Muscle loss concern

mrk34

I lost 13 pounds since April, and would like to keep going, but the muscle loss got me concerned.

When I started weight loss efforts a year ago I didn’t care about it. All I wanted to do was to start losing weight and when it started to happen I couldn’t be happier. Having lost 46 pounds quickly last year I settled for maintaining it and was able to do so.

In April I determined that keeping weight off was possible, so I decided to go for more weight reduction.

The muscle loss that I experienced keeps bringing an uncomfortable thought to my mind that something worse may happen to me. Should I be worried?

I didn’t exercise till May because I was recovering from the knee injury. I jog and do push-ups every day since end of May.

At this point I need to lose 24 more pounds to reach my healthy weight.

joehempel

Do some strength training....3 days a week is good, in with the cardio and eating healthy.

You MIGHT gain some weight on the scale, but you will see inches come off the waist, or wherever you want to focus.

AI1108

First of allL.. congrats on the 46 lbs weight loss!!

Are you able to lift / strength train now? Do you know how much of your lean mass has decreased?

Yes you will probably have some muscle loss if you aren't still strength training. Honestly after a month or so you'll see your muscle start to lose mass and your weight will fall off fast but its muscle mass not body fat. I hear though once you start lifting again, your muscle will start building faster and you'll go back to what you were at before. If you want to lose the weight faster, I would worry about getting the muscle back first and then worry about losing the weight because muscle burns fat 3x faster. If you want to preserve the muscle you have now, I would go into a high protein diet. I always go over on protein on this thing and I set mine higher than what MFP has me at. Even though my weight doesn't go down as fast my BF% has been decreasing.

Hope this helped and your knee is doing better!

NikkisNewStart

I'm not sure if you have heard of it or not... but I go on bodybuilding.com. It is an excellent resource for credible information. I'm not going to share any suggestions b/c I think everyone else pretty much covered it... Good luck!

VegGrrl

Lift weights. It's the best (and fastest) way to build muscle!

incuboy

To preserve muscle mass during dieting you should be lifting weights and eating enough protein. It doesn't sound like you have already been lifting, so you should get some good noobie results if you start up. The amount of weight you are lifting is the easiest way to gauge whats happening it terms of muscle mass. In general if you are maintaining strength week to week while dieting, then you're maintaining your muscle mass. A good amount of protein to shoot for is 1.5-2gms protein per lb of body weight while dieting.