Can you lose muscle in a deficit if you’re untrained?

eth3rium

I have been reading around different places that if you’re not lifting weights while eating at a deficit to lose fat it’s possible you will lose muscle mass that you’ve built. But does someone who hasn’t built any muscle lose any if they are dieting?
I’ve tried to incorporate weights into my routine in the past (while dieting) but it always makes me famished and I have huge urges to eat after about a week so it just makes it harder to eat at a deficit.
I’m just wondering if it’s worth it to do weights while dieting if it’s not going to save much muscle since I have not built any.
I do want to try my first bulk and experiment with bodybuilding once I’ve reached my goal weight and get my bf% down to a reasonable point. But I definitely need advice

I am a woman 26 yrs old, 5’3 tall, 128lbs, 25% bodyfat (Measured by bio electrical impedance scale so may not be accurate)

jemhh

Yes.

Even if you've never trained, you still have muscle and it is still at risk of being lost if you do nothing to retain it.

Cassandraw3

Since you are already at a healthy weight for your height, you could try recomping (eating at maintenance to build muscle while losing fat). I suggest looking into that and don't wait on trying bodybuilding. It all really depends on your goals. If you do decide to go with a deficit, make sure you still consume plenty of protein. The general recommendation to minimize muscle loss is .8-1g/kg body weight. I am sure others will be able to provide you with more insight as well.

cwolfman13

eth3rium wrote: »

I have been reading around different places that if you’re not lifting weights while eating at a deficit to lose fat it’s possible you will lose muscle mass that you’ve built. But does someone who hasn’t built any muscle lose any if they are dieting?
I’ve tried to incorporate weights into my routine in the past (while dieting) but it always makes me famished and I have huge urges to eat after about a week so it just makes it harder to eat at a deficit.
I’m just wondering if it’s worth it to do weights while dieting if it’s not going to save much muscle since I have not built any.
I do want to try my first bulk and experiment with bodybuilding once I’ve reached my goal weight and get my bf% down to a reasonable point. But I definitely need advice

I am a woman 26 yrs old, 5’3 tall, 128lbs, 25% bodyfat (Measured by bio electrical impedance scale so may not be accurate)

You obviously have muscle mass...if you didn't, you'd just be a bowl of jello on the floor. Just because you've never gone into the weight room doesn't mean you haven't built muscle mass. Hell, I put on a lot of muscle mass getting fat just because my body had to move more weight around to get around.

You want to preserve as much lean mass as possible...building muscle is really hard and putting on significant amounts of muscle requires years of bulking and cutting cycles.

As has been mentioned, you are at a perfectly healthy weight...you'd really be pretty prime to just eat maintenance or a very small deficit and start hitting the weight room and get your noob gains without a huge diet deficit.

emmamcgarity

I would also recommend recomp for your current height and weight. Eat more protein at maintenance calories. Do strength training

middlehaitch

If you do continue to lose, do it at a 0.5lbs a week, 250 cals a day deficit.
You protein have at around 0.8-1.2g of LBM, your fats 0.35+g.

Eat back your lifting (entry found under the 'cardio' section of 'exercise') any other exercise cals so you are not always hungry or under performing in life.

If you are not losing at the rate expected adjust your exercise calories accordingly. All devices and data bases are only estimates, personal data gathered over a 4-6 week period will be your best guide.

I too think a recomp is a viable option. You could even run one for 6 month- if you are liking the results, continue; if you would still like to lose a few lbs, follow the above for a deficit.

Start lifting now.

Cheers, h.

MelanieCN77

40 yo woman, 5'5 here. My last ten pounds I went crazy cardio to just get the deficit up and get it done as it got tougher. It worked but it was really all muscle I lost at the end, in spite of having lifted fairly lightly throughout the most of the process. I remember clearly when I realised, I was trying to move a piece of fibreboard in the yard, like 4x8 maybe, the flimsy pressed board kinda stuff, and I had such immense difficulty moving it it was striking. I toss around boxed of records and CDs and do all kinds of of big DIY project stuff and have always had sufficient strength. So not only did I 'lose muscle' in the sense that I lost this abstract seeming thing that is a good health and fitness marker, but I literally got weaker in a functional, observable way.

I also find that sometimes my heavier lifting days make me hungrier than others - being women it's just the way things are, fluctuations in everything are the norm. I encourage you to stick with it best you can, lighten up the weights maybe see if that makes you less starving or experiment to see if it's cyclical and you can lift heavier sometimes without bringing on the hunger.

middlehaitch

To add to the above, you didn't mention what programme you were following before.
You may find a different programme will help with the hunger.

If it was 3 days, heavy, the basic 5, you may do better with a 4 day split and 3 lifts a day, or 3 days working the basic 5 but lifting a 75% and rep increases.

Cheers, h.

kshama2001

eth3rium wrote: »

I have been reading around different places that if you’re not lifting weights while eating at a deficit to lose fat it’s possible you will lose muscle mass that you’ve built. But does someone who hasn’t built any muscle lose any if they are dieting?
I’ve tried to incorporate weights into my routine in the past (while dieting) but it always makes me famished and I have huge urges to eat after about a week so it just makes it harder to eat at a deficit.
I’m just wondering if it’s worth it to do weights while dieting if it’s not going to save much muscle since I have not built any.
I do want to try my first bulk and experiment with bodybuilding once I’ve reached my goal weight and get my bf% down to a reasonable point. But I definitely need advice

I am a woman 26 yrs old, 5’3 tall, 128lbs, 25% bodyfat (Measured by bio electrical impedance scale so may not be accurate)

I just wanted to make sure you are eating back the calories you earned from exercise. If not, no wonder you're famished.

MFP uses the NEAT method (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), and as such this system is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. However, many consider the burns given by MFP to be inflated and only eat a percentage, such as 50%, back. Others, however, are able to lose weight while eating 100% of their exercise calories.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1

eth3rium

The program I was on before was 3x week total body so my workouts were usually not longer than 30 minutes leaving 1-2 reps in the tank each set. While I didn’t think it was too grueling and I always got plenty of rest I would just find myself getting hungrier as the week went by. But I was also not eating back the calories from those sessions or any cardio I did so it makes sense that I eventually got hungry.

Thank you all for the great advice, I had never considered recomping. I’ve got protein at 1g/lb lbm and I think I will lower my deficit to losing 0.5lbs per week, start lifting again and see how that goes.

middlehaitch

@eth3rium, so glad you took on the advice that was posted.

Quite often on the forum we see that people don't eat their lifting calories back because it is a relatively small amount.
When I first started lifting I followed that advice (even more petite than you) and though I wasn't over hungry, I did get lethargic, and slowly lost weight. The extra 200 cals made a the difference in my performance in and out of the gym.
I think if one has a larger calorie allotment the cals may not make as much difference, but on my 1400 it really did.

Make sure you take rest days and get enough sleep.

Cheers, h.

yirara

Keep in mind that your heart is also a muscle

CSARdiver

You lose muscle in any deficit regardless. You can limit this through specific resistance training and protein intake, but a degree of loss is inevitable. This is why bodybuilding utilize bulking and cutting cycles.

Start a beginner progressive lifting program (Strong Curves, New Rules of Lifting for Women, Stronglifts 5x5, etc.) take it easy when in a deficit. Push boundaries when in surplus/bulk. Attempting to increase performance while on a deficit is just a bad idea and why so many diets fail - they are unsustainable.