muscle Loss VS. Fat loss

First of all 1200-1400 calories a day for a male unless you are like 4' tall is way too little. Generally for a male a minimum of 1500 calories is considered necessary for meeting nutritional needs. At your weight and height, you should likely be eating a lot more as such low calories will result in a larger percentage of muscle loss.

As to your weight loss, you likely have lost fat and muscle, but the percentages of each is impossible to determine without a DEXA scan. Keep measuring your progress with more than just the scale. Taking measurements or chest, waist, and hips at the very least is good. I would also suggest taking a photo every 3-4 weeks to be able to compare since it will let you see the changes over time more clearly.

In terms of exercise, I would suggest increasing the resistance training as much as you can. Heavier weights are good if available. Bodyweight exercises works well as well.

You are likely losing both but lifting weights will help you retain the muscle. Also, as far as muscle weighing more than fat. Nothing weighs more than anything else. A pounds of feathers weighs the same as a pound of brick. HOWEVER, a pound of fat is bigger than a pound of muscle, if that makes more sense.

I agree with much of what rileysowner said. While I am by no means an expert, I will offer you the knowledge that I have gained mainly through these forums. First, it is virtually impossible to lose a large amount of fat without also losing some muscle. But the good news is that the more fat you have to lose, the larger percentage of the weight loss will be fat. In order to minimize the amount of muscle you lose, I would suggest the following:

Eat more calories. 1200-1400 is not enough for most males, particularly over 300 lbs. Yes, you need to have a deficit to lose weight, but if the deficit is too large, the more likely you are to lose muscle. It might take a bit longer to see the number on the scale go down, but it will be worth it in the long run.

Add strength training to your fitness routine as much as possible. This will help to preserve the muscle you have.

Reassess your nutritional and fitness goals often as you continue to lose weight. As your body changes, so will your nutritional needs. I prefer to use the TDEE calculators for calorie requirements, but it is really just a personal preference. You can find much information on the subject by looking around the forums and on line.

Congrats on your weight loss so far! I wish you much continued success.

As you start off, you may lose some percentage of muscle but the majority will still be fat. Not sure if you went to your doctor who in turn put you on a 1200 to 1400 diet. If so, you should stick with their recommendation. If its just a number you came up with, remember that your body needs fuel (good clean fuel) to boost your metabolism naturally. This in turn will help you burn more calories per day. If you are afraid of eating too much bad food with the caloric increase, think about throwing in a Veggie/Fruit juice into your already established diet. Juices range around 300-500 calories per 12oz depending on what fruits and juices you use. However the byproduct of that is that your body is getting a surge of natural vitamins and micro-nutrients that will absorb fast into your system because your stomach does not have to process all of the fiber in the veggies and fruits. I would definitely do some research on juicing and see if it sounds like a good option. Im on the run alot so i don't have time to cook meals every night, and supplementing a juice that takes 25 mins to make and drink and clean up works great for me. I would take a look at http://www.rebootwithjoe.com/ or www.all-about-juicing.com Riley was on point with your measurements. Take them weekly. VERY IMPORTANT....You will not see the results when you look in the mirror at first. So many people get discouraged by this. DON'T. You will always feel it in the clothes you wear and how you feel first. When your clothes start fitting more loosely you will now that it is working. When you have more energy, when you can think more clearly, you know that your body is working in a positive direction. Do not worry about the visuals, if you keep with the program, the results surely will come! Also you are walking 50 mins briskly a day. I would try to double that if you can. Keeping your heart rate up for a long sustain period of time also allows you to burn calories more efficiently and you also get the added bonus of release of endorphins which make you feel great! Feel free to add me as a friend and I'll be happy to help you in any way I can along your journey! Good Luck and Happy New Year!!

Hey.

Firstly, and most importantly, congratulations on making the decision to take account of your health and try to improve it. I am early on in the same process myself.

Secondly, you will have lost plenty of fat but also some muscle and a fair amount of water. As a larger guy it will be harder to see improvements in the mirror especially as they happen gradually so finding some other metric for improvement would be good.

You can jump on one of several well used beginner lifting programs that offer simple, linear progress from a standing start if you have access to a gym. If not then do what you can and try to increase your output some other way (reps, time etc). At the very least you can do calisthenics at home.

Thirdly, eat all the chicken and broccoli.

Get about a 1 gram of protein per bodyweight a day

Waay excessive for someone with as high a bf% as OP. 1 gram per pound of LBM is the real figure, and when you're really overweight, that becomes a huge difference. OP would probably be ok starting around 175 and going from there.

OP: blanket statements like the ones you quoted are pointlessly irrelevant. You can't just say "men eat 1200-1600" because that doesn't take into account height, age, activity level, current weight, lean body mass, etc. Also, "heavy lifting" doesn't mean "grab ALL THE WEIGHTS." It means lift whatever is going to be challenging for you. To quote Henry Rollins: The best way to fight weakness is with strength. If you don't know proper form for the lifts you are attempting, do some digging online for instructional video to learn proper form, start off very light until you are comfortable with the lifts, and THEN increase the intensity. You need that heavy stimulus to retain muscle, especially with such a long road of deficit eating to look forward to.

Protein shakes are just one way to get protein, and a largely unnecessary one at that. If you can get your protein from food, do that every time. Lots of lean meat and vegetables ftw.

There's nothing wrong with all the walking, but really all it's doing is creating a larger deficit and giving your heart and lungs a bit of a charge. It's great for someone just starting to get their health under control, but it's going to start giving diminishing returns fairly soon, so be ready for that.

What equipment do you have access to? What is your daily activity level like (job, regular life, etc)? How tall are you?

Thanks I am not sure I know what OP means or is??? I am a full time Entertainer (Magician) so I lift heavy trunks and setup and perform a 1 hour magic show most days, The only weight lifting thing I have is at my church its a bow flex so I have been working my legs, and arms after I walk 50mins. but that's all I have to work with as the closest gym is 45mins from my home and its $498 a year and I can not drive that far each day as the gas along would eat me up in a week!!

So I am 6'2'' and right now I am 303.4 was 360.8 when I started. But I tried eating 1,800 calories aday and di not lose any weight for 3-4 weeks, so I lower it down to 1,500 and still nothing after 3 weeks, then I droped it to 1,300-1,400 and I have been loseing 3lbs a week some weeks only 2.4lbs but that seems to be working.

OP: Original Poster

I have to say, you might be having some issues with your logging. At your height/weight/age/activity level, you should be able to take in 3k calories a day and still be losing. 2300 would be a deficit without even taking into account daily activity. I really think you're eating far too little. Be patient and safe about this and do some more research online and do it soon in order to try to get the discrepancies sorted.

Here is an anecdotal example for you... I lost 60 lbs about 12 years ago. It took a year but it was all the weight I had to lose at the time. I was doing weight watchers, which was giving me an average of 1200-1400 calories daily and I was running to train for a half marathon. Of the 60 lbs I lost, 13.5 lbs were lean mass... almost 25%.

You'll be losing fat. You have lots of fat to lose, but yeah, you're probably shedding lean mass too. Be sure to get 1g protein for each pound of your goal weight at least as a sort of guideline and then do a full body lifting routine 3 times a week to retain the muscle in conjunction with the protein. That will spare as much as possible if you're dead set on losing that quickly.

For some people, losing quickly is important. If it's not, go a bit slower and you'll lose even less lean mass in the process.

I use to eat at 1,600-1,700 and did not lose any weight.

Impossible. There is something wrong with your calorie counting.

Someone with that much to lose and not losing at "1600" calories is not counting correctly, and advice to "eat more" is completely inappropriate.