7 lb loss in a week?? Question....

muth3rluvx2

Apparently this has happened. I'm concerned that there may be more muscle loss than fatty tissue loss. I didn't think I'd shrunk as I measured a few days ago (my scale needed a battery) and it seemed that no inches had been lost but I could have been measuring wrong. I finally got a battery today and tried on a pair of jeans I've not worn in 6 months - so I've lost *something* that equals almost 7 lbs.

Background: I've been having a smoking relapse for the last 6 weeks, my eating has subsided to 1-2x a day, my 12 year old cat had to be put to sleep on Monday so I didn't eat for 2 days.....

all these things are being managed so don't worry about that part, but the big question is - can someone lose 7 lbs of muscle in 2 weeks under these conditions? I'm sure I've lost some... but could it be that all of it is muscle or just some of it?

Thanks!

muth3rluvx2

nevermind - I just found the answer online (finally! been looking for a while!)


•To avoid starvation mode, the body can be tricked into using an alternate energy source called ketones, a byproduct of fat burning. Some organs, such as the brain, cannot use fat stores as energy, but they can use glucose from muscle or ketones. To produce any ketones, the body needs to be deprived of sugar so it produces ketones in place of the missing glucose. With ketones added as a possible energy source, the consumption of muscle as energy is reduced.


Read more: How Much Weight Can I Lose by Fasting for a Week? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_4964042_weight-can-lose-fasting-week.html#ixzz19peJb2EU

I was still drinking coffee WITH sugar and eating simple carbs pretty much daily, even if it was just once - which breaks down into simple sugars. So, although I didn't gain muscle, there's a strong possibility I didn't lose any either; which might explain the lack of visible shrinkage on the tape measure.

iRun4wine

What you found online makes sense to me. I'm no expert, but I'm 99.9% sure you can't lose 7 pounds of ANYTHING that quickly (except maybe water weight).

muth3rluvx2

I read that wrong the first time...

"..body needs to be deprived of sugar...."

not that I had alot of it.... so maybe that's it? I don't know.

TrainingWithTonya

It's water weight. Muscle glycogen is stored with water in a 1 to 3 ratio in the muscles. When you need the glycogen, you lose the water when you pull the glycogen from storage. Also, when you aren't eating as much, you aren't producing as much "waste" and if you go the the restroom regularly, you will lose some weight from the "waste" being expelled and not replaced.

muth3rluvx2

It's water weight. Muscle glycogen is stored with water in a 1 to 3 ratio in the muscles. When you need the glycogen, you lose the water when you pull the glycogen from storage. Also, when you aren't eating as much, you aren't producing as much "waste" and if you go the the restroom regularly, you will lose some weight from the "waste" being expelled and not replaced.

Thanks for this information - sent you a private message for further clarification on a couple of things.