Nobody wants to lose muscle as well as pounds and there are two things to take into consideration that can help you maintain your muscle and achieve your goals to become healthier and lose weight.
1 – A calorie deficit
In simple terms, a calorie deficit means consuming less calories than you burn. The best way to do this is to eat nutrient dense food but less of it and increase your activity levels.
Focus on your calorie intake by preparing your meals, take a look at Prepare to succeed: Meal prep to reach your goals.
2 – Protein
If you’re working out, doing resistance training in the gym for instance, you should aim to eat between 1.2 -1.7g of protein per kg of bodyweight to maintain your lean muscle mass. So if you weigh 100kg, for example, that means eating between 120g and 170g of protein per day.
Fitness apps like MyFitnessPal are great for helping you work out how much protein you’re consuming. Be sure to tweak those numbers as you continue to lose weight in line with what you see on the scales.
It’s worth mentioning that if you follow a vegan or vegetarian diet consuming enough protein can be tough, but you can hit your protein targets by eating protein snacks, supplementing with protein shakes or brushing up on the foods with the highest protein contents and making them a part of your diet.
