Keeping my muscle while losing fat.

joshuasumner

So far i am down 27lb from March 8th, but i am wonder how much muscle i have loss in that total. So last week i cut the calories back to 1500 to 1600 per day and i have been doing cardio everyday, and weights every other day. I didn't lose any weight last week at all. This week i deciede i needed to up the protein and the calories to 1800. MFP says my goal to lose two pounds a week is 2140, So should i eat all the calories and more protein or should i go back to the 1500 a day? I do 30 mintues on a stationary bike every day, and every other day i do about 30 mintues of streight training with heavy free weights. Any thoughts would be helpful thanks.

gp79

Height? Weight? Age? Do you know your bodyfat %?

All of this info will effect the amount of calories you need.

Onesnap

Don't do cardio every day. Alternate the type of workouts that you do. You just need a 10 minute cardio warm up before a day of strength training. Chances are you're actually storing fat because you're over training. I would suggest wearing a Polar HRM to find out if you're burning enough fat.

pj_writer

I think you should be eating more than 1500 cals a day - that's the bare minimum for a man and on that you are likely to lose muscle as well as fat even if you're doing strength training.

I'm no expert but I'd think you'd do better to aim to eat more like what MFP is telling you *and* eat your exercise cals back. Then make sure that you're doing plenty of strengh training in with your workouts and hopefully you'll manage to maintain some of your muscle - but with your weight loss goal (having nosed at your profile) I think it's inevitable that you will lose some muscle as well as fat.

From what I gather people who have a lot to lose often focus on the weight loss first, then build muscle back up once they are in maintenance which sometimes involves gaining a bit again.

hopefully someone more knowledgeable will be along soon but good luck with your journey

iplayoutside19

If you're concerned about maintaining muscle you need to eat what MFP tells you. 2 lb a week deficit is 1000 per day. If you are eating under that you're at 1500-1600 deficit per day. And you're not eating your calories back. Definatly a set up for muscle loss.

It takes calories to maintain muscle. You need to find a happy medium.

bmontgomery87

if you're strength training, keeping protein high, and not loosing too fast, you should be okay

joshuasumner

Thanks for the helpful information everyone.

pchann

27 pounds lost since March 8th? Wow! I'm bettin you lost some muscle.

Below I pasted a link that's a pretty good article. I like the site as well for general nutrition artciles.

pchann

Oops lol


http://ezinearticles.com/?Bodybuilding:-Diet-for-Muscle-Gain-and-Fat-Loss&id=234642

TheDeviation

What are your stats (height, weight, age, etc)?

if you're strength training, keeping protein high, and not loosing too fast, you should be okay

And less cardio. I workout 6 days a week. Only one of which is all cardio. The other 5 days I get on the treadmill prior to help warm up my muscles and get the heart rate going. But my goal is muscle building not fat loss.

Figure out what you want out of your workouts and stick with it. If you want to trim down; do cardio more than strength. If you want to build muscle; do strength more than cardio. Check out http://www.bodybuilding.com/guides/ as well. They have plans for both (fat loss & muscle building).

One thing I'd like to point out is that one week is hardly enough time for adjustments to set in. Find a plan and stick with it.

joshuasumner

I weigh 325 lb, 6' tall, and i am 24. I don't know my body fat percent but i am sure it's high. I just don't want to loose a bunch of weight and look like Jared from Subway ( skinny, no muscle mass).

gp79

When I started I was 292 lbs and I'm 6'3"...30 years old (then).

If I were you, this is what I would do (and what I did)

Male
24 y/o
72"
325lbs
Estimated Body Fat: 33.1%
Estimated Lean Body Mass: 217 lbs
Estimated Fat Mass: 108 lbs

BMR Adjusted for a Sedentary lifestyle (meaning you've got an office type job): 3006 Calories / day

If you're used to eating a ton of food I'd start with a 1lb per week loss which for you is 2500 calories per day. I know you probably want instant losses but be patient...remember that you didn't become the way you are overnight.

Once you adjust to 2500 calories, drop to 1.5lb loss per week which for you (now) is 2250 calories per day. If you drop your calories too fast, you're going to have a higher potential of failure.

Start educating yourself on nutrition a bit.

You want to consume about 1g of protein for every lb of lean muscle mass, which for you currently is 217g of protein per day. If you have a tough time getting that from whole food, pick up some GNC AMP 60 or Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey as they are good sources of protein which are LOW in calories, carbs and fat.

In a day you should aim to eat

250g carbs
219g Protein
56g Fat

If you eat 5x per day each meal should be

500 calories
50g carbs
44g protein
11g fat

3x per day it would look like

833 calories
83g carbs
73g protein
19g fat

I'm not sure how often you eat so there are a couple scenarios for you to think about.

Go through your pantry and trash the junk and start making small changes to your diet that you can sustain for long term.

Focus your workouts at 60% of your max heart rate (ways to figure this out...research them) which will keep your body using your fat stores for energy vs. sugar. This simply makes your weight loss come more from fat than from muscle. I mean...like you said, you don't want to look like Jared.

The biggest thing is having the motivation to stick to the plan and getting out there and educating yourself on what to do. Big guys drop weight fast if they stick to a plan like what I've (or MFP) outlines.

joshuasumner

Thanks Gpoitras, eating less isn't much of a problem for me now, because i have been eating less then 2000 per day since march so i am use to it. Looks like i good plan i will try it out.

iplayoutside19

There is some good information here. I started at 6'1 and 336 lbs, and slowly but surely got down to 280. I'm at 17% BF. My goal is 12%. If you do the math, even when I reach my goal I'll still be heavier than most of the population. It's just the way it is.

There are 100 ways to get healthy. If it seems like there is too much to keep track of. Just focus on changing one thing about your life style and move on from there. This isn't a race.

foodforfuel

After my weight/strength training, I have a protein shake with one scoop of whey as soon as I finish. Then, within the hour I follow that with 3 oz. of lean protein, such as chicken, for a slower protein feed. I have been able to take good care of the muscle I do have by doing that. If I were a guy, I would double that. (2 scoops and 6 oz.)

2wheelit

That article by Henry Rollins is badass...

The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it's impossible to turn back.
_Henry Rollins_