7 tips and tricks to lose weight without losing muscle

Your body weight is made up of several components – muscle, water, fat, bones and many internal organs etc. So, when you are looking at the number on the scales decreasing, it is unlikely to just be fat loss. Losing weight involves the loss of fat, muscle and even bone density. Although you may not be able to avoid the loss of muscle and bone density, there are strategies you can use to minimise it. This will help you maintain your strength and energy while reducing your dress size.

Why muscle matters (more than you think)

Muscle is your source of strength and can determine how easy it is to your move your body through the day and during exercise. Muscles are also attached to your skin and fat tissues and provide tone and shape to your body.

Muscle, unlike fat stores, is metabolically active. This means that it uses energy. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism. A higher metabolism means you require more calories to get through the day. Therefore, having more muscle will make it easier to lose weight and maintain weight loss in the long term.

Why muscle loss can happen during weight loss

Fat, on the other hand, is metabolically ‘inactive’. This means that it costs nothing for the body to carry it, which makes it more attractive to hang onto as a long-term source of energy. This is why in weight loss, the body will break down muscle and fat when losing weight.

The body adapts to your energy intake (food intake) and reduces some of its energy-hungry muscle stores. Over time as you lose weight, your energy needs also decrease. This is also the reason why our eating patterns when losing weight must be sustainable and enjoyable – because we need to maintain them to prevent weight regain.

So losing muscle when you lose weight is a natural body adaption. However the amount of muscle you lose can be affected by your diet. If you restrict your calories severely or don’t eat enough protein to support your body’s needs, then you may see higher muscle loss than necessary.

What actually creates change: habits

Your habits are the key to making changes to your life and health that last. Habits are made from consistent repetition until you can’t remember what it was like to do something different.

It takes a good dose of motivation to get started with a new habit because it takes effort to move away from an established behaviour that already feels automatic. It can feel uncomfortable, involve some slip ups and may not even feel very rewarding at first.

So the key to getting started with new habits is to have a clear and strong reason for making the change in the first place. It isn’t enough to say ‘I want to lose weight’ but if you want to lose weight so that you can walk for hours each day on your upcoming trip to Italy, then that may make the effort and challenges feel more worthwhile.

The 7 tips to lose fat without losing muscle

1. Prioritise protein at every meal

Protein is the building blocks of your muscles. If you don’t have enough, then your muscles are a ready source of protein that your body is missing for repair and requirements. So if you want to ensure you have enough protein try:

Including a palm-sized serve of protein at 2 meals per day
Opt for lean meats such as 5 star beef mince, chicken breast, white fish and salmon.
Try to include some plant protein a few times a week for variety and diversity such as through legumes (e.g. chickpeas, baked beans, black and kidney beans) and tofu.

2. Avoid being too strict with your intake (a smaller deficit is often better)

Cutting back calories too much can lead to weight loss but not without some difficult side effects such as intense hunger, cravings, fatigue, and muscle loss. When calories are too low, the body may be forced to break down muscle to make up the difference.

A more sustainable approach is a moderate calorie deficit you can stick to most days.

Signs you may be under-eating:

You’re thinking about food more than usual
You are not able to exercise as frequently or as long
You’re losing strength in workouts
You have very strong cravings for sweet foods (especially at the end of the day)

3. Include resistance training (even a little)

If you want to keep muscle, you need to give your body a reason to keep it. Your body has a ‘use it or lose it’ philosophy when it comes to your muscles. So doing all-body workouts or a range of different movement will let your body know that you need to maintain that muscle. This doesn’t mean you need to be lifting weights at the gym (although that isn’t a bad thing) but you can include gentle exercise such as Pilates, resistance bands and Tai Chi. Building this into your current exercise regime (habit stacking) will make it easier create this new exercise habit.

4. Spread protein through the day

If you’re trying to meet your protein requirements with a large serve of meat at dinner, then you are potentially not meeting your protein requirements for muscle maintenance. Humans can absorb and utilise around 20-25g of protein in food per meal/snack. That is about the limit of how much protein the body can handle at any one time.

For example, a palm-sized piece of meat (which includes red and white meat) contains around 25-30g of protein. This means most of the protein in this serve will be utilised as protein in the body. Any extra protein in your meal (either from other foods or larger portions of meat) will be taken back to the liver to be converted to fat and glucose to be used as energy or stored (as fat).

So to meet your protein requirements (which could be anywhere from 0.8g/kg – 1.5g/kg depending on your exercise and body composition) will mean you have to eat protein throughout the day. Aim for a serve of meat/meat alternatives at 2 meals per day and then 3-4 serves of low fat dairy for regular protein ‘shots’ through the day.

5. Use meal replacement shakes for consistency (not restriction)

On busy days, it isn’t so much about “eating the wrong thing” but it can be more about maintaining regular meals and snacks that becomes the challenge. Skipping meals can lead to mid-afternoon slumps, sugar cravings and overeating at dinner/in the evening.

Having a meal replacement shake on hand can be a good back up plan to ensure you include some balanced nutrition that includes one of your protein hits and keeps you going strong until your next meal.

6. Avoid all-or-nothing dieting

All-or-nothing thinking can halt your progress with building habits and maintaining a balanced nutritional intake. It can sound like:

I am really ‘good’ with eating until I eat out with friends and then it all goes out the window until Monday morning.
I had a chocolate bar when I stopped at the service station on the way home so there’s no point making a healthy dinner now.
I got home from work and now only have 10 mins before I have to start making dinner so there is no point in going for a walk now.

This thought pattern makes it hard to build the habits that promote regular eating and exercise. However, habits are developed through consistency and how often you do the action– not the time spent on each action. So even if you are not meeting your goal for that walk or meal, know that even going through the motions makes the habit stronger and easier to put in place tomorrow.

7. Be patient and measure progress beyond the scale

If you’re keeping muscle while losing fat, the scale may move more slowly. Maintaining or even gaining muscle while you are losing fat can look like a steady or even an increasing weight on the scales. So keep an open mind when getting on the scales and consider other outcomes such as: