Muscle attrition during weight loss

Andy2

Andy2

New member
I feel like i've gained a lot of valuable information for this forum, but there is still one area I don't quite understand. According do the calorie deficet idea (as I understand it) if you are below, you will lose muscle/fat, but if you are above maintainence, then you gain muscle fat.

Herein lies my question. When I strength train while dieting below maintainence, and I stretch/rip/whatever my muscles, are they repairing to become larger? Assuming proper balance of carbs/fats/protien.

The reason I ask is I have heard that its impossible to add mass while on a deficiet. If so, what is the reason behind lifting at all? Perhaps to maintain current mass? Or does it swing the total porportion of fat/muscle loss in favor of fat?
 
Short answer:
If so, what is the reason behind lifting at all? Perhaps to maintain current mass? Or does it swing the total porportion of fat/muscle loss in favor of fat?
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Yes and yes.

Read this:

I just posted it in another thread as well.
 
If you are completely new to strength training and weight lifting then you will gain some muscle even if you are in a deficit, but you won't go much beyond that initial gain. You strength gains will be the same way, you'll notice a huge increase in what you can lift and do in the first few months, then it will slow down quite a bit (all of this is assuming you are in a deficit of course). It's definitely worth doing though, take a picture of yourself before you start weight training and then a pic a few months after and you'll see what I mean.
 
Ive read and reread the article, but I feel like this was geared towards people who are intending to soley build mass on a diet over maintainence, though diet was not stated. While it contains some nice info one the depreciated returns on muscle growth, I really am more concerned about maintaining during loss.



If the end answer is that it helps to preserve (read: instead of build)muscle and in doing so a higher ratio of fat is lost, than I can acceot that is the most logical answer, because it still satisfies the requirements of the entire calorie maintenance model.
 
Tamago said:
If you are completely new to strength training and weight lifting then you will gain some muscle even if you are in a deficit, but you won't go much beyond that initial gain. You strength gains will be the same way, you'll notice a huge increase in what you can lift and do in the first few months, then it will slow down quite a bit (all of this is assuming you are in a deficit of course). It's definitely worth doing though, take a picture of yourself before you start weight training and then a pic a few months after and you'll see what I mean.
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I have been incorporating lifting into my gym visits for the past few months, but the information you state about declining returns sounds true regardless of deficit or surplus of maintainence.
 
From my own experience I think a lot of muscle gains during deficit diets is more based on genetics.

Personally, I have no problem gaining muscle while under a deficit, but I DO have to make sure my protein levels are fairly high.

Keep in mind I've never had a significant amount of fat to lose though to gauge it over higher levels of loss. Meaning it wouldn't take me longer than 3-4 months to lose the extra weight, which is typically when a weight lifting plateau may happen.
 
Hi Andy,

The thing to remember with the 'calories in vs calories out' theory is that the key word is WEIGHT loss/gain. It does not mean specifically fat or muscle. SO just because you are in a caloric deficit does not mean you will lose fat (theoretically) but you will lose weight. The same is said when you have a caloric surplus - the weight gain may be fat, muscle or fat and muscle.

Having said that it is possible to gain muscle while on a caloric deficit. Muscle growth requires three things - stimulus (weight training), nutrients (protein, vitamins, water, etc), and rest (time to grow).

Sorry if I've gone on a bit too much here. To answer your question about why you would lift weights while in eating below maintenance I would say that the benefits include:
building muscle/maintaining what you have, improving insulin sensitivity and nutrient partitioning (both good things for fat loss), strengthening/maintaining bone strength and increasing metabolism.
 
Yeah, if you strength train in a deficit you may increase muscle mass. As you suggested, you will help to preserve the muscle.

The amount of muscle lost while dieting is higher if you're not strength training than if you are. So even if you don't gain muscle, you improve the ratio of fat to muscle loss. There are other factors like protein intake, but while some people maintain muscle with adequate protein, others (like me!) need the strength training or the body decides that the fat is far more important to save. ... If a famine ever comes, my body wants to be prepared!
 
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