Losing Fat and Not Muscle. I need advice.

BushDid7Eleven

This is my 9th day in MFP, and my goal is to lose 100+ pounds, minimizing muscle loss. So far, I have list 6 pounds the first week (assuming water retention), but I'm concerned. MFP's caloric goal for me is 2,300 calories but I end up eating anywhere between 1600-2000, which 600 calories burned through cardio. I cycle my carbs every other day and eat a sufficient amount of protein(~180g+), as well as alternate between arms/chest, legs, and abs for weights.
I'm just concerned that I may be eating too little or not, and I don't want to become "skinny-fat". I honestly struggle to eat more than 1600 calories without ending up with too much sodium and whatnot. Thanks ahead of time for the help!

Cindy01Louisiana

I'm confused. You want to lose 100 pounds -- minimizing fat loss? If you don't want to lose all the fat you can, what do you want to lose?

BushDid7Eleven

My bad, I meant minimizing muscle loss.

heatherlewisis

Are you saying that when you count exercise your NET is 1600-2000? Or you are eating 1600-2000 and also exercising and burning 600 calories? So netting 1000-1400? Please clarify... And how do you know you are burning 600 calories? Seems to me that with 100+ lbs to lose, 6 lbs in your first week should not be too alarming. If you continue losing that quickly, you would want to adjust your diet to lose more slowly. And strength training during weight loss is good for minimizing muscle loss, although I'm sure that along with fat loss you will lose water and some muscle too... But I'm no expert.

kshama2001

If MFP tells you you've burned 600 calories via cardio, the actual burn is closer to 300 calories. You should eat them back.

lorrpb

If you feel you need more calories, which you prob do, you can eat larger portions of the food you're already eating. Consider calorie dense foods like nuts, avocado, olive oil, etc. The only foods that would add "too much sodium" would be processed foods & restaurant food.

BushDid7Eleven

heatherlewisis wrote: »

Are you saying that when you count exercise your NET is 1600-2000? Or you are eating 1600-2000 and also exercising and burning 600 calories? So netting 1000-1400? Please clarify... And how do you know you are burning 600 calories? Seems to me that with 100+ lbs to lose, 6 lbs in your first week should not be too alarming. If you continue losing that quickly, you would want to adjust your diet to lose more slowly. And strength training during weight loss is good for minimizing muscle loss, although I'm sure that along with fat loss you will lose water and some muscle too... But I'm no expert.

I burn 600 calories according to the cardio machine I work on everyday. I eat 1600-2000, and burn 600, so my yes, I'm netting 1000+.

kshama2001 wrote: »

If MFP tells you you've burned 600 calories via cardio, the actual burn is closer to 300 calories. You should eat them back.

I'm assuming the cardio machine is accurate (not MFP) as it records your weight before you start a program.

lorrpb wrote: »

If you feel you need more calories, which you prob do, you can eat larger portions of the food you're already eating. Consider calorie dense foods like nuts, avocado, olive oil, etc. The only foods that would add "too much sodium" would be processed foods & restaurant food.

I eat don't eat much processed foods, if I do I make sure it's no salt/low sodium. It just adds up sometimes. The nost sodium I get if from my Italian dressing in my spinach salads but I don't use a whole serving. I haven't had this issue in the last 2 days though, so it's not as much of an issue as I make it out to be.

rankinsect

Is there a reason you are watching sodium - i.e. do you actually have hypertension that responds to sodium reduction? If you aren't hypertensive or you have hypertension that doesn't respond to changing sodium levels, there's no benefit to eating lower sodium at all.

stevencloser

Since you still need to lose a lot of weight, going a bit harder on the weight loss is not too much of a concern for your muscle mass. Yet. It will become a concern later on, so you should probably get used to eating a bit more already.
How much weight loss per week did you put into MfP to give you 2300 per day?

caurinus

If you're doing a complete full-body weight lifting program, you're not going to lose muscle since you're eating plenty of protein. Sounds to me like you're doing fine, as long as you're hitting all the major muscle groups with your lifting.

You're only one week in. More than half that 6 pounds is probably just water weight. Your weight will go up and down 4-6 pounds from week to week depending on sodium, carb intake, and a lot of other factors, and you're especially likely to drop a bunch of water weight the first week of a new calorie restriction program. Record your weight regularly, but don't take day-to-day fluctuations too seriously. Just watch the overall trends for a two or three week period and adjust exercise and/or diet if you're not satisfied with the long term trend.

BushDid7Eleven

stevencloser wrote: »

Since you still need to lose a lot of weight, going a bit harder on the weight loss is not too much of a concern for your muscle mass. Yet. It will become a concern later on, so you should probably get used to eating a bit more already.
How much weight loss per week did you put into MfP to give you 2300 per day?

2lbs per week, I am aiming no more than 3.

rankinsect wrote: »

Is there a reason you are watching sodium - i.e. do you actually have hypertension that responds to sodium reduction? If you aren't hypertensive or you have hypertension that doesn't respond to changing sodium levels, there's no benefit to eating lower sodium at all.

No, I just don't want to risk having blood pressure problems in the future.

caurinus wrote: »

If you're doing a complete full-body weight lifting program, you're not going to lose muscle since you're eating plenty of protein. Sounds to me like you're doing fine, as long as you're hitting all the major muscle groups with your lifting.

You're only one week in. More than half that 6 pounds is probably just water weight. Your weight will go up and down 4-6 pounds from week to week depending on sodium, carb intake, and a lot of other factors, and you're especially likely to drop a bunch of water weight the first week of a new calorie restriction program. Record your weight regularly, but don't take day-to-day fluctuations too seriously. Just watch the overall trends for a two or three week period and adjust exercise and/or diet if you're not satisfied with the long term trend.

I go to a Planet Fitness because it's cheap, but I do work on every muscle group using the machines they provide. Everything else lifting wise is almost always taken up, so I wouldn't be able to get a consistent workout.

rankinsect

You won't risk blood pressure problems in the future. If you're already hypertensive, reducing sodium and increasing potassium may help control blood pressure (about 1 in 3 people with hypertension will benefit from those dietary changes), but high sodium / low potassium has never been shown to have any effect on how likely you are to develop hypertension to begin with.

Yi5hedr3

Keeping carbs below 100 grams per day will be biggest bang for the buck!