Do You Lose Fat or Muscle?

While following a weight loss plan, there is nothing more pleasing to see that the number on the scale is decreasing. Unfortunately, many people who achieve weight loss success lose muscle with fat.

Muscle is important because muscle is not only used to perform your daily activities, but muscle is a metabolically active tissue; This means your muscle burns more calories than fat while resting. Maintaining a dense amount of lean muscle mass keeps your basal metabolic rate (i.e. the number of calories your body burns in stationary) high, which helps you lose fat in the long run.

So did you lose fat or muscle?

If You Only Do Cardio

One of the best ways to know if you are losing fat or muscle is by examining your exercise routine. If you do a lot of cardio but don't add strength training, the weight you lose is likely to be about 50% muscle and 50% fat (you will still lose some water).

Suppose you want to protect your muscle, be sure to lift weights for at least two days a week and exercise for all major muscle groups. When you use these muscles, you get more muscle fiber and you get better value for your money in terms of energy cost. In other words, it gives priority to larger muscle groups, not smaller ones (like biceps and triceps), causing you to burn more calories during and after training.

If Your Energy Level is Low

Another way to tell if you are losing muscle instead of fat is to get tired when you feel a higher level of fatigue than usual or when you do activities that usually don't tire you.

There are many factors affecting energy, including sleep, diet, and medications, the only problem with using energy levels to measure if you are losing fat or muscle. Be sure to consider other measurements (such as the following).

If you see progress in photos

One easy way to tell if you are losing fat or muscle is to take photos that show progress every 2-4 weeks. If you are just losing fat, you will encounter a smaller waist and hip, the rest of your body may begin to shape. Just keep in mind that any changes you may notice depend on the oil tank trend.

As with any measurement, consistency is important. This means that you should aim to take photos of progress at the same time, in the same clothes and the same lighting, with the same posture every time.

You can use a multi-function scale.

I am currently using the Mi 2 Smart Bluetooth Scale of Xiaomi, I am also very pleased.

These devices measure your body measurements with electrical impulses. Muscles are very conducive to fat. Therefore, if the scale records faster electrical impulses, you will likely have a higher amount of lean muscle mass. You can take this measurement once a week to see how your body size has changed and to make sure you don't lose muscle mass.

However, for an accurate reading, you need to take measurements at the same time of the day. Even if you take the readings under similar conditions, other factors - such as how much water you take - can surprise you with things.

BodyFat Testing With Skinfold Calipers

For an objective, low-cost measurement, try the body fat caliper (also known as the skin caliper). This is a classic, old-style tool that measures the thickness of your subcutaneous fat (that is, the oil under your skin) in different parts of your body. Typically, women measure the triceps, hip or abdomen, while men measure the chest and abdomen, but this can of course vary. One disadvantage of using body fat calipers is that they are not 100% accurate.