Nearly everyone, at one time or another, has opted to lose weight. Some want to lose a little and some want to lose a lot. No matter how much you plan to lose, losing sight of gaining muscle can leave you less than satisfied with your appearance. You can’t look like the people in the weight loss ads just by losing weight. If you are in “lose” mode and want to look great when you’re done, you should read this article.
So you are on a diet, taking in fewer calories and dropping weight. That’s great, but do you know what kind of weight you are dropping? Are you really losing just fat or are you losing muscle along with it? The fact is that when you are losing, you usually lose a bit of both–fat and muscle. How much muscle you lose can depend on the type of calories you are taking in and whether or not you are working to build your muscles. If you are shorting your daily calorie intake by more than 500 calories, limiting protein, and not doing exercises that help burn fat while building muscle, you could be losing the fat but also losing more muscle than you should. Your body will break down muscle for fuel, if your calorie deficit is too extreme. Since muscle burns calories, you don’t want to lose it, you want to gain it.
What should you do? First determine what your maintenance calorie intake should be, then cut 500 calories from that number. (See a calorie requirement calculator.) This should provide you with a slow steady weight loss that doesn’t overwhelm your body and put it in starvation mode. Once you have this established, start walking every day. One of the easiest exercises for most people to do is walking and it can help prevent muscle loss. Walking engages the larger muscles in the lower body and helps them build as the calories used are burning fat. Engage your arms when you walk and you raise your heart rate, burn more calories, and work the upper body muscles. Dancing is also very good for muscle building and calorie burning–and it is fun. I personally like to combine the two with my other favorites and dance, walk, jumping jack, weight lift and lunge my way through my miles every day (Sidewalk Fusion). The local neighborhood watch has jokingly said they are creating an award for my help in slowing traffic on a road where people used to speed. Now they slow down to watch the crazy woman.
“Squeeze those glutes,” the muscle challenge instructor yells and with good reason. Who doesn’t want a great looking derriere? Your gluteus maximus, medius and minimus–butt muscles–tend to be some of the laziest muscles in your body. And if it wasn’t bad enough that they are lazy, we give them the cushiest seat in the house and tend to spend way too much time warming them on the bench. They don’t have to do much work to perform their stabilizing role in everyday activities, so they get weak and shrink. Remember that muscles burn calories and the bigger the muscle the more the burn. As those gluteus maximus muscles are the largest in the body, it is a good muscle to target for muscle gain. This being said, if you want to build them, you have to find exercises that engage them, wake them up and get them working. Lunges, squats and walking will all help build this muscle. The Lying Butt Bridge, Single Dumbell Squats and Glute Kickbacks are some of my favorites. Check ShapeFit.com and you can see how these are done, as well as find a few more exercises.
Whatever your weight loss goals, add some muscle building goals to go along with them. You will likely find that the weight comes off quicker, stays off longer and your overall health and wellbeing improves. But don’t go all nutty if you see the scale go up and down. Muscle weighs more than fat and the muscle gain can push up the scale from time to time. Don’t rely on what the scale is telling you. Rely on how your clothes fit and what you see in the mirror. Your body is in reformation mode and evolving into the new you–the healthier more shapely you.
Special Tip: For those of us who drive long distances sitting in a car in traffic or sit at a desk all day, we can still sneak in some great isometrics that target the abdomen, butt and thighs. Simply tighten your abdominal, butt, and thigh muscles and hold for a count of 10, 20, 30 or whatever works for you, then repeat. Just be sure you are paying attention to your driving — and your work.
Personal Note: Trying to lose weight on your own can be challenging. Sometimes you aren’t sure how to go forward, where to go, what to do, or your motivation slips. You may find some help in my other articles.
CAUTION: Always check with your doctor before beginning any diet or exercise program.
