How do I drop weight without losing too much muscle?

pats12to83

I am 6'4, 255 Lb.and do quite a bit of strength training in my weekly routines as well as quite a bit of tennis. Lately I seem to be regressing in my Bench press strength. I am maintaining my calorie goals for the most part but seem to be losing more muscle than I'd like when I am on the low end of my weight scale. How can I preserve as much muscle as possible as I work toward dropping those last ten lbs? Could it have just been overtraining?

maemiller

have you increased your protien intake? My trainer told me to consume 130-140grams of protien per day(i weigh 124) since i do a lot of running and weight training. The body needs protien to repair itself after a workout. If theres not enough protein, then it starts taking it from your muscles which is a bad thing

pratkovic

I will be interested to see the response you get on this because I fear the same problem. I do know from my research that in order to maintain your muscle you must train (obviously) and consume 90% of your weight in protein a day to maintain your strength.

Example. I am 188 so I try and take in no less than 150 grams of protein a day when I used to train. So almost everything you put in your mouth has to be some form of protein in order to meet both requirements. Today I am not so worried about it because I do not compete anymore but I do enjoy lifting and am trying to maintain most of it while I am dropping weight.

Protein is everything for strength.

Hope this helps.

putnam80

I dont think I have an answer. My Brother and I have talked about this a lot. I think with losing weight you will no doubt lose some muscle, but....

So far I have cut 23lbs and have about another 37 to go. I was swinging a 20lb sledge yesterday and lifting a gas powered jackhammer during the day. I feel better lifting now than I have in years. My muscle may look smaller, but I think its fat around it that has changed.

My bro has been doing a ton of swimming and he was worried about the same thing. He said when he goes to the gym, the muscle looks smaller, but all the power is there.

Sorry man, no good answer for you

RCKT82

During my journey, I've always kept my protein up for recovery and building in my calorie deficit plans. I limited my workouts to low intensity workouts to keep my body from burning too many calories in such a short time. I also made sure to give my muscles time to recover between weight lifting days. Your muscles won't grow until you give them time to heal and recover. You're not building at the gym... you're building during your recovery time. You workout causes the damage (good damage in this case) that allows your body to heal and build.

You'll rarely see a muscle builder sprinting down the road or spending hours on the elliptical. High intensity burns too many cals in such a short period of time that your body can't sustain the energy required by burning just fat.. so it'll start tapping into other sources for energy such as muscle.

Syntax_Error

Are you consuming enough protein after lifting to allow for the muscle growth? One thought would be to accommodate for a protein recovery drink when you're finished with each lifting session.

OneFitMom_

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pats12to83

Thanks all for the great response to my question...I was doing the recommended protein intake that MFP set up and was doing shakes initially just after workouts but not consistently on off days. I think between the tennis & heavy lifting there was too much repair needed & not enough protein. Now I am doing 3 shakes a day even on off days which gives me 26g a pop and have increased my protein goal to 35% which comes out to about 82% vs body weight- Now I just need to see how the recovery process goes... ;-) Stay tuned!

srp2011

Increase protein and make sure you eat it at each meal and snacks - there was a great article on active.com on this topic yesterday. If you save your protein for 1 or 2 meals, there are other times during the day when your body doesn't have the protein it needs, and it starts breaking down muscle to get it. They also recommended eating a protein/carb snack before exercising and protein within 1-2 hours after for recovery (although I've heard a nutritionist from the Cooper Clinic say it is really better to get something in within 30 minutes of exercising, though this may be more the window for replenishing glycogen stores in the muscles).

Tamishumate

your protein should be at least 1 gram of protein per pound that you weigh, when you are trying to increase your muscle mass. so if you weigh 200 ( I did not note how much you weigh) you should be eating AT LEAST 200. My sons are dropping weight and increasing muscle mass and they are right about there with the protein, if not more. they are getting lean and cut and stronger.



Tami

PS Go Pats!

chrisdavey

Thanks all for the great response to my question...I was doing the recommended protein intake that MFP set up and was doing shakes initially just after workouts but not consistently on off days. I think between the tennis & heavy lifting there was too much repair needed & not enough protein. Now I am doing 3 shakes a day even on off days which gives me 26g a pop and have increased my protein goal to 35% which comes out to about 82% vs body weight- Now I just need to see how the recovery process goes... ;-) Stay tuned!

Good plan.

Are you still doing the same weights routine that you were previously? How long have you been lifting for? It is always going to be difficult to continue lifting the same poundages as you are losing weight simply because it is a greater percentage of your bodyweight e.g. 200lb bench may be easy for someone weighing 250lbs but as they lose weight and get down to 180lbs that is going to be a lot tougher.

Consume protein and carbs post workout. (fat isn't required at this stage)

I don't think the frequent meals thing is actually required for maintenance of LBM. In fact, at my strongest (lifts/bodyweight) I was doing intermittent fasting and fasted training. Not saying you should but it worked for me.

5. Myth: Maintain a steady supply of amino acids by eating protein every 2-3 hours. The body can only absorb 30 grams of protein in one sitting.


Truth

Whenever you hear something really crazy you need to ask yourself if it makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. It's a great way to quickly determine if something may be valid or if it's more likely a steaming pile of horse****. This myth is a great example of the latter. Do you think we would be here today if our bodies could only make use of 30 grams of protein per meal?

The simple truth is that more protein just takes a longer time to digest and be utilized. For some concrete numbers, digestion of a standard meal is still incomplete after five hours. Amino acids are still being released into your bloodstream and absorbed into muscles. You are still "anabolic." This is a fairly standard "Average Joe"-meal: 600 kcal, 75 g carbs, 37 g protein and 17 g fat. Best of all? This was after eating pizza, a refined food that should be quickly absorbed relatively speaking.

Think about this for a second. How long do you think a big steak, with double the protein intake of the above example, and a big pile of veggies would last you? More than 10 hours, that's for sure. Meal composition plays an important role in absorption speed, especially when it comes to amino acids. Type of protein, fiber, carbohydrates and prior meals eaten all affect how long you'll have amino acids released and being taken up by tissues after meals.

Origin

I think this "30 grams of protein"-nonsense started to circulate after a classic study from 1997 by Boirie and colleagues. "Slow and fast dietary proteins differently modulate postprandial protein accretion" was the first study to quantify the absorption rate of whey and casein protein and gave birth to the concept of fast and slow protein. After that, whey protein came to be known for it's ability to rapidly elevate amino acids in the blood stream and casein for it's ability to create a sustained release of amino acids. Whey was anabolic and casein anti-catabolic.

Given that 30 grams of whey protein was absorbed within 3-4 hours, I guess some people believed that meant 30 grams of protein can only be used in one sitting. Or that you had to eat every 3-4 hours to stay "anabolic." Unfortunately, people missed a few facts that made these findings irrelevant to real-world scenarios. First of all, this study looked at the absorption rate of whey protein in the fasted state. On it's own, and with no meals eaten beforehand, 30 grams of whey protein is absorbed within a mere 3-4 hours. With meals eaten earlier in the day, or if you'd consume a whey shake after a meal, absorption would be much slower.

Second of all, whey protein is the fastest protein of all and digests at 10 g/hour. Casein is much slower; in Boirie's study, the casein protein was still being absorbed when they stopped the experiment 7 hours later. Most whole food proteins are absorbed at a rate of 3-6 grams an hour. Add other macronutrients to that and they'll take longer.

6. Myth: Fasting causes muscle loss.


Truth

This myth hinges on people's belief it's important to have a steady stream of amino acids available to not lose muscle. As I explained earlier, protein is absorbed at a very slow rate. After a large high-protein meal, amino acids trickle into your blood stream for several hours.

No studies have looked at this in a context that is relevant to most of us. For example, by examining amino acid appearance in the blood and tissue utilization of amino acids after a large steak, veggies and followed up with some cottage cheese with berries for dessert. That's easily 100 grams of protein and a typical meal for those that follow the Leangains approach. We are left to draw our own conclusions based on what we know; that a modest amount of casein, consumed as a liquid on an empty stomach is still releasing amino acids after 7 hours. With this in mind it's no stretch to assume that 100 grams of protein as part of a mixed meal at the end of the day would still be releasing aminos for 16-24 hours.

Few studies has examined the effects of regular fasting on muscle retention and compared it to a control diet. None of them are relevant to how most people fast and some are marred by flaws in study design and methodology. Like this study which showed increased muscle gain and fat loss, with no weight training or change in calorie intake, just by changing meal frequency. While I would love to cite that study as proof for the benefits of intermittent fasting, body composition was measured by BIA, which is notoriously imprecise.

Only in prolonged fasting does protein catabolism become an issue. This happens when stored liver glycogen becomes depleted. In order to maintain blood glucose, conversion of amino acids into glucose must occur (DNG: de novo glucogenesis). This happens gradually and if amino acids are not available from food, protein must be taken from bodily stores such as muscle. Cahill looked at the contribution of amino acids to DNG after a 100 gram glucose load. He found that amino acids from muscle contributed 50% to glucose maintenance after 16 hours and almost 100% after 28 hours (when stored liver glycogen was fully depleted). Obviously, for someone who eats a high protein meal before fasting, this is a moot point as you will have plenty of aminos available from food during the fast.

Origin

An example of severe exaggeration of physiological and scientific fact, not relevant to anyone who's not undergoing prolonged fasting or starvation.

from http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html

Mateo1985

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