Losing weight: fat or muscle?

MyPathway

How can you make sure you lose fat over muscle when losing weight?

I want to know if my calories intake has an impact on how much fat/muscles I lose. If I eat 1000-1200 calories a day to loose about 2 lbs/week, will I lose more muscles than if I ate 1300-1500 to lose 1,5 lbs/week?

Why is it bad to lose more than 2 lbs a week?

Should I get most of my calories from proteins to avoid losing muscles?

I exercise of course. I am running 3 times a week and I do small strength training of about 15-20 minutes (WOD for beginners) 3 times a week as well.

JeromeBarry1

You can't. However, if women eat at least 1200 and men at least 1500 calories per day they can minimize the risk of the body converting muscle tissue into energy. The brain can get fuel from ketone bodies derived from your stored fat. The rest of your body just recycles protein where it finds it, muscle, heart, whatever.

The 'more than 2 lbs a week' thing means that if you are in a big enough calorie deficit, -1500 per day, to lose 3 lb per week, you are 99% likely to be consuming less than 1200, if female, and 1500, if male. It's just easier to program a tool that stops at 2 lb than to explain all the math and medical science.

Just meet your macros and don't exceed them. They are designed to be your optimum condition for healthy weight loss. You are not smarter than the resources used in setting up this system.

rankinsect

In general, the things that help with losing a better ratio of fat to muscle:

1. Having more fat - the fatter you are, the faster you can burn fat. It's simply a matter of fat utilization; a very obese person has more fat available. Conversely, a very lean and muscular person will tend to lose more muscle.

2. Going slower. The more rapid the weight loss, the more of the loss comes from muscle.

3. Doing progressive strength training about 3x per week - by regularly using muscle at or near your limit for strength, you will make your body less likely to break it down for energy.

4. Getting sufficient protein. Try your goal weight (in lb) times 0.6-0.8 to get a protein target in grams. This is about twice the protein needed by a sedentary person maintaining weight, but the extra protein will help keep your body less likely to break down muscle tissue.

Since #1 will start to work against you as you become leaner, compensate by shifting #2 in your favor as time goes on (that is, slow down as you get closer to goal).

cityruss

A very small deficit.
Use the muscles.
Consume enough protein.