When most people diet or exercise, they don't do it because they are worried about the amount of unsightly muscle they have in their body.
Unfortunately, this is the way most people approach their weight loss.
As a result, they drop pounds but those pounds come from losing muscle mass, which weighs more than fat.
The good news is there are ways to maintain your current muscle mass while still losing weight.
Healthy Eating is the Key The mistake most people make when trying to lose weight is to dramatically cut down their intake of calories.
On one hand this makes perfect sense, because every 3,000+ calories you take in but don't burn off is going to add an additional pound to your weight.
Unfortunately, this is the worst tactic you could try if you don't want to lose muscle.
Here's why.
When your body stores up fat in the first place, it does so because it wants to have a backup supply of energy in case you go through a famine period.
That is a period when you don't have enough to eat to keep you alive.
You might think that when you stop taking in calories your body would automatically start using up these stockpiles but that's the case.
Those are the emergency, last resort rations.
First, your body is going to convert your muscle mass into energy and that's going to slow your metabolism so you don't need as many calories in the first place which makes it harder for you to lose weight.
A better plan is to gradually reduce your calorie intake and let your body adjust to the changes.
For example, you might reduce your calories by 10% the first week, another 10% the second week, and so on.
This prevents your body from going into starvation mode.
Smart Exercising Helps Another key in burning fat instead of muscle is doing the proper types of exercises.
Most fitness instructors and health advocates are going to tell you to focus on cardiovascular workouts.
That's good advice because it will help your heart and lungs get stronger so you can do more exercise without getting worn out.
However, you need to add some weight training to that recipe at least 2 to 3 times a week.
That way you'll be replenishing lost muscle and adding new muscle mass.
This is good because muscle requires more calories than fat.
If you have a lot of lean muscle mass in your body, your metabolism is going to increase which means you'll burn off more calories and lose weight.
You'll also see another benefit of adding some weight training into the mix: muscle tone.
Many people who lose weight too quickly or without properly exercising end up flabby.
While plastic surgery can help with that problem a lot, those procedures are expensive and come with a lot of risk.
Exercising while you lose weight is the best way to increase your muscle tone and to prevent loose skin.