How to Workout and Lose Fat Without Losing Weight

You’ve worked hard but your body still isn’t where you want it to look. You are already at your goal weight and discouraged to see that you do not look and feel as trim as you had thought you would. A common cause for this issue is simply not having toned and building enough muscle to fill in curves. That’s where a workout without losing weight will help create the lean, tone body you want.

If you want to have a body that looks in shape and is stronger and healthier than ever you need to build muscle. Many people in this situation worry that they will continue to lose weight if they workout leading to being underweight.

The truth is you can gain muscle, lose fat and not lose weight while exercising and the key to this may be a bit surprising. In fact, as you build lean muscle mass, with a workout routine and a healthy diet, you may see some weight gain on the scales while losing inches.

Can You Exercise Without Losing Weight?

Yes, you can exercise without losing weight. In fact, everyone should exercise simply for the overall health benefits. The trick to exercising and not losing weight is to build muscle and sensibly increase your calorie intake through higher protein and tracking macros.

The way we lose weight is by burning off fat through a calorie deficit. A calorie deficit happens by eating fewer calories than you burn off whether it be through daily activity or from an exercise routine.

The good news is you can manage your body composition through properly tracking calories burned with a smartwatch like this. It will use your basal metabolic rate based on your age, activity level, and current weight.

While fitness watches aren’t 100 percent correct, they have proven to be an effective way to measure your best efforts at reaching your health goals.

What Burns First Fat Or Muscle?

When following a good nutritional plan along with the right intense workouts, muscle tissue will tone as your metabolism increases to burn fat for energy. However, naturally, your body burns fat first after any food in the digestive system, and then uses muscle tissue for energy when in a prolonged fasted state.

A prolonged fasted state would be considered hours, not days as one may think. This is why when dieting with Intermittent Fasting should be done correctly to ensure a healthy weight loss method.

The importance of tracking macros rather than just calories cannot be stressed enough. Without tracking macros, your body would probably be lacking the amount of protein and healthy fats needed while consuming too many carbs which would create fat storage and muscle loss.

When staying away from unhealthy foods and following the right types of exercise plan, your body will burn through its fat stores rather than breaking down muscle for energy. If you are not getting enough protein, it results in your muscles breaking down from exercise since they can not rebuild into a stronger healthier muscle without much needed protein.

How To Burn Fat Without Losing Muscle

Best way of burning fat without losing muscle is easy when you follow some key rules of consistency and good overall health with physical activity and stay away from junk food. Choosing a majority of whole foods will always be a good idea for fat loss and long term lean mass body composition.

While you need exercises to build muscle your body needs enough protein to keep your muscle strength and help it continue to grow without going over your calories for the day. This can be a tricky balance if you are looking to lose fat and build muscles at the same time.

To do this you will need to do some strength training preferably using a mix of heavier weights as well as lighter weights and even body weight exercises.

Combing cardio or high-intensity interval training with strength training to build muscle is a good balance. Building muscle will increase your basal metabolic rate, otherwise known as your metabolism, which will torch more calories.

After your workout, you should (affiliate link) grab a good quality protein shake with amino acids to help provide your muscles with a great recovery and nutrients to build and tone.

How To Tone Up and Build Muscle Without Losing Weight 

Many women fear building muscle because they are worried they will bulk up. This is not possible to do unintentionally. Bulking takes time, dedication, and a whole lot of hard work and supplementation. No one will become too bulky or muscled up easily, so trust the program and be consistent for the results you want – a younger leaner body with muscle tone.  

Yoga

Weight training is not the only way to get in resistance training to help build muscle and tone your body. Many yoga poses are naturally bodyweight resistance exercises that can help tone and build lean muscle without burning a large number of calories that are hard to replace to help maintain your weight. Choose a toning-focused yoga workout for the best results. 

Kettlebell exercises

Kettlebell exercises are great for building muscle and burning fat. You can build muscle head to toe quickly with only a few pieces of equipment to help gain muscle without losing fat. While kettlebells can be used to lose weight when you remain in a calorie deficit and depending on your macro settings, they can be a great tool for simply gaining muscles. Each kettlebell move naturally lends itself to working both large and small muscles in the body at once allowing you to work on muscle building and toning throughout the entire body. 

The trick to getting an effective kettlebell workout is to go with a weight that pushes you to work the muscle to failure. While many people choose to start light with a kettlebell it can slow down their progress. You wouldn’t think twice about picking up a 25-pound toddler. Step back from the 5-pound kettlebells and start with 15 pounds or more for the best toning and muscle growth results. 

Dumbbell exercises

Free weights or dumbbells are also a great tool to help with gaining muscle strength and toning your body from head to toe. Dumbbells allow you to perform isolation exercises to tone problem areas to give your body the shape you want. Like kettlebells, many people tend to start with a weight that is too low to give them a toning effect. Give a higher weight a try to help you build muscle faster and avoid losing weight. 

How To Do Cardio Without Losing Weight

Cardiovascular health is vital for a healthy, energetic, and well-functioning body. Everyone should be participating in cardiovascular exercise on a regular basis at least 3 times a week to maintain a strong heart, lungs, and pulmonary system. Cardio exercises tend to burn fat and will be very helpful at putting your body into a caloric deficit by burning extra calories.

Walking and running

Cardio exercises are fast fat burners making hard, long type of exercise less than ideal to participate in large chunks if you are not looking to lose weight. For those looking to tone and build muscle the majority of your exercise should come from strength training and LISS (Low Intensity Steady State exercises) are the best exercises.

For those looking to get in more cardio exercises for a healthy heart and lungs, any type of cardio you enjoy that elevates your heart rate will be very beneficial. A daily walking plan is great for daily calorie burn, but may not get your heart rate up as high as needed for the cardiovascular health.

A run, bike ride, swimming exercises are all great forms of exercise to add in a bit of elevated cardio and calorie burn that will not interfere with your goals.

In Summary…Here’s What to do when you need to workout without losing weight

As you can see there are ways to keep from losing weight when you exercise. Just follow the tips above to get fit without losing weight.

While exercise is vital for overall health and muscle gaining is important to have a strong, lean, and attractive body, the key to exercising and body composition takes place in the kitchen, not the gym.

• Track macros
• Strength training – 3-4 days weekly
• Light cardio – walking plan daily
• Protein – key to muscle tone and losing fat not muscle
• Eat fewer calories than burning – track calories burned with this

If you want to exercise without losing weight you need to track your food regularly to ensure to eat enough of the right foods including complex carbs, healthy fats and proteins.

While the recommended exercises in here are a good start the key to a lifetime of health is to find something that you enjoy doing. Switch up your exercise routine from time to time, but always choose exercises you enjoy enough to be consistent with to be able to workout without losing weight.