How can i lose fat without losing muscle?

Pappy o' daniel

Hello. I have been doing weights this past year on and off. And ive put on a fair bit of muscle, but ive also put on a good layer of fat. If i change my diet and start doing cardio work im afraid ill lose the muscle along with the fat. how can i avoid this?

d'Oracle

Pappy o' daniel wrote: »

Hello. I have been doing weights this past year on and off. And ive put on a fair bit of muscle, but ive also put on a good layer of fat. If i change my diet and start doing cardio work im afraid ill lose the muscle along with the fat. how can i avoid this?

I recently read something that said it takes a 3 weeks of no action before your body starts to go into hypotrophy.

There are tonnes of people out there who lift once or twice a week and do intense cardio stuff and are still beasts.

I would assume that if you keep some lifting for maintenance purposes, and get some good cardio with the diet change, you will be alright.

I'm not an expert, but I'm not convinced that this drop body fat = loose muscle stuff makes sense.

corkcomp

d'Oracle wrote: »

I recently read something that said it takes a 3 weeks of no action before your body starts to go into hypotrophy.

There are tonnes of people out there who lift once or twice a week and do intense cardio stuff and are still beasts.

I would assume that if you keep some lifting for maintenance purposes, and get some good cardio with the diet change, you will be alright.

I'm not an expert, but I'm not convinced that this drop body fat = loose muscle stuff makes sense.

+ 1

Transform

Simple answer - never add too much fat ever!

Point 1 - sort diet out
Point 2 - do some cardio, you do not need massive amounts
Point 3 - did you sort your diet out yet?
Point 4 - keep pushing hard on the weights and stop worring about losing muscle when you can't see the best of it covered in a layer of fat

Roper

If you have high bodyfat, continue to lift, maybe do some more activities that get your heart racing like walking, running, standing up faster after your latest bulking feed. But sort your diet out first and foremost. I don't know what your numbers are like but you're probably not strong enough to justify worrying about the effects of losing bodyfat so don't worry about it and let the diet take care of it.

Also, I agree with Transform. If you have high body fat you are not "bulking" you are just fat, and you need to get leaner for your health, your sex life and your clothing bills.

Pappy o' daniel

I thought I read somewhere that people who go on diets lose as much muscle as fat, and thats why they put on weight so quickly when they come off the diet. Thats what id be afraid of.

Transform

post up your height, weight and what your currently benching, squatting, deadlifting and pull ups you can do. Also post diet in detail.

If you are not doing any of the above exercises then i would question your program

alibaba12

i found a website that might be of interest to you http://www.chetday.com/howtolosefat.htm

celestial

Pappy o' daniel wrote: »

I thought I read somewhere that people who go on diets lose as much muscle as fat, and thats why they put on weight so quickly when they come off the diet. Thats what id be afraid of.

This happens when people crash diet, or if they lower calories too much. It also happens most to people who restrict calories without exercising. What happens is that their body can start to use muscle as a source of fuel in the absence of sufficient food/calories. If you have a good diet and work out regularly with a good weights/bodyweight programme then you do NOT have to worry about losing muscle.

Just train hard, eat right and see the results.

Pappy o' daniel

I dont watch my diet so i eat pretty much what i want. But its mostly healthy food and i dont drink much.

Its all bodyweight exercises with me. different types of pushups, jump squats, dips and pullups is all i do. I can do 16 pullups max.
I do 3 sets of each every 2 or 3 days(but not at max)
Im 6'1" and 14 stone.

ive put on about 3/4 stone in the last year, some of it muscle but plenty of fat too.

corkcomp

Pappy o' daniel wrote: »

I dont watch my diet so i eat pretty much what i want. But its mostly healthy food and i dont drink much.

Its all bodyweight exercises with me. different types of pushups, jump squats, dips and pullups is all i do. I can do 16 pullups max.
I do 3 sets of each every 2 or 3 days(but not at max)
Im 6'1" and 14 stone.

ive put on about 3/4 stone in the last year, some of it muscle but plenty of fat too.

post up your full daily diet if you want to get a critique from the good folks on here? At 6 1" you prob arent really carrying much excess at 14 stone so a few dietary tweaks could get the fat off quickly!

Transform

if your just doing body weight exercises then i wouldn't worry about muscle loss at all its your diet thats off track mostly then.

alibaba12

14 stone & 6'1 is not a bad weight in fact probably healthy enough. When your weight training weight doesnt really matter more inches, as muscle weighs more than fat but is more compact so it looks better. But if you do feel like you have excess fat, diet is supposed to be 80% of the battle, also you do need some cardio in your workout like walking for 2 mins sprinting for 5 and repeating for about 20-30mins. I have heard that you only need 20mins of cardio a day to keep fat levels down. Also doing supersets & working opposing muscle groups will also burn fat quickly & give you a longer afterburn.If you change your diet & add cardio you shouldnt lose muscle. As far as I know the only way you lose muscle is if you cut out weight lifting altogether or are not taking in enough calories each day - if that was the case your body would start to consume your muscle to for fuel to keep you alive.I'm not an expert but they are some tips I have picked up along the way.

Pappy o' daniel

Transform wrote: »

if your just doing body weight exercises then i wouldn't worry about muscle loss at all its your diet thats off track mostly then.

Why is that, could cardio work lose muscle?

I was always fairly thin, not much muscle or fat. But ive put on fat around my belly and "lovehandles" area and now it jiggles when i walk. I hate that!

abceire

you could combine your cardio with your weights
if you stick to just 30seconds of a break between all sets you ll get a great cardio work out as well as still getting your weights in too