Why do people think you will lose muscle if you lose more than 2lbs a week?

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therooster5
therooster5 Posts: 14 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I think people say that as an excuse as to why they're not trying to lose more. This is nothing against someone who only wants to lose 1-2 pounds a week. But if you want to lose more weight and fat than that, you can. I am currently losing 3-3.5 pounds of fat a week on an accelerated diet because I hate losing weight so much I just want to get it over with. I exercise my muscles and eat my protein goal and I feel stronger than I did before even though supposedly I'm losing a ton of muscle along with my fat. If anyone has any concrete evidence that I'm wrong I'll be glad to hear it.
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  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
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    Is your TDEE higher so you burn more calories and hence, more fat lb's per week?
  • therooster5
    therooster5 Posts: 14 Member
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    Yes as I try to exercise every day and my job is very labor intensive.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    A lot depends on how much weight there is to lose. 3 pounds a week is much different thing for a male at 40% body fat than for a male at 15% body fat.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    Because a larger deficit will have a larger negative impact on training and recovery, which leads to muscle loss and less strength. That's why it's recommended to maintain a moderate deficit. The potential for muscle loss is at it's highest with a large deficit.
  • jigglyjessica
    jigglyjessica Posts: 58 Member
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    It's probably your physical job and strength training if any that either keeps you from losing muscle, or it's increasing your muscles after losing it from a deficit. Also, how do you know you are only losing fat?
  • isulo_kura
    isulo_kura Posts: 818 Member
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    You will always lose some muscle when losing weight that's just what happens . It's minimising that loss that you want to do. Those in the morbidly and super morbidly obese losing some muscle is not a big issue initially. You only have 20 pounds in weight to lose so for a start what's the rush?
  • therooster5
    therooster5 Posts: 14 Member
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    jigglyjessica wrote: »
    It's probably your physical job and strength training if any that either keeps you from losing muscle, or it's increasing your muscles after losing it from a deficit. Also, how do you know you are only losing fat?

    Because I am still just as strong. I can still bench, squat, curl the same and do as many pullups as before I started losing fat. Idk I could be losing stuff other than fat but it's not muscle

  • therooster5
    therooster5 Posts: 14 Member
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    isulo_kura wrote: »
    You will always lose some muscle when losing weight that's just what happens . It's minimising that loss that you want to do. Those in the morbidly and super morbidly obese losing some muscle is not a big issue initially. You only have 20 pounds in weight to lose so for a start what's the rush?

    What makes you think you will lose muscle automatically no matter what? If you get enough protein and exercise your muscles regularly you won't.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    therooster5 wrote: »
    jigglyjessica wrote: »
    It's probably your physical job and strength training if any that either keeps you from losing muscle, or it's increasing your muscles after losing it from a deficit. Also, how do you know you are only losing fat?

    Because I am still just as strong. I can still bench, squat, curl the same and do as many pullups as before I started losing fat. Idk I could be losing stuff other than fat but it's not muscle

    Muscle strength =/= muscle mass
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    ceoverturf wrote: »
    therooster5 wrote: »
    jigglyjessica wrote: »
    It's probably your physical job and strength training if any that either keeps you from losing muscle, or it's increasing your muscles after losing it from a deficit. Also, how do you know you are only losing fat?

    Because I am still just as strong. I can still bench, squat, curl the same and do as many pullups as before I started losing fat. Idk I could be losing stuff other than fat but it's not muscle

    Muscle strength =/= muscle mass

    Strength is functional, mass is aesthetic. If he's maintaining strength, that's a positive indication.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    Ninkyou wrote: »
    Because a larger deficit will have a larger negative impact on training and recovery, which leads to muscle loss and less strength. That's why it's recommended to maintain a moderate deficit. The potential for muscle loss is at it's highest with a large deficit.

    This.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    therooster5 wrote: »
    isulo_kura wrote: »
    You will always lose some muscle when losing weight that's just what happens . It's minimising that loss that you want to do. Those in the morbidly and super morbidly obese losing some muscle is not a big issue initially. You only have 20 pounds in weight to lose so for a start what's the rush?

    What makes you think you will lose muscle automatically no matter what? If you get enough protein and exercise your muscles regularly you won't.
    You always lose some muscle mass when losing weight, you just retain more of it if you weight lift.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
    edited March 2015
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    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    ceoverturf wrote: »
    therooster5 wrote: »
    jigglyjessica wrote: »
    It's probably your physical job and strength training if any that either keeps you from losing muscle, or it's increasing your muscles after losing it from a deficit. Also, how do you know you are only losing fat?

    Because I am still just as strong. I can still bench, squat, curl the same and do as many pullups as before I started losing fat. Idk I could be losing stuff other than fat but it's not muscle

    Muscle strength =/= muscle mass

    Strength is functional, mass is aesthetic. If he's maintaining strength, that's a positive indication.

    Um...OK...I think that's basically what I said.

    Yes, it's a positive indication, but shouldn't be relied upon to guarantee he's not losing SOME (even if minimized) muscle mass.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    ceoverturf wrote: »
    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    ceoverturf wrote: »
    therooster5 wrote: »
    jigglyjessica wrote: »
    It's probably your physical job and strength training if any that either keeps you from losing muscle, or it's increasing your muscles after losing it from a deficit. Also, how do you know you are only losing fat?

    Because I am still just as strong. I can still bench, squat, curl the same and do as many pullups as before I started losing fat. Idk I could be losing stuff other than fat but it's not muscle

    Muscle strength =/= muscle mass

    Strength is functional, mass is aesthetic. If he's maintaining strength, that's a positive indication.

    Yes, it's a positive indication, but shouldn't be relied upon to guarantee he's not losing SOME (even if minimized) muscle mass.

    Not all lean mass is created equal - if he's maintaining strength and endurance, it likely doesn't matter much if he's shedding some.
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    ceoverturf wrote: »
    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    ceoverturf wrote: »
    therooster5 wrote: »
    jigglyjessica wrote: »
    It's probably your physical job and strength training if any that either keeps you from losing muscle, or it's increasing your muscles after losing it from a deficit. Also, how do you know you are only losing fat?

    Because I am still just as strong. I can still bench, squat, curl the same and do as many pullups as before I started losing fat. Idk I could be losing stuff other than fat but it's not muscle

    Muscle strength =/= muscle mass

    Strength is functional, mass is aesthetic. If he's maintaining strength, that's a positive indication.

    Yes, it's a positive indication, but shouldn't be relied upon to guarantee he's not losing SOME (even if minimized) muscle mass.

    Not all lean mass is created equal - if he's maintaining strength and endurance, it likely doesn't matter much if he's shedding some.

    Unless of course you know...he's interested in the aesthetics of muscle mass. Not that any guys are into that sort of thing.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    edited March 2015
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    .
  • Amanda4change
    Amanda4change Posts: 620 Member
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    Reading this study, eating a high protein diet may offer some protection against muscle loss, however there is still loss.

    http://m.advances.nutrition.org/content/3/2/119.full
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    therooster5 wrote: »
    isulo_kura wrote: »
    You will always lose some muscle when losing weight that's just what happens . It's minimising that loss that you want to do. Those in the morbidly and super morbidly obese losing some muscle is not a big issue initially. You only have 20 pounds in weight to lose so for a start what's the rush?

    What makes you think you will lose muscle automatically no matter what? If you get enough protein and exercise your muscles regularly you won't.

    because your body is not efficient enough to burn 100% from fat stores so when you are in a deficit, and losing weight, then some of that loss has to come from muscle mass….
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,943 Member
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    Let me guess. You are male, probably under 40, and you probably have a good 40lbs of fat stored for an emergency. Which means that a relatively safe 1.5% of your body weight loss per week is, drumroll, more than 2lbs a week, right?

    Google is your friend, it is YOUR body, and you can do whatever YOU want with it.

    Go get your body measured reliably with a dxa scan, body pod, or at worse calipers wielded by an experienced measuring person, and report back to us concretely how a few months of low calorie or very low calorie dieting work out for you!

    But I do notice that for a person who doesn't believe in the loss of muscle while dieting, you are taking every muscle sparing precaution (except for the level of calorie cut) since you did say that you eat your protein and you lift too....

    So I eat my protein too and I do NOT lift, even though i know i should, and I was extremely happy to find out that my 93day 21.4lb loss consisted of 20.2lbs fat and 1.2lbs lean body mass. Oh, and am still more than 30% blubber. YMMV. I recall seeing the results of a very low calorie study when searching for something else on google and they had apparently achieved a 2:1 fat to muscle loss... which to me doesn't sound that good!

    Where was I? Oh, and I hear that you can both feel stronger and perform better with less muscle mass! WTF? Well training the muscles you have and being able to get all your muscle fibers to do something at the same time also counts for something! (Alert: this is pure hearsay: my own muscles are snoozing at this time)


  • Amanda4change
    Amanda4change Posts: 620 Member
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    Here's another one:
    Which says the same thing high protein can help limit the loss of lean muscle,BUT they found there are limitations the protective effect of limited protein.
    http://mobile.nutraingredients.com/Research/Increased-protein-protects-against-muscles-during-diet-and-weight-loss-say-researchers#.VRb23oZHanM

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