Maintenance vs. Calorie deficit

Fatvaporizer

So you have to be in a calorie deficit to lose fat, but you also lose muscle from it, right? But if you are doing maintenance calories, and work on lifting, etc. you will lose just fat without losing muscle?

Just wanted to make sure.

cwolfman13

Yes...very, very slowly...

HoneyBadger302

It's called recomp, and there's a huge thread about it in the Maintenance forum...it's a slow process, but it works. That's where I'm at - I have plenty of fat to lose, BUT, fitness is my primary concern, so I need to feed the workouts. This means I can't eat at a huge deficit or my workouts suffer, even one day to the next. So, recomp it is. My measurements have steadily been shrinking, not massive losses, but enough to see it on a tape measure each week.

sijomial

It's not an absolute that you lose muscle when you lose weight, remember not everyone starts from the same place, or has a big deficit, neglects training etc etc etc.
Someone formerly inactive who starts training when they start a sensible diet could well add some muscle for example.

It's very possible you may lose muscle of course, especially if nothing else changes when you decide to diet - a lighter body would need less muscle for everyday activities. An inappropriately large and prolonged deficit without exercise clearly wouldn't be a great combo for muscle retention.

This is a long read (from Eric Helms/Lawrence Judd) but a good read.
Also contains many links to studies if that's your thing.
https://muscleandstrengthpyramids.com/calorie-deficit-gain-weight/