I want to cut but afraid of losing muscle
JLgainz1
Posts: 7 Member
OK, here are my stats. 6’ 2”, 202 lbs. have been working out for two years very consistently. I never miss a day of my routine. I must’ve had some newbie gains because I gained about 20 pounds over the last two years. I want to work on my abs so that they can be seen. Currently I’m probably 16% body fat so just a good healthy level right now. I want to do a cut but I’m afraid of losing all the hardEarned muscle. I thought about doing intermittent fasting and then taking BCAA during The fast. There is a huge debate in the fitness community on whether intermittent fasting grows muscles due to increase HGH. I feel like intermittent fasting will make me lose muscle. Anyone had experience with this? I started as a hard gainer toothpick, And I’m finally in a good place mentally and I don’t want to lose what I work so hard to get. Do I just need to get over this?
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Replies
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@JLgainz1, IF might help you better achieve your calories consumption goals but it alone won't add to or rob you of your hard-earned muscles. Continue lifting smartly and eating at a level that supports your training, then ask yourself what are you going to do with them visible abs if and when they arrive?
I'm an older guy but have had periods of more visible abs in my 50's and they're starting to say "hi" again now that I'm in my 60's and at my goal weight. Honestly, they never did anything for me other than to swell my head. But, you're a young guy and your mindset is a whole lot different. Chase athleticism and your body will naturally showcase itself more favorable if your feeding is correct.4 -
Losing fat will almost certainly cause a loss of lean body mass as well. But this is not entirely muscle mass, some is water, glycogen stores, and other stuff that is not muscle.
You have to ask yourself, how important are the abs? Do you plan to walk around with your shirt off all day every day? Do you normally show visible abs when you are at your average maintenance body weight?
If not, the abs are going to be a lot more work to maintain than whatever perceived benefit they are providing.
Your muscle mass makes you more useful, harder to kill, and more attractive with clothes on.
So anyways, if you still want to "get shredded" you will pay a small price in hard earned muscle for it. You can always gain back the muscle. But remember with weight gain, fat and muscle gain are inextricably intertwined. These processes cannot be separated, only skewed.
20lbs can be gained in a month with the right program and diet. Maybe you still have quite a bit of gains to be had as a novice lifter. Check out this: https://startingstrength.com/get-started
Novice doesn't mean inexperienced in this definition. It means that you still can maybe progress workout to workout. And if you haven't exhausted novice linear progression yet, you are almost certainly still a novice. Then you can definitely add some more lean body mass and strength.
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I went through the same thing man. I lost quite a bit of size. It's hard not to when you are at a deficit. I also intermediated and still do. BCAAs will help during your fasting window though with keeping some protein synthesis going and hindering catabolism. I kinda live under the rule of got to sacrifice one for the other. For me, it's an never ending cycle. As far as gain size, lose definition and vice versa. Especially if it's natural. I think HIIT cardio is the best route or a slow steady pace for 30 minutes to an hour. Maybe at an incline. Just gradually work you deficit down as you go. I think I made that mistake. That's just my opinion though.1
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There's nothing anabolic about not eating.
BCAAs are at the very best a poor choice compared to whey protein.
Just keep your protein up, keep training and lose weight slowly. There's no reason you should lose any significant muscle if you do that.
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The best thing you can do to minimize muscle loss in a cut are:
- Following a properly designed progressive lifting program
- Adequate protein intake, I would say at least 1g per lb goalweight minimum
- Not having an aggressive deficit where you are run down and your lifts are suffering
- Diet breaks and refeeds as needed and as you get leaner
You can fast if it helps you remain in a deficit but I have seen no research indicating it is superior or inferior to prevent or cause muscle loss. I think as long as you aren't being ridiculous, you should be ok! Even if you do lose a bit of muscle once you enter maintenance or surplus it shouldn't be too hard to get that bit back again.7 -
Note that I have zero in common with you, OP, as I'm still very unfit and therefore unqualified to advise! However, I remembered reading this article some time ago, and you might find it useful?
https://www.precisionnutrition.com/cost-of-getting-lean
[ETA: It includes a great infographic that breaks down the pros and cons of getting to certain levels of leanness.)5 -
Unless your nutrition is completely inadequate, BCAA's are trash. They are also caloric, despite what the labels say (there's an FDA loophole that allows them to claim zero calories), therefore using while "fasting"...uh...you're not actually fasting, as you're ingesting calories. See how that's kind of silly?
OP, you can cut and maintain muscle mass. Don't get in a hurry with it, make sure you keep your protein up, and continue to train.
edit - there's no reason to fast unless it's something you just particularly want to do or you like it.6 -
All I’m going to say is go for either 1.3-1.5g per lb of bodyweight for your daily protein intake. Do not screw up and starve yourself and do not ditch food for supplements either.
Keep a healthy diet to keep every aspect of your body fuelled, have a deficit of around 200-500 calories and up your protein to 1.3g-1.5g/lb. With that as your general rule you can’t go wrong, from there you test and adjust in small increments to find what suits your body and more specifically, your lifestyle.
I’ve been at this too damn long to watch gents go into starvation mode, lose all their gains and get skinny limbs whilst growing a gut from starvation mode, which is a shock your body enters when it has a sudden large calorie intake drop.
Starvation Mode, put very simply, is that your body freaks out and worries about the drop if food, so instinctively it gets what ever food it’s getting, uses less of the energy and starts building fat storage, just incase your food drops again and you starve to death. It’s a human reaction everyone’s body does, DO NOT let your body get into the shock.
I’m happy for you to message me anytime and ask anything further, I’d prefer that than letting you go down the wrong path.
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LeeThomasMackie wrote: »Starvation Mode, put very simply, is that your body freaks out and worries about the drop if food, so instinctively it gets what ever food it’s getting, uses less of the energy and starts building fat storage, just incase your food drops again and you starve to death. It’s a human reaction everyone’s body does, DO NOT let your body get into the shock.
No, it really doesn't.11 -
Thank you everybody for the advice.2
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Make your calorie deficit a gradual process rather than starvation mode. It’ll help you maintain lean muscle mass and your strength. Like others have said make sure your protein intake is around 1.3g per lb of body weight and those abs will gradually show but remember it’ll take time.5
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Note that I have zero in common with you, OP, as I'm still very unfit and therefore unqualified to advise! However, I remembered reading this article some time ago, and you might find it useful?
https://www.precisionnutrition.com/cost-of-getting-lean
[ETA: It includes a great infographic that breaks down the pros and cons of getting to certain levels of leanness.)
Thanks for posting this, SueSue!2 -
OK, here are my stats. 6’ 2”, 202 lbs. have been working out for two years very consistently. I never miss a day of my routine. I must’ve had some newbie gains because I gained about 20 pounds over the last two years. I want to work on my abs so that they can be seen. Currently I’m probably 16% body fat so just a good healthy level right now. I want to do a cut but I’m afraid of losing all the hardEarned muscle. I thought about doing intermittent fasting and then taking BCAA during The fast. There is a huge debate in the fitness community on whether intermittent fasting grows muscles due to increase HGH. I feel like intermittent fasting will make me lose muscle. Anyone had experience with this? I started as a hard gainer toothpick, And I’m finally in a good place mentally and I don’t want to lose what I work so hard to get. Do I just need to get over this?
Most people already addressed the major items, but i wanted to note a few things.
The increase in HGH while fasting is for mobilizing fatty acids. Its also not generally outside the physiological range. And most importantly, HGH does not increase cross sectional muscle mass. Even taken exogenously, it only increases water weight and can improve connective tissue.
And if i can find the studies, there is evidence that spreading protein may provide a better environment for muscle gains as MPS occurs more frequently. IIRC, Layne Norton, PhD showed that during his PhD thesis and it has been replicated a fee times.3 -
I was also going to mention Layne Norton & see someone already did. BCAA’s while fasting would take you out of the fasted state.1
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