How to lose fat without losing muscle, let’s cover it…now, I love that there is so much more awareness around muscle mass these days and just how important it is to build and maintain especially as we grow older.

But, there are some misconceptions around fat loss and how it relates to losing muscle and I want to clear up any potential confusion…

What sparked this episode was a great question that I got on one of my videos which was…

“As far as I know you lose weight by creating a calorie deficit and if you want the lost weight not to be muscle mass you should workout because that tells your body that you still need that muscle. Is that correct Marcus?”

We have 3 simple and straightforward scenarios here…

The first one is someone who wants to lose fat and is not currently weight training.

The second one is someone who want to lose fat and is currently weight training.

And the third one is someone who wants to lose fat, is not currently weight training but starts to…let’s outline all 3.

So if you want to lose fat and you are not lifting weights right now, all you need to do in order  to maintain your muscle as you get leaner is create a calorie deficit and eat enough protein, that’s it.

You don’t have to start lifting weights in order not to lose muscle mass because you weren’t lifting to begin with right…the amount of muscle that you currently have is a perfect reflection of the amount of muscle that you need to live your day to day life, no more no less.

The second one is someone who wants to lose fat and is currently weight training. This individual needs to create a calorie deficit, continue lifting weights and eat enough protein, simple as that.

So if they lift weights twice per week let’s say like I do, a calorie deficit handles the fat loss piece and continuing to lift twice per week along with eating enough protein maintains the muscle.

If this person created a calorie deficit and stopped lifting weights they will lose muscle because they’ve now removed the quote unquote reason for their bodies to keep it right…there is no more stimulus.

It has nothing to do with fat loss or the calorie deficit itself and everything to do with the fact that they just stopped lifting because even if they were in a calorie surplus (eating more than they burn), they’d still lose that muscle.

Or if this individual created a calorie deficit but started lifting way lighter weights they’d also lose muscle because again they’ve removed the demand for that amount of muscle mass.

This is a mistake that a lot of folks make, they want to get leaner and so they start lifting really light weights for tons of reps in order to quote unquote ‘burn the fat,’ don’t do that…keep lifting just as heavy and let your diet handle the fat loss, you’ll be much happier with the result.

The third scenario…someone who wants to lose fat, is not currently lifting weights but starts to…this situation is super cool because this person can lose fat and build muscle at the same time…it’s the best of both worlds!

Reason being is their nutrition is handling the fat loss via a calorie deficit, the introduction of weight training is building muscle and the protein is working it’s magic for both muscle maintenance and muscle gain.

There is a bonus scenario and this is someone who wants to lose fat, is already weight training but continues to apply progressive overload in their workouts, for example…

You create a calorie deficit and you lift weights in a way that has you getting stronger over time…this person can also gain muscle while losing fat, so let’s say you’re bench pressing 100 lbs for 10 reps…

You’re in a calorie deficit and so you’re losing fat each week, but you’re also training hard enough that next week you bench 100 lbs for 11 reps, the following week for 12 reps and then 13…that’s progress, that’s you getting stronger, that’s you building muscle while losing fat.

The primary reason why folks tend to think that they lose a bunch of muscle when they lose fat is because body fat masks itself as muscle all the time, I learned this lesson the first time I got lean, it was very sobering…

I was like man, I’m leaner but my muscles just look way smaller…I’m not filling out my t-shirt like I was before and that is because we accumulate body fat everywhere from our heads to our toes literally and so it’s really easy to think that that fat that’s on my chest and arms let’s say is muscle…but it may not be.

Meaning once you strip away the fat, you really get to see what you’re working with in terms of the amount of muscle mass that you’re carrying.

Another reason why folks oftentimes think that they lose a bunch of muscle while losing fat is because they may get something like a Dexa scan done which measures body fat % and lean muscle mass among other things.

The kicker is that what’s included in lean muscle mass is muscle, internal organs, body water, connective tissue and skin and one factor is that when you get leaner, you almost certainly are going to be carrying around less body water.

When folks lose fat they also tend to have less inflammation because body fat is inherently inflammatory and because their diet quality increases aka they’re typically eater fewer funky foods that are causing water retention related inflammation…that comes up on a dexa scan as a loss of quote unquote lean mass.

So how can you tell if you’ve lost muscle or not, super simple…

If you’re not weight training and you eat enough protein, you haven’t and if you are weight training and you eat enough protein, as long as you’re equally as strong in the gym, you almost certainly have not lost any muscle mass.

And if you’re actually getting stronger in the gym while you’re losing fat, you’re building muscle.

One more pitfall to look out for, don’t crash diet or create too severe of a calorie deficit because you’ll feel like garbage and it’s really hard to maintain the same level of intensity and strength in the gym if you cut too many calories…

And if your workout quality takes a big hit, you’re going to lose muscle mass…so create a calorie deficit, just not a super aggressive one.