Burning fat not muscle?

leah4590

I've been browsing the forums a couple days and I've seen a lot that when you're eating at a deficit, you lose muscle not fat.

Is there any way to still eat at a deficit but burn fat? I've got 30kilos of fat apparently that I need to either burn or turn to muscle.

I do weights at the gym - leg extensions, leg curls at 40 kilos; pec deck at 15 kg; back extensions; bicep curls at 3 kilos and generally do 15 reps and 5 sets so I'm trying to gain muscle, but it seems to defeat the point if that's what I'm burning?

I'm eating 1470 calories a day, up from 1200 to see if I can still lose weight but not be on such a low calorie plan.

SezxyStef

you are reading the wrong threads.

If you are in too low of a deficit without adequate protein yes you will burn muscle and fat.

If you want to burn mainly fat you need to get in enough protein and do some form of weight/resistance training...you may still lose some muscle but it will be less than if you didn't do the aforementioned.

Katiebear_81

I think the general theory is that if you are lifting weights, you will maintain your muscle, and prevent the muscle loss that typically happens in a deficit.

SezxyStef

Katiebear_81 wrote: »

I think the general theory is that if you are lifting weights, you will maintain your muscle, and prevent the muscle loss that typically happens in a deficit.

and eat adequate protein.

leah4590

Ahhh I see, cool! That's a bit of a bonus then as I'd like to build my muscles not be losing them!

joejccva71

When you eat at a deficit, you lose fat, muscle, and water.

You can minimize the muscle loss by eating the minimum protein amounts which varies but a good rule of thumb is 1g per lb of bodyweight. You "can" eat less, and you "can" eat more. But 1g per lb is good. Then you need to be doing some sort of weight resistance training.

You'll still burn some muscle by following this, but it will be minimal.

alanlmarshall

You lose both, that can't be changed. Lifting heavy weights will mitigate the muscle loss, but it is inevitable.

It's nothing to worry about.

leah4590

Can I ask what you mean by resistance training?

I'm currently doing a plan my trainer has made up, I've only just started going to the gym so it's all a learning curve!

RoxieDawn

What you are doing in the gym is preserving as much as possible while eating at a deficit. You will only build a small amount of muscle in the very beginning but this tapers off as you need to be in a surplus to gain muscle. This is a whole different animal than loosing weight.

But the good news is the work you are doing in the gym helps you burn more fat and maintain muscle mass while trying to lose weight... that is a plus for you. If want to up the game, keep weight lifting and I would lift as heavy as you can..

This takes a lot of time, patience and dilligence. You are not killing your muscles at this point, keep doing this and even increase weights, and or add weights in for exercises that you can..etc..

edited to add: Change up your diet if you have not already.. Increase the amount of protein you eat every day.. a protein shake works wonders when lifting weights and also helps you reach your protein macro..

joejccva71

leah4590 wrote: »

Can I ask what you mean by resistance training?

I'm currently doing a plan my trainer has made up, I've only just started going to the gym so it's all a learning curve!

Lift weights. Free weights, machines, cars outside in the parking lot, whatever gives your muscles resistance.

stevencloser

You've been either reading people who didn't understand what they were talking about, or misread something.
You need to be in a deficit to lose fat.
You're also going to lose some amount of muscle as well, that can't be helped.
Getting enough protein and doing weight training helps keeping the muscle loss at a minimum.
Fat doesn't turn into muscle.

May I also suggest looking for a weight lifting routine that's more well rounded? Like Starting Strength, Strong LIfts, New Rules of Lifting for Women. Just to name a few.

FitGuyNorCo

Don't forget to talk to your trainer about the possibility of adding some cardio to the weight work your trainer has given you to do. Nothing overboard - just something like run a mile a few times a week, or a spin class, or something similar to help get & keep your metabolism up.

leah4590

@FitGuyNorCo I do cardio! I do 5-10 mins warm up on cross trainer, then do a further 20 mins on cross trainer or treadmill afterwards. I also do a weekly spin class - which I love!!! And on days when I don't gym we have. A treadmill at home I use! Working to be able to go faster on cross trainer and actually jog the whole time on the treadmill!

Unknown

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Spyer116

1, Fat doesn't turn to muscle. Muscle doesn't turn to fat.
2. You can't gain/build muscle when eating at a deficit. ONLY at a SURPLUS. At best, there are 'noob gains', where if you've never worked out before (or its been ages and ages), even at a deficit, you may gain a small increase in muscle/strength for a week or two.
3. listing out the weights you're lifting is pointless. Lift heavy. that's how you keep what muscle you have. If 3kg bicep curls is the max you can lift, for 10-15 reps (2-3 sets), then fine that's good. But if its some light 'girly' weight because you don't want to become muscular or huge or anything. Then you're failing. You wont build muscle like a guy does, body is built different. Nor will it retain what muscle you have, if you're easily able to do 8kg or higher at those same reps/sets.
4. You have muscles on the front of your legs, back of your legs, abs, chest, shoulders, lower back, upper back, forearms, biceps, triceps and many more. You need to work out all your muscles, otherwise the ones you don't work out, will be ones you'll lose.
5. Eat a high(er) protein diet. That alone even without working out, would retain a little more lean body mass when losing weight.
6. Workout your muscles once a week minimum, twice a week preferably. And at 30kg to lose, 2lbs/week should be ok and still have minimal muscle loss once you do all that. But once you have less weight to lose, you'll need to slow down the weight loss then, to continue to minimize lean body mass.

Losing at least a tiny bit of muscle mass when losing large amounts of weight is unavoidable. What you can do is just minimize how much is lost. Lift heavy (for what you're able to do. like i said above, if 3kg is heavy for you, then thats good, if not, then increase weight). I could do 100 reps of 3kg bicep curls everyday, and i'll still lose bicep mass, as that isn't enough to stimulate protein synthesis (repairing/rebuilding the damaged tissue) for me. Yet if I was to even just lift 3 sets of 15 reps of 15kg only once a week. that would stimulate it, and still retain most the muscle mass if not all.

Don't go overboard with how fast you're losing weight. The faster / higher you have it set to lose each week, the more likely you'll lose more lean body mass.

You need enough protein to continually repair/rebuild your muscles. Also protein generally is more satiating than carbs, which helps. But with a lack of protein, you'll definitely lose more muscle or lean body mass.

And lastly, don't over do the workouts. Twice a week is better than 4 or 5 times a week. When eating at maint or surplus, you could work out every second day almost. But at least in my personal experience, it takes 2-4days for my muscles to recover and be ready for another workout, when eating at a sharp deficit. Also workout out is a stress on the body, and done too often without adequate recovery time, it'll be a hindrance to weightloss, not a help.

isulo_kura

joejccva71 wrote: »

When you eat at a deficit, you lose fat, muscle, and water.

You can minimize the muscle loss by eating the minimum protein amounts which varies but a good rule of thumb is 1g per lb of bodyweight. You "can" eat less, and you "can" eat more. But 1g per lb is good. Then you need to be doing some sort of weight resistance training.

You'll still burn some muscle by following this, but it will be minimal.

This is actually pretty high the recommended amount is much lower than that around 0.8g per Kilogram of body weight obviously more if you're active or lifting. A 200 pound person eating 200g of protein is pretty much overkill. Protein is important but too many people get a little carried away and start consuming enough to support a rhino

A great calculator to use http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/fnic/interactiveDRI/

callsitlikeiseeit

i do mostly cardio (45 minutes - 1 hour a day usually) and some strength training (up to 20 minutes a day).

I eat around 1500 cals/ day and sometimes eat back exercise calories and sometimes not.

While I have not seen/noticed a VISIBLE change in 'muscles', I HAVE noticed a visible change in STRENGTH - both in how heavy the weights are and (more important to me) - how much i can lift/ pick up in real life- with EASE.

Once I am closer to my goal weight (I have a long ways to go) I will likely make the change to doing more strength work and body recomp.

leah4590

Thank you @callitlikeiseeit you're similar to me, though I do only 30 mins cardio maybe 5 days a week and I do strength for 45-60 mins 3-4 times a week!

Liftng4Lis

joejccva71 wrote: »

When you eat at a deficit, you lose fat, muscle, and water.

You can minimize the muscle loss by eating the minimum protein amounts which varies but a good rule of thumb is 1g per lb of bodyweight. You "can" eat less, and you "can" eat more. But 1g per lb is good. Then you need to be doing some sort of weight resistance training.

You'll still burn some muscle by following this, but it will be minimal.

Bam!

joejccva71

isulo_kura wrote: »

joejccva71 wrote: »

When you eat at a deficit, you lose fat, muscle, and water.

You can minimize the muscle loss by eating the minimum protein amounts which varies but a good rule of thumb is 1g per lb of bodyweight. You "can" eat less, and you "can" eat more. But 1g per lb is good. Then you need to be doing some sort of weight resistance training.

You'll still burn some muscle by following this, but it will be minimal.

This is actually pretty high the recommended amount is much lower than that around 0.8g per Kilogram of body weight obviously more if you're active or lifting. A 200 pound person eating 200g of protein is pretty much overkill. Protein is important but too many people get a little carried away and start consuming enough to support a rhino

A great calculator to use http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/fnic/interactiveDRI/

I was using it as an example to try not to over-complicate things for her.

I could have stated that .75g of protein per lb of LBM is sufficient, but it's easier to use 1g per lb of bw for someone that isn't as versed in the subject. It's fine either way.