Muscle Loss

smithskiman06

Hey Everybody,

Question about calorie setting and weight loss speed. I am 195 lbs and looking to get to 175. Although I know the slower the loss the better I am looking for results in 8-10 weeks. I know MFP sets calories for you and at 2lbs lost a week my setting is about 1300 net calories.

I am wondering though if this is to low of calories and if I will start to lose muscle? This is something I desperately want to avoid. Not only because muscle will make me look better but also because more muscle means a higher metabolism. I lift weight 3 times a week and do cardio 1-2 times a week. I eat 45% carbs, 30% protein, and 25% (healthy) fat. I try to stick to those nutrient ratios as closely as I can.

Thanks for any help.

TrainingWithTonya

What does MFP have set as your maintenance calories? I wouldn't recommend eating less then 80% of that to maintain muscle mass while losing. So, if it says 2300 (I'm guessing based on the fact that you said you have 1300 calories with a 2 pound per week goal and knowing that MFP subtracts 500 calories per day per pound of goal.) then you'd multiply that 2300 by 80% to get 1840 for the minimum calorie intake per day. That will give you a calorie deficit of 460 calories per day or just under a pound per week of loss. Yes, you will lose slower that way, but you are more likely to maintain muscle while doing it if you don't lose as fast. Also, when you add in exercise, eat 80% of those calories too.

tolygal

What does MFP have set as your maintenance calories? I wouldn't recommend eating less then 80% of that to maintain muscle mass while losing. So, if it says 2300 (I'm guessing based on the fact that you said you have 1300 calories with a 2 pound per week goal and knowing that MFP subtracts 500 calories per day per pound of goal.) then you'd multiply that 2300 by 80% to get 1840 for the minimum calorie intake per day. That will give you a calorie deficit of 460 calories per day or just under a pound per week of loss. Yes, you will lose slower that way, but you are more likely to maintain muscle while doing it if you don't lose as fast. Also, when you add in exercise, eat 80% of those calories too.

Does this apply when zig-zagging also? I have about 15 lbs of fat I still want to lose but I do not want to lose muscle either. So does 80% apply for when zig-zagging too?

And.... (the constantly debated question...) is it a flat 80% or do you have to eat back excercise calories?? I usually do not because I seem to do best when I don't. I'm just curious is the 80% is with excercise or without.

warphoenix

Keep your protein at 175G or so with no less then 1500 net calories or so and you should be fine.

mocha76

bump

TrainingWithTonya

What does MFP have set as your maintenance calories? I wouldn't recommend eating less then 80% of that to maintain muscle mass while losing. So, if it says 2300 (I'm guessing based on the fact that you said you have 1300 calories with a 2 pound per week goal and knowing that MFP subtracts 500 calories per day per pound of goal.) then you'd multiply that 2300 by 80% to get 1840 for the minimum calorie intake per day. That will give you a calorie deficit of 460 calories per day or just under a pound per week of loss. Yes, you will lose slower that way, but you are more likely to maintain muscle while doing it if you don't lose as fast. Also, when you add in exercise, eat 80% of those calories too.

Does this apply when zig-zagging also? I have about 15 lbs of fat I still want to lose but I do not want to lose muscle either. So does 80% apply for when zig-zagging too?

And.... (the constantly debated question...) is it a flat 80% or do you have to eat back excercise calories?? I usually do not because I seem to do best when I don't. I'm just curious is the 80% is with excercise or without.

Zig-zagging is completely different. The principle behind zig-zagging is that you go low enough in calories to have dramatic losses from those days but don't stay that low so long as to cause the body to lower the BMR because you give it high calorie days too. The way I was taught was the 80% rule for zig-zagging was a 7 day average. So, you should add up the total calories consumed for a week and divide it by the total calories you burn for the week and it should be no less then 80%. None of my professors were real big on zig-zagging, though, so we never actually tried it for projects or even calculations for tests.

For the way I was taught, it's 80% of Total Daily Energy Expenditure. That means BMR + Activities of Daily Living + Exercise. So, depending on your exercise, your calorie needs change daily. I think that is why my professors weren't big on zig-zagging, because they were already kind of zig-zagging through exercise and didn't want to have us confuse clients by adding another variable.