forget about it. cardiovascular exercise and metabolic. The most recommended in our case are the HIIT sessions or High-Intensity Interval Training, which translated means “High Intensity Interval Training”. A good example of this type of exercise is boxing, whose training is built around the following structure: 3 minutes of activity (which is the duration of a round) and 30 seconds of rest. This type of exercise is perfect complement to strength trainingbecause it's a great way to burn calories and simultaneously activate muscle.

Another element, almost as important as physical exercise, is the adequate protein intake. This nutrient is important because it provides the amino acids the body needs to initiate what is known as protein synthesis, which is nothing more than the process of building muscle mass. The minimum daily protein will depend on each person's situation. But if we propose a minimally severe regime, we should ingest about 1,2 and 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.