Is there a way of losing fat by without losing muscle?

Efaws

Efaws

Efaws

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Arghhh... been weight training for a while now and Im actually quite big, but... I also have a belly! :(

Is it possible to lose belly and keep muscle? Gaining muscle you need to eat more calories than you burn, and losing weight, the opposite, so the obvious answer would be to diet and burn off more calories by running, etc, but wouldnt this burn off muscle? I thought muscle was the easiest (or easier) to burn than fat so that burns off first if your not eating the right amount.

There anything you can do? Without resorting to lipo :D
 
eat less calories but still keep the training up, you should only be looking to lose 2lb per week, which isnt that much of a calorie deficit.

some cardio (medium pace) 3 times a week will help.

too much of a calorie cut or too much cardio and you will start to use the energy in your muscles instead of the fat.
 
As has already been said here, to loose fat and keep muscle you need to do the following:

1)Keep weight training, this will keep your muscles active and prevent them from being broken down by the body and used as energy whlie you are loosing weight.

2)Get the diet sorted, you need to be eating less calories than you would normally use in a day in order for your body to burn off fat to make up the difference.

3)Get some moderate cardio going a couple of times a week to help matters along.
 
How much cardio is advised?

2lb of fat loss a week equates to ~7000 calories... i think ?

would say, 2x 30 mins on a cross trainer be enough... burning probably 2 x 400 calories a week be enough to make a large impact? looking at losing 1/2 stone of fat if poss, altho, probably need less than that
 
i do 2 cardio sessions a week, pre breakfast. i burn about a total of 500 calories (30 mins) each session.
I also burn about 100 calories as a warmup (5-10 mins) before weights 4 times a week.

However, thats not even worth considering (in the grand scheme of things), working out hard and cutting your rest periods slightly, will burn a lot more calories.
You burn them while training, you burn them while resting afterwards, you burn them the next day after training (shocking i know!).

have your diet nailed and you will have your metabolism working all day long, utilising more calories.

tbh, its winter, a good time to bulk a little bit, wanting to lose half a stone of fat isnt that much really, what bf% are you at the moment?
 
BF im about 12% at the moment, at one point before i started training i was down to 6%, i was told this wasnt really that healthy unless i was a marathon runner :P so my aim is about 9% really

i am going to train harder the next couple of weeks, but thats only because im off work and i have more time too, after new year ill be back to the grind so ill have to introduce cardio after my weights i guess :(
 
by the rubbish scales, so chances are there not that accurate and its more than 12

well it looks more than 12 :P im not huge, but i hate a flabby belly :)
 
goto a gym / health club and get a free checkup (or goto the doctors), calipers will give you a much more accurate figure or bf%

if you are under 15% then tbh i dont see the need to cut, get and bulk some first :p
 
AFAIK it's called cutting, basically eat less than you need to live on, but still do the same amounts of training, only eat healthy food, brown pasta, chicken breast, brown rice.

Check gordys thing for more.

KaHn

Also iirc, running doesnt "burn" muscle it doesnt build them, but you dont just lose the muscle, look at sprinters.

Try doing some cardio, maybe 1hr every 4 days? then go from there.
 
Last edited:
Deadly Ferret said:
Is there a calculation for it? Can it be derived from height & weight?
Click to expand...

nope, thats bmi (which for people who want to get big in the gym, you just ignore it).
 
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