When losing weight, it’s important to lose more fat than muscle. To lose fat but retain muscle, you should take in more calories each day than your BMR – Basal Metabolic Rate: the amount of calories your body burns when at rest.
This may seem counter-intuitive but if you follow a diet with a lower caloric intake than your BMR, you will not only lose fat but also a higher percentage of muscle. This is why it is vital to regularly engage in some form of resistance training! It’s really important to keep or even increase our muscle mass.
As we all know, muscle burns more calories than fat, thus raising our BMR, or metabolism. (To calculate your BMR and calorie needs, I’ve included the formula at the end of this blog. There are also several free online calculators that are user friendly.)
Maintaining muscle mass while losing fat is an important factor in reaching both your ideal weight and ideal body composition. To achieve this goal, it’s important NOT to reduce your carbohydrate intake too aggressively. Our bodies need carbohydrates to function properly and to replace glycogen in our muscles. (Glycogen is the main fuel source for muscles). If you’ve ever tried a very low carb diet, your initial weight drop is actually from glycogen and water loss. Glycogen is a mix of glucose and water that’s stored in your muscles. For each gram of carbohydrate (glycogen) the cells in your body store, they store four grams of water.
A two-time Golden Gloves winner once ranked No. 2 in the nation by USA Boxing, Cara Castronuova is a certified trainer whose passion for her sport and being fit began early in her childhood. She and trainer Brett Hoebel join the Biggest Loser family this, our 11th, season.
Recently I asked Cara a few questions about her background and motivations.
What is your training/exercise philosophy?
My philosophy is to train hard and push yourself mentally and physically - and to know no limitations. Limitation is a word I have deleted from my vocabulary.
What led you to become a personal trainer?
My passion to help fight obesity.
How do you keep yourself up to date with the latest/greatest advances, techniques, research and trends in the fitness industry?
I love to take classes, work and collaborate with other trainers, and try new things out so I constantly evolve and get better.
