More and more people have become fitness conscious these days. They want to shed off their extra weight and get back into shape at the earliest. There are different diet programs, that people follow in their endeavor to lose weight. When they are on diet, they see that they are indeed able to lose weight, but the fat percent in their body remains the same. This might lead us to ask what is the weight that one has lost. More often than not it is the water weight or muscle tissue that has been lost. Such a diet does more harm than good to the person. Therefore, the right method of losing weight is to gain muscle mass and lose fat. Once you gain muscle mass, you will see it is indeed easier for the body to lose fat. In this write-up, we will see the measures, one should take to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.
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Tips on Building Muscle and Burning Fat
It has happened to most of us, that we get stuck in a monotonous workout routine, which often does not give any results. Before I tell you the answer to the question, how to gain muscle and lose fat, I would like to bring it to your notice, that it helps to have realistic goals for yourself. If you set up unrealistic goals, there are chances that you will lose out on motivation at the earliest, and will never be able to achieve your goal. Having said that, we will now see the measures you should take to lose fat and build muscle.
Eat at Regular Intervals
When you want to lose fat and gain muscle, this is the first and the easiest change you can bring about. You can divide your meals by 5 times a day. Every time you eat something, it helps in the process of metabolism. Along with the carbohydrates, you will also have to divide your protein and fiber intake as well. At the same time, drinking sufficient quantities of water all through the day is also important.
Eat Nutrition Rich Food
It is often seen, that when people want to build muscle and burn fat, they reduce the quantity of fat from their diet completely. However, this is not the right approach. Your diet should contain good fat. This fat can be derived from fish oil, olive oil, etc. To burn the fat in the body, it is necessary that your diet is also rich in carbohydrates. However, you will have to take care of the carbohydrates you are consuming. Have whole-grain carbohydrates as opposed to the processed carbs. Include vegetables in your diet, giving preference to green fibrous vegetables. Like vegetables, fruits should also be a part of your diet. As far as possible, you should include fruits and vegetables in your diet. Last but not least coming to the protein in your diet. It is ideal to consume 1 gram of protein for every 1 pound of your weight. When you are consuming meat, make sure it is lean meat. Divide the protein intake over the number of meals you have, to see better results.
Cardiovascular Exercises
In your previous attempts, you may have seen that you were gaining muscle but not losing fat. The main cause was that fat was not getting burned. This was because you were concentrating only on strength training. When you want to lose fat, it is important that you include some form of cardiovascular exercise in your workout schedule. You need not necessarily have to do some high-intensity cardiovascular exercises. Moderate intensity cardiovascular exercises 3 to 4 times a week for about 30 to 40 minutes should do the trick. Remember, when you are doing cardiovascular exercises you should not be gasping for breath.
Strength Training
To gain muscle while losing fat, it is important that the other half of the workout consists of the strength training routine. Make it a point to chalk out a workout plan for yourself. An erratic workout schedule may not give you the desired results that you are actually looking forward to. At the same time, it makes it easier for you to change your routine regularly. One does not necessarily have to go to a gym for the same. There are a number of bodyweight exercises, which you can easily do at home. However, make it a point that you are consistent with them.
Sufficient Rest
Very often, it is seen that we follow all the other mentioned tips but yet are not able to achieve what we actually aim for. At such times, we wonder what is that actually is going wrong. One of the most common factors is an insufficient amount of sleep. Sleep is the time the body is recovering from the workout as well as from the strain of the physical activity. At the same time, it is during sleep that the body is able to integrate the nutrients that one has got from the food consumed.
These were some of the tips on how to lose weight and gain muscle. However, remember, if you miss out on any one of them, you will not see the same results. Consistency is the name of the game. Only consistency will help you with the results. At the same time, one has to remember that all that we are doing to gain muscle and lose fat we are doing it for ourselves. Last but not the least, only we can achieve the results, no one else can do it for us.
Tiffany is a Medical Student and also works as a fitness coach in part-time. She is also a writer and writes on health and fitness articles. Tiffany loves to engage with users and help them provide various useful information on General Health. She provides researched-based information and also featured on various blogs and magazines.