If I Need to Lose Weight and Fast, Should I Be Focusing On Building Muscle or Losing Weight?

With so many terms and takes on healthy living in the diet and fitness industry it can be overwhelming for those who exclaim, I need to lose weight and fast! From fad diets where you only eat one kind of food (such as the Grapefruit Diet) or diets that eliminate entire food groups (such as carbs), the sheer number of diets out there can be daunting. Perhaps most confusing of all when it comes to healthy weight loss is determining whether you need to lose weight or build muscle.

The question may seem simple, but the answer is one and the same. You need to do both simultaneously; for building more muscle will increase your metabolism and help you shed pounds faster. It is such a conflicted topic and there are so many “roads” that claim to lead to this end result, but many people end up losing weight while sacrificing their lean muscle mass, or building muscle without being able to shed unwanted fat. For those people who want to slim down and tone up, but don’t want to look bulky your diet will be the missing link in the process if it is to be successful.

There is a common misconception that cardiovascular exercise will slim you down and that strength training will bulk you up. If you are serious about losing weight, you need to get serious about building lean muscle mass which can only be done through the right combination of protein and carbohydrates and from a regular strength training and cardiovascular routine.

Maintaining Muscle Mass: The Best Diet Results Remain Muscle Bound

In order to “lose weight," which is to burn unwanted fat while you maintain lean muscle mass you have to get adequate protein. Many diets will offer clients a restrictive eating plan, limiting calorie intake without encouraging consistent exercise. This method of weight loss is only a temporary fix, and while it will help you lean down in the interim, it will also be eating away at your muscle and causing fatigue without burning any of the fat that causes ill-fitting clothes and a slew of heart-health complications.

The Diet Solution program is carefully designed to help those who want to lose weight to do so effectively while maintain muscle mass. Try eating a sweet potato and an organic free range chicken breast with a healthy serving of quinoa or brown rice- protein is a meal staple on the DSP, and the best way to burn fat while still losing weight and not muscle.

If you are looking to put on muscle, simply increasing your protein intake by 1-2 servings a day will help aid in muscle reconstruction after a work out, and will eliminate the unwelcome break down of your muscle fibers without repairing them before the next workout.

Crash Diet Dilemma: Why Balance is the Key to Healthy Meal Plans

Crash dieting can wreck havoc on your lean muscle mass, so the key is a consistent diet plan. The eating principles in the DSP are a foundation for a lifetime of healthy eating, not simply a few months of strict caloric cutting, in order to fit into your skinny jeans.

If you are extremely active and are worried you may lose lean muscle mass then you may need to tweak your baseline calorie consumption. For those who want to burn fat while maintaining lean muscle mass, multiply your current weight by 15 and then divide by 20%. Add this number to your calorie intake and consider cutting out grains for your diet altogether. Limiting the amount of grains tends to create faster fat loss results than diets that are heavier in grain consumption.

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