Losing weight, eating healthier, and exercising more are among the most commonly cited New Year’s resolutions year after year. However, any weight loss plan worth following needs to hone in on one crucial component: building muscle, rather than losing it, as the pounds come off.
Keep reading to discover why building muscle mass should take priority throughout your weight loss journey. Plus: six tips and tricks worth adopting, according to fitness and dietary experts.
Why Building Muscle Is Essential for Your Weight Loss Plan
In a perfect world, weight loss would only equal fat loss. However, it’s all too common for your weight to drop due to muscle loss as well, which spells bad news for your weight goals and well-being alike.
“If you’re losing weight but also losing muscle, everything gets harder. Your metabolism drops, you feel weaker, and your body doesn’t look or function the way you want,” says Lauren Kleban, celebrity trainer and founder of LEKFIT. “Keeping and building muscle is what shapes your body, supports your strength, and makes your results last.”
Erin Jowett, MS, RD, LDN, a functional dietitian, weight loss expert, and the founder of Integrative Weight & Wellness in Salem, Massachusetts, also emphasizes the importance of muscle in your weight loss plan. “Muscle is the silent variable that decides whether weight loss actually improves your metabolism or slows it down,” she explains. “When someone loses weight without protecting lean mass—especially on GLP-1s—the body becomes ‘fuel-efficient’ in all the wrong ways: burning fewer calories and increasing the risk of easy weight regain.” In short, Jowett says that building muscle earns you “metabolic money” for a smoother, easier, more sustainable weight loss journey.
Weight considerations aside, maintaining muscle is also essential to stay strong, independent, and healthy as we age.
How to Build Muscle, Move, and Fuel Your Body for Weight Loss
Building muscle requires dedication through diet and exercise alike. “When you’re trying to lose weight, your workouts and your nutrition have to work together, and building muscle while losing fat has to happen at the same time,” says Kleban. “You really can’t do one without the other if you want a strong, lean body.”
With that in mind, heed the expert-approved advice below to get stronger and leaner while losing weight.
1. Lift Weights
Resistance training with weights is typically advised at least twice a week working all major muscle groups. Kleban suggests diversifying your weight-training regimen for the sake of achieving different goals. For instance, she advises opting for low reps with heavier weights for building muscle on some days, while doing higher reps with lighter weights for toning.
2. Add Cardio
As important as strength training and building muscle are, that doesn’t mean you should skip cardio. Kleban suggests doing cardio-focused workouts on non-strength training days, which can help with fat burning and promote heart health.
“I like to recommend rebounding as it’s a great workout while being gentle on the joints, supporting lymphatic drainage, and the pelvic floor,” she continues. “I recommend a session of around 20 minutes.”
Prefer to be more low-key? Walking is your friend, and the right regimen can absolutely support your weight loss plan. While it could be helpful to track your steps especially when you’re first starting out, Kleban says it’s not essential—especially if it contributes to stress. “Tracking steps doesn’t reflect the structured training you need for muscle, longevity, or healthy weight management,” she shares. Instead, she recommends listening to your body’s cues and trusting it’ll let you know when you’ve moved well.
3. Diversify Your Movement
Strength training and cardio aside, you can always opt for your preferred forms of movement on other days. Kleban believes in moving your body daily, but switching things up to reap diverse benefits and recover actively.
Love Pilates? Go for it. Per Kleban, Pilates is fantastic though it shouldn’t be your primary workout for weight loss. Still, she says it’s “great for recovery, reconnecting with your core, or coming back from an injury, and it absolutely has a place in a well-rounded routine.”
All things considered, it helps to come up with a plan that includes strength training with weights, cardio, and other types of movement—not to mention adequate rest. “Being strategic keeps you from burning out, getting bored, plateauing in your weight loss and muscle gain, or getting injured,” says Kleban. “Being structured is what allows you to build and maintain muscle while losing fat, without overdoing it.”
4. Prioritize Protein
Getting enough protein should be front and center of your weight loss plan—especially as you’re trying to build or maintain muscle. In fact, Kleban warns that if you don’t eat enough protein, you can’t gain or tone your muscles. You could even risk losing muscle, no matter how hard you’re training.
According to Jowett, boosting your protein intake is non-negotiable. Per the National Academy of Sports Medicine, you should aim for 1.6 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily when trying to lose weight. “If you can’t sit for a full meal, grab a ready-to-drink shake or pair Greek yogurt with pumpkin seeds and fruit to stay in the muscle-preserving zone,” she shares.
Jowett also suggests eating protein first in your meals, as well as trying out her protein-layering strategy—adding a plant protein topping to an animal-based protein—to help you maximize intake without overwhelming your appetite.
5. Eat Enough
Gone are the days of deprivation and rabbit meals for the sake of losing weight. “The biggest mistake I see with my clients is eating ‘diet-style’ meals or skipping altogether,” says Jowett.
A healthy and sustainable weight loss plan requires you to eat enough, especially when you’re actively trying to build muscle. “The biggest thing people forget during weight loss is how easy it is to lose muscle if you’re in too big of a calorie deficit and pushing too hard in workouts,” says Kleban. Food is fuel—full stop.
6. Supplement Wisely
Diet and exercise will matter most on your journey, but there’s also a time and place for smart supplementation. If you lack adequate fiber in your diet or want some extra help to stay satiated, consider taking HUM’s GLP-1 Flatter Me Fiber Booster. It doesn’t only have the power to double craving-crushing GLP-1 levels in one use; it also packs digestive enzymes to support digestion and debloat fast.
The Takeaway
Losing weight might be your primary goal for 2026. However, losing weight while building muscle is really where the sweet spot lies. That said, it’s crucial to align your workout routine—emphasizing resistance training, but also dabbling in your preferred forms of cardio and other toning and stretching modalities—with your diet—placing protein front and center, yet also aiming for a healthy balance of macros and lots of fresh, whole foods and plants.
To make your muscle-building weight loss plan work for you, make sure it’s tailored to your own needs and interests so you can stay the course. “At the end of the day, the most important thing is that your nutrition and your workouts fit your lifestyle,” Kleban concludes. “It should be something you can be consistent with long-term, so pick something that supports living in the healthiest body possible while still enjoying your life.”
