Fast Weight Loss Without Losing Muscle

When looking to drop weight without losing unnecessary amounts of muscle, it pays to follow the advice of individuals who do this at a professional or near-professional level--bodybuilders. For decades, bodybuilders have made weight loss without muscle loss into a veritable science, striving to achieve incredibly low levels of body fat while maximizing their lean mass. Even if you do not aspire to look like a bodybuilder, you can still utilize a similar approach to meet your weight loss needs.

Weight Loss Diet

• Follow a carb-controlled approach depending on your starting level of body fat. According to Canadian strength coach Christian Thibaudeau, dieters need to "earn" their carbs, with leaner individuals naturally being able to consume more carbohydrates throughout the day without putting on an unwanted amount of fat mass.

  If you have over 20 percent body fat, follow a low-carb diet and aim to consume no more than 30 grams from carbs per day. If you have between 15 and 20 percent body fat, consume 0.25 g of carbs per pound of body weight. If you are between 12 and 15 percent bodyfat, consume 0.35 g of carbs per pound of body weight. You should be able to get body fat testing at your local gym if necessary, but if in doubt, guess high and assume you are in the over-20-percent category. The remainder of your diet should be split fairly evenly between fat consumption (from healthy unsaturated fats like oils, nuts and seeds) and lean protein sources (like chicken, low-fat red meat and seafood). Aim to consume around 0.85 g to one gram of protein per pound of body weight to maintain muscle mass while dieting. Avoiding unnecessary muscle loss is accomplished by keeping your fat intake higher than your overall protein intake, as otherwise your body will come to rely on protein for its primary energy source--resulting in muscle breakdown as muscle tissue is composed of protein.

Carb Control Advice

• Control your carb intake by limiting yourself to healthy carbs, even if you are already lean enough to have "earned" your carbs. This means that your main focus should be upon consuming only carbs such as fruits, vegetables, sweet potatoes, brown rice, oats and 100 percent whole grains--the traditional carbs used by bodybuilders to build muscle and lose fat. If you are in the over-20-percent body fat category, limit yourself to green vegetables such as broccoli, cucumber, lettuce and spinach, as these will provide your body with enough fiber to keep you regular without the additional carbohydrates that could derail your weight loss progress.