Losing weight versus building muscle?

plg999

For the first time in my life, I'm feeling overweight based on how my clothes fit but the scale says I'm actually near my usual low/target weight. I'm assuming this means that I have lost a lot of muscle since I permanently switched to remote work after COVID began. But this is new to me, so I don't know what to do with a diet and exercise plan. Am I doing the usual of reducing calories and adding more muscle-building exercise? Or is there another approach that works better for this situation?

Thanks!

AnnPT77

If you're at a weight you like and want to stay there, there's also recomposition. Learn about that here:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat

The third option is bulk & cut cycles, which is likely to be a somewhat quicker way to gain muscle, but you have to be willing to gain fat temporarily, then lose it again, to do that approach. That's the price of somewhat speeding up muscle gain.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10226536/bulking-for-beginners

If you do decide to lose weight and do strength exercise, keeping to a very small calorie deficit (half a pound a week or less loss, say), as that increases the odds of muscle gain. (In that scenario, you're trying to gain one kind of body tissue, while losing another, which is a little at cross-purposes. It can happen, though, to some extent for some people.)

Are you certain that there aren't posture issues that are contributing to clothes fit? When we sit too much, especially while using computers/phones, we're more likely to develop some chin-forward/rounded shoulders slump, and sometimes anterior pelvic tilt besides, either/both of which can push any central fat we have downward and outward, making waistbands tighter. There are exercises to improve those posture issues.

plg999

AnnPT77 wrote: »

If you're at a weight you like and want to stay there, there's also recomposition. Learn about that here:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat

The third option is bulk & cut cycles, which is likely to be a somewhat quicker way to gain muscle, but you have to be willing to gain fat temporarily, then lose it again, to do that approach. That's the price of somewhat speeding up muscle gain.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10226536/bulking-for-beginners

If you do decide to lose weight and do strength exercise, keeping to a very small calorie deficit (half a pound a week or less loss, say), as that increases the odds of muscle gain. (In that scenario, you're trying to gain one kind of body tissue, while losing another, which is a little at cross-purposes. It can happen, though, to some extent for some people.)

Are you certain that there aren't posture issues that are contributing to clothes fit? When we sit too much, especially while using computers/phones, we're more likely to develop some chin-forward/rounded shoulders slump, and sometimes anterior pelvic tilt besides, either/both of which can push any central fat we have downward and outward, making waistbands tighter. There are exercises to improve those posture issues.

Thanks, I learned a lot from this. I had never heard of either bulk and cut or the term "recomposition," although that's clearly what I want to do. I'm pretty confident posture isn't contributing to my problems, as I'm spending the same amount of time sitting at a computer, but less time walking and moving around in between. I also have a herd of young children that have prevented much working out in recent years, so I think I've gradually been losing muscle for a while, then it accelerated when I stopped leaving the house.

I just ordered a scale that will tell me my fat % (no idea at the moment). My weight is 132 and I'm 5'6", but I don't feel very fit. Now that I know that "recomposition" is my goal, I'll do more reading on that. Thanks!!

JBanx256

plg999 wrote: »

I just ordered a scale that will tell me my fat % (no idea at the moment). My weight is 132 and I'm 5'6", but I don't feel very fit.

Unfortunately, all of those scales are inaccurate. Maybe just by a smidgen, maybe by a truckload. Some of them can, over time, be useful for showing general trends, but for the most part....ehhhh nah, pretty close to worthless.

Recomp is a slow process, but it can be done. Just try not to let yourself get too frustrated with it.

Best wishes to you on your journey!

AnnPT77

What Banx said.

Mine's fairly consistent, but I still don't trust the absolute value for BF%.

All those scales do is run a tiny electrical current through your body, measure what makes the circuit, and do estimates from that. Key word: Estimates. Hydration can throw it off, among other things. If you get a weird reading here or there, don't let it worry you, just watch the trend.

When it comes to trend watching, I've seen people not think through the math: The body fat percent is where people focus, and I understand why. But sometimes, it's useful to think of it in terms of pounds (estimated) if your bodyweight is changing alongside. (For this next paragraph, I'm pretending the BF% is accurate, for simplicity.)

If I weigh 125 pounds at BF% 25%, that's 93.75 pounds of lean body mass ((1.00-.25) x 125 = 93.75). If I gain weight to 130 pounds, stay at 25%, that'd be increased lean mass, 97.5 pounds. If I lose weight to 120, stay at 25%, I've lost lean mass (90 pounds). The usual cases I've seen here where people are confused about this are more complicated math-wise, but that's the basis of the confusion. They end up not understanding their progress (or lack of progress) accurately, if just considering BF% while weight is changing.

It may make sense to use other measures of your progress alongside, such as multi-point tape measurements (with some thought up front about how to be sure you're measuring the same point each time), photos (front/side/back, in minimal clothing but not undies because you may want to show off before/afters later), and even the so-called Navy fat calculator or other similar ones. A few examples:

https://www.calculator.net/body-fat-calculator.html
http://www.gymgoal.com/dtool_fat.html
https://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/body-fat-percentage-calculator/

There are also online sites where you can compare your appearance to other people at similar height/weight and various (alleged) BF%s. There are BF tests that are more accurate than these spitball methods, still not perfect, but they tend to be expensive.

All of these are estimates and approximations, but may help you build up a composite idea of how you're doing over time. And yes, it will be gradual, require patience . . . unfortunately.