I'm 38 years old, weigh 220 lbs and I'm 5'11" tall. I've been a member of my gym for 1 1/2 years. When I joined my goal was to lose weight and build muscle. My understanding of muscle was that it was the calorie burners of the body. The more muscle one has the more calories one would burn. I've been lifting weights for 1 1/2 years and have had some success at muscle growth, but the weight remains. I don't do much aerobics because I did not want the calories I needed for muscle growth to be burned off. I'd like to lose body fat to show off the muscles that I've built. What's the best way to do this without burning off the muscle ? My initial idea is to perform mostly cardio (treadmill, bike, etc) and cut back the calorie intake. I'd restrict myself to weights perhaps once a week to maintain what muscle I've grown. Will this work for me or can someone suggest a better approach ?
Weight loss by muscle mass
- Thread starter eman7911
- Start date
allcdnboy1
New member
Quick rundown:
- first off, remember that muscle weights twice as much as fat, so when you are weight training, you can't judge success by the scale
- don't reduce calories, just swap your carb calories for protein
- do HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training - light jogging and then sprint) to get the cardio without sacraficing muscle loss ... the best way is to do an hour of cardio, but only 15 min per machine (bike, eliptical, treadmill, and step, for example)
- you should be doing weights about twice a week (for maintenance) and cardio 3x/week
.. i would give full details, but it would be a very long post ... figured, if you had any questions we could go from there
- first off, remember that muscle weights twice as much as fat, so when you are weight training, you can't judge success by the scale
- don't reduce calories, just swap your carb calories for protein
- do HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training - light jogging and then sprint) to get the cardio without sacraficing muscle loss ... the best way is to do an hour of cardio, but only 15 min per machine (bike, eliptical, treadmill, and step, for example)
- you should be doing weights about twice a week (for maintenance) and cardio 3x/week
.. i would give full details, but it would be a very long post ... figured, if you had any questions we could go from there
Thanks ACB for the reply. That was helpful. I aware about what you said about muscle weighing more than fat. That was one of the first things that my personal trainer told me when I first joined the gym. I'll incorporate the HIIT into my routine and see how it goes. Hopefully I'll begin to see results soon. What about swimming ? Would laps in a pool be beneficial in losing fat or should I stick just with the HIIT ?
allcdnboy1
New member
Have you seen the shape of swimmers ?? I'd have to say yes on that one. If you use your whole body and not just your arms, swimming can be one of your best workouts.