Burning muscle or fat?

[Jayhawkk]

I have been on a weight loss diet and exercise plan since Jan. To basically start all over and bulk up the right way. I expected a strength loss from both reduced carbs and over all weight loss. I'm using t-3 as well and realize that this does have a tendancy to soften muscles a bit.

My question is with the reduced strength and you're burning fat so you have to expect smaller measurements for arms,legs etc. so how do you know if you're burning muscle over fat and need to adjust? So far i've lost about 5.5 inches on my waist and about 3/4 of an inch on my upper arms.

I was reading up on a lot of things the past few days regarding increased cortisol and its effects and stress at work has had me in knots the past two weeks. So with this in mind I want to pay even closer attention than normal to make sure i'm not wasting any muscle that can be avoided.

[Viperspit]

Jayhawk, what's your stats? Ht. wt.? ~ bf%? It's not uncommon at all to lose siae in your arms and all over your body when dieting. If you've lost 5.5 inches off your waist, first off congrats, that's a great accomplishment, secondly, I'd suspect that you are probably over the 20% mark bf wise. That being said, my point is that is was most likely fat being burnt off your arms and not muscle. So don't sweat it, it's a good thing. Post some pics if you like as well, it's much easier to help that way. I wouldn't worry about cortisol issues at this point. concentrate on a solid diet and w/o plan and I'm sure the progress will continue. keep up the great work!

[Jayhawkk]

5'8"
Started in Jan at 238 at 42.5 waist and 17.75 arms
Currently 194 with just under 37 inch waist(both measured at widest point near belly button) and 17inch arms
Body fat was 24ish% Using caliper and impendence
Now it's about 15.5% using impedence. haven't get a read on calipers yet.


Some beginning pics. Forgive the funcky boxers. My wife enjoys buying me them so I wear em



These are from the very beginning of the month where I was about 200-202.




I have a very long way to go before I reach my goals but I started and have kept steady so i'll get there eventually

[Viperspit]

Great progress man, looking good. Big difference in a short time. I keep the protein high and supp with Creatine to protect against burning muscle. What's the diet looking like these days? macro's etc.

[Rodja]

The best way to tell if you are burning a significant amount of muscle is to take your LBM. If the numbers you have given are accurate, then your LBM has gone from 180.12 to 163.93.

[jminis]

To figure it out you need to know the weight you started out at as well as your bf% with these two numbers you can figure out fat free mass and fat mass.

Great progress though keep up the good work

[Viperspit]

guys is it true that another indicator of burning muscle is that your sweat starts smelling like amonia? or is that an old wives tale?

[Jayhawkk]

181 pounds of lean body mass at start
170 pounds of lean body mass 2 weeks ago when I was at 200-202

Using this I guess I lost about 10 pounds of muscle and 28 pounds of fat...Well it looked much better until I put it on paper. Guess it's time to double check everything and adjust.


As far as the diet question. My diet is mostly rolled oats, tuna, egg whites, oat bread, fat free cheese, skim milk, 75 grams of whey protein daily, Natty PB, various vegis, 99% lean ground turkey, kashi oatmeal and sometimes cereal, sugar free jelly, various healthy unsalted nuts.

Last 2 weeks roughly have looked like
2165 Cals 41Fats(no more than 10 sat) 219 Carbs(at least 30 in fiber)237 Protein.
Although due to long days of work and other factors a couple days fell lower.

No sweets
No sodas
No added salts

[peterson24]

good job, keep it up. I have trouble staying under 2800 at the moment. Ratios look good, maybe you are taking in too few calories? I'm around 186 right now and my maintanence is around 3000. I'm working my way down to 2400 but don't think I want to go lower than that. Maybe a slower approach would save LBM.

[Jayhawkk]

I'm thinking the same thing and I actually started out a good bit higher but the last couple of weeks have been a killer as far as stress,hours and workloads go. Just means i'll have to make time and take care of the food and not let that slip by. thanks for the motivation and recommendations.

[Jayhawkk]

Bah, all kinds of threads and sites dealing with how to bulk without gaining too much fat and what is optimal but nothing on what is in the normal/acceptable range for muscle loss with fat loss. I wonder if it's because if done right you keep all the muscle while losing fat?

[jminis]

Bah, all kinds of threads and sites dealing with how to bulk without gaining too much fat and what is optimal but nothing on what is in the normal/acceptable range for muscle loss with fat loss. I wonder if it's because if done right you keep all the muscle while losing fat?

You'll be fine bro, some lean mass will go no matter what you do. Just focus on stripping off the body fat then refocus and gain it all back lean. Muslce memory is our friend

[Jayhawkk]

Thanks J, and if that goes bad there's always bionics!

[doggzj]

You'll be fine bro, some lean mass will go no matter what you do. Just focus on stripping off the body fat then refocus and gain it all back lean. Muslce memory is our friend

Muscle memory is great. Muscle just flies back on.

[Alpha-male]

That's some awsome progress jayhawkk! I started cutting in Jan, and I am now done with cutting. Started at 201lb 39 inch waist (bf unknown). I am now 172 lb 33.25 inch waist (bf to be measured). My bi's did go down 1 in, I lost some size everywhere and strength, but I rather be a bit weaker and look awsome than be strong as hell and not feel good when I take my shirt off, so I bet you feel the same way. I'm about to start clean bulking so I know i'll gain that muscle back, no big deal AND stay lean. So you can look foward to that brotha. For stress (reducing cortisol) you can take lean extreme and probably anagen (it's got some adaptogens or something like that). If body fat loss stalls, then switch up diet or do some carb cycling (**** is amazing for dropping fat). From start to finish, I lost an avg of 1.5 to 2 lbs per week. Some supps I used throughout my cut were e/c stack, and alri stack with thyrogen. Judging from the pics you've made amazing progress! Keep up the good work, you're gonna look awsome at around 10% bf.

[Jayhawkk]

I appreciate the words man! Motivation is always good for getting through those rough spots. However, on another thread it looks like i'm at 22% BF and honestly thought I was lower than that.

[TenMan]

guys is it true that another indicator of burning muscle is that your sweat starts smelling like amonia? or is that an old wives tale?

Any takers on this b/c I'd like to know as well...

[Jayhawkk]

UPDATE...
As of 25 May, 06. I am now 195 and down to a 36.5 inch waist. So only a 1 pound drop but half inch waist loss!!!