Catabolic Catastrophe

markdavy1982

Ok mfp peeps was just looking for some advice.

I started using mfp 20 days ago and have had good and bad results. The good is i have lost 8lb, the bad is working out my lean body mass when i first started to now i have lost 3lb of muscle.

I try to eat as close to my calories as possible but dont eat my exercise calories. I always aim to get over 150 grams of protein to protect my muscles.

I weight train 3-4 times a week with 20 minutes c.v. after and have a day where i do 90 minutes of c.v. with no weights.

Anyone think of any ideas of how i can protect the muscle while still lose the body fat?

Thanks in advance.

ambermoore31

In short - Too much cardio You lose more than 2lbs a week, you start losing lean tissue too

vanguardfitness

Wanna preserve muscle mass and strength? Drop the cardio, reduce lifting volume but go heavy

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

It sounds like your deficit may be a bit too steep. How much weight do you have to lose total? You don't look like you have the fat reserves to be losing more than 2 lbs per week.

neandermagnon

3lb lean body mass loss is not necessarily a loss of muscle mass. It could be a water weight loss, it could be the contents of your intestines (if you switched to a healthier diet everything might be moving through more efficiently, so to speak).

However I do agree with the advice about lifting weights and reducing the amount of cardio, and being careful not to have too big a deficit.

mag1c

What method are you using to measure your lean body mass? I ask because I notice in your profile you say you are at 21%BF and its unlikely that in your 1st 20 days of dieting your body has resorted to burning muscle when there is still that much of another fuel source available.

Other than that, the advice of lifting heavy while not eating at such a steep caloric deficit is good. Also, supplementing additional protein or at least BCAAs pre, intra, and or post workout might be a good idea.

laddyboy

Limit your cardio to 20-30 minutes 2-3 time a week. Also eating at a severe deficit is not good for maintaining muscle.

nikkijoshua

Eat back your exercise calories. The best way to preserve your muscle is to make sure your body has enough fuel so that it doesn't have to use muscle for energy. If you're not eating back your exercise calories, you may be creating too large of a deficit which prevents your body from being able to replenish it's glycogen stores after your workouts. When glycogen stores become too low, your body will begin to break down muscle and convert it to glucose for energy. If you enjoy your cardio, continue to do it, but make sure you provide your body the proper amount of fuel to support that activity. People warn against doing too much cardio because cardio burns tons more calories than strength training and some find it difficult to eat the amount of food necessary to fuel those types of workouts if done too frequently. Continue to lift weights and consume the right amount of protein (1.2 to 1.7 grams of protein/kg of body wt). DON'T set your MFP goal to lose more than 1 lb/week. Attempting to lose more than 1 lb/wk could create a deficit that's too large. Eat back your exercise calories so that you can replenish your glycogen stores protecting your muscle.

markdavy1982

Have set my weight loss to 1lb per week as know its not good to lose it any quicker.

Amber -

I enjoy going out for a run, should i limit the post weights cardio to stop my body breaking down further?

Angelamber -

Its not so much weight that i want to lose as bf, Want to get to around 10% So lean mass covertion puts it to 156lb providing i dont lose or gain anymore muscle.

mag1c -

Method of working out lean body mass is weight - bf%

I understand using bf scales are not accurate by any means but figured using them will point me in the right direction.
diet hasnt change much really, always aimed for a good amount of protein per meal but have cut out rubbish and replaced it with extra meals.

How about this then guys and girls -

Reduce my post weight cardio to 10 minutes HIIT training if i up my protein before and after?

Set my weight loss to 1/2lb per week to up my calories ?

try to eat 50% of my exercise calories back?

Increase my weights and decrease my reps?

Want to be hitting 10% bf by summer so might be rushing to lose it too quiclky if im honest.

nikkijoshua

Your changes sound like a step in the right direction, but HIIT shouldn't be done daily, so incorporating HIIT is excellent for burning fat while preserving muscle, but do it every other day, no more that 3 times per week. Also, I still recommend eating back all of your exercise calories if you have a reliable way to estimate calories burned during exercise using an HRM, BMF, or a similar gadget. One last thing to keep in mind is that in order to get the best estimate of your lean body mass, you also need to know what percentage of your body weight is water/fluid. Your body is not just fat and muscle so to subtract BF% from your weight is not an accurate measure of LBM. The greatest percentage of body weight is water/fluid so if you don't have a scale that tells you what % of your weight is water and what % is fat, it's not possible to accurately determine what % is LBM. Hope this is helpful.