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Maintaining your muscle mass whilst lowering your body fat percentage is something many people want to do but do not know how to.
A lot of people will say that it is impossible because they believe that if you are lowering your body fat percentage, you are losing weight. However, that is not all true as there are ways you can lower your body fat percentage whilst gaining or maintaining muscle mass.
If you want to get in shape, this is arguably the best way to do it; however, you have to commit to seeing results. If you don’t, you won’t see the results that you desire.
Before we jump into the article, we would like to say that this won’t be the method for everyone. There are going to be slight changes that you would need to make. Nonetheless, this can point you in the right direction for you to achieve the body fat percentage that you would like to achieve.
What Does It Take To Lose Fat?
When it comes to losing weight, there are many things that you will need to change in your lifestyle. One of the changes you are going to make is adjusting your diet and lowering the number of fatty foods that you are consuming throughout the day. You should also be lowering the carbohydrates that you are eating.
Another thing that you will need to do is to ensure that you are exercising enough throughout the week. Health specialists advise having around 150 minutes of exercise throughout the week for us to maintain fitness and remain healthy. That way you will burn fat off your body. One thing that we must state is that it is not possible to lose weight in certain areas of your body.
We also advise that you take your time when you are going on this strict lifestyle. Losing weight too quickly can also lead to muscle loss so take your time.
How Do You Maintain Muscle?
To keep your muscle, you need to find the happy medium of both pushing yourself to the limit and limiting yourself. Again, everybody is different so make sure that you adjust certain aspects to achieve your goals.
Recovery Time
Recovery is something that people will forget about, although you shouldn’t because it is essential for you to build muscle. Many people don’t understand how important recovery time is.
If you are working out five times a week, ensure that you rest the other two days. Furthermore, you don’t want to completely rest. We suggest that you do some light exercises such as yoga or swimming. Something that keeps the muscles active but doesn’t work them too hard.
The minute you stop exercising, that is your recovery time, especially when you go to bed at night. Additionally, you want to ensure that you are getting a sufficient amount of sleep. This is what helps you recharge your batteries and restore your energy levels.
Don’t Limit Yourself Too Much
When changing your diet to become healthier, the mistake that everybody makes is “becoming too healthy”. If your diet is too healthy and boring, you will eventually get bored of what you are eating. Making you want to binge eat foods that are not necessarily healthy.
Make sure you are eating healthy throughout the week but you want to have a treat each day that you enjoy. For example, if ice cream is something that you like then look for healthy options. Same with chocolate, there are healthy versions of that as well. Keep your diet fun as well as remaining healthy.
Exercise
Changing your diet is good although you need to exercise if you have a slow metabolism. You need to burn off the fat to lose it or else it will remain there. Furthermore, you need to maintain your muscle mass.
A study from 2018 clarified that if you limit your calories and combine them with resistance and endurance training, you will lower your fat percentage. Other research has proven that those who exercise at the same time as lowering the calories lower their fat percentage whilst maintaining their muscle mass.
Eat Healthily
The only way you will see results is by eating healthily. It is that simple. No matter how much you are exercising each day, you need to make sure you are eating the right calories. Consume enough protein throughout the week to maintain your muscle mass and limit the number of carbohydrates.
A Plan For Food and Exercising
For you to get somewhere, you need to have a plan of some sort. For exercising, you need to establish the exercises that you are doing during the week. Make sure you are not overloading on weight training as well as cardiovascular training. The same goes for your foods, don’t consume too many carbohydrates.
Recommended Exercise Plan
During your week of training, you need to make sure that you are working your muscles whilst keeping on top of your cardio. If you are working out five times a week, it may be quite difficult to find a happy medium. We would advise that you do three days of cardio training and then five days of weight training, obviously some of these days will be overlapping. Furthermore, you need to include two rest days throughout the week as well. That is your workout plan, this depends on how much time you have to workout so calibrate it to your busy lifestyle.
Recommended Nutrition Plan
Now for your food plan, this is where you are going to be technical with what you are eating. For your diet, we would recommend you have a 30% protein consumption, 40-50% carbohydrate consumption and a 20-30% fat consumption. It does not need to be entirely accurate and it may vary for each individual.
Food and nutrition is your best friend when you are training. If you do not stick to a diet, you may not see the results you are looking to achieve over the next 4-6 months. That is why planning your meals for the week is just as important as planning out your workout routine.
When it gets to the weekend and it is your rest day, sit down at your computer and get together your favourite meals. Make sure they are healthy and achieve your macro and micronutrient goals. Make sure you are getting your target calorie goal and consuming enough protein each day to maintain that muscle mass.
If you are a busy body, you might not be able to plan your workout or what you are eating. If this is you, we suggest that you work with a PT for a couple of months to help put you on the right path. If you are unable to plan your meals throughout the week then consider a meal plan to help you achieve your macronutrient goals. Commit your rest day to cooking all of your meals for the rest of the week. Then you do not need to worry about cooking after a workout or the gym.
Can Supplements Help?
Supplements can be beneficial but you must make sure that you are taking the right one. If you are looking to achieve your fitness goals then you can easily achieve them without taking any supplementation. However, there are some out there that can improve physical performance. Other supplements may help promote weight loss. Nonetheless, you need to make sure your diet is correct for you to achieve the goal of losing weight.
Creatine is one supplement people that many gym-goers would take before they work out. According to the Cleveland clinic, they say: “Creatine helps to maintain a continuous supply of energy to working muscles by keeping production in working muscles”
It is believed that magnesium supplements may also help with physical performance as well. There are many other forms of magnesium supplements so make sure that you are taking the correct one. Furthermore, you must make sure it is safe to take them. Check with your local GP or dietician to ensure you are ok to take them.
There are also several supplements and herbs that you can consume to help weight loss. Some of those include; chitosan, chromium picolinate, conjugated linoleic acid, glucomannan, green tea extract, green coffee extract, guar gum, hoodia and 7-keto-DHEA. These supplements may assist you in lowering your body fat percentage but the best way to do it is calorie deficit.
Summary
So there you have it, the guide for you to maintain muscle mass whilst lowering your fat percentage. One thing that you must remember is that everybody is different. Everybody has different fitness goals and metabolisms so that can also affect your diet.
To summarise, you want a food and workout plan. For your diet, you need to make sure that you are eating 25-30% protein, 40-50% carbohydrates and 25-30% fats. For your workout, make sure you are doing plenty of heavyweight training and some cardiovascular training throughout the week. Avoid overly fatty foods that are high in sugar. Once you stick to those plans, you will see that you are making improvements.