Muscle loss - just curious

deanadimples

From time to time I see posts here or read articles that discuss losing muscle instead of fat. Like starvation mode, lack of protein, etc.

Exactly what causes it? How do you know if you are losing muscle? If you lose fat, things shrink. But if muscles don't take up a lot of space like fat, can you really tell if you are losing them? Are their signs that you are losing, but not losing fat?

It's not that I'm really concerned, as I'm doing cardio and strength training and can feel and see my muscles getting better and can see a difference in how much I'm able to do from 6 weeks ago, but I'm more curious about the concept. People seem to mention it but never really in detail.

JMun

You'd have to be consuming well below 1200 calories for an extended period of time before your body starting using muscles for energy (muscle loss).
You'd know because you would probably start feeling weak and fatigued.

MarieNevada

the only way to measure if you're losing lean body mass is to measure your body fat percentage on a regular basis. from this you can work out what percentage of your total weight is fat and what is lean body mass. there are several ways to measure your bodyfat, calipers used by someone trained to use them are very accurate. i use this website which uses measurements. it's quite inacurate but from week to week it's enough for me to see that i am losing fat and not lean body mass. in fact i am building lean muscle mass as i go which is exactly what i want.

http://exercise.about.com/library/blbodyfatcalculator.htm

Larius

Your body is constantly in a state both breaking down muscle and rebuilding it, storing fat and burning it. You are "tipping the scales", and causing slightly more of one than the other.

I'd recommend adequate protein and more strength training than cardio, but that's just what's working for me.

Elzecat

when I first started losing weight, I lost very quickly. I was getting measurements and body fat testing done at my gym and that's how I found out I had lost a little muscle, instead of fat--they basically look at the ratio of your lean muscle tissue to how many pounds of fat you have--my pounds of fat went up the first month, even though the number on the scale went down...

the advice from the trainers at the gym was to increase strength training and protein intake...that seems to have helped.

if you're doing a good balance of cardio and strength training and you can see your muscle increase, I think you're probably doing fine!

stanvoodoo

Going under 1200 and not getting enough protein will cause this! Especially if exercising. If you don't give your body the fuel it needs to burn this can happen.

I can't tell how you are doing since the diary is closed but I hope this helps!

Azdak

For most people it is not going to be significant. As a previous commenter said, metabolism is a dynamic condition. A big mistake that people make is to think that what happens during an exercise session is a discrete event with permanent effects, unaffected by what happens the other 23 hours of the day.

The issue is further compounded by the fact that methods that estimate body fat do not actually look at muscle mass. Everything is divided into "fat" and "not fat". "Not Fat" is referred to as "muscle mass", "fat free mass", "lean body mass", which implies that it is muscle, but in fact the only thing we know for sure (sorta) is that it is "Not Fat". It could be muscle, water, glycogen, bones, soft tissue, etc.

It is not uncommon for 25% of weight loss on a typical diet plan to come from Fat Free Mass (FFM) or Not Fat. Exercise can attenuate this decrease but not always prevent it. Those who are obese and lose a lot of weight will also lose a lot of FFM. This is primarily because they don't need the extra muscle and connective tissue to support the larger mass. This "reshaping" is likely a normal process and should not be feared.

And it's not like you can't build more muscle down the road sometime.