No muscle left!

barger01

Okay guys, I have went from 230 to 164. To me this is incredible. Loosing all the baby fat and then the extra pounds i have put on in the teen years. I still have quite a bit of love handles and stomach fat. I have lost all my arm muscles though due to the calorie defect. I know thats not good at all but my metabolism is still going pretty good. I do zero exercise what so ever! I just watch the calories and practice will power.

I want to get the muscle back but working out sort of halts the fat loss. The whole having to eat in surplus to build muscle misses up the eat less to loose fat motto. I have read a lot about how its impossible to build muscle and loose fat at the same time, so I chose one first.

My question is... When do I need to start getting in shape? Do i wait until I am satisfied with the body fat left and then hit the gym or do I start now with a couple hand fulls of fat left around my stomach? I know you cant convert fat to muscle. So if i work out now, where does that fat go? Haha if you guys can not tell for these words ive wrote...I am confused! Please help! Thanks a million!

BackTatJIM

you can keep the muscle you have and loose weight! You can also build strength while doing this.Choose a good weight lifting routine, eat at .5 to 1 lb loss a week and make sure you are consuming 1 gram of protein per lb of lean body bass and .33 grams of fat per lb of lean body mass. I would suggest looking into heavy lifting and incorporating compound lifts such as squats and dead lifts.

meshashesha2012

you can keep the muscle you have and loose weight! You can also build strength while doing this.Choose a good weight lifting routine, eat at .5 to 1 lb loss a week and make sure you are consuming 1 gram of protein per lb of lean body bass and .33 grams of fat per lb of lean body mass. I would suggest looking into heavy lifting and incorporating compound lifts such as squats and dead lifts.

what the guy with the tatoo said.

this is exactly how i've been doing it because i'm trying to preserve as much LBM as possible while i lose.

also OP, i disagree with your belief that working out halts the fat loss. if anything working out, especially weight lifting, ensure that the main thing you lose IS fat. i've done a pretty good job of preserving all my lean body mass over the past 10 months by eating at a slight deficit (admittedly not as much as i could have done) and lifting heavy things 3 days a week. my weigh loss has only resulted in 21 pounds on the scale, but i'm in pants 5 sizes smaller and about 6" loss from waist than what i've started and can shop at "normal" stores, so who cares what the scale says

as for as where the fat goes, well it gets converted into energy when you a) eat at a deficit and b) exercise in such a way that you tell your body to preserve the muscle but burn the fat

Sarauk2sf

Unfortunately you missed the advice that lifting while on a deficit would have maintained the LBM you had.

If you still have some excess fat left, eat at a slight deficit while getting the benefit of newbie gains by starting a 3 x a week full body workout that includes progressive loading such as stronglifts 5 x 5. When leaned out more, eat at a slight surplus (250 - 2350) and continue lifting to build muscle mass.

ETA: forgot to add info re protein - but @BackTatJIM covers it anyway

DavPul

Maintained willpower with the calories eh? That phrasing set off my warning bells, so I checked your diary. You're eating 600-800 calories per day. I'm willing to be you're eating less than that. THAT is why you lost so much muscle mass.

Start eating. Only after you start eating enough REAL food can you expect to make some progress with strength training. You're doing serious damage to yourself by eating so little. If you can't just start eating more on your own you should seek professional help.