How do you burn more fat and less muscle?

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Okay, I was just wondering how do I burn more fat? Yes, I have heard that running is a great way to burn calories and a quick way to burn fat, but I have a bad knee and I hate running. Any other suggestion? Also, how do I avoid not losing anymore muscle mass? I went to the Dr. and he said this month I lost 11 LBS, BUT out of that lost I lost 6.4 LBS of fat and 4.6 LBS of muscle :(. , so , I'm trying to avoid this. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advances.

Replies

  • icerose137
    icerose137 Posts: 318 Member
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    You need to add in strength training. It'll help build up your muscles so you burn more fat in the off hours. It will also fortify your body including your knee.
  • DiamondRubyMom
    DiamondRubyMom Posts: 147 Member
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    You don't say much about your way of dieting but in general you maintain/increase muscle by eating enough protein, not going under 1200 calories a day, and weight training. I've had some of my best weight loss while lifting.
  • Paulette56
    Paulette56 Posts: 66 Member
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    Try strength training to build muscle. A lot of excersizes can be done sitting in a chair using the little hand held weights. Google to find some you might can tolerate. Good luck with your efforts.
  • SuperHeroRipped
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    You have to eat more protein, about 1-1.5g per pound of body weight will help you to maintain more muscle
  • bloodbank
    bloodbank Posts: 468 Member
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    Strength train, don't do obscene amounts of cardio, eat enough protein for your body (1g/lb of LBM should be sufficient) and don't dip your calories too low.
  • SoCalSwimmerDude
    SoCalSwimmerDude Posts: 480 Member
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    Swim! Builds long, lean muscle and burns fat... and also a shameless plug for my blog that no one ever reads (below). :grumble:
  • joshsobotta
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    Well from the trainers I see at my gym, they always recommend some form of weight training to help you build and maintain muscles. It is possible to use weights to tone and not bulk up. I know a few woman friends who were afraid to lift weights as they didnt want to bulk up. But the trainers always tried to show them how it was good for them and wouldnt turn them into body builders. Cardio is also great. Have you tried the Eliptical machine? Does that bother your knee? I have had major knee surgery 10 years ago or so. So my goal was to get some weight off and try slow down the arthritis process and so far my knee is holding up. But it will depend on how ur knees hold up. hope any of this helps and good luck..
  • AdAstra47
    AdAstra47 Posts: 823 Member
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    First of all, you will get a bunch of conflicting advice on this. Everyone's body is different, everyone's metabolism is different, and the only thing people can tell you is what worked for *them*, which may or may not be what works for you.

    With that said...
    My doctor tested my metabolism and found that my body is lousy at processing carbs & sugar, so he said I should try and get most of my energy from protein. The chemical reaction involved here is 3 parts fat to 1 part protein, which means if I'm eating a lot of protein, I'm protecting my muscles, and I'm also forcing my body to harvest & burn fat (in order to process the protein).

    So my rule for the past four months has been: no more than 30g carbs a day, and at least 50g of protein every three hours while I'm awake. That works out to about 350g protein a day. I haven't exercised more or changed anything else about my lifestyle.

    Results? I've lost 30 lb so far. I just had a doctor's appointment last week, and he did that body composition test & found that I had lost 25lb of fat, lost 6lb of water, and gained 1lb of muscle.

    I'm a very big woman, both tall and obese, so if you're smaller you probably wouldn't need that much protein. But I'd bet that lowering your carbs and upping your protein would help.
    Best of luck to you!
  • Italiandoglover
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    Hello critiry3
    The single best way to lose fat is to do some kind of resistance exercise, either body weight exercises or weight lifting of some kind. Body weight exercise to start with Body squats, push-ups, lunges, pull ups(or inverted rows if you cant do that at first) all will help you start creating lean muscle. Scientific evidence that if you follow a strength building routine will help you create about .2% muscle every time you work out in that fashion. does not sound like alot, but if you were to work out every other day, 3 times a week, over the course of 12 weeks, you could theoretically add up to 5% lean muscle, replacing the fat in the process. Remember, lean muscle mass is 18% less mass on your body that the same amount of fat, so even if you replaced 10# of fat with 10# of muscle, you will still have shrunk in your dimensions,plus, every # of lean muscle you have on your body burns 30 more calories a day, so a 10# switch would mean an average of 300 more calories a day burned, or the equivalent of 2# of fat a month just for getting leaner. The cardio exercises should be done on off days, limiting it in my opinion to no more than 30 minutes. Also, if you do your resistance properly, and don't rest more than 60 seconds between sets of exercises, it will be a more caloric burn that any cardio workout. Try performing Total body workouts 3 days a week, resting a day in between each, doing a light cardio on the in between days like a 30 minute walk or light jog. I think Womens Health magazine online, they have some workout routines listed on the site that can help you get started on your journey. Also, try riding a bike around the neighborhood for the cardio days, I found it helped when I started, was not the pounding on my knees.
    Hope this helped
  • Chrystelen
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    Hi... I spent many years trying to lose weight. I was 245 at my heaviest. I was always using the elipticle or running.
    I then learned that I was supposed to stay at my FAT BURNING HEART RATE in order to burn fat. This was only about 3 miles per hour walking on the treadmill.
    I learned that if you go over your FAT BURNING HEARTRATE that your body burns more sugar than fat and if you do not have enough sugar to provide that your body will BREAK DOWN MUSCLE to provide the sugar. That is why lots of people dring those protien drinks before they work out.
    You must also eat 3 to 4 ounces of lean protien with every meal and snack... every 3 to 4 hours. It is easy if you cook some chicken breasts cut them up, baggy them and take them with you.
    So I walked 45 mins to an hour every other day for 4 months while staying in my 1200 calorie diet and eating protien 6 times a day and I lost 65 lbs in 4 months... 95 % fat loss.

    I held it off for two years and am now starting up again to lose the last 40 to 50 lbs.

    Chryste