How to lose body fat and preserve muscle mass

​Weight loss is a relatively simple process. Eat less food, move more, and the scale will surely show smaller digits over time.
 
But, losing fat and preserving your muscle mass is a whole other thing. It requires more planning and better tactics for success.
 
Today, we’ll go over everything you need to know about it.

​Maintain A Moderate Calorie Deficit
 
Rapid weight loss leads to lots of muscle loss because the body can oxidize a limited amount of fat within a day, week, and month. Once we pass this threshold, we start losing muscle to get the energy we need to keep functioning.
 
Because of that, maintaining a moderate deficit of 250 to 500 calories per day is vital. Ideally, you should aim to lose between 0.5 and 1 percent of your body weight per week. The leaner you are, the slower you should aim to lose weight. Conversely, if you’re quite overweight, you can afford to lose weight a bit more quickly.
 
Eat Enough Protein
 
Protein is vital for effective fat loss because it provides the body with the building blocks it needs to repair muscle tissue and keep it around - amino acids.
 
Without an adequate supply, the body cannot maintain its muscle, and we end up losing it.
 
As a rule of thumb, we should get around 0.8 to one gram of protein per pound of body weight. For example, if you weigh 165 pounds, you should consume around 130 to 165 grams of protein per day.
 
Do Resistance Training
 
Contrary to popular belief, resistance training is much more important for fat loss than cardio is. Stimulating our muscles with weight sends a strong signal that lean tissue is vital and shouldn’t be catabolized for energy.
 
The best part is, you can train as little as three times per week, lift heavy, and finish each workout in 40 to 50 minutes. 
 
By doing that, you will preserve your muscle much better and end up losing mostly fat.
 
Sleep Enough

According to research, sleep deprivation significantly impairs the body’s ability to utilize and oxidize fat tissue for energy.
 
Researchers have found that sleep-deprived folks lose a lot more muscle mass than their well-rested counterparts. The exact mechanisms behind this phenomenon are still not understood, but one thing is clear:
 
We need to sleep at least seven hours per night if we want to lose fat at an optimal rate and retain our muscle mass.