Will I lose muscle mass. With little to no exercise in a calorie defict?

Lullaby2021

I've been in a calorie deficit for three days. Today mark four days. I walk 2-3 times per week For 1-2 hours. Do house work a few times per week for an hour. I keep my proteins decent as well. I aim for 90g perday at the least. My calorie deficit is small on average. At
-250 perday for 1/2 pound per week.1700-250=1,450(From mfp setting sedentary) If I'll lose muscle mass. Can I reduce it..? Can I keep some by walking? Maybe some strap on weights? Any good ideas?

Retroguy2000

Higher protein intake + small calorie deficit + continued resistance training will limit loss of muscle mass. It sounds like you are doing two of three. I don't think you have anything to be worried about, but if you really want to minimize any potential muscle loss or maybe even gain muscle during the process, do resistance training with progressive overload.

neanderthin

Probably. Consuming high quality amino acids and ones with decent amounts of leucine, arginine, glutamine for example help maintain and repair muscle. I would suggest getting closer to 1.6 g's per kg of body weight if in a deficit and especially if your older. I would suggest to get at least 1 workout a week, twice is better of some resistance training. Even then it's probable that some lean mass will be used for other bodily purposes.

AnnPT77

Lullaby2021 wrote: »

I've been in a calorie deficit for three days. Today mark four days. I walk 2-3 times per week For 1-2 hours. Do house work a few times per week for an hour. I keep my proteins decent as well. I aim for 90g perday at the least. My calorie deficit is small on average. At
-250 perday for 1/2 pound per week.1700-250=1,450(From mfp setting sedentary) If I'll lose muscle mass. Can I reduce it..? Can I keep some by walking? Maybe some strap on weights? Any good ideas?

You're female, not very large (judging from your profile), I don't know how old.

If relatively young, getting good nutrition, taking those long walks, getting good nutrition, I'd expect your actual muscle loss to be pretty minimal at a 250 calorie deficit.

90g of protein would be 1.6g per kg for someone about 123 pounds, and your profile suggests you're only slightly heavier than that (plus your post says "at least 90g"). @neanderthin is correct about protein quality, in addition to protein quantity. If most of your protein is whole(-ish) food animal sourced, you're probably in good shape. (The issue is potentially more nuanced if vegetarian or fully plant based.) Other parts of nutrition also matter, to some extent.

I'd note that losing lean mass and losing muscle mass are not the same thing. Lean mass includes bones, fluids, etc. For you, if your profile isn't misleading - if you have only a few pounds to lose as it implies - the distinction between the two maybe doesn't matter. Someone with a lot to lose will lose lean mass, and some of it they lose because it's not essential to a smaller body. It's not entirely a bad thing, in that scenario. (Dumb example: If thin me had the same blood volume as obese me, I'd probably be bloatedly over-juicy. There are other tissues, other than muscle, that I need less of now, too, to function well in the world.)

Strength training is good for people, though, so a good idea. For someone like me (F, 67, around 130 pounds now), it's pretty dumb not to do some, for long term best outcomes. (Note that I didn't claim to be smart, personally. ).

If I were you, I wouldn't try to lose any faster than half a pound a week, if you truly have single digits of pounds to lose (even low double digits). Even slower would be fine - that's what I actually aimed for when losing only 10ish pounds or less.

If by strap-on weights you mean ankle/wrist weights, they can be risky. A weighted vest or well-fitted rucking backpack would be better (how technical to be about the pack depends on your fitness and the amount of weight). Those distribute the extra weight in a more natural way.

I_AM_ISRAEL

Yes, you will lose muscle if you stop doing resistance training.
If you don’t use it, you lose it.

Lullaby2021

I_AM_ISRAEL wrote: »

Yes, you will lose muscle if you stop doing resistance training.
If you don’t use it, you lose it.

I have not started with training. I've not workout in 4 months.

Lullaby2021

@AnnPT77 , Sorry .. I forgot to update my profile. It is updated now. I am 35 years old 5'7 &139.4 pounds. I eat whole foods for protein. I eat all types of food. I am aiming to lose. What i regained which is 10.2lbs. I am losing slowly at 1/2 pound per week. I don't like lifting weights... progressive overload. What else can I do. To maintain the muscle I have now?

AnnPT77

Lullaby2021 wrote: »

@AnnPT77 , Sorry .. I forgot to update my profile. It is updated now. I am 35 years old 5'7 &139.4 pounds. I eat whole foods for protein. I eat all types of food. I am aiming to lose. What i regained which is 10.2lbs. I am losing slowly at 1/2 pound per week. I don't like lifting weights... progressive overload. What else can I do. To maintain the muscle I have now?

Good overall nutrition, especially the protein. Exercise: Strength exercise is best for maintaining muscle - it need not be progressive for that, just mildly challenging to your current strength, and for sure it needn't be weight lifting (can be bodyweight-utilizing floor exercises, some types of yoga that use bodyweight, etc.); but cardiovascular exercise potentially does more to prevent muscle loss than no exercise at all ** (despite what some of the most devoted advocates of weight training may believe).

As an observation, some types of so-called cardio are more strength-promoting/muscle-encouraging than others. Not all "cardio" is the same. I do negligible amounts of weight lifting, but still have more muscle mass than the average 67 y/o woman, mainly from "cardio" (rowing, lots of it - including carrying boats - and cycling).

** There are a bunch of places to learn about research related to this. Results regarding cardio and muscle retention are mixed, but IMO encouraging. The research review article linked below is just an example I read recently - studies cited at notes 62-67 may be relevant, though I haven't read all of those. If you read the link, read carefully and thoughtfully, as much of it is about studies on obese people. You aren't obese, not even close - you're already pretty light for your height, at BMI 21.8. Some of the same information will apply, though.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5421125/

Honestly, doing what you're doing, I wouldn't be super worried about losing muscle.

neanderthin

If most of your protein is whole(-ish) food animal sourced, you're probably in good shape. (The issue is potentially more nuanced if vegetarian or fully plant based.)

I just wanted to add my perspective on this subject.

There are some nutrients of concern (deficiencies) in a plant based diet and protein is one of them. One of the concerns is animal protein which is by all measures, considered good quality protein compared with plant based protein which is lacking in quantity of some of those amino acids and being less bioavailable to the body.

Firstly, I just want to say that plant based proteins contain all the 9 essential amino acids and the meaning of complete and incomplete can be misunderstood. Basically it doesn't mean that a particular plant protein is missing 1 of the 9 essential AA's it just means that it's in low enough concentrations if a person was to consume that particular food in isolation it would not meet the daily requirement for that essential amino acid. This isn't particularly important in the western world where there's a shop selling every kind of food imaginable but it can have dire consequences in developing countries where there's poor food accessibility and a protein source may come down to 1 or 2 choices and is a totally different discussion altogether. So for most people here that are plant based and are eating a diverse diet, all the essential amino acids are not a problem but I believe if consuming a plant based diet, then that person should be eating enough calories and be protein aware because there's information coming from that community that down plays protein and I think that is very selfish and agenda driven and total misinformation, which actually hurts that community. imo.


My assertion that the RDA is too low is based on the recommendations being the floor and not a ceiling and this is for sedentary individuals, in other words to fend off malnutrition only, and that recommendation only has to meet 98% of the population so there are actually people out there where they're not meeting their RDA and why I feel that at a bare minimum people should be consuming 1.2+ and at least 1.6 if a person is plant based and again this is for a sedentary person.

Bioavailability is another concern for sure and most of the studies on this are back in the 90's and were mostly animal studies of rats and pigs and the foods they consumed were raw and that makes a difference because cooking food actually increases the bioavailability of protein in that plant material. Newer studies in the last 5 years or so in human trials and in the context of being protein aware, and if your an athlete, body builder or just an individual that works out hard trying to keep in shape and try to retain or build muscle and consume a plant protein "isolate" the differences are almost negligible or basically almost no clinical significant differences. When getting away from protein isolates/protein powder and most of the protein is coming from whole plant foods then we do see a decrease in the bioavailability because of phytates and other compounds like fiber that bind with the proteins in legumes for example which is generally the main food source for protein in a plant based diet for example and the differences in animal proteins in this context might be in and around 20% less and why my RDA recommendation change for plant based.

Saying that, thinking about bioavailability, protein, percentages etc becomes very reductionist and sometimes it's better to zoom out and look at it in the perspective of health outcomes for an individual, basically something more meaningful. For example, if I consume say a pinto bean, does it have the right ratio's of protein and how many phytates do they contain as opposed to thinking if I include pinto beans in my diet can I build muscle and strength and how would this be different from someone eating animal protein. And in that context a study out of brazil in 2021 were they compared an complete omnivore diet with a group that were complete plant based. Basically these were people, forget the total participants, but most of these RCT's are small anyway and it was a 12 week trial where they worked out twice a week and consumed 1.6g/km which is where we see the bottom of the optimal protein synthesis window. The results were basically, no significant differences, but these were just males, if I remember correctly, so no females and they were healthy and had normal BMI's. It would be interesting to see a similar study in different population. Now focusing on protein is a good thing for sure but the obvious elephant in the room in my opinion is the actual weight training and in that context the source of your diet or source of your protein shouldn't take up all of the air time. Cheers.

kshama2001

Lullaby2021 wrote: »

@AnnPT77 , Sorry .. I forgot to update my profile. It is updated now. I am 35 years old 5'7 &139.4 pounds. I eat whole foods for protein. I eat all types of food. I am aiming to lose. What i regained which is 10.2lbs. I am losing slowly at 1/2 pound per week. I don't like lifting weights... progressive overload. What else can I do. To maintain the muscle I have now?

"Whole foods" is not particularly meaningful when it comes to protein. (Minimally processed) fish is a whole food with a lot of protein. Apples are a whole food with negligible protein.

Your body has weight, so body weight exercises will help you maintain muscle. Some forms of yoga are good for this. Just be aware that it is much less efficient than weights, something to consider if your time is limited.

For multiple reasons, the primary being injuries, I'm not currently lifting weights and I miss how upper arm training helps me with other activities I enjoy, currently swimming.

Not surprisingly, yoga movements and postures that require upper body strength are easier if one is concurrently strength training.

tomcustombuilder

Your body wants fat more than it wants muscle so once you get down to a certain degree of leanness resistance training and sufficient protein will prevent or at least minimize muscle loss in a deficit.

When lowering calories don't lower protein, look at your carb and fat consumption, especially ultra processed carbs and also alcohol.