How to Burn Fat While Maintaining Muscle Mass

Reducing your body weight while maintaining muscle mass (or even gaining more) is a challenging goal, but it’s not impossible.

To achieve this, you need a combination of strategies, including the right nutrition and exercise plan. You’ll also need to support your body through rest, hydration, and replacing lost electrolytes.

This guide explains how to balance burning fat without sacrificing muscle mass to help you get the results you want.

Losing Muscle Versus Losing Fat 

When losing weight, your body prioritizes energy sources based on availability. Initially, your body taps into glycogen stores for energy. Once those deplete, it starts breaking down fat and, to a lesser extent, muscle. 

Muscle Loss

Two common factors behind muscle loss, or muscle atrophy, are a lack of physical activity and poor nutrition. That includes a diet lacking in foods that promote muscle synthesis, like not getting enough protein and extreme calorie restriction. (1)

With muscle atrophy, the size of your cells decreases due to the loss of protein and organelles, or structures, inside the cell. Age-related muscle loss (sarcopenia) and certain conditions and medications can accelerate these processes. (2)

Fat Loss

Your body fat percentage decreases when you consume fewer calories and enter a caloric deficit, whether intentionally or not. Calories aren’t all the same, though. 

You’re more likely to get a better fat burn after eating natural foods vs. heavily processed foods, even if both have the same number of calories. Processed foods often contain added sugars, artificial flavors, and vegetable oils that cause inflammation and cravings, promoting overeating. (3)

Losing fat also becomes more difficult as you get older. Lean muscle mass naturally declines about 3-8% after the age of 30, and the rate increases even more after 60. (4) Hormonal changes in women during menopause also play a role in your ability to keep fat in check. (5)

8 Ways to Lose Fat Without Losing Muscle

You can lose fat without muscle. We’ll get into some specific, evidence-based tips to help you get there, but it’s important not to go overboard as you get started. Your fat loss efforts should be gradual, and there should be a balance between pushing yourself and easing up.

1. Increase Protein Intake

Increasing the amount of protein in your diet is one of the keys to losing fat and protecting your muscle tissue. Protein promotes fat loss naturally due to its higher thermic effect of food (TEF) — about 20-30% — compared to carbohydrates and fat. (6)

That means that when you eat a protein-rich meal, 20-30% of the calories from that meal are burned during digestion.

Protein is the most satiating macronutrient, suppressing your appetite and reducing hunger. (7) It also spares lean muscle during periods of calorie restriction.

According to the National Academy of Sports Medicine, active people who want to lose weight should aim to consume 0.73-1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. 

The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein is a minimum of 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight or 0.36 grams per pound. Your needs are likely closer to the higher end if you’re looking to burn fat and build muscle. (8)

Seek out natural lean protein sources like red meat, chicken, eggs, fish, seafood, and nuts in addition to protein-rich, low-carb snacks without unnecessary additives and added sugars. Our Collagen Protein Bars have 12g of protein per serving. 

2. Maintain Moderate Calorie Deficit 

Being in a calorie deficit is one of the basic rules for weight loss, but you don’t want to go too low for too long and slow your metabolism. A good rule of thumb is to aim for a deficit of 500 calories daily depending on your maintenance calories from your regular diet to lose 1 pound per week. 

You can create a calorie deficit naturally while preserving lean body mass by prioritizing whole foods (such as in a clean keto diet), increasing your physical activity, and/or upping your protein. As with overtraining, you don’t want to go to extremes with calorie restriction. 

Feelings of deprivation may trigger overeating, especially when tempting foods are present. A randomized controlled trial showed that chocolate-deprived restrained eaters ate more chocolate and had more food cravings than unrestrained eaters. (9)

3. Strategically Plan Your Meals

Timing your meals can optimize muscle protein synthesis, the process where amino acids, or the building blocks of protein, form muscle mass. It can also prevent muscle breakdown. 

Research suggests that consuming protein-rich meals every 3-4 hours is a good way to make that happen. (10) Eating protein before and post-workouts may also enhance muscle growth. 

Intermittent fasting can be another powerful tool in weight loss and help you preserve muscle mass. Studies show that meal timing by cycling between periods of eating and fasting affects insulin sensitivity, fat oxidation, and metabolic efficiency, all in positive ways. (11) 

Fasting reduces insulin levels, for example, allowing your body to access stored fat for energy while maintaining lean mass. One study found that combining intermittent fasting with resistance training helps maintain muscle mass while promoting fat loss more effectively. (12) 

4. Hydrate and Replenish Electrolytes 

Proper hydration boosts your metabolism, calories burned, and endurance. Dehydration can lead to electrolyte imbalances and muscle cramps after exercise, but it’s also bad for metabolizing fat. Consistent dehydration can slow lipolysis, or the process of breaking down fat for energy. (13)

Water and electrolyte-rich drinks with sodium, potassium, and magnesium support muscle function and regulate fluid balance to keep your body operating at its best. (14) Without adequate hydration, your performance declines, muscle recovery slows, and fat-burning decreases. 

Your body needs plenty of fluids before and after a workout. Perfect Keto’s Daily Electrolytes are zero-calorie and free of added sugars to support your physical activity and fat loss goals.

5. Prioritize Strength Training

We’ve already mentioned resistance training, or strength training, as a way to boost the effects of intermittent fasting. Even if you’re not fasting, incorporating this kind of exercise into your routine is important for healthier body composition, cholesterol balance, and strong bones. (15, 16)

Examples of strength training include lifting free weights like dumbbells or barbells, resistance band workouts, and using your body weight with squats, pushups, and lunges.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a minimum of 2 strength-training sessions per week targeting different muscle groups. 

The maximum number of reps of time spent on each exercise will vary, especially for older adults, but a simple approach is 10 reps with good form and 2-3 sets per exercise.

Don’t be afraid to lift heavy weights, either. Increasing muscle mass through weightlifting or weight training increases your resting metabolism, helping you reduce fat mass and keep it off. 

6. Incorporate Low-Intensity Cardio

Cardiovascular workouts burn calories and body fat. The advantage of HIIT (high-intensity interval training) is that it pushes you beyond your comfort zone, thereby enhancing your performance and calorie afterburn.

Steady-state cardio, such as riding the exercise bike, treadmill, swimming, or brisk walking, is also important. (17) This kind of aerobic activity provides the opportunity to exercise in a more relaxed way, can be a good option for active rest days, and builds endurance.

To burn fat while preserving muscle, try to find a balance between low-impact and high-intensity cardio. Avoid excessive, long-duration cardio that can lead to muscle breakdown. Combining HIIT a few times per week with steady-state exercise optimizes fat loss while protecting muscle mass.

That all said, it’s essential to move your body for healthy muscles and sustained weight management. Most studies agree on this. (18) Finding a type of exercise that you’ll stick with is an essential piece.

7. Rest and Recover

It’s crucial to take at least one rest day a week away from your fitness routine, depending on the intensity of your regimen. A rest day relieves and repairs sore muscles, allows your mind to rest, and prevents injuries.

Rest is vital during your strength training exercises, too. During workouts, resting for up to a minute between sets promotes fat burning, while waiting up to 2 minutes between reps supports strength gains. (19)

Sleep is also important. Poor rest disrupts muscle recovery and fat metabolism and messes with hormones responsible for satiety and cravings. (20)

You may have also heard of a “diet break,” a popular strategy used in the fitness community to counteract adaptive thermogenesis. This is a phenomenon where your metabolic rate decreases as a result of prolonged calorie restriction or undereating.

Science supports this. One study found that participants who took a 2-week break from dieting lost more weight and regained less weight post-study compared to those who stayed on the diet for the full 16 weeks. (21)

8. Reduce Stress

Chronic stress elevates cortisol, a hormone that can promote fat storage and muscle breakdown. (22) High cortisol levels also make it easier for your body to hold onto belly fat, mess with insulin sensitivity, and reduce protein synthesis, affecting muscle growth. (23) 

Stress also disrupts sleep, which is essential for muscle recovery and fat metabolism. Practices like meditation, deep breathing, and keeping to a solid sleep schedule help regulate cortisol levels to keep those negative stress effects at bay. 

Engaging in active activities that promote relaxation, like yoga or walking, can further support fat loss while maintaining lean muscle, allowing for more sustainable progress toward your body goals. 

Building Muscle on Keto

Following a ketogenic diet is good for weight loss, appetite regulation, and diabetes management, all essential for fat burning. It’s also linked to reduced inflammation and better endurance, two key components of better workouts.

Fat-burning aside, you can gain muscle on keto with adequate protein intake and consistent resistance training. Prioritize high-quality protein sources with exercise that stimulates muscle synthesis. 

If you’re worried about how to avoid muscle loss on keto as you lose body fat, prioritize high-quality protein sources with exercise that stimulates muscle synthesis. Get enough calories and electrolytes for muscle gain and to remain in ketosis. 

If you’re not sure about the ideal keto macros for your goals, try our free Perfect Keto macro calculator.

You don’t need to completely avoid carbs as you go high-protein, either. Instead, use carbs strategically in a way that allows you to push harder at the gym. People looking to build strength and muscle do this, along with those following a targeted keto diet for performance gains.

Choose light and easy-to-digest carb foods such as white bread or bananas. Eat them 30 minutes before your exercise sessions.

The Takeaway

Losing fat without losing muscle mass in the process entails a holistic approach.

It’s not just about eating less and moving more, but multiple strategies that include optimizing your protein intake and workouts. From there, tweaking when you eat, how you move, and getting enough hydration and rest can all add to your progress and maintain strong muscles for physical and mental health. (24)

Before you start any new workout or wellness strategy, loop in your primary care doctor. They can not only help you monitor results and give you a baseline but offer suggestions based on your health history. This is especially important if you’re on any existing medications.

Read Next: 11 Factors That Could Be Hindering Weight Loss on Keto

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25 References