When it comes to weight loss, the scale doesn't give you the whole story about how healthy you really are. Explore strategies to optimize your body composition as you strive to reach your ideal weight without compromising strong lean muscle.
Losing weight often also means losing muscle, which impacts not only your strength but also your stamina, flexibility, and heart health. Loss of lean mass also results in a higher percentage of body fat, elevating your risk of countless chronic conditions.
Is it possible to achieve both muscle gain and fat loss at the same time? These dual goals become a conundrum when we consider that (in the same volume) muscle weighs more than fat. If you tone your muscles, the number on the scale might go up, even though you're also trying to lose unwanted fat.
Although it can be a difficult balancing act, the right combination of calories consumed and burned can help you maintain lean, strong muscles even as you work toward a healthy weight. Your path to "recompositioning" your body will depend on your personal starting point. Before you begin, schedule a DEXA scan or Bod Pod test to get your body composition baseline. These scans provide the most accurate information about your ratio of muscle to fat.
If you're a self-proclaimed couch potato
Are you more likely to spend time binging Netflix than biking to work? If you're ready to branch out and begin building your fitness by losing weight, cutting calories consumed is your first course of action. To burn body fat, you need to create a calorie deficit, which means you will burn more than you take in each day. On the flip side, a calorie surplus causes weight gain.
When we achieve a calorie deficit with diet and exercise, the body goes into "break down" mode. Rather than storing surplus calories for energy, it starts burning calories to compensate. Unfortunately, this process destroys not only fat cells but also muscle tissue. As a result, you might reach a healthy weight according to metrics like body mass index even though your body fat percentage puts you at risk for obesity and other health concerns. If you’re unsure about your daily caloric needs, as they are unique to each of us, a resting metabolic rate test will provide you with that information.
Calorie cut – but not too much
Don't be discouraged if this sounds like an overly complex math problem. Rather than simply eating less and working out more without a plan, use a targeted approach to create a small rather than drastic calorie deficit.
You can attain healthy weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds a week without causing your muscles to waste away. A study published by Obesity A Research Journal found that a big calorie cut caused subjects to lose almost 9% of their lean muscle mass, compared to just over 1% loss for participants who had a smaller calorie deficit.
If you aren't sure where to start, wipe out 500 calories from your average daily diet. Swap a 12-ounce soda for sugar-free sparkling water to save 150 calories. When you go to a restaurant, cut your portion in half and share with a friend or bring home your leftovers. Watch your portion size by using a smaller plate. Making just one or two of these changes can easily put you in a healthy place for calorie consumption.
As you become more comfortable with adjusting your diet, you can calculate and tweak your maintenance calorie level—the number of calories you burn by simply doing your daily routine without additional exercise.
You are what you eat
How much you eat is important, but what you eat plays a huge role in your overall body composition. Most nutrition experts say that your diet choices create 80 to 90% of your success when it comes to weight loss. These smart strategies can get you started:
Go for whole foods instead of refined carbs. Trade white bread, pasta, oatmeal, and rice for whole-grain varieties. You can even grab whole-grain popcorn for your next movie night!
Feel full for longer with healthy fiber and fat. Up to 30% of your daily calories can come from unsaturated fats (think avocado, nuts, and fatty fish like salmon and tuna). Fiber-rich choices include berries, raw broccoli, beans, apples, and dried fruits.
Limit processed foods like deli meat, baked goods, candy, and other packaged foods.
Choosing these nutrition-packed items gives you the right fuel for fitness. Otherwise, the body begins to break down muscle tissue to get the vitamins and minerals you need to function.
Work those weights
Now that you have your diet squared away, take a look at your exercise routine. If you're new to working out, you probably plan to start slow with low-impact activities like walking, cycling, and jogging. While these exercises will get you moving, burn calories, and improve your heart health, you also need to actively work on your muscle mass.
You don't need to be an Avenger or even a serious athlete to spend time sculpting your muscles. Weight training at least two days a week—or three for best results—will make you stronger and more flexible while preventing the loss of muscle mass that can occur with a calorie deficit. You'll notice less fat around the ab area, and you'll burn more calories at rest (resting metabolic rate), which will help you lose weight faster!
Go for compound exercises like squats, lunges, and planks that help you build multiple muscle groups at the same time—an awesome way to optimize strength building and calorie burn. Start slow with 10-12 reps of each exercise per set and complete 3-4 sets per training session. You can add or increase the weights you use as your muscles get stronger.
No need for a weight bench and barbells in your basement to get an effective weight training workout. Small hand weights will do the trick when you first start lifting. You can tell you're using the right size when you can feel the weight but maintain the right form in each exercise. If you can complete the sets easily, it's time to boost the weight. But if you can't complete the reps, try choosing a smaller pair for now.
If you're moderately active
You like a great lazy Sunday as much as the rest of us, but you try to get active at least 3-4 days a week. If this scenario describes your fitness schedule, and you're trying to lose weight, all the advice above applies to your journey, along with some specific tips below for the less-than-sedentary.
Practice patience
It's easier to gain muscle when you don't have much to start with. When you're a bit further on your fitness journey, you may find that you reach a plateau where you can't seem to push your performance.
Common wisdom suggests that cutting calories even further can help you break through the frustrating plateau phase. However, this approach puts your lean muscle mass in jeopardy just to move the numbers on the scale. Instead, wait it out as you work the other tips on our list.
Play the long game when it comes to body recompositioning. You won't win with a fad diet; you need sustainable changes to create and maintain a healthy percentage of both fat and muscle for the rest of your life.
Prioritize protein
Eating fewer calories challenges your body's muscle-building abilities. Since you're no longer in "build" mode when you have a calorie deficit, your muscles don't respond as well to the bulking effects of protein.
Fortunately, you can overcome this hurdle by eating more than the recommended daily amount of protein for your weight, age, and sex. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that intense exercise plus plenty of protein prevents muscle loss during a calorie deficit.
To pump up the power of that extra protein, try to space it evenly throughout the day. This guidance comes from the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. The researchers reported that for each kilogram of your body weight, you should eat between 0.4 and 0.55 grams of protein four times a day for maximum muscle growth.
For example, an adult woman who weighs 150 pounds (68 kg) should eat between 27.2 and 37.4 grams of protein in each of four daily meals. Need inspiration? You can get about 30 grams with 1.5 cups of low-fat Greek yogurt, 1 cup of low-fat cottage cheese, 4 ounces of chicken breast, or even just two quick scoops of protein powder in your smoothie!
Cycle your calories
Calorie cycling sounds complicated, but it just means matching your daily intake to your daily fitness goals. On days when you plan to do cardio, you want a slight calorie deficit. On days when you'll spend at least 30 minutes on strength training exercises, exceed your maintenance calorie level by 5 to 10% while surpassing your protein RDA (recommended daily allowance).
Don't forget about your rest days. Your muscles can't repair themselves and recover from exercise without plenty of rest. On those days, reduce your maintenance calories by 5 to 10%. Carefully track your results to see if calorie cycling helps you break through your plateau.
If you're an amateur athlete
You might not be a competitor, but you likely rank as a highly fit individual if you never miss your strenuous workout routine. Maybe you're a marathon runner who needs to lose weight after an injury or a college player who needs to transition to life after graduation. By fine-tuning your fitness routine, you can bring your weight and body fat back to an optimal level without sacrificing that hard-earned muscle mass.
Embrace low-impact cardio
Alternate your heavier workout days with low-impact cardio. Choose gentle cycling, swimming, jogging, or hiking at an intensity of less than 7 out of 10. Slowing it down helps oxygen and nutrients travel to your muscles and nourish their growth.
Limit your HIIT
When you're trying to balance building muscle with losing fat, engage in high-intensity interval training no more than twice a week. Avoid overtaxing your muscles by skipping at least two days between HIIT workouts.
Timing is everything
As an athlete, you already know how to eat right. Now, it's time to time your food intake to facilitate your fitness goals. Before each workout, eat a small, carb-heavy snack like fruit (with nearly 27 grams, a banana is a great go-to).
Carbohydrates deliver nutritious energy and trigger the release of the stress hormone cortisol, which keeps the body from breaking down muscle. When you're done working out, go for a light meal that contains electrolytes, complex carbs, and proteins—a combo that supports expanded muscle mass. Try a quinoa bowl with sliced banana and a handful of walnuts, or a few slices of whole-wheat toast spread with peanut butter and a side of low-fat yogurt with berries!
The bottom line for body recomposition
Losing weight while building muscle is difficult but not impossible—especially if you follow the tips tailored to your fitness level. Remember to look beyond the scale and stay motivated even when the number refuses to move or starts to creep up.
Instead, keep an eye out for signs that your fitness continues to improve as you stick to your routine. You'll see toned, firm muscles and a smaller waist. As you lose inches all over, you'll notice a difference in how your clothes fit. And best of all, you'll feel stronger and have more stamina as you reach even higher milestones.
If you're a numbers person, this might feel like guesswork. To see the hard data, keep track of your resting metabolic rate and body composition over time by visiting a Fitnescity location near you. Body fat testing indicates your percentage of body fat compared to lean muscle mass. Understanding these metrics can help you set the right calorie deficit for your weight loss and fitness goals.
References:
https://health.usnews.com/wellness/fitness/articles/can-you-gain-muscle-while-losing-weight
https://www.verywellfit.com/mistakes-to-avoid-when-building-muscle-and-losing-fat-3498333
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000892.htm
https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/compound-exercises
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/103/3/738/4564609
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/oby.21346
Author
Laila Zemrani
Bio
Laila is the Co-founder and CEO of Fitnescity.
She is an early adopter and advocate of personal health tracking. Her work on the topic has appeared in numerous media outlets and venues such as Stanford Medicine X, MIT, NYU, Harvard, Forbes, the United Nations, Future Healthcare Week and HyperWellbeing. She was named one of the top 18 female leaders in the NYC Tech Scene, a Legatum fellow in Entrepreneurial Leadership and a MasterCard Foundation fellow at MIT. Prior to Fitnescity, she was a founding employee at Dataxis, a global data analysis firm. Laila has an MBA from MIT Sloan. As an undergraduate, she studied engineering and management at Télécom ParisTech.