Preserving muscle during weight loss

andihwc

I am a stay at home mom and my "exercise" currently exists of a goal of 10,000 steps every day. My current priorities do not allow for gym (or even workout video) time at this point. I have lost 28 pounds since June and am concerned about losing muscle with the fat (current weight 165lbs, height 5'2", 37 years old).

About 95% of my steps are taken carrying my 15lb baby, 50% of those add a10lb pack for a total 25lbs of weight being carried. Be honest: am I preserving muscle because I am carrying more than just my own body around or do I have to change my priorities to make gym time if this is something I am worried about?

Thanks in advance,
Andi

nordlead2005

Do you feel like you are losing strength for things you need/want to do? What are your long term goals (long past hitting whatever your goal weight is)?

I wouldn't worry about it unless you are losing over 1%/week (which it doesn't appear that you are quite yet) or you already have low BF%.

Also, even if you maintain 100% of your muscle from when you were 200lb during weight loss, it will eventually atrophy if you don't lift heavy things to stimulate your body when you are 130lb. So again, unless you have a long term goal to lift weights I wouldn't worry about it.

Cherimoose

andihwc wrote: »

About 95% of my steps are taken carrying my 15lb baby, 50% of those add a10lb pack for a total 25lbs of weight being carried.

That's better than nothing, but it doesn't work everything. You'll get better results adding some strength training. Almost everyone benefits from it (increased bone strength, resistance to injuries, etc). It only takes ~20 minutes every 2-3 days, and you can split the time up throughout the day. Try the Nerd Fitness beginner program. At a very minimum, do squats, pushups, lunges, and table bodyweight rows, 2 sets each. Keep the reps between about 6-12, and add weight whenever you can do more than 15 reps.

DopeItUp

Meh. Best bet is some form of progressive resistance and adequate protein intake. Carrying a little extra weight isn't really that big of a deal. Especially since you yourself have lost more than that 25lbs off of your own bodyweight, it's going to be a wash in the end.

fi_b

andihwc wrote: »

I am a stay at home mom and my "exercise" currently exists of a goal of 10,000 steps every day. My current priorities do not allow for gym (or even workout video) time at this point. I have lost 28 pounds since June and am concerned about losing muscle with the fat (current weight 165lbs, height 5'2", 37 years old).

About 95% of my steps are taken carrying my 15lb baby, 50% of those add a10lb pack for a total 25lbs of weight being carried. Be honest: am I preserving muscle because I am carrying more than just my own body around or do I have to change my priorities to make gym time if this is something I am worried about?

Thanks in advance,
Andi

Hey Andi,

The quickest piece of advice I could give would be to make sure you are eating enough protein. I personally would sacrifice my carb calories over protein and fat - but that's just because I don't deal all that well with carbs.
As for not having time for a video, there are some great at home routines that you can break down into smaller blocks. I can highly recommend the Nike Training Club (NTC) app. It has various workouts for all fitness levels and some are only 10-15 minutes long so you can squeeze it in while bub is asleep and the washing is in the machine Also blogilates has some great videos on her youtube channel! If you have instagram; home squat guide has some great workouts (unfortunately a few adds too, but easy enough to scroll past).

Good luck!

GaleHawkins

pacifichealthlabs.com/blog/could-you-be-losing-muscle-instead-of-fat-heres-how-not-to-do-that/

@andihwc Muscle loss will be 9%-42% of weight loss per this research depending on # of calories under eaten.

SueInAz

Everyone loses some muscle during the weight loss process, regardless of whether or not they're doing progressive lifting and eating enough protein. The goal is to minimize muscle loss as much as possible while losing fat.

I get that it's tough to find the time now with a little one but here are some of the facts. When we lose "weight" the pounds we lose are made up of a combination of water, fat and muscle. The faster you lose weight, the more of that lost weight will be from muscle because our bodies are looking to preserve as much stored energy as possible against a future starvation period and unused lean muscle mass is an easy target. As you shed pounds, you need less muscle to move your mass around so your body will break it down and it'll be gone. Forever. A wasted opportunity.

Strength training forces us to use our muscles in such a way as to signal to the body that we still need them. This limits muscle breakdown for energy and helps to retain the muscle you already have. It's much easier to maintain your current muscle mass than it is to build new muscle (just for starters, building new muscle involves gaining weight!). When you were pregnant, some of the extra weight you gained was muscle to help you move your extra weight around. Strength training now will allow you to keep a lot of the extra muscle you gained without having to work hard for it, rather than losing it along with the fat and water. This means more of your weight loss will be from fat and that's what you really want to lose. It also means that when you reach the weight you want to be that your body fat percentage will be much lower and you'll be much firmer at that weight than you would have been if you simply "lost weight" to get there.

So, rather than reach your goal weight and then decide you want to "firm" or "tone" your body, start strength training now. Even something as simple as body weight exercises you do at home are better than nothing at all.

AJ_G

andihwc wrote: »

Be honest: am I preserving muscle because I am carrying more than just my own body around

No, you're nowhere near where you need to be to preserve muscle mass while losing weight. You need to be lifting heavy weights, preferably in a gym. On top of this, you need to be consuming adequate protein, and you need to be losing weight as slowly as you can. If you do all three of those things, you will preserve the maximum amount of muscle possible while you lose weight.

andihwc

Thanks everyone for your responses: they are what I knew somewhere in the back of my brain. I was just hoping that carrying around what is basically my starting weight for a couple of hours a day would maintain that muscle (wishful thinking).

Thanks for the video suggestions: I will shift exercise priorities earlier than I originally planned. Thanks for taking the time to help me shake out the cobwebs!

Yi5hedr3

Cherimoose wrote: »

andihwc wrote: »

About 95% of my steps are taken carrying my 15lb baby, 50% of those add a10lb pack for a total 25lbs of weight being carried.

That's better than nothing, but it doesn't work everything. You'll get better results adding some strength training. Almost everyone benefits from it (increased bone strength, resistance to injuries, etc). It only takes ~20 minutes every 2-3 days, and you can split the time up throughout the day. Try the Nerd Fitness beginner program. At a very minimum, do squats, pushups, lunges, and table bodyweight rows, 2 sets each. Keep the reps between about 6-12, and add weight whenever you can do more than 15 reps.

Good answer!