Good News: Muscle Burns Fat

More from Nutrisystem Weight Loss Coach Beth: Success isn’t always measured by how fast we lose pounds. We want to make sure we eat adequately to burn only fat and maintain our precious lean muscle mass because muscle burns fat. When you reach your weight goal, you want to be sure you have the muscle mass to help keep the fat off and keep your metabolism working efficiently. When people lose weight and are not eating enough, they can burn this precious muscle mass, meaning you can regain some of your hard-won weight loss.

Every time you lose muscle, you slow down your metabolism. This can make it difficult to lose, and eventually even stall, weight loss altogether. Some people may reach their goal on the scale, but may look as if they still have excess fat if they’ve cut calories too low and have lost muscle as a result. In turn, others who are eating adequate calories in conjunction with a good weight training schedule may find they are over their initial goal weight but very satisfied with their physique.

To maintain wellness and a healthy weight, focus on quality of weight loss rather than quantity. The body is meant to burn fat gradually, so getting you to a calorie level that is scientifically safe for your height, weight, age and activity level is important in order to keep your metabolism healthy and your muscle mass intact. Remember, the more muscle you maintain, the more your body burns fat!

Adding weight training, along with adequate caloric intake can lead to great long term success. This may cause a fluctuation on the scale, however on the Nutrisystem program, you are not eating enough calories to gain fat so rest assured this will be either temporary water weight or gaining lean muscle mass which will help you lose inches and reveal a slimmer, more toned body. It may be better to measure your progress in measurements, starting out but rest assured those fat lbs are melting off! So pick up some weights and you will lose some too!