In order to lose weight and not lose muscle mass, it is recommended to combine sports activities with a proper diet. Cardio workouts are best in this case, which either do not burn muscles at all, or dry them slightly. But it is important to know other secrets about how to exercise to burn fat but retain muscle.
Interval cardio exercise to burn fat
Athletic runners who practice sprint or marathon running often look different - a sprinter has much more muscle. This happens because the sprinter makes maximum acceleration at short distances with interruptions. The marathon runner runs for a long time and at a measured pace. This is a good example of standard drying, which should be adopted by those who have wondered how to burn fat, but retain muscle.
However, you should not limit yourself to cardio training, strength exercises will also be useful. They must include many low-weight sets to be effective for muscle gain.
Diet to burn fat and preserve muscle
To improve the results achieved during training, you need to eat regularly and fully - a hunger strike at best will not be beneficial, and at worst can seriously harm. The diet should have a sufficient amount of protein - foods containing it saturate well, accelerate metabolic processes and minimize the risk of overeating. In addition, proteins are essential for muscle mass. The body's daily requirement is 2 g of protein per 1 kg of body weight.
- meat, fish, seafood, poultry;
- eggs;
- milk products;
- nuts;
- legumes.
Carbohydrates and fat burning
Carbohydrates are another valuable source of muscle strength. You can't do without them either, even if your goal is to lose weight. Carbohydrates are especially needed in the case of strength training, with an insufficient amount of them, the muscles lose their tone and require energy replenishment. Without consuming carbohydrates, the body does not have time to recover - muscle mass goes away. Therefore, reinforce your strength with carbohydrates after training, since at this time the metabolic rate reaches its maximum, a so-called "carbohydrate window" appears when you can eat without any damage to the figure. This can be cereals, baked potatoes, or even pasta.
Sleep and muscle mass
7-8 hours of sleep is just as necessary if you want to burn fat but retain muscle. After intense cardio and strength training, the body is under a lot of stress, so you need to give it time to recover. In addition, it is at night that the active production of growth hormone occurs, especially in the deep sleep phase - this helps to increase muscle elasticity and accelerate their growth.
