Do you feel fatigued and feel like you have lost strength? Are you not losing the excessive fat around your belly or thighs, even though you eat a low calorie diet? There might be a simple explanation of that…
If you are on a weight loss journey and you’re all of a sudden losing muscle mass and strength instead of fat it may be due to a few reasons. If you’re undereating, your body goes into starvation mode. This will slow down your metabolic rate – since your body and organs need energy, they’ll steal it from your muscles. Chronic stress, hormonal imbalance and lack of strength training may also contribute to loss of muscle mass instead of fat. A healthy diet with adequate amount of protein, healthy fats and complex carbohydrates in combination with strength training and adequate amount of sleep can help prevent muscle loss, boost metabolism and help you lose fat.
In order to address why you’re losing muscle instead of fat, we’ll go through all the signs, causes and how to increase your fat metabolism while preserving your muscle mass.
Why Am I Losing Muscle Even Though I Workout?
Are you losing muscle mass instead of fat, but don’t know why? If that is the case, it might be time to take a closer look at your exercise routine and diet.
When you’re losing weight, your body not only burns energy by breaking down fatty tissue – your body may also break down muscle tissue.
Your body stores energy in your adipose tissue. If you consume an excess amount of calories, especially sugar, you’ll increase your body fat. However, if you’re eating less calories than your body needs to maintain your weight, you’ll start losing weight – this refers to fat or muscles.
As you grow older, your body naturally loses muscle mass due to hormonal changes. However, there are certain factors that can lead to abnormal muscle loss.
Let’s dive into 4 factors that may contribute to muscle loss:
1. Under Eating And Starvation Mode
When you’re restricting your diet or under-eating, your body goes into starvation mode. This means that your body slows down the metabolism to conserve energy.Â
In normal circumstances, your body metabolizes fats to create energy, however during this period it begins to break down fat muscles as well. It does so to preserve overall energy for your organs and cells.
2. Chronic Stress
Your body releases a hormone called cortisol as a response to stress. An excess amount of cortisol can stimulate the breakdown of muscle tissue to provide more energy to your body.
Therefore, chronic stress can lead to a loss of muscle mass over time.
3. Exercise Routine
There’s a link between muscle mass and your exercise routine. You may be surprised to discover that over-exercising can lead to a decrease in muscle mass.
When you exercise too much, without giving your body some time to rest in between, you may experience an increase in testosterone and cortisol.
Excessively high levels of testosterone, which is an anabolic hormone, increase muscle mass. However, some studies suggest that long-term high testosterone levels may lead to muscle loss as a result of hormonal imbalance.
Cortisol, which is a stress hormone, promotes the breakdown of muscle tissue to provide energy. A hormonal imbalance may lead to loss of muscle mass combined with not eating a proper diet.
Research has also suggested that strength training combined with an eating plan can prevent muscle loss. Therefore, it is important to incorporate an exercise routine that is specifically focused on building and maintaining muscle mass.
4. An Unhealthy Diet
Naturally, if you don’t eat a proper diet and enough protein, it will disrupt regular bodily functions. An unhealthy or inadequate diet can lead to a change in your metabolism, which in turn can cause abnormal loss of muscle.
Proteins are essential for building and maintaining muscle mass. Your body breaks down proteins into amino acids, which are then used to not only build new muscles but also repair any damage to muscle tissues.
As a consequence, inadequate intake of protein can contribute to a loss in muscle mass.
There are multiple factors that can contribute to a decrease in muscle mass – also, it may be difficult to figure out if you’re losing muscle mass or fat. However, let’s dive into the reasons why you might lose muscle mass instead of fat.
Signs Of Losing Muscle Mass
If you’re not sure you’re losing muscle instead of fat, there are a few signs you can look out for, so you can make sure to prevent any further loss of muscle mass and increase fat metabolism.
Rapid Reduction In Weight
The time taken to lose weight may vary depending on each individual, however, a rapid decrease in weight may be a cause of concern, as it may be due to some underlying health issues.
On average, you should be losing around 1 to 2 pounds per week. However, this can vary depending on your body, diet and exercise routine.
Rapid loss in weight over a short period of time may be due to loss in muscle, fat, and water at the same time. Research also suggests that one side effect of losing excess weight is a decrease in muscle mass.
An underlying disease may also cause a sudden decrease in weight. In such scenarios, it may be better to seek advice from your doctor.
Feeling Lethargic
You might feel sluggish and experience a lack of energy as a consequence of a loss in muscle mass. For those who have an active lifestyle and work out often, you might feel extra tired.
This isn’t a good sign as exercise may feel tiring during the initial stages, but as your body gets accustomed to it, you should feel energized.
If you’re feeling the opposite, then perhaps your body is breaking down your muscle tissues.
No Progression In Your Workouts
Another thing to look out for as a sign of muscle loss is a lack of progress during a workout.
Generally, when you start working out, you start small, building stamina and strength. Eventually, you add more to your routine.
However, if your body has a hard time adjusting to even minor progressions in your workout routine it’s probably due to low muscle mass and strength.
When it comes to losing muscle instead of fat or just in combination with fat loss, you may wonder if there’s a way to prevent your body from breaking down muscle instead of fat.
How To Lose Fat Instead of Muscle
If you have been working hard in the gym, been eating healthy and it seems like you’re not losing fat but instead you’re losing muscle – let’s dive into how to can increase fat loss.
In simple terms, if you want your body to maintain a healthy muscle mass-to-fat ratio, it’s important that you eat a nutrient-rich diet high in protein while also doing strength training regularly.
With the right approach, you can lose fat while preserving muscle mass with a few easy steps.
- Eating Protein
Proteins and amino acids are essential for building and maintaining muscle. Studies have shown that a diet high in protein can help maintain muscle mass while also promoting fat loss.
You can incorporate some proteins in your diet such as lean meats like chicken and turkey, beans, eggs, brown rice, and nuts.
- Healthy Fats And Complex Carbohydrates
Your body needs healthy fats for hormone production and for the maintenance of cell membranes. It promotes weight loss by reducing inflammation in your body.
Some healthy fats to add to your diet are coconut oil, flaxseed, chia seeds, almonds, avocado and salmon.
On the other hand, complex carbohydrates, such as those found in fresh fruit, beans, and vegetables like sweet potato, quinoa, and legumes, provide your body with the energy it needs for physical activity.Â
Regular intake of lean protein, fatty acids and complex carbohydrates can help stabilize your blood sugar level, which also helps lose fat and maintain muscle.
In order to stabilize your blood sugar you must eat a balanced meal as mentioned earlier every 3-4 hours.
For long-term weight management, stabilizing your blood sugar levels can help regulate hunger and cravings, reduce stress and improve insulin sensitivity.Â
- Boost Metabolism And Thyroid Function
Your body breaks down food to create energy through the chemical process referred to as metabolism.
Regular exercise, adequate sleep and a balanced diet can help boost your metabolism, which can help improve your body’s ability to decrease adipose tissue and as a result, assist with fat loss.
Your thyroid gland plays a crucial part in regulating metabolism. It produces the hormones required for metabolism among other functions. Increasing iodine intake can help boost thyroid functions.
- Regular Sleep
Lack of adequate sleep not only leads to fatigue but also disrupts the production of leptin, a hormone that regulates your appetite and metabolism. This disruption may lead to increased hunger cues and cravings.
Plus, sleep is essential for muscle recovery and to repair tissue. Sleep deprivation may cause lower muscle strength and performance in the gym.
Lack of sleep is also linked to high levels of stress, which in turn can lead to an increase in cortisol which may result in a loss of muscle mass.
Sleep deprivation may lead to dysregulation of your hormones, which in turn affects various bodily functions. Getting 8 to 10 hours of quality sleep may help you balance hormones, lose fat instead of muscle and also increase your overall energy and stamina, which can help improve performance in the gym.
Balance Is The Key
I personally believe it’s normal to want instant results, but keep in mind, that healthy weight loss is a slow process. In the long run, it might be better to change your overall lifestyle and habits. Not only will it help you lose fat, but will also help regulate your hormones.Â
If you don’t know where to start, I suggest you refer to my eBook, Kickstart To Hormonal Balance, a quick and easy six-step guide to maintaining hormonal balance – which essentially can help you balance your metabolism and weight.
While it’s important to keep track of your diet and eat healthy and balanced, I personally don’t recommend counting calories.
Instead, I recommend maintaining a balanced lifestyle and changing the habits that made you put on weight in the first place, while also eating balanced meals and exercising to maintain- or decrease your weight.
For women who experience weight gain, hormone imbalance and estrogen dominance, learning about your hormone type can help you figure out which is the most effective way of losing weight for you.
You can check out my FREE Hormone Type Quiz to learn more about your hormone type and diet plan. As a health coach, I can also help you with lab tests that can check your metabolism, cortisol patterns and female sex hormones.
Final Thoughts
If you can’t seem to lose weight, if you feel stuck or simply just want to try another approach to lose weight and maintain your muscle mass – don’t hesitate to contact me for a 15-minute discovery call.
