The Secret to Gaining Muscle While Losing Weight
One concern that many people have while losing weight is that they will lose muscle in addition to fat. The truth is, when your body starts to lose weight, it does not automatically discriminate between what type of tissue it metabolizes.
What this means is that unless you are taking steps to maintain or gain muscle mass throughout the weight loss process, your body will shed muscle tissue in addition to fat tissue.
While some of this loss is inevitable, there are measures that you can take to minimize muscle loss and even tip the scales to gain muscle as you shed pounds in a process called body recomposition.
Read on to find out more about body recomposition, how to achieve the results you want, and reach your goal weight while gaining muscle.
What is Body Recomposition?
Body recomposition occurs when you simultaneously lose fat and gain muscle. While possible, it is difficult for the body to do this because the process of losing weight and gaining muscle are contradictory in nature.
If your focus is weight loss, it is likely that you are eating in a calorie deficit which forces your body to metabolize tissue in place of calories from food. Your body does not automatically discriminate between muscle tissue and fat tissue. Thus, when you lose weight you are by default losing muscle.
However, by adding extra protein to your diet and focusing on strength training, you can begin to build muscle even as you lose weight. This is what we call body recomposition and with a little bit of extra effort, you can achieve it too!
Weight Loss 101
Despite what the diet industry might tell you, there is no big secret to losing weight. What it all boils down to is that you need to consume fewer calories than you burn in a day.
Your body’s primary source of energy are calories from food. An excess of calories are stored as fat and conversely, consuming fewer calories than you burn forces your body to metabolize these preserves of fat as well as other body tissues including your muscles.
When eating in a calorie deficit, it is important to prioritize foods that are high in protein and are nutritionally dense. This is partly because nutritionally dense foods like fresh fruits, veggies, whole grains, and lean meats have fewer calories per gram than processed foods and can be eaten at a higher volume, keeping you fuller and satisfied for longer.
For more on eating in a calorie deficit, take a look at this past blog post all about how to do it sustainably.
Muscle Building 101
Building muscle involves two main processes: increasing protein intake and increasing the amount of strength training exercise you are doing.
Your muscle tissue is made up of 80% proteins in the form of amino acids. When you consume protein through your diet, your body breaks the food down into amino acids which it then uses to build new proteins for your body.
The second component of muscle building is strength or resistance training exercise such as body weight exercises or weight lifting. When you do this form of exercise, you create tiny tears in your muscles which grow stronger as they repair.
Building muscle can actually help you to lose weight faster because muscle cells burn about six calories per day at rest compared to fat cells which burn around two calories per day at rest.
The Secret Recipe
Like most things in life, it can be easy to overcomplicate body recomposition. At the end of the day, it really comes down to some simple adjustments you can make to prioritize a balanced diet, the right forms of exercise, and adequate rest to help facilitate both weight loss and muscle growth at the same time.
Read on to discover the three simple ingredients that make up body recomposition.
1. Increase Protein
Protein doesn’t just act as the building block for muscles. Eating an excess of protein encourages your body to retain the muscles that it already has. Dietary protein also helps you to stay within a calorie deficit because it helps to stabilize your blood sugar and feel fuller longer when compared to carbs and fats.
So how much protein do you actually need? The standard recommendation for the minimum protein consumption is 0.36 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight per day, but if you are physically active, you should actually be aiming for closer to 0.5-0.9 grams per pound.
Sound complicated? It’s really not, we promise. Just aim to eat 35% of your daily calories from protein. For some helpful tips on figuring out just how much protein you are consuming as well as carbs and fat, check out our blog post all about counting macronutrients.
Some good sources of protein include lean meats like chicken, turkey, and lean steak as well as eggs, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, and lentils.
2. Prioritize Strength Training
As we discussed before, strength training not only helps to build muscle through the process of small injuries and cellular repair, but it also helps your body in many other ways.
For example, strength training can help you achieve a higher resting metabolism, stronger bones and joints, reduced inflammation, lower risk of injury, and better heart health.
The standard recommendation for exercise is that adults should get at least 150 minutes of exercise per week and at least two days per week should be spent on resistance training. You should aim for 12-15 reps of each exercise to maximize muscle fatigue.
Some examples of strength training exercises include body weight exercises like squats, pushups, and lunges. You can also add dumbbells or weights to increase the intensity of these exercises. If you don’t have dumbbells at home, you can always use household items like bags of rice, soup cans, and even large books.
For more on how to incorporate strength training for weight loss, check out this blog post!
Get Enough Sleep
The final ingredient in body recomposition might surprise you— sleep! Sleep is an important and often overlooked aspect of both weight loss and muscle building. Aim to get at least 6-8 hour of sleep every night.
Sleep is when you body recovers from the physical pressures of daily life. When your body is at rest it does the important work of repairing cells, aiding muscle repair and growth, metabolizing the food you ate throughout the day, and allowing your immune system to do it’s job keeping your body healthy.
Fatigue due to a lack of sleep can make it harder for your body to recover after a workout. It can also cause your body to produce excess cortisol, the stress hormone, which leads to inflammation and fat storage.
Read more about how sleep unlocks weight loss and muscle growth as well as tips on how to have better sleep hygiene in this blog post.
The Bottom Line
Even though losing weight and building muscles are counterintuitive for your body to do simultaneously, it is far from impossible to achieve body recomposition with mindful attention to your diet, exercise, and sleep routine.
Prioritizing a protein rich diet, focusing on strength training exercises, and getting enough sleep can help you to feel your best as you get stronger and closer to your goal weight.
If you need extra help along the way, consider reaching out to us for a free consultation for medical weight loss using tirzepatide or semaglutide, and individual support from a nurse practitioner. As always, TeleHealthNP is here to help you achieve your healthiest, most confident you!
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