How to Lose Weight Without Losing Muscle

Losing weight, while it can be achieved in a time crunch, it ultimately all boils down to adapting to a new lifestyle change of dieting and exercise. Outside of restricting yourself to a specialized diet, there are so many other different nuances when it comes to losing weight. Think – your overall weight loss goal, calorie intake, watching the scales for weight gain, keeping a food journal, and having a consistent exercise plan so you can achieve a lean body and burn fat without losing muscle.

It’s true. Did you know? The body unintentionally loses muscle mass when you're trying to lose weight, which is such a bummer. But with the right strategies, it's possible to lose those extra pounds while preserving your hard-earned muscles!

So today, I’m sharing practical and effective strategies on how to lose weight without compromising your muscle mass. Use these tips and you’re sure to lose the amount of weight you’re setting out to lose the “right” way – by burning fat and preserving muscle mass.

How to Lose Weight Without Losing Muscle

Eat an adequate protein intake

There are three macronutrients that affect the body in different ways: fats, carbs, and protein. Protein is one of the most talked about when it comes to weight loss and muscle gain. But did you know? Protein supplies the body’s other important functions. It benefits your immune system by helping to defend against infections, supports bone health, muscle function, hormones, improves strength and mobility, metabolism, and overall health and wellness.

That’s why eating an adequate amount of protein is crucial. It’s recommended to have a healthy intake of about 20-40 grams of protein per meal (or about 25-30% of your plate). While it can be easy to reach for and fill up on carbs and fats, adding an extra helping of meat is a great idea. You can find great sources of protein in fish, yogurt, tofu, protein powder, tempeh, and other dairy products like milk or cheeses too.

Eating a high-protein diet can bring you so many benefits. Not only is it filling, but as a result, eating a high protein diet could help you lose weight by ultimately contributing to you eating less calories per day and supporting individuals with fat loss and muscle mass due to increased satiety and its thermic effect.

Eating healthy

As mentioned above, eating healthy means getting an adequate amount of macronutrients like protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats into your diet. It also includes getting your calorie intake from micronutrients as well – often found in fruits and vegetables.

Getting enough Vitamin D in your system is said to play an essential role in many tissues including skeletal muscle by helping improve muscle strength. You can find Vitamin D in many citrus fruits and milk for example. The opposite is also true. A Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to poor muscle health in older adults. So if you want to lose weight without losing muscle, be sure to eat a healthy diet, which includes getting a fair amount of vitamin D into your system.

Also, following a high fiber diet has been shown to help support a decrease in body fat. Some foods with high fiber are chia seeds, whole grains, cruciferous vegetables, and legumes.

However, don’t be fooled. Food alone can’t make you burn fat. To do that, you’ll need to couple it with burning more calories than you eat. So, it’s best to limit the amount of high calorie foods and opt for those that are low calorie instead.

If you need help? Check out these weight loss tips for how to cut calories without feeling hungry.

Carb cycling

Carb cycling is a dieting plan of going back and forth between high-carb, low-carb, and even no carb days alternating on a daily, weekly or even monthly basis. This eating style is said to be beneficial by helping people lose weight, lose fat, increase their insulin sensitivity, and see improvements in their overall athletic performance.

Avoiding high glycemic foods

Did you know? Diets with high glycemic foods and starches can promote weight gain. For this reason, you’ll want to avoid them in order to burn fat without losing muscle mass. Some high glycemic foods to avoid include white rice, white bread, potatoes, sugary food and drinks. Low glycemic foods are whole foods like chicken, apples, apricot, plums, bananas, nuts, eggplant, squash, and barley to name a few.

Learning to increase your insulin sensitivity

Insulin is a hormone that controls your body’s blood sugar levels. Insulin sensitivity is basically how your body responds to insulin. With insulin resistance, there’s a higher chance of becoming prediabetic. You want your body to be insulin sensitive. You can increase your insulin sensitivity by losing a few pounds (aka burning fat), getting more rest, exercising, cutting back on sugars, and eating a healthy, well-balanced diet.

Ensure you're eating enough

Even though it’s simple math: in order to lose body fat and lose weight, you’ll have to burn more calories than you eat per day. However, be careful not to starve yourself or take up any crash diets. Crash dieting can contribute to muscle damage, weakening immune system, mood changes, nutrient deficiencies, and so much more. So overall, the “reward” is just simply not worth the risk.

If you want to lose weight sustainably without losing excess lean tissue or muscle mass, eat a diet based on whole foods to help your body get what it needs to look and feel its best.

Resistance (strength) training

Want to see an increased muscle mass? Feel the burn in your workouts and improve your strength by trying out exercises like push ups, squats, or incorporating resistance bands into your exercise routine. This is how you maintain muscle mass.

Low-intensity fasted cardio

Another method for losing weight is by incorporating low intensity fasted cardio into your exercise plan. Fasted cardio is basically just another way of saying exercising on an empty stomach or after a "fasted" state (usually first thing in the morning before eating breakfast). This workout style, it’s said to help with a greater fat loss.

Aerobic workouts

Get your heart rate pumping with low or high intensity cardio such as walking, running, skiing, dancing, skating, zumba, or more to promote a lean body mass and healthy body weight.

Get enough sleep

Okay, so here’s the skinny. Sleep is an essential part of muscle recovery. Our body needs sleep to undergo the physiological changes necessary to aid in the repair and recovery of damaged muscle tissues. Also, lack of sleep can lead to decreased muscle recovery after workouts.

Studies at the National Institute of Health also show that getting 6 hours or less a night of sleep can contribute to losing less fat. That’s right. Rest days are important as well as making sure you get an adequate amount of sleep every night. Aim for 7-9 hours and you’re off to a great start. So get your rest!