Can You Gain Muscle While Losing Weight?

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The answer is YES. You can gain muscle while losing weight! Why? Because the two go hand in hand. To lose weight and gain muscle – or get lean as it’s more commonly known – you need to keep your overall health in check.

Here are some tips to help you lose weight and gain some muscle!

Reduce Your Calorie Deficit

It’s so important to realize that when you have a deficit of calories, you’re leaving room for your body to burn and break down muscle mass while you’re losing weight. So it’s important to reduce the deficit as much as possible. 

The best way to improve your calorie deficit is to work towards not losing more than a quarter to half a pound a week or slightly reducing your daily calorie intake.

Increase Protein Intake

In order to grow your muscles, you need protein and lots of it. It’s been found that ideally, you should be aiming to have four high-protein meals a day. The amount of protein in each meal varies from adult to adult. Vegetarians and vegans should take extra consideration into their protein intake to make up for the lacking proteins in their diets. 

Compound Strength Exercise and HIIT

Focus on adding in specific exercises that benefit several muscles while also burning fat. For example, squats, rows, chest presses, and other compound strength exercises should be added to your workout at least three times a week.

HIIT (high-intensity interval exercises) can be highly beneficial for losing weight and gaining muscle mass as you work with the method of high-intensity workouts in quick bursts before slowing down and repeating the cycle. This can be great for running, weights, calisthenics, bike, elliptical, and other methods of training.

Cardio As a Tool For Recovery

Low impact cardio can be a great way to spend some downtime when you’re going through intensive strength training. It can help build muscle, relieve stress and improve circulation. So consider something to keep the blood flowing, like cycling, swimming, walking, etc., and keep the momentum going. 

Light steady cardio can be very useful for muscle recovery if performed with patience. Complete rest days without any type of training are necessary as well.

Patience

To go through all the effort and put in the work to get the desired results takes time. It’s so easy to be impatient and become frustrated that you’re not getting the results you’re shooting for in the time you’ve deemed acceptable in your mind. 

Take a step back, breath, and know that the work you’re putting in will yield the results you’re going for if you keep at it. Patience is the most challenging thing to exercise because there’s nothing that can help you other than your own mental awareness. 

Final Thoughts

Are you looking to get in shape, lose weight, or build muscle? Do you need someone that will make sure you train, keep you motivated and push you to achieve your goals? You need a personal trainer in Orange County. Contact us At VIP Fitness today.