I need to lose muscle weight...how can I achieve this?

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  • BeckyMBisMe
    BeckyMBisMe Posts: 215 Member
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    So whats the goal? To look like this?

    christian-bale-machinist1.jpg
    a massive calorie deficit with no exercise.

    that's horrific, did he lose weight for a movie? Is he playing a prisoner of war in WII or maybe a meth head?
  • Samstan101
    Samstan101 Posts: 699 Member
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    I honestly am confused with this. I started a statewide weightloss program/contest called Geauxlite Louisiana and they did a full body analysis on me. My print out showed that my muscle mass and fat mass was over the normal range. My muscle was just over so I don't think I need to lose much. I was told that I should bring these numbers down. We have our first meeting tomorrow and I plan to ask them to fully explain it to me because I dont understand it. I am considered obese so I do have a lot of fat mass too lose which I understand that. I am just clueless when it comes to muscles. Thanks.

    If they want you to lose muscle mass, ditch them. It is normal to have more muscles when you are overweight because you have to haul your mass around all day. Muscle mass is good and should be maintained as much as possible.

    Definitely this!

    I do cardio and strength training. My aim is to retain as much muscle as I can whilst losing about 150lbs of fat. I'm working on the basis that I must have decnt muscles in most places from lugging 300lbs around for so long. I'd rather maintain as much of this as possible so that when i get to goal I'm toned and don't have to start lifting to build muscle. It also has the benefit of keeping my BMR higher which means I can eat more. I don't want to be skinny, no muscle tone, have the metabolism of a slug and have to live on lettuce and boiled chicken to maintain :wink:
  • AllonsYtotheTardis
    AllonsYtotheTardis Posts: 16,947 Member
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    Why the hell would you want to lose muscle?
  • My_Own_Worst_Enemy
    My_Own_Worst_Enemy Posts: 218 Member
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    So whats the goal? To look like this?

    christian-bale-machinist1.jpg
    a massive calorie deficit with no exercise.

    that's horrific, did he lose weight for a movie? Is he playing a prisoner of war in WII or maybe a meth head?

    He lost weight for this movie, but then gained over 100lbs of it back to play Batman.

    While Christian Bale did have the advice of medical professionals to lose the 60+ lbs to play the role in The Mechanic

    Everyone agrees that gaining the 100+lbs back in just 5 or 6 months to play Batman is NOT HEALTHY FOR THE HEART!

    http://voices.yahoo.com/christian-bales-weight-loss-machinist-this-66659.html?cat=40
  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
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    Thanks for all your replies. Thats why I came back to MFP. I don't plan to quit in April, this is just when the program ends. My liftime goal is to lose about 50 lbs so I'll work at it for however long it takes. Thanks.

    I think your confusion is coming from this: When BMI is used in programs designed for weight loss, people with higher levels of muscle mass will measure in the "obese" range, because BMI is only calculated using height and weight. So anyone with a larger than normal muscle mass will look, on paper, as though they are overweight. This is the problem with using only numbers on a scale or BMI measurements. It's better to take your body measurements, and calculate your body fat percentage. Keep your muscle, it keeps your metabolism higher.
  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
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    So whats the goal? To look like this?

    christian-bale-machinist1.jpg
    a massive calorie deficit with no exercise.

    that's horrific, did he lose weight for a movie? Is he playing a prisoner of war in WII or maybe a meth head?

    He lost weight for this movie, but then gained over 100lbs of it back to play Batman.

    While Christian Bale did have the advice of medical professionals to lose the 60+ lbs to play the role in The Mechanic

    Everyone agrees that gaining the 100+lbs back in just 5 or 6 months to play Batman is NOT HEALTHY FOR THE HEART!

    http://voices.yahoo.com/christian-bales-weight-loss-machinist-this-66659.html?cat=40


    Imagine how unhealthy this is. Bale lost a ton of weight for the role of Mark Wahlberg's character's brother, who was a drug addict. Then he put a ton of muscle weight back on for Batman. Now he's gained fat weight for the role he plays in American Hustle.

    I like Jennifer Lawrence's attitude much better. When she was asked why she didn't lose weight for the role of Katniss in The Hunger Games (Katniss was supposed to be very thin, as people were underfed), she said she'd rather portray the heart of the character and be a good role model for young girls than be super skinny and unhealthy.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    I honestly am confused with this. I started a statewide weightloss program/contest called Geauxlite Louisiana and they did a full body analysis on me. My print out showed that my muscle mass and fat mass was over the normal range. My muscle was just over so I don't think I need to lose much. I was told that I should bring these numbers down. We have our first meeting tomorrow and I plan to ask them to fully explain it to me because I dont understand it. I am considered obese so I do have a lot of fat mass too lose which I understand that. I am just clueless when it comes to muscles. Thanks.

    your heart is a muscle... still think you want to lose some!?

    Unhelpful and combative. *sigh*

    and your contribution to this thread is what exactly? commenting on other posters that you feel are unhelpful? Hmmm how ironic...
  • fleetzz
    fleetzz Posts: 962 Member
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    OP--please don't try to lose muscle. It is the one cell in the body that helps you burn calories. If you lose muscle (and most people do while trying to lose weight), then you HAVE to eat less once you get to maintenance--which you will anyway because you have less mass to move.

    For example: 200 lb person may have a maintenance requirement of 3000 calories per day, but once you get down to 120, you may have a maintenance of 1700 calories per day. If you lose a bunch of muscle you look crappy and you can only eat 1600 calories, while if you exercise, weight train whatever to keep the muscle you may be able to eat 2000 or more to maintain at 120 lbs.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    I honestly am confused with this. I started a statewide weightloss program/contest called Geauxlite Louisiana and they did a full body analysis on me. My print out showed that my muscle mass and fat mass was over the normal range. My muscle was just over so I don't think I need to lose much. I was told that I should bring these numbers down. We have our first meeting tomorrow and I plan to ask them to fully explain it to me because I dont understand it. I am considered obese so I do have a lot of fat mass too lose which I understand that. I am just clueless when it comes to muscles. Thanks.

    Ok, just a suggestion but....

    When you are overweight, you have more body to lug around, so your muscles must need to be bigger than a healthy weight person with the same activity level as you. This means that some of the excess weight will be fat and some will be muscle. As you lose weight, you need less and less muscle strength to support yourself and move, so your muscles will decrease to the size they need to be for your level of activity.

    Anyone who disagrees with this, please feel free to pick holes in my logic!

    Based on this assumption, I would suggest you focus on fat loss and allow the muscle loss to come naturally. Don't give up exercise, in fact if you don't do any at the moment, take some up.

    This does not even make sense….

    why would you recommend that someone "lose muscle naturally" ….you need muscle to pick stuff up, look somewhat good, and it helps increase your metabolism because muscle burns more calories then fat does…

    Are you really recommending that OP go for the "skinny fat" look…?
  • Supertact
    Supertact Posts: 466 Member
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    don't purposely lose muscle !
  • kimmymayhall
    kimmymayhall Posts: 419 Member
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    I honestly am confused with this. I started a statewide weightloss program/contest called Geauxlite Louisiana and they did a full body analysis on me. My print out showed that my muscle mass and fat mass was over the normal range. My muscle was just over so I don't think I need to lose much. I was told that I should bring these numbers down. We have our first meeting tomorrow and I plan to ask them to fully explain it to me because I dont understand it. I am considered obese so I do have a lot of fat mass too lose which I understand that. I am just clueless when it comes to muscles. Thanks.
    Do not worry about having a higher muscle mass. That's a good thing. You want to preserve as much of that muscle as possible while you are losing weight, but you will lose some of it with the fat. In the end, I think you will be happier if you try to keep your muscle mass. To do that you should have a reasonable deficit, eat enough protein, and do some weight training. You will look leaner, have a little higher metabolism, and be stronger. That's a win, right?
  • cecebrite
    cecebrite Posts: 18 Member
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    I'm not sure how to post a pic from my phone so I changed my profile pic to my analysis so you all can take a look if you like, tell me what you can make of it. I'm still learning how to read this. Our first meeting is tomorrow and I have lots of queations to ask. Thanks!
  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
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    I'm not sure how to post a pic from my phone so I changed my profile pic to my analysis so you all can take a look if you like, tell me what you can make of it. I'm still learning how to read this. Our first meeting is tomorrow and I have lots of queations to ask. Thanks!

    It's too small to see, really, as your profile picture. But honestly, I think you should drop out of this group. Any program that is advising you to drop muscle mass is obviously misinformed and giving out bad advice. Stick to counting your calories and your regular exercise program.
  • jessicaebixby
    jessicaebixby Posts: 7 Member
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    Unfortunately it is to small like McCindy said. If you had a scanner that would work better. Noobs to health fitness tend to not realize that 1lbs. of muscle is leaner than 1lbs. of fat. When you start exercising you may become frustrated cause after 8 weeks of running your but off almost every day for 8 weeks you only lost 3 lbs. The thing is you body has been burning the fat & converting to muscle so you see little to no change in weight. You can also measure once a week your waist and not notice changes because you can't target fat burning. (FYI, yes I'm talking about myself. I have over 80lbs to loose but no set target date.)

    There are all kinds of factors that come into play with weight loss. It's possible you misunderstood what they said and talk to them more. If you still feel they are asking you to loose muscle then I'm in agreement with the other posters. It's not a good plan and you may want to reconsider doing their program.

    Ok this is longer than I wanted it to be sorry. You may want to change your direction like I did, seeing as we both have a lot of weight to loose. Instead of being focused on the weight focus on small healthy lifestyle changes. It'll take time to undo a life time of unhealthy habits but you will start feeling better and may even start noticing those tight pants are not so tight anymore despite, what the scale tells you.

    Good luck.
  • vintagelaisance
    vintagelaisance Posts: 20 Member
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    Well my dear... do you still think you need to lose muscle? Obviously not!!!
  • journey_man
    journey_man Posts: 110 Member
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    OP spoke from candid ignorance and has acknowledged as much. She seems humble and willing to learn. But please, let's keep piling on!
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
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    :huh:

    Must be a full moon!! :sick:
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    I need to lose some muscle weight along with a lot of fat weight, but I'm clueless. Any suggestions out there? I've heard of people needing to gain muscle, but I'm the opposite. Thanks!

    It's quite natural to lose muscle along wth fat. You don't have to do anything special to achieve it.

    Do strength training, but don't overload. Use weights or resistance bands that are not "heavy" for you. Only do it 2-3 times a week and don't work to failure.

    Do cardio every day or almost every day. Don't overdo it, just do a normal amount (30-60 min a day).

    This should allow you to maintain strength and some muscle, and to naturally lose some muscle along with fat.
  • cecebrite
    cecebrite Posts: 18 Member
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    Thanks! I am beginning to see I may have misunderstood. Hopefully tomorrow things will be clearer. Here is what my stats are:
    Its shows my body composition is 80.5lbs water, 30lbs dry lean mass, 87.5lbs fat.
    Body compostion analysis shows weight 198lbs, skeletal muscle mass 61.1lbs, body fat mass 87.5lbs.
    Obesity analysis shows my bmi is 32, body fat percentage is 44.3
    BMR is 1451
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    Thanks! I am beginning to see I may have misunderstood. Hopefully tomorrow things will be clearer. Here is what my stats are:
    Its shows my body composition is 80.5lbs water, 30lbs dry lean mass, 87.5lbs fat.
    Body compostion analysis shows weight 198lbs, skeletal muscle mass 61.1lbs, body fat mass 87.5lbs.
    Obesity analysis shows my bmi is 32, body fat percentage is 44.3
    BMR is 1451

    That's not an abnormally high muscle mass. In fact, I would suggest preserving what you have. Given only this information, I would suggest around 1500 calories, 100 g protein, strength train 3x/wk 30-45 minutes, and cardio 3x/wk 30 minutes.

    ETA: I have high muscle mass for my body size and I'm very healthy- it's a good thing to have extra muscle!

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