Avoid losing muscle when losing weight

The goal of anyone wanting to achieve a healthy body weight should also be to preserve or gain muscle mass.  This means knowing not only how many calories to be eating for weight loss but also what to be eating for building lean muscles. The range of calories required each day varies greatly depending upon your weight, activity level, age, gender, and muscle mass.  You can be working out all you want but if you eat mainly junk food, it will accumulate as fat on top of muscle gained, bulking you up.  Your food choices make a huge difference.  

The key is protein

Protein is an essential compound in every single one of the trillions of cells in the human body. Proteins are large molecules consisting of amino acids helping the cells to function properly and account for about 20% of our total body weight.   

The best diet contains ample but not excessive amounts of protein to build and repair muscle tissue.  Most people eating moderate amounts of protein daily get enough protein.  As humans, we do not store protein as muscle so we need to consume adequate protein at each meal, evenly distributed throughout the day.  

The table below shows the protein needs of adults depending on their activity level.  Studies have shown that athletes need slightly more protein than other people to help repair the small amounts of muscle damage that occur with training in addition to supporting the building of new muscle tissue. 

Individual

Grams of protein per pound of body weight

Grams of protein per kg of body weight

Sedentary adult

0.4

0.8

Recreational exerciser

0.5-0.7

1.1-1.6

Endurance athlete

0.6-0.7

1.3-1.6

Growing teenage athlete

0.7-0.9

1.6-2.0

Adult building muscle mass

0.7-0.8

1.6-1.8

Athlete restricting calories

0.8-0.9

1.8-2.0

Source: Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook, Fifth edition, 2014

Your body can only use about 25-30 grams of protein at a time.  Anything over that amount will either be used for energy or more likely, stored as fat.  When it’s distributed at 25-30 grams per meal, your body will have available protein and amino acids throughout the day when it needs it for muscle building or repair.  

Best sources of protein

People wanting to build or maintain muscle mass, often resort to obtaining protein from what’s found in protein bars or shakes. Even though they are very convenient in our fast-paced society, protein bars, powders and shakes are usually not necessary.  Think of them more like a concocted version of the real thing – they do provide protein but lack the complete package of healthy nutrients found in natural foods.  They can be used to supplement a healthy diet, but not to replace it.

Natural food can supply all the protein and amino acids needed to build muscle.  Healthy sources include eggs, dairy foods such as milk and yogurt, chicken breast, lean red meat, fish, nuts, soy and legumes.  The advantage of getting protein from natural foods is they contain protein the way nature intended as well as other important nutrients that might influence muscle growth.

However, be wise about your food choices of protein as some are also high in fat.  If the majority of protein comes from high-fat steaks, pizza or processed meats, this means extra calories sabotaging your weight loss efforts. The extra saturated fat from those sources spells disaster for your heart putting you at risk for cardiovascular disease.

Proteins’ influence on working out

During a workout, your body goes into a catabolic state breaking down muscle tissue.  After a workout, you want to put it back into an anabolic state or where it builds muscle.  The ideal scenario is to have both a pre- and post-workout fuel source containing protein to help preserve and build muscle during exercise.  

Pre-workout snacks should be eaten about one to two hours before to provide fuel without weighing you down.  By eating protein along with a carbohydrate, you’ll start to digest the protein into amino acids, which the muscles can use to reduce muscle breakdown happening during the exercise. The carbohydrate will be the main energy source helping to spare protein so it will be used primarily for building muscle.  Good pre-workout snacks include Greek yogurt topped with granola or berries, hard-boiled egg with fresh fruit, or trail mix with nuts and dried fruit.

Post-workout snacks should be eaten within 45 minutes to one hour to supply the nourishment your muscles need to repair and build muscle fibers.  Again, a combination of both a good protein and carbohydrate source is best.  Good post-workout snacks include a fruit smoothie made with milk, yogurt and a banana or berries, peanut butter sandwich with milk, a handful of nuts with apple slices, chocolate milk, or an omelet made with mushrooms and peppers.

Putting this information to good use

Combining weight loss with building muscle mass can and should be done.  The muscular physiques athletes achieve is not due to excessively high amounts of protein but rather to their intense training.  Consuming adequate protein not only builds and protects muscles but also keeps you from feeling hungry when trying to cut calories.  

Keep in mind some people are genetically blessed to easily put on muscle mass while others struggle and have to work much harder at it. The same is true for how you lose and gain weight.  The more you learn about your body type, the more you’ll discover what exercise techniques work for your body and personal fitness goals.  Combining that information with good eating practices will result in a win-win for anyone.