How to lose weight without losing muscle 101: Complete guide

In a nutshell

The mechanism of weight loss is simple–you need to spend more calories than you consume with food. When you do so, your body will use existing stores of fat to make up for the energy deficit you create. However, when the deficit is too severe, your body will use up your muscles for energy as well, causing harm to many internal functions ensured by muscles and the look and quality of your body.

If you are wondering how to lose weight without losing muscle, the best approach consists of the following steps:

• Set a healthy calorie deficit of 10-25%.
• Consume lots of protein.
• Focus on a balance of nutrients.
• Incorporate moderate cardio.
• Do regular strength training.

A negative body image has always been a significant issue among women, in particular. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, as many as 69-84% of women in the world are dissatisfied with their bodies. Respectively, most of them are seeking effective ways to overcome this and lose weight, and there are plenty of tactics. The big question though is how to lose weight without losing muscle so that your body is lean and, at the same time, strong and healthy.

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How Does Weight Loss Happen?

In a nutshell, all weight-related changes in your body are regulated by metabolism–a bodily feature that converts food into energy that you later use to function.

When you want to drop some pounds, the only factual way to do it is by creating a calorie (energy) deficit. This is a state in which your body spends more calories than it receives, respectively, it lacks energy for the typical functioning of all systems and starts borrowing it from existing reserves–your fat cells where unused calories accumulate for later.

How Does an Energy Deficit Work?

Since you need to create a calorie deficit to lose weight, you need to understand how your body spends and receives energy to be able to adjust your lifestyle accordingly.

In short, there are two ways your body uses up energy:

• Basal metabolic rate (BMR) stands for the minimum number of calories your body needs so that all organs and systems function as they are supposed to. 
• Any additional daily activity, such as walking, working out, and others contributes to additional calorie expenditure.

And there is just one way how your body receives energy:

• Calories that are converted into energy are taken from all foods and drinks you consume every day. Different products have different calorie counts and nutritional density, which affect the amount and quality of energy you receive.

What Happens When You Facilitate Weight Loss Solely on Restricted Eating?

Now that we know that there are two ways we spend calories and only one way we receive them, it becomes clear that there are only two ways to create an energy deficit to facilitate weight loss:

• Enhancing energy expenditure through more intense daily activity.
• Cutting down the number of calories you get from food.

Since exercising is hard and time-consuming (not to mention it takes quite a lot of time to see the progress), it is no secret that many women decide to lose weight through restrictive eating. Diets, intermittent fasting, and other eating approaches that let you decrease the number of calories you consume daily indeed create the deficit you need to lose excess pounds.

But here is the catch–if you create a severe deficit to drop weight too fast or don’t support the process with physical activity, your body will use every chance to make up for the energy it lacks. And it will convert proteins into energy too. That is, you will burn not only fat but also your muscles.

Why Is Losing Fat AND Muscle Bad?

While burning fat is usually the ultimate goal of weight loss, losing muscles along the way can be rather bad for a number of reasons:

• Muscles play an empirical role in your body. Apart from enabling movement and making you strong and enduring, muscles also maintain posture, stabilize joints, generate heat, and perform many other crucial features.
• Lastly, muscles shape the overall look of your body. When you lose fat and muscles at the same time, you can reach the desired weight and even get skinny. However, the quality of skin and body in general can be lower compared to when you are all toned from physical activity. Besides, such an approach can result in receiving a “skinny fat” body–when you have a rather high percentage of fat remaining, despite a low body mass index achieved because of a lack of muscle.
• The amount of muscle in your body determines the rate at which you burn calories (aka your metabolism). When you start losing weight, your metabolic rate naturally declines, making you spend less energy daily and affecting the speed of further weight loss. So when you lose muscles along with fat, you can get into the so-called weight loss plateau.

How to Lose Weight Without Losing Muscle: The Dietary Approach

Now that you know how the mechanism of weight loss works in general and recognize the downsides of losing both fat and muscle, you must be wondering how to lose weight without losing muscle mass. The answer to this question consists of two elements–your dietary approach and your activity approach.

Let’s start by reviewing the best dietary strategies:

Identify the Right Deficit

Although you need a deficit to facilitate weight loss, it has to be rather low to maintain muscle. Studies show that even a 30% calorie restriction can lead to muscle waste and weakening in a rather short time.

The ideal deficit is considered to be between 10% and 15% for youth and middle-aged individuals. However, it can go up to 25% depending on your activity rate. These deficits should be sufficient to promote weight loss, while also making it gradual and healthy and preventing muscle loss.

Bonus tip: Remember that the basal metabolic rate is different for every person and depends on a variety of factors. Respectively, calculating the right deficit requires considering your unique BMR, as well as the number of calories you spend thanks to added physical activity. The easiest way to do this is by using specialized calculators, which can be found online.

Prioritize Proteins

Proteins are known to be the building blocks of muscle. Respectively, when you don’t consume them in a sufficient amount, you can lose your muscle mass faster. Additionally, protein is pivotal for your skin, nails, hormones, tissues, and immune cells, which is one more reason to embrace them.

The general rule of thumb is to consume 1.2 g protein per kg of your weight to maintain muscle and 1.6-2.2 g/kg to build lean mass (depending on your activity and exercise patterns). It’s also important to source your daily protein from the right sources, such as eggs, lean meats, dairy, and legumes. You can also pick up the needed protein from protein powders if you can’t consume enough of it with food.

Focus on Nutrients and Quality of Foods

Lastly, if you are wondering how to lose weight without losing muscle, you need to build your diet around nutrients, not calories. Healthy weight loss requires you to restrict calories by removing sugary and overly processed products (junk food), which isn’t good for your health or metabolism. Instead, you should embrace a well-balanced and nutrient-dense diet that consists of fruits, vegetables, proteins, grains, and dairy.

In order to facilitate faster weight loss, build the biggest part of your daily diet of high-volume, low-calorie goods. But remember to add enough carbs and proteins and stay within a healthy deficit.

How to Lose Weight Without Losing Muscle Mass: The Activity Approach

If you want to burn fat while maintaining your muscles, it’s crucial that you take a holistic approach that combines healthy eating in a moderate deficit AND regular physical activity. Activity and exercise are crucial in this process as they help you increase your energy expenditure (so that you don’t have to get into unhealthy deficits) and improve the quality of your body.

Here are some of the best approaches to follow:

Include Cardio Wisely

All forms of cardio (cardiovascular) exercise are known to help burn fat. According to studies, every 30 minutes of such workouts in a week can reduce your body weight by 0.52 kg, which is why integrating them into your weight loss program is a good idea.

However, it’s important to remember the risks associated with cardio, such as fatigue and muscle breakdown. To gain the benefits without causing harm to your body, you should integrate cardio wisely and moderately. The best approach is to have moderate-intensity cardio or HIIT a few times a week.

Integrate Strength Training

While cardio can help you burn fat, it doesn’t contribute much to building and strengthening your muscles. Due to this reason, it’s also important to integrate strength training into your weeks.

This form of workout gives your body a signal that it needs to retain muscle mass. Also, strength training is known to boost metabolism and improve body composition, which is important for achieving the best quality of the body.

FAQ

Why do I lose muscles along with fat?

When you create a severe calorie deficit, your body does not have enough fuel to support baseline functions. Respectively, it tries to make up for the calories you don’t consume by burning existing stores of fat and muscle alike.

How to lose weight fast without losing muscle?

Extremely fast weight loss occurs due to severe calorie deficits and is often achieved through losing water and muscle. Such an approach is not healthy and can lead to a fast weight gain after some time.

The best approach is not to aim for fast weight loss but to focus on a steady and mild approach that will let you burn fat and retain muscle.

How to lose weight without losing muscle mass?

It takes a combined approach of dietary adjustments and physical activity. To achieve your goals, you need to set the right calorie deficit, prioritize protein intake, and focus on the balance and nutritional value of your diet. Additionally, you should support your weight loss process with moderate cardio and regular strength training.

Conclusion

The process of weight loss has a rather straightforward mechanism, in which all you need to do is consume less energy from food than your body spends. However, despite the simplicity of the concept, there have always been plenty of myths, misconceptions, and mistakes surrounding this topic. And one of the biggest questions related to this matter is how to lose weight without losing muscle.

As you now know, an unhealthy, strict, and not all-rounded approach to weight loss can eventually lead to losing both fat and muscle, which is bad not only for how your body looks but also for how it functions. Luckily, using a holistic approach that combines healthy eating and regular physical activity can help you get the best results. Use the tips we shared with you here to get on the right track.

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