Sunday, January 18, 2009

Is There a Way to Burn the Fat and Keep the Muscle?

By Ricardo d Argence

The reason why most people choose to go on a diet or exercise is not because they are concerned about the amount of unsightly muscle on their body. It is a sad fact that this is the idea that most people bring to losing weight.

They do end up losing weight because of this, but the weight loss is from muscles instead of fat. But, there are good ways to maintain your current muscle mass while losing weight, which is good news.

The mistake most people make when trying to lose weight is to dramatically cut down their intake of calories. On one hand this makes perfect sense, because every 3,000 calories you take in but don't burn off is going to add an additional pound to your weight. Unfortunately, this is the worst tactic you could try if you don't want to lose muscle.

When your body stores up fat in the first place, it does so because it wants to have a backup supply of energy in case you go through a famine period. That is a period when you don't have enough to eat to keep you alive.

You might think that when you stop taking in calories your body would automatically start using up these stockpiles but that's the case. Those are the emergency, last resort rations.

First, your body is going to convert your muscle mass into energy and that's going to slow your metabolism so you don't need as many calories in the first place which makes it harder for you to lose weight.

A good plan to lose weight is by reducing your calorie intake and letting your body adjust to these changes. For example, one might reduce your caloric intake by 10% weekly until your goal is met.

Using proper types of exercise is key in burning fat instead of muscle. It is recommended by the majority of fitness coaches and health experts that one should focus on workouts geared toward the cardiovascular system. As your body becomes stronger, you are able to increase your workout, which makes your body even stronger.

However, you need to add some weight training to that recipe at least 2 to 3 times a week. That way you'll be replenishing lost muscle and adding new muscle mass. This is good because muscle requires more calories than fat. If you have a lot of lean muscle mass in your body, your metabolism is going to increase which means you'll burn off more calories and lose weight.

You'll also see another benefit of adding some weight training into the mix, muscle tone. Many people who lose weight too quickly or without properly exercising end up flabby.

While plastic surgery can help with that problem a lot, those procedures are expensive and come with a lot of risk. Exercising while you lose weight is the best way to increase your muscle tone and to prevent loose skin.

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