super confused! Please help/second opinion needed

MeanderingMammal

is it possible to drop significant lean body mass without losing too much strength? Can it be done in a healthy way?

As you lose weight the loss will be from a combination of lean mass, fat and other tissue. Assuming no training then you have no control over how that'll balance out.

Resistance training will help mitigate the loss of lean mass, and some forms of CV training will have an impact on retaining lean mass in some areas, although generally less efficienctly. contrary to the broscience, CV work doesn't eat your muscles, but it tends to be so targetted that you'll see disproportionate loss elsewhere.

Eat at a reasonable deficit, do a combination of CV and resistance training, and keep track on your progress, pick some metrics that are meaningful to you. As you lose you can rebalance the volume of CV and resistance training that you do to meet your objectives.

fwiw I agree with others, if you have no history of training I would be very surprised about the mass you think you're at.

WombatHat42

Quick update: got caliper measurements #s from the trainer: bicep 6, tricep 14, subscapula 24, iliac 25. Recrunched the #s. Looks like his 156 LBM number was correct after all.
A question arises: is it possible to drop significant lean body mass without losing too much strength? Can it be done in a healthy way?

The issue with calipers is they depend on your hydration plus they arent the most accurate form anyways. Check with a local university to see if their athletic department/sports science department has a bod pod test(one of the most accurate ways to test). Mine does and for the public it is $40, students 20 so it isnt terribly bad either way

MKEgal

Ditch that trainer, and if he claims to be certified by anyone I'd drop a line to that group, because he's giving you bad advice.
If you want to find someone with good information, education, etc., try here:
You can search for people in your area who are certified by the American College of Sports Medicine:
http://members.acsm.org/source/custom/Online_locator/OnlineLocator.cfm


According to BMI, at your height you should be between 130 and 170 to be in a healthy weight range.
http://www.shapeup.org/bmi/bmi6.pdf

For now, aim for 170. That means eating 1700 calories or less (no less than 1200!!) every day, because controlling calorie intake is the biggest part of losing weight.

"Most weight loss occurs because of decreased caloric intake.
However, evidence shows the only way to maintain weight loss is to be engaged in regular physical activity."

http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/physical_activity/index.html

Since you're currently eating 2300 to maintain your weight, that means you'll have a deficit of about 700 cal, losing a bit over a pound a week just by controlling diet. As you keep eating the same amount & get closer to your weight goal, your rate of weight loss will slow, which is normal, fine, good, expected, etc.


Think of exercise as an extra, a bonus toward losing weight. Don't eat back exercise calories.

Cardio is the most effective way to burn calories. According to the CDC, you should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week... go for a brisk walk for 30 minutes after dinner every night. More would be better in terms of calorie burn, but don't go nuts & burn yourself out.

Weightlifting will shape the muscles & preserve what muscle mass you have (probably not the 156 lb your trainer claims), so as you lose the fat your shapely firm muscles will start showing, and you'll look fabulous.
Preserving or increasing muscle mass also helps your metabolism, because even at rest muscle is more metabolically active.