The truth about muscle loss while dieting 💪

There’s a chart I wish to present you at the moment.

It reveals the share of fats vs. fat-free mass misplaced at totally different ranges of calorie deficit, relying on whether or not you’re power coaching or not. (You’ll discover it under.)

It additionally sheds gentle on certainly one of my LEAST favourite traits I see within the health trade at the moment: making sweeping statements with none context.

And with the ​rise of GLP-1 medications​ like Ozempic and Wegovy, I see this one popping up in every single place:

“If you happen to don’t eat sufficient protein and elevate weights, you’re simply shedding all your muscle.”

We’ll get into it, however excessive statements like this are simply wildly unhelpful, and miss a lot of the necessary nuance.

Is power coaching helpful when you’re on these drugs or a calorie deficit usually? Sure.

However in case you take heed to the final chatter on the web (by no means actually a good suggestion), it makes it sound like muscle is actually falling off of your physique with every step you are taking. And that’s not solely fear-mongering, it’s simply not true.

Let’s zoom out:

I wish to break down what’s really taking place in your physique so we are able to have some actual discuss in regards to the totally different tradeoffs concerned.

✅ If you happen to’re in a calorie deficit, you’ll drop some pounds

✅ Everytime you drop some pounds, there’s all the time some quantity of lack of lean mass. (I.e. stuff apart from fats)

✅ Energy coaching and consuming greater quantities of protein may also help you protect extra of your muscle mass​ whereas in a caloric deficit

✅ The bigger your deficit, the extra lean mass you are likely to lose regardless of what you do.

✅ And GLP-1s don’t change that – they simply assist folks stick with bigger deficits than they could in any other case.

So to recap, every time anybody within the historical past of ceaselessly has misplaced weight, a few of that has come from lean mass.

The bigger the caloric deficit you might be in (i.e. the sooner you might be dropping pounds), the higher the share of that weight will come from lean mass. That is completely regular and anticipated.

Energy coaching and consuming greater quantities of protein can completely enable you to protect extra of your lean mass. However you’re not going from “shedding all muscle” to “shedding zero muscle.” These modifications are levels, not all-or-nothing.

How a lot of a distinction can coaching and consuming extra protein make?

I’m so glad you requested!

Right here’s a chart that reveals on common the place we anticipate weight reduction to come back from. (Particular person outcomes will range primarily based on genetics, kind of coaching, weight loss program, and many others.)

Typically, power coaching helps protect an additional 10-15% of lean physique mass.

So, for instance, in case you misplaced 10 kilos over the course of three months on a 500 kcal/day deficit, you’d anticipate round 2.5 kilos of that to be from lean mass in case you weren’t coaching, and 1.5 kilos of that to be from lean mass in case you had been coaching (I.e. a 1 pound distinction.)

Why this issues:

I see so many individuals get discouraged as a result of they really feel like they’re not “doing it proper.”

Possibly they’re not ​strength training​ but.

Possibly they haven’t found out how you can hit their protein goals​.

Possibly they’re simply attempting to stay consistent​ with any a part of the method.

And so they begin listening to issues like:

“You’re simply shedding muscle.”

“You’re ruining all of your progress.”

“You’re doing it flawed.”

However in actuality? You’re simply making a trade-off.

For example, perhaps a slight caloric deficit with no power coaching is less complicated so that you can preserve than a a lot greater deficit with power coaching added in. Positive, it might take longer to see the load loss – however the ratio of fats free and fats mass is actually the identical in every of those eventualities.

Or perhaps you consciously go on a bigger caloric deficit for a brief time frame, and comply with that up with a extra targeted muscle-building section to rebuild a few of that lean mass. That’s one other viable technique.

The purpose is: if we are able to minimize by means of the concern mongering and wildly overblown statements, we are able to have an precise dialogue about what’s the only option for you primarily based on the place you’re at at the moment.

Actual discuss from a coach:

If you happen to’re simply getting began and weight reduction is your purpose, focusing solely on staying in a modest calorie deficit​ is likely to be one of the best transfer.

That alone may also help scale back joint ache, enhance vitality, and enhance confidence.

Then as soon as that’s strong? Add in power coaching.

Then protein.

Then perhaps some strolling or sleep habits​.

You don’t need to do every little thing, all over the place, abruptly to achieve success.

In truth, the general public we work with discover success by constructing a basis after which including to it – one habit at a time​.

TL;DR:

• Sure, consuming sufficient protein and lifting weights will enable you to preserve extra muscle.
• Greater calorie deficits = extra muscle loss, even in case you’re doing every little thing else “proper.”
• However these are levels, not disasters.
• Concentrate on what you can do.

Wish to chat about how you can apply this to your plan? Simply hit reply and let me know.

You’ve received this.

-Matt