losing weight in scheduled stages?

LovesDogsAndBooks

I've been on this site and been eating at a deficit for almost 3 months and have lost 18 lbs, which I am very happy with. But, even though I exercise 5 - 6 times a week, I feel like I am at best staying the same muscle tone wise, hard for me to really tell whether I have lost muscle, but sometimes it feels like I have. These last 3 months I've spent a lot of time on the forums here, and heard a lot about you cannot build muscle at the same time as losing weight, and that would explain what I am experiencing. So now I am thinking maybe I'll start eating at maintenance once I've lost 20 lbs and try to build up some muscle before I go down to a deficit again. There's probably people out there who have done that, so I would be curious to know whether it is difficult to go up in calories and then down again, maybe that's worse than just staying at a deficit until you have reached the weight you want. And would it really help muscle building at all? I am a 5.6" female, SW 204, CW 186, GW 145 - 150. I do a mix of cardio and strength training with dumbbells and kettle bells and would eventually like to get into lifting with a bar.

cwolfman13

If you eat at a reasonable deficit, get adequate protein, and do resistance training, you will mitigate loss of muscle to a great extent. Personally, I'd just continue in the deficit and work to preserve the muscle mass I have.

jemhh

I think that there is merit to the idea of building in maintenance periods while going through a big weight loss project. If you want to eat at maintenance while lifting, do it. But I truly would not worry about losing muscle if you are eating sufficient protein and lifting weights. Those two things are going to help prevent muscle loss.

LovesDogsAndBooks

Thanks! What do you consider reasonable deficit? Mine is set for a 1 lb loss per week, maybe I should reduce that to .5 lb instead of going into maintenance for a while.

cwolfman13

LovesDogsAndBooks wrote: »

Thanks! What do you consider reasonable deficit? Mine is set for a 1 lb loss per week, maybe I should reduce that to .5 lb instead of going into maintenance for a while.

No more than 1% of body weight per week. I'm dropping my winter fluff at the moment which is about 13 Lbs...I'm down 9 currently and losing about 1 Lb per week. It's only 500 calories less than my maintenance calories so I consider that to be pretty reasonable.

jemhh

At your weight, I wouldn't use a deficit of more than 20%, which will be around 500 calories or 1 pound per week. I'm the same height and started out at almost the same weight (202.5.) From the 170s to 150 I ate (not netted, ate) 1750-1850 each day while lifting 3x/wk and running 3x/wk.

LovesDogsAndBooks

Okay, so I think I'll stick to what I've been doing a little while longer, and maybe give up a little cardio for more strength training. My protein intake is supposed to be around 70 g, and there are so many different opinions out there on how much one should eat. I try to get to 100 g a day, sometimes I'm under, sometimes over. Do you think a goal of 100 g is enough?

And thanks to you both for replying!

jemhh

LovesDogsAndBooks wrote: »

Okay, so I think I'll stick to what I've been doing a little while longer, and maybe give up a little cardio for more strength training. My protein intake is supposed to be around 70 g, and there are so many different opinions out there on how much one should eat. I try to get to 100 g a day, sometimes I'm under, sometimes over. Do you think a goal of 100 g is enough?

And thanks to you both for replying!

I prefer to err on the side of having more protein than necessary rather than less. I'd aim for 120-150. 120 would be around .8 grams per pound at the high end of the healthy weight range for you. 140 would be around 1 gram per pound. There are all sorts of debates about how much protein is enough but I'm happy to eat more.

LovesDogsAndBooks

Sounds good, thank you jemhh! By the way, judging by your profile picture you've reached your goal in great shape!