is this a reasonable amount of muscle loss

zap5

started 270, 6'4, I think 32% body fat...may be wrong but it seems accurate
currently 217, 6'4, 24%ish body fat
lost about 37 pounds of fat and 17 pounds of muscle so far, I've been lifting since I started dieting though, do you guys think losing 17 pounds of muscle is acceptable or just horrendous? I actually have no idea, I know I'm going to lose muscle mass whilst losing weight but none of my exercises have gone down in weight and I just have been slowly increasing the weight in all my exercises

Basically just wondering if it's bad that I've lost 17 pounds of muscle out of the 53 total pounds I've lost, is that too much weight to have lost in regards to muscle? If it is then I understand I should up my protein intake and lift heavier

malibu927

How are you determining your BF%? Many ways of tracking it are inaccurate. If you're lifting and getting adequate protein (generally .8-1 gram per pound LBM), I wouldn't worry.

zap5

Online calculators but to be honest after looking at tons of pictures of other people my height, weight, bf %, it is very believable to say I'm 24% now and if that is the case then for sure I can believe I was 32% before. Yeah I lift 5-6 times a week and usually hit my protein goals even when it isn't tracked on mfp, although I usually do track everything. i have about 170pounds of LBM on me give or take a few, so I do eat anywhere from 150-200g of protein a day

wkwebby

If you've hit your protein goals, and you're getting stronger, I wouldn't worry. In large deficits, you aren't going to gain muscles, so keeping up your strength is all that you should worry about right now. If you feel you're not getting enough energy, then reevaluate your caloric intake. If you're truly THAT concerned, then you should decrease your deficit to minimize the muscle loss.

In a small deficit, you'll lose a lot slower, but hopefully you can retain more of the LBM.