Most people are concerned that lean muscle would also be lost when fat burning techniques are practiced. There is some amount of truth in this, with a moderate risk of losing lean muscles during fat loss process. However, the following tips would be useful in preserving maximum amount of lean muscles, even while shedding excess fat.
- You should consume the necessary quantity of protein every 3-4 hours. It is also important to take some amount of protein before going to bed but carbohydrate food items should be avoided.
- Supplementing your food intake with L-Glutamine helps you in becoming lean without losing the lean muscles.
- Though carbohydrates are to be avoided, good fats like Omega 3, flax seed oil, CLA, etc. should be part of the diet.
- You should cycle the calories on a regular basis for faster progress. For example: potatoes one day and brown rice the next.
- You should not make the diet quite complex. The crucial key is lean protein but processed sugar and carb diets must be avoided at all costs in fat burning programs. The ideal food items for quicker fat loss are fish, turkey breast, skinless chicken, egg whites, whey protein powders, etc.
- You should always drink lot of water during the process. It might look simple but it is one of the most effective fat burning methods available. It is better to avoid juices and soft drinks and stick to plain H2O.
- Eating habits should also be changed. Consuming large meals every 5 or 6 hours must be replaced with small but frequent meals about every 3 hours throughout the day.
- Low fat diets, low calorie foods, and low carb eating plans had been advocated as best solutions for losing weight but research data reveal that these programs had failed miserably. People had been becoming more obese in the last few decades despite consuming such food items. The reason for this is that these programs lead to significant loss of energy that human body requires and hence, most people are unable to follow them for long. The moment they stop these programs and go back to old ways of eating, they tend to gain more fat.
Hence, fat loss is achievable only by changing the pattern of eating. It is not the amount of calories that you eat every day but the amount of calories that you burn decide the actual level of fat loss over a period and maintain that.