Can I eat more protein to not lose muscle in a deficit?

benevempress

It seems to be common wisdom on MFP that if you want to keep your muscle while in a calorie deficit, you must lift weights. Why? If muscle is made of protein and I intentionally eat more protein while in a deficit, why would I lose muscle? And if I can stave off muscle loss by eating more protein, how much is enough?

Sharon_C

1g per 1lb of lean body mass is the usual recommendation.

And you want to maintain your muscle mass for other reasons as well. Bones and joints need strong muscles to keep them healthy. I lift weights because it has eliminated my arthritis pain.

Teabythesea_

Your body can only burn but so much fat in a day before turning to muscle. Essentially you need to give your body a reason to hold onto muscle in order to avoid burning too much of it. This is done through strength training and the additional protein is so that your muscles can effectively repair themselves.

Use it or lose it, basically.

AnnPT77

Fat people normally have more muscle than people of similar build (and exercise level) who lack the fat mass, just from carrying the fat around all day every day. If you do exactly the same amount of exercise you always did (zero to lots, whatever), you're likely to lose muscle just from not carrying that weight around all day.

Since muscle is a tiny bit more metabolically active (a pound of muscle burns a couple more calories a day than a pound of fat), why wouldn't you want to keep as much of it as possible, just for the slightly higher long-term TDEE?

Also, strength is useful in everyday life, helps prevent osteoporosis as we age, helps keep us independent longer into older age, makes most other exercises easier and more productive, makes us look better, and more. All the major mainstream health authorities (WHO, USA CDC/HHS, etc.) recommend strength training for optimum health, usually suggesting 2 days a week minimum.

So, no, eating protein will not be enough to help you keep all your existing muscle, because you're reducing the amount of work your muscles need to do every day, simply by losing weight. Getting enough protein is helpful, but not sufficient to minimize muscle loss.

benevempress

Thank you for the thoughtful explanations. I don't have a way to have a gym at home or to join one, so I'll have to look into body-weight exercises I can do at home and hope that will be enough.

AnnPT77

benevempress wrote: »

Thank you for the thoughtful explanations. I don't have a way to have a gym at home or to join one, so I'll have to look into body-weight exercises I can do at home and hope that will be enough.

The thread below (despite the title) includes some links to beginner bodyweight strength programs that require no or minimal equipment, that you can do at home:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you

NorthCascades

benevempress wrote: »

It seems to be common wisdom on MFP that if you want to keep your muscle while in a calorie deficit, you must lift weights. Why? If muscle is made of protein and I intentionally eat more protein while in a deficit, why would I lose muscle? And if I can stave off muscle loss by eating more protein, how much is enough?

First, people are gaining and losing muscle constantly. Losing any muscle at all isn't a tragedy. Ending up with too little is what you want to avoid. People say it's better to keep it because it's hard to build a lot of muscle, not ideal to dig a hole and then fill it right back in.

Muscle takes a lot of energy and nutrients to maintain. It's "expensive," like a sports car. In lean times (a prolonged calorie deficit) you want to sell of expensive assets, and similarly, your body doesn't want to maintain muscle that you aren't using.

If muscles are like a house, protein is like hammers and saws. You need them to hold s house and you need them for some kinds of upkeep. But having a lot of hammers laying around isn't going to protect your house from a fire, or get it built faster. There's only so much protein you're able to use, get more and it'll go to waste.

amusedmonkey

Most people dieting, especially with a lot to lose, will lose at least some amount of muscle. It's part of the natural process of carrying less weight as well as being in a deficit. To minimize that loss, working the muscles (which are gradually starting to do lighter work because they are working with less weight) is important. It's the main thing that will minimize the loss. Protein plays the role of the building blocks for muscle maintenance. Without challenging the muscles, the building blocks can only do so much and the body would rather get rid of that metabolically expensive unnecessary extra. It was necessary when you were heavier so you weren't wasting away, but less and less of it remains necessary as you lose weight.

ETA:
Wanted to add that I personally think (and many may disagree), as long as you are getting adequate protein, how much or how little effort you put into muscle maintenance is up to you depending on your goals. Many people focus on retaining as much muscle as possible for various reasons, including not looking "skinny fat" at goal weight. I personally don't mind (and even like) the skinny fat look, so I make sure to get adequate protein and only do enough resistance training (body weight) to support my running goals and to be less frail as I grow older - no heavy lifting for me.

benevempress

Thank you everyone for your help, personal experiences, and explanations.