Obese weight loss effects on body comp (bf% and muscle mass)

linsey0689

I have lost 32 lbs in the last 3.5 months. Yay. My question is how have other people who started obese and lost weight body comp change? Why I’m wondering this is yes I want to get my bf lower but I don’t want to lose my muscles while doing it. Yes I know I need to strength train to keep my muscle mass. Just wanting some intake from others.

Current
Weight 274
BF% 51
Muscle mass 124.6 pounds (45%)
Skeletal muscle mass 77.5 pounds (28.3%)
Source smart sale

PAV8888

It is an open question whether even a trend seen on a bio-impedence scale has meaning, much less so the specific numbers.

You don't mention your height but it would be a safe bet to assume that you still have a ways to go. When you have a lot of energy reserves available to lose (your current situation), it is a fairly safe bet that you will mostly lose fat. By the time you start hitting the overweight range, the bet will start becoming less and less safe.

In order to ensure as favourable of an outcome as possible you can both do a lot; and only do so much.

What you CAN do is:

-- ensure that you are losing somewhere between 0.5% and 1% of your body weight per week.
(While it may or may not be optimal from a sustainability perspective, I believe that there is no major body composition issue with losing at up to 1.5% of body weight per week while morbidly obese. I would personally not have found it sustainable though. Especially while well into the obese range I would be primarily concerned with lowering my total weight in a SUSTAINABLE manner so as to keep on keeping on!)

--ensure that you are engaged in strength training (think of it as your body prioritizing the retention of what you're actively using)

--ensure that you're eating sufficient protein (assuming no health reasons to avoid it). Sufficient protein being about 0.8g to 1g per lb of lean mass. Since this is a number that doesn't have to be "perfect" any amount of protein above 100g a day ought to do the trick in your particular case where your lean mass is somewhere around 125lbs. If you want to eat more protein... nobody is going to come after you; but you probably won't win any special lean mass retention prizes either. If you eat a lot less, well, you won't be fulfilling this condition as optimally as you might otherwise.

If you lose at a sensible rate, engage in strength training, and support it all with sufficient protein... well, you've pretty much done all you CAN do to tip the odds in your favour and we've reached the part where you can "only do so much".

Note that SOME non-fat mass (i.e. what is generally referred to as lean mass) will be lost regardless. Think structures that support stuff that is no longer on you, if nothing else!

AnnPT77

PAV8888 wrote: »

It is an open question whether even a trend seen on a bio-impedence scale has meaning, much less so the specific numbers.

You don't mention your height but it would be a safe bet to assume that you still have a ways to go. When you have a lot of energy reserves available to lose (your current situation), it is a fairly safe bet that you will mostly lose fat. By the time you start hitting the overweight range, the bet will start becoming less and less safe.

In order to ensure as favourable of an outcome as possible you can both do a lot; and only do so much.

What you CAN do is:

-- ensure that you are losing somewhere between 0.5% and 1% of your body weight per week.
(While it may or may not be optimal from a sustainability perspective, I believe that there is no major body composition issue with losing at up to 1.5% of body weight per week while morbidly obese. I would personally not have found it sustainable though. Especially while well into the obese range I would be primarily concerned with lowering my total weight in a SUSTAINABLE manner so as to keep on keeping on!)

--ensure that you are engaged in strength training (think of it as your body prioritizing the retention of what you're actively using)

--ensure that you're eating sufficient protein (assuming no health reasons to avoid it). Sufficient protein being about 0.8g to 1g per lb of lean mass. Since this is a number that doesn't have to be "perfect" any amount of protein above 100g a day ought to do the trick. If you want more... nobody is going to come after you; but you probably won't win a special prize either. If you eat a lot less, well, you won't be fulfilling the condition as optimally as you might otherwise.

If you lose at a sensible rate, engage in strength training, and support it all with sufficient protein... well, you've pretty much done all you CAN do to tip the odds in your favour and we've reached the part where you can "only do so much".

Note that SOME non-fat mass (i.e. what is generally referred to as lean mass) will be lost regardless.

Good advice from PAV, as usual!

Don't let that last bolded bit freak you out over-much, though. Sure, most of us may lose some muscle just because we don't need to power the same big bulk through the world every minute of every day, but that has little practical negative effect.

But some of the lean mass we lose is stuff we'd want to lose, or at least be OK with losing. For example, a much larger body mass is going to need more blood volume circulating around just to keep the body going. A smaller body needs less, to do the same job. There are various things of that nature, that make up part of lean mass.

Your BIA scale, over the long term (weeks to months) will establish a trend for you, but it makes sense to think of the absolute numbers as pretty approximate, and to not worry if some odd blip suddenly happens (because it's probably a measurement error).

If you do the things PAV suggests, you're controlling the controllable factors. That's the only part worth thinking about, let alone worrying over.

Best wishes!