Avoid Excessive Amounts Of Cardio
Cardio is additional exercise and additional exercise requires additional recovery.
While this has the potential to be problematic at any time and under any condition, we know the potential is higher when were in the energy-deficient state we need to be in for fat loss to occur. Which we are.
Which means, the more exercise we do, the more risk we pose to our ability to adequately recover, both in terms of the body parts being used the most , as well as the central nervous system which affects everything.
And if recovery begins to suffer, strength and performance will suffer. And when strength and performance suffer, so will your ability to build or maintain muscle while losing fat.
Now, exactly how much of an impact cardio has in this regard is hard to say, as it depends on the exact frequency, duration, and intensity of the activity being done.
For example
- 3 cardio sessions per week will have less of an impact than 5-7 sessions.
- 30 minutes of cardio will have less of an impact than 60-120 minutes.
- A low intensity activity like walking would have little to no impact compared to a more moderate intensity activity such as jogging.
- And neither would have nearly as much of an impact as something with a high intensity like HIIT which can almost be like adding an extra weight training workout in terms of the stress it places on your body and how recovery-intensive it is.
How Do I Get A Flat Stomach Without Losing Weight 12 Tips
If you want to get a flat stomach, some weight loss is necessary, as you will need to burn fat around your abdomen. However, your stomach may look larger due to factors other than fat, such as gas or water retention.
Either way, making dietary changes and shaking up your workout routine can help you tone up your midsection.
This Is How To Lose Fat
Anyone who is trying to get into shape will know how bloody hard it can be to lose fat while gaining muscle at the same time. Either you build muscle but your stomach pooch doesn’t budge, or you lose fat but everything becomes more flubby than toned.
While doing both simultaneously may seem impossible, it is doable.
To get into it, let’s first understand why losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time is so damn difficult.
“The easiest explanation for this is due to the fact that for optimal fat loss you want to be expending more calories from physical exercise than what you consume through food and drink, and for optimal hypertrophy or building lean muscle mass, it’s the opposite,” dietitian and sport nutritionist Robbie Clark told The Huffington Post Australia.
Body science expert Moodi Dennaoui, aka The Diet Doctor, agrees, saying that achieving both goals comes down to dedication and knowledge.
“Anyone who’s ever truly been on a bulking or a cutting diet will know exactly what difficulties lie in trying to build muscle and burn fat simultaneously,” Dennaoui told HuffPost Australia.
“In order to gain muscle, the body needs copious amounts of food combined with a reduction of all extraneous activities.”
FYI, ‘extraneous activities’ refers to extra or indirect exercise you may do outside your training program, such as playing footy with your mates.
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Body Fat Is The Solution
Here’s what they don’t understand. Yes, you need sufficient calories to build muscle and you need a deficit to burn fat. However, body fat is actually the solution! What is body fat?
Stored energy or stored calories, if you will. If you don’t meet your caloric needs through food, you tap into your ‘stored calories’ to do the job. Since those stored calories are in the form of body fat, you therefore have to lose fat in order to build that muscle.
Do you see what I’m saying here? Let’s say a guy eats 500 calories less than what his body needs to get him through the day . How will his body get those extra 500 calories needed to energize him and build muscle?
Answer: by burning his body fat. There are about 3500 calories in a pound of fat. 500 calories times 7 days equals 3500 calories, i.e. in this example, our guy fuels protein synthesis and loses 1 pound of fat per week in the process – that’s nice, very nice.
Increase Your Calorie Intake Daily For Weight Gain
If you are slim and you want to gain weight fast without gaining belly fat, increasing the calorie intake number is the first thing that you need to take care of. However, that does not mean you can blindly eat burgers, chocolates, pizzas. and junk foods.
Eat high-calorie foods with nutrients to put on the weight in a healthier way. Here I have given a few of the many nutrient-dense foods that are rich in vitamins, calories, check below:
- Whole grains: Bread and Brown rice, whole grain bread
- Fruits or pure juices: Bananas, Avocados, Pineapple
- Milk
- Vegetables: Lentils, Starches, Potatoes, and all other root vegetables
- Rice
- Nuts and nut kinds of butter
- Fresh and 100% natural fruit juices
- Salmon and oily fish
- Red meats
- Full-fat Yogurt: Full fat yogurt is another healthy and convenient snack. It has a great nutritional profile, including a well-balanced mix of protein, carbs, and fat.
- Dark chocolate: High-quality dark chocolate provides a ton of antioxidants and health benefits.
- Beans
- Whole eggs: Eggs are one of the healthiest muscle-building foods on the planet.
- Dried fruit: It is a high-calorie snack that also provides antioxidants and micronutrients.
- Cut down sugary food & beverages: Eating sweet food and drinks will in general reason gigantic variances of glucose level with a few other unsafe medical problems. It is one of the primary purposes for gut fat and indulging, which is unquestionably not the correct method to put on weight!
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The Difference Between Weight Loss And Fat Loss
Since youre reading about how to lose fat without losing muscle, Ill assume a few things are true about you.
First, you want to lose weight.
But you also know the difference between losing weight and losing fat. Thats why you want to do more than just lose weight. You want to lose fat.
And, at the very least, you want to do so while holding on to the muscle you have right now. Ideally, youd like to gain a little bit more.
Most people focus solely on the amount of weight they lose, and dont care too much about where that lost weight comes from.
Losing weight is faster and easier than losing fat, partly because your weight is comprised of many things, including:
- Fat
- Glycogen
- Undigested food
When you lose a lot of weight in the first week or two of dieting, for example, not all of that lost weight comes from fat.
Some of its going to come from glycogen and water, as well as a reduction in the amount of food working its way through your system.
How To Do It
Lets pretend you currently lift 100lbs for 3 sets of 8 reps on some exercise. Your goal throughout the duration of the fat loss process is to end up lifting as close to that same 100lbs for 3 sets of 8 reps as you canor more if possible.
The same goes for every other exercise in your workout routine.
And the reason I say or more if possible is because its a lot harder though certainly not impossible to gain strength while in a caloric deficit than it is when youre at maintenance or in a caloric surplus.
This isnt the case for beginners, as someone in the earlier stages of intelligent progressive weight training will be able to progress quite well regardless of whether they are in a deficit.
But for intermediate and advanced trainees, dont be surprised if its a lot harder to do, or if progression happens a lot slower, or if you find the best you can do on certain exercises is just maintain strength rather than increase it.
This is fine, of course, as that is the main part of the weight training stimulus you need to avoid losing muscle.
Bonus: If you want a free workout for building muscle or getting lean, you can check out My 3 Most Effective Workout Routines, pick the one you like best, and then start building your ideal body faster than ever.
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Slow Down Your Eating
Eating slowly will also help cinch your waist, too. Inhaling croissants while run-walking to work will do little to satiate you not that youll do much digesting anyway, with all that cortisol flooding your system. Instead, by making time to eat and focusing on your food , youll wind up eating less and youll feel fuller for longer.
9. Get Quality Sleep
Multiple studies have shown an association between short sleep and weight gain. When youre low on Zzzs, activity in the brains frontal lobe is impaired. At the same time, the more primal parts of your brain that deal with things like desire and motivation are lit up like the Blackpool Illuminations.
Inadequate sleep also wreaks havoc on your metabolism. When the body doesnt get enough rest, it conserves energy by slowing down basic functions. The combination of untameable cravings, little willpower and inefficient processing is an open invitation for fat storage. Follow our advice to improve your sleep tonight.
Start Doing Bodyweight Lunges
Lunges without weights can tone your thigh muscles. The glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings are all targeted by this exercise.
Stand upright with your legs hip-width apart and begin performing the procedure.
Place your hands on your hips. With the left leg forward, bend both knees and descend until the rear knee almost touches the floor.
Maintain a straight front knee at 90 degrees. Kick back the left leg to its original position while returning to starting posture.
When doing lunges, avoid leaning forward. Try to maintain an upright torso at all times. Also, make sure the front knee does not exceed the toes while you lunge.
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Body Recomposition Is A Long Game
Because you’re trying to do two things at once — lose fat and gain muscle — you can’t treat a body recomposition plan like a fad diet. Healthy weight loss and healthy muscle gain both take a long time on their own: Put them together and you’re in it for the long haul. The slow, steady process of body recomposition offers sustainable results, though, so you’ll enjoy your new physique for as long as you maintain those habits.
Combine Strength With Hypertrophy
Pure strength training, such as lifting heavy singles, doubles, or triples, relies heavily on your neural drive, the speed you shift from using Type I to Type II muscle fibers, and your ability to get maximal muscle fiber recruitment. While those are extremely beneficial for setting PRs in the gym, they dont maximize how much muscle you put on or maintain during a cutting phase.
Instead, combine both to create an intense muscle-building workout. For example, do five heavy reps, rest for 20 seconds, repeat that same exact weight for three reps, rest for 20 seconds, and then do two more reps. Youre still able to use a very heavy weight, but you made it last for 10 reps. This creates a huge stimulus for thicker muscles and the pump.
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Philipp Nemenz / Getty
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Do Not Eat Large Meals While Gaining Body Weight
Eating one meal a day is unlikely to give you the calories and nutrients your body needs to thrive unless carefully planned. Having said that you got to eat more to put on weight but eating a big amount of meals is not going to be helpful at all it could harmful to big belly fat which not gain weight fast without gaining belly fat.
How do I stop eating big meals?
It would be better is you split the meals into 3-4 times a day and eat a lesser quantity of food in every meal to make calorie intake easier. Also, should take 3 hours of a gap in-between your meal so that make your stomach properly digest.
See: Beginners Workout Myth and Facts
Eat Fewer Refined Carbohydrates
Limit foods high in refined carbohydrates and refined sugar , and replace them with high fibre complex carbs think: whole grains, brown rice, sweet potato, oats, beans and pulses. Fill your boots with as many vegetables as possible theyre low calorie, high in micronutrients, and the fibre in them will keep you full.
Snack on portion-controlled fruit, seeds and nuts. One study found that snacking on 42g of almonds per day helped to reduce belly fat and improved cholesterol levels. The high levels of fibre are proven to combat excess calorie consumption later in the day, says registered dietitian Lucy Jones.
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Build Muscle To Lose Weight
Gaining muscle requires hard work and often some heavy lifting. However, its not impossible for even the most sedentary person to add muscle and increase the bodies fat burning potential. Strength and resistance training taxes the muscles, adding size and strength.
Personal trainers recommend using these things to increase muscle mass:
- Bands
- Body weight
- Etc.
When exercising to build muscle, aim for 3 sets of 8 to 10 repetitions per set. It is important to ensure that the last repetition you complete is the last one you can safely complete. Safe and proper form is just as important as lifting heavy weights when it comes to building muscle.
Most people find success in adding muscle by engaging in compound exercises, or exercises that engage more than one muscle group at a time. For best results, incorporate these exercises into your training routine:
- Bench pressing
- Pull-ups
- Deadlifts
While strength training is essential for building muscle, it goes hand and hand with your diet. As you build muscle, your body will require an increase in calories -, especially protein.
Nutritionists recommend eating roughly one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. As an example, a 150-pound person would eat 150 grams of protein each day the amount of protein consumed should be broken down over 5 to 6 small meals, each with approximately 25 to 30 grams of protein. Excellent sources of muscle-building protein include eggs, dairy products, chicken, fish, and nuts.
Why Not Use A Larger Deficit
This is the point when you may be wondering why a larger deficit isnt being used. After all, wouldnt reducing your calories by more than this make weight loss happen even faster?
Yup, it certainly would.
But remember, this isnt just about weight loss. Our goal is more specific than that. We want to lose fat and do it without losing muscle.
And for that purpose, large deficits, low calorie diets, and fast weight loss are going to be bad ideas for most people.
In fact, this sort of thing is a bad idea for many reasons, as it can worsen:
- And a whole lot more.
For all of these reasons and more, a moderate deficit will be best for most people.
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Losing Lean Muscle Mass
Weight-loss diets can often have a downside. When you restrict calories, your body sometimes doesn’t differentiate between stored fat and lean muscle tissue, and it may catabolize muscle tissue for energy along with fat. This is especially true with very low-calorie diets and low-carb diets.
Loss of lean muscle mass will cause you to lose more body weight the number on the scale than fat mass. So, to maintain your body weight while losing belly fat, you must maintain and build lean muscle mass.
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How To Lose Fat While Gaining Muscle
To answer the question of losing body fat and gaining muscle at the same time, Iâd like to introduce an analogy from the world of Harry Potter.
Recall the âSorting Hat:â The Sorting Hatâs job was to determine which of the four houses kids will call their home.
Itâs almost like a traffic director: âHarry, you will go to Gryffindor! Draco, you will go to Slytherin!â
Your body operates on a VERY similar operation: every day it receives new calories , and it needs to decide what to do with them!
For example:
You eat a chicken parm sub with fries and a 20-ounce soda. Your body then has to know where to route all those calories.
To keep things simple, it has three choices. Itâll sort those calories into one of three houses:
A. Burn for Fuel.
B. Rebuild Muscle.
C. Store as Fat.
Right now, when you eat food, your body sorts most of those calories into âBurn for Fuel.â
Thereâs a number of calories your body needs each day just existing: to keep your liver functioning, your heart pumping, your brain operating, to regulate your body temperature, and so on it burns a good chunk of calories just keeping the lights on.
This is your âBasal Metabolic Rateâ which you can calculate for yourself in our TDEE calculator.
Thereâs also âB. Rebuild as Muscleâ and âC. Store as Fat,â which I devoted entire sections to above.
However, our goal is the OPPOSITE of this.
We want to keep the muscle we have while getting rid of the fat!
Does your body just shut down?
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