Muscle loss

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kathar

New member
I'm terrified of losing muscle. I know it's going to happen if I reduce my calories, which is even more frightening considering I'm not sure I have anything in the first place. Last time I got measured I had 32% body fat. That's almost a third of my body. I'm only 145 pounds, but if you go by fat, I'm practically obese. This is scary.

It's even more frightening because I just can't eat all my protein here. I've tried, but I can't, not without going over my calories. Today I had about 50 grams, maximum.

I don't know if my resistance training is helping. I don't know what I'm doing and nobody's around to help. The amount of weight I'm using is pathetic - on some of the machines, 30 is a struggle, and on the free weights, even 20 is a struggle - especially when I have to reset the machines after everyone else who uses them. People notice this. I know they're thinking things when they go on after me and see it set to such a low amount. (Never mind the fact that if my cardio routine is, apparently, an excuse not to work hard, I'm probably making excuses not to work hard here too.)
 
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Hey, I deserve a slap for being discouraging in your prior post. I promise that was not my intention. "Slow motion is better than no motion" -- taken right from Steve's signature! Everybody has got some muscle, no matter how long it's been since you've picked a dumbbell. We were just discussing muscle loss in another thread today. The weight you are using on the machines is NOT pathetic as long as it is a struggle for you. Are you hitting each muscle group? If so and you are hitting those muscles 3x a week and slowly increasing the intensity over time, you will maintain the muscle you have.

Don't worry about all those meat-heads that live at the gym. I know it's hard to ignore (there are things in the gym I am self-conscience about, too), but you've just got to look around and think about all the people that AREN'T in the gym because they don't have the courage to come lift the small weights. Those are the people that will never lose any weight and you aren't one of them. Being there trying is what sets you apart.

As far as your protein/calorie intake, I'm not really an expert on nutrition (still learning myself), but I'm sure it would help you to take a look at the stickies in the nutrition forum. Maybe your daily calorie goal is too low?

Regarding your cardio routine, clearly it is not a waste of time if it is a challenge for you. In the other post I was referring to a belief I have that low-intensity interval training is probably not any more effective than just straight up cardio. ANY routine is going to be more effective than NO routine. Have you tried other ways of getting your cardio? Ellipticals or bikes? When I began a cardio routine and was obese and pack a day smoker, I couldn't jog for more than a few minutes either. Jogging isn't the end-all be-all to cardio. I found it much better on my joints (and more fun) to use alternative methods of getting my heart rate up that didn't make me feel like such a downer by not being able to jog consistently. You are doing great- hang in there!
 
I don't know if I'm hitting each muscle group. The machines tell you what you're doing but that's only if you're doing them right and I doubt I am. Plus I'm not even supposed to be using them. I don't know why they put them there if people aren't supposed to be using them. And I read in other posts that no matter WHAT you do you'll lose muscle while losing weight. The strength traing, if I recall correctly, is just so you can maybe maintain a little.

I'm 5'2 and I'm pretty sure I weigh 145. I'm trying for 1200-1500 calories per day. Usually, it comes out in the 1300-1400 range. The problem is that there isn't much meat around here that I can eat. Since Tuesday, I've eaten meat once, on Saturday. I try and replace it with stuff like tofu and hummus, but the totals still come out too low. This scares me more than you know. I can't afford to lose muscle when I don't have much of anything in the first place.

And the cardio routine is challenging for me, so much that I hate doing it. I dread every time the "running song" comes up. I just hate exercise, in general. I hate feeling crampy and tired and out of breath. I hate sweating. Most of all, I hate the fact that I'm going to have to do this at least three time a week for the rest of my life, and make it harder every single time. I know this is supposed to be a lifestyle change, but it feels more like a prison sentence. I don't like the elliptical and bike because they can't *make* you go a certain speed or have a certain incline like the treadmill can.
 
And I read in other posts that no matter WHAT you do you'll lose muscle while losing weight. The strength traing, if I recall correctly, is just so you can maybe maintain a little.
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Since you are a total novice, you will probably experience the phenomena of seeing some small increases in muscle mass from weight training even in caloric deficit at the beginning of your programme. After that, you should expect to maintain if you keep up with the resistance training. I know it's an annoying thing to think about muscle loss, but I wouldn't worry too much about it and just focus on what you can control with weight training.

Since it sounds like you are totally new to resistance training, this is going to be a big challenge for you. For beginners, most suggest doing compound exercises like squats, flat or incline dumbbell bench press, or standing military press. Check out the sticky "Basic Lifts" for detailed descriptions of these exercises including videos. I don't know about your gym, but I attend a university gym as well and ask people in good shape for help/pointers often and they seem eager to give advice.

Trying to live off university food is very challenging. I actually lost about 20 pounds my freshmen year of college that I lived in the dorms due to missing meals and being overall unhealthy. When I moved out, I gained 43 pounds over the next 3.5 years in college. If I were you, I would only concern myself with things you have control over. Make the best possible choices you can in the cafeteria with the choices you have and maybe ideas will come to you as time goes by. Nutrition or exercise aren't really exact sciences, so it's probably a good idea to do the best you can for a while and see if that is resulting in any progress.

You know, I hated cardio at first too. It's grown on me so much. I look forward to it every day. It's hard to believe because I was in the same boat as you. This initial "hump" is the worst part. Things will get easier (or at least you will get more used to them).
 
I doubt anyone cares that you are lowering the weight on the machines...most people probably don't even notice.
 
My experience is that the "muscle heads " in the Gym spend 99% of the time looking at themselves in the mirror.
 
You cannot worry about what other people think.
I know this is easier said than done but it is the truth. Everyone needs to start somewhere. If you are in the gym making an honest effort and exerting yourself it should not matter what others think.

Machines are fine to start with. You will get a benefit from them- there is no reason you should not use them. They are not the end all be all and in time I think you will want to use free weights but they are fine for a beginner.

As for the protein and such. Look into supplements if you can. If you are unable to do not worry so much about it. It will not effect you as much as you are thinking right now and you may be getting more than you think.

Just relax. Most of this is supposed to be fun- at least enjoyable. The easiest way to discourage yourself is to dread any part of this. Enjoy what you are able to do and take pleasure in being able to do more. Watch what you eat but do not obsess.
 
Based on what one of the PT at my gym recently told me, for my age (28) and to lose fat (I'm at 26.2%), I shouldn't go over 130 for my heart rate unless training for long distance running. (Which I am, I am training for a 5K) So I have changed my Cardio routine to do the fat burn programs on either treadmill, ellipitcal, cross trainer or the stair master so that my heart rate stays around 130 for all except the stair master (because it's impossible to keep hr that low) except on days I'm running for my 5K program.

It's important to keep the heart rate higher than 120 for the duration of your fat burn program, and you really need to go for times longer than 30 mins. I get bored from one machine, so I quickly switch to another while keeping my hr up.

It's important for me to get my fat % down to 22% or so which is why I have decided to change up my program to include the fat burning programs and keep my heart rate low to maximize fat loss. This should help you lose fat as well, but don't get discouraged because you probably won't sweat as much as if you are running and you probably may feel like you aren't doing much, but you probably really will be.

Also, you should find out what your Max HR should be for fat loss. And perhaps you can try some HIIT while doing your program. There are some great stickied threads on HIIT which is Interval training to boost fat loss as well. You can do this with various machines and cardio equipment.

Good luck to you.
 
I'm going to echo several of the other posts on here in saying that you must not pay attention to the others at the gym. Everyone there has a completely different body, fitness level, metabolism, etc. You must just work with what you have and try to find the strong/good points.

This is much easier said than done. I still struggle with some of the meatheads and feeling intimidated at the gym. I'm not a meathead by any means and i have no desire to be one. That doesn't mean that I don't have the right to lift weights and strength train like everyone else does though, does it?

Who cares what other people think about how much weight your lifting? At least you are lifting weights. More importantly you should pay more attention to your form and reps/rests I would think. I've seen some of the toughest looking meatheads at my gym make themselves look like jackasses because they have the worst form I've ever seen (and I am no expert by any means but I'm pretty confident in saying I can identify bad/wrong form with free weights when I see it). It's like, no wonder you can lift that much weight when your form is that shitty, dumbass....

Keep on goin :)

-Sam
 
photocrazed, it really sounds like your trainer is into the "fat burning zone" stuff. i don't really understand why trainers tell their clients to hold themselves back in order to burn more fat.

kathar, you are a bit overweight or no? i know steve has said many times that those of us who are overweight don't have as much of a risk of losing muscle at the beginning of our weight loss.
 
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photocrazed said:
Based on what one of the PT at my gym recently told me, for my age (28) and to lose fat (I'm at 26.2%), I shouldn't go over 130 for my heart rate unless training for long distance running. (Which I am, I am training for a 5K) So I have changed my Cardio routine to do the fat burn programs on either treadmill, ellipitcal, cross trainer or the stair master so that my heart rate stays around 130 for all except the stair master (because it's impossible to keep hr that low) except on days I'm running for my 5K program.
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At 130 bpm, you're still only at about 70% MHR.........what is the rationale for not going over this benchmark ?

photocrazed said:
It's important to keep the heart rate higher than 120 for the duration of your fat burn program, and you really need to go for times longer than 30 mins. I get bored from one machine, so I quickly switch to another while keeping my hr up.

It's important for me to get my fat % down to 22% or so which is why I have decided to change up my program to include the fat burning programs and keep my heart rate low to maximize fat loss. This should help you lose fat as well, but don't get discouraged because you probably won't sweat as much as if you are running and you probably may feel like you aren't doing much, but you probably really will be.

Also, you should find out what your Max HR should be for fat loss. And perhaps you can try some HIIT while doing your program. There are some great stickied threads on HIIT which is Interval training to boost fat loss as well. You can do this with various machines and cardio equipment.Good luck to you.
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If you want to maximize fat loss, shouldn't you want to maximize your calories burned per minute ?

So, all other things being equal, if you wanted, for example, to do 30 minutes of steady state cardio, you'd want to go as hard as you can ( i.e the higher intensity cardio program vs the somewhat lower intensity fat burn program ) since that burns more calories - relatively speaking - would you not ?
 
It's important for me to get my fat % down to 22% or so which is why I have decided to change up my program to include the fat burning programs and keep my heart rate low to maximize fat loss.
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Yea, I don't understand this either, but I see on cardio machines that the lower HR range is for "fat burning." It seems counterintuitive. I'm sure there's a thread out there that explains this better. If anyone finds it, post it.
 
kathar said:
And I read in other posts that no matter WHAT you do you'll lose muscle while losing weight. The strength traing, if I recall correctly, is just so you can maybe maintain a little.
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"If youre doing cardio and resistance training youll loose muscle" is something so many fitness sites claim. But it IS false.. unless
- youre body-building and already in great shape with low fat %

The important thing to understand is to loose weight you need a calorie deficit, to grow muscle you need protein, to work out and to have excess caloires in your diet.

If you have a high fat percentage then you already have the excess calories... just stored. You can still put on muscle with a calorie deficit, so long as youre getting the protein you require.. which IS REALLY TRICKY!

Loads of people use suppliments to get the protein they need, but usually they contain quite a high percentage of carbohydrate which dosent help with the calorie deficit.
What you have to try and do is get 100g+ of proetin in any way you can in your meals, tuna and low fat milk are two easy cheap ways to do so. Fish, steak and skinless chicken are good too.keep your calorie intake about 1500kcal (or whatever you want it to be)
To help muscle gain, make sure you go to they gym and do cardio without being in a state of deficit, save that for when youre sleeping (eat either side of your workout)

When you sleep your metabolism slows, this is the perfect time to hit your fat stores, NOT during your workout! Fat has to go through quite a few steps before it is ready for glycolysis (1st step in respiration) which is why protein is ususally used before fat for a respiratory substrate. If you can keep your muscles with enough calories and protein whilst youre awake, and you put them into a state of deficit when youre asleep you can gain muscle and loose fat.

Its just a tricky balance. You also need to go to sleep when youre starting to run outve easy energy for your body. Some people find it harder than others, but im currently gaining 1cm a week on arms, 2-3cm a week on chest and loosing about 2cm on my waist a week, i am sure this will slow down soon though. It does very much depend what stage youre at fitnesswise.

As for weights, It takes a while to get up. Instead of thinking about the people at the gym think about all the people sitting in their houses not doing anything about it :)

Ask staff at the gym "am i using this correctly" that way you will target the right muscles, or target the effeciently. (its not as if theyre not charging you a fortune!)
Also when youre using the machines good form is really important. Count to 2 in the contraction phase and 4 in the relaxation phase. (So when lifting in a bicep curl count to 2, and when bringing the dumbell back to your side count to 4, slowly.) Its believed that you get just as much if not more benefit from the relaxation phase if you go slowly in comparison to the contraction phase.
 
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JamesH said:
"If youre doing cardio and resistance training youll loose muscle" is something so many fitness sites claim. But it IS false.. unless
- youre body-building and already in great shape with low fat %

The important thing to understand is to loose weight you need a calorie deficit, to grow muscle you need protein, to work out and to have excess caloires in your diet.

If you have a high fat percentage then you already have the excess calories... just stored. You can still put on muscle with a calorie deficit, so long as youre getting the protein you require.. which IS REALLY TRICKY!

Loads of people use suppliments to get the protein they need, but usually they contain quite a high percentage of carbohydrate which dosent help with the calorie deficit.
What you have to try and do is get 100g+ of proetin in any way you can in your meals, tuna and low fat milk are two easy cheap ways to do so. Fish, steak and skinless chicken are good too.keep your calorie intake about 1500kcal (or whatever you want it to be)
To help muscle gain, make sure you go to they gym and do cardio without being in a state of deficit, save that for when youre sleeping (eat either side of your workout)

When you sleep your metabolism slows, this is the perfect time to hit your fat stores, NOT during your workout! Fat has to go through quite a few steps before it is ready for glycolysis (1st step in respiration) which is why protein is ususally used before fat for a respiratory substrate. If you can keep your muscles with enough calories and protein whilst youre awake, and you put them into a state of deficit when youre asleep you can gain muscle and loose fat.

Its just a tricky balance. You also need to go to sleep when youre starting to run outve easy energy for your body. Some people find it harder than others, but im currently gaining 1cm a week on arms, 2-3cm a week on chest and loosing about 2cm on my waist a week, i am sure this will slow down soon though. It does very much depend what stage youre at fitnesswise.

As for weights, It takes a while to get up. Instead of thinking about the people at the gym think about all the people sitting in their houses not doing anything about it :)

Ask staff at the gym "am i using this correctly" that way you will target the right muscles, or target the effeciently. (its not as if theyre not charging you a fortune!)
Also when youre using the machines good form is really important. Count to 2 in the contraction phase and 4 in the relaxation phase. (So when lifting in a bicep curl count to 2, and when bringing the dumbell back to your side count to 4, slowly.) Its believed that you get just as much if not more benefit from the relaxation phase if you go slowly in comparison to the contraction phase.
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This post has some valid points however I'll just put in my 2 cents...you need to get at least 1g of protein per lean body mass in order to support your muscles. If you believe that you're going over the calorie threshold doing 30-45 min of cardio first thing in the morning should take care of that. Also remember that in order for the body to process protein it needs to use calories so there are less impact calories than you see on the label :)
 
Since I'm 137, I guess that means I need about 94 grams of protein. That still seems like a lot. I'd have to eat a meal-size portion of, say, chicken over 4 times a day to get that.

I'm sorry. I just have to do this *right*.
 
I can show you some of what I've done, if that helps. You don't have to just eat meat. Protein is found in a lot of things. I think you like tofu, so that would help. These weren't all I ate that day, just the things with protein. I also eat quite a bit of eggs, fish and peanut butter for my protein.


bean burrito - 11 grams
6 oz of chilcken - 53 grams
can of tuna - 25 grams
1% milk - 8 grams
bread - 3 grams
ice cream - 6 grams
TOTAL: 106 grams
Calories: 1400 including the other foods


bean burrito - 11 grams
7 oz of chicken - 61 grams
cottage cheese - 8 grams
1% milk - 8 grams
peas - 3 grams
TOTAL: 91 grams
Calories: 950 including the other foods, I was sick that day
 
you can get low fat milk powder which is 200kcal and 20g of protein per pint (57g / pint) Will need flavoring with something like nesquick!

Have that and something for breakfast and after your workout. Thats 40g protein and 400kcal. Youve got 1200kcal to play with and 60g protein to get.

I forget where I read this, but you can only really gain 1lb of muscle a week after the newbie growth.
This is equal to an excess of 15g per day.
 
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