First on a physiological level, fat loss is very well understood and simple if you don’t overthink it.
1 . Fat loss comes from energy deficit. “Calories consumed VS Calories burned”
2. You can still see body fat % goes down during calories at maintenance level and body composition changes.
3. But the most important thing during our weight loss is not just to lose weight, is to actually lose as much as body fat % while maintaining to keep and gain muscles.
Here are the 5 keys for maximizing fat loss while preventing muscle loss
How do we know that we are losing body fat and not muscles?
1. You must be in an energy deficit!
2. Progressive Resistance Training!
3. Making sure that the deficit size is appropriate. That means if you are losing more than -0.5-1.5% of totally body weight every week then you know that you are either under eating or overtraining by a lot that you start to lose muscles
4. You need to make sure that you are getting sufficient protein intake. A good rule of thumb is +2 g protein per KG bodyweight or 1.6 g protein of lean body mass and if you are high in body fat + 30% then 1 g protein per cm in height
5. Finally! Appropriate amount of cardio, enough that you are not overdoing it to create more calorie burn. “A good rule of thumb is no more than half of your resistance training program to prevent muscle loss”