When does the body start to burn muscle?

[TarHeelBred]

If you still have fat (stomach, legs, butt) on your body, does your body still try and burn up muscle when your missing nutrients (say in the morning) or will it always go for the fat (as long as you have some) before muscle? Or are there cases when your body will choose to burn muscle over fat or vise versa?

Thanks in advance guys,

 

[malkore]

it depends on your calorie intake. if your general trend is to consume under your maintenance calories by more than 10%, the body will tend to burn muscle. you only need a certain amount of muscle mass to move around, so excess muscle is the first thing the body burns when it thinks its starving. it'll save the fat until muscle mass is depleted.

not eating in the mornign is a bad idea for a variety of reasons, not just to avoid a catabolic state.

 

[TytMyk]

it depends on your calorie intake. if your general trend is to consume under your maintenance calories by more than 10%, the body will tend to burn muscle. you only need a certain amount of muscle mass to move around, so excess muscle is the first thing the body burns when it thinks its starving. it'll save the fat until muscle mass is depleted.

not eating in the mornign is a bad idea for a variety of reasons, not just to avoid a catabolic state.

this is something i've pondered as well. just so i understand, malkore... i should not burn muscle as long as i'm staying above a 10% deficit in maintenance calories? my reason for asking is for when i start cutting. just want to make sure i maximize lean muscle retention. i'm very afraid of losing what i will be working hard to achieve over the next few months once i start trimming down. i know there are a lot of factors that go in to this, but i'd like to be clear on the caloric aspect of it to begin with. thanks!!

 

[Chillen]

If you still have fat (stomach, legs, butt) on your body, does your body still try and burn up muscle when your missing nutrients (say in the morning) or will it always go for the fat (as long as you have some) before muscle? Or are there cases when your body will choose to burn muscle over fat or vise versa?

Thanks in advance guys,

Energy partitioning (as I term it) is a complicated subject, and can be very person specific, though there can be some common ground dependent on one's diet perimeters, activities (such as training, etc), genetics, metabolism (which can be effected through diet/activity), and so on and so forth.

This can be difficult to answer, because it simply can depend on the person.

An example: One sets a calorie deficit to solicit fat loss. Never dieted before. Never exercised before. Body fat is very high. Person is young and very healthy no known medical condition. One assumption that could be made in this situation, is that this person will "likely" lose some fat (according to his/her genetic disposition, etc), but gain some strength/muscle at the same time.

Another example: One sets a calorie deficit to lose fat tissue. Been weight training for years. Dieting in different ways for years. Body fat is about 12 percent. Previous trend history is a slow bulk. This is a different situation than the above example, in that (dependent on diet circumference, etc), fat loss could be slower, and "some" muscle loss can occur.

It just depends on several personal variables and how one manipulates the variables that influence these factors.


Best regards,


Chillen