Author: Corinna Hirtenlehner

[ IG: @corinnacocofit]

STAYING FOCUSED: A 3-STEP GUIDE TO LOSING WEIGHT WITHOUT HARMING YOUR BODY.

Do you want to lose weight, and also build muscle?

How do I get both? Well, the answer is: YOU CAN'T .

It is not possible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. That's not how it works.

However, with a little planning and discipline, you can lose fat while maintaining your hard-earned muscle mass . Let's see how.

1. Eat more protein and fewer carbohydrates.

Fat loss ultimately comes down to calorie maintenance.

To lose fat, you must eat fewer calories than you burn . Cardiovascular and resistance exercise combined with a healthy diet remains the best technique for losing fat.

Proteins are more satiating than carbohydrates , therefore, if you eat more protein and fewer carbohydrates, you will feel more satiated during the day and will reduce your daily caloric intake .

The ideal daily calorie intake varies depending on age, metabolism, and physical activity levels, among other things . In general, the recommended daily calorie intake is 2,000 calories per day for women and 2,500 for men.

2. Body recomposition is not about losing weight; It's about fat loss.

You can maintain your current weight or even gain weight but have a completely different body composition . Do you remember hearing "muscle weighs more than fat"?

Muscle weighs about 17.5 times more than fat . So, if you have 10 kilos of muscle and 10 kilos of fat, the difference between your total weight and what you would weigh if it were all muscle is: 17.5 x 10 = 175 kilos!

This is why you don't have to trust your scale . 60 kilos with 30% fat is not the same as 60 kilos with 15% fat mass, your body composition will be totally different.

3. Weight lifting

If you're trying to do both at the same time: lose fat and gain muscle, perhaps what works for one won't necessarily work for the other.

If you want to gain muscle while losing fat at the same time, training with heavy weights will help you build muscle, but will cause you to lose more fat in the long run.

If what you are looking for is to lose fat more quickly, it would be best not to leave aside your weight training, but to increase your HIIT or cardio training during the week .

Increasing your cardio while lifting weights will help you increase your daily caloric expenditure.

To get the most out of your workout, decrease the amount of weight and increase the number of repetitions . Instead of squatting 200 pounds for 10 reps, try squatting 50 pounds for 20 or 25 reps. This will help you increase your heart rate and thereby increase your daily caloric expenditure .

Decreasing the amount of rest between sets will also help you keep your heart rate up for longer, which should also lead to greater caloric expenditure.