how to lose fat not muscle?

sappy1000

Hi everyone, i am new and a little confused. i weigh 13 stone (182 pounds) and am 19 years old. i am happy with my size but want to lose fat and NOT my muscle. firstly what is my maintenance calory requirements and how much should i cut this by to lose weight. but secondly how do i ensure i lose the fat on not the muscle? do i just eat lots of protein and maintain strength?
Any other advice/tips welcome
Thanks in advance

AmyRhubarb

A small calorie deficit to lose the fat, and exercises that use those muscles to keep them. Great info on calculating and setting your calorie and macro goals for fat loss here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974888-in-place-of-a-road-map-2k13

DemoraFairy

To lose fat and not muscle you want to make sure you're eating enough, and weight training will help. You can either use MFP's recommendations, or you can search Google for a TDEE calculator and eat 80% of your TDEE (you may want to eat more than 80% if you're not overweight). Remember if you use TDEE you don't eat back exercise calories, if you're using MFP's recommendation, you do. You can change your calorie goal for the day by going clicking 'My Home', then Goals, Change Goals, select Custom and enter in the amount of calories you want.

Some muscle will inevitably be lost while dieting, but eating enough and weight training will help to minimise it.

takumaku

OP, a good calculator to use is the one by IIFYM :: http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

Eat enough protein to maintain muscle mass. Eat enough fat to maintain hormones. Eat a little less calories (i.e. 20% max less of TDEE, sometimes less depending on your body fat) to drop weight.

MoreBean13

100 grams protein minimum and weight lifting.