Doctor tells me to lose muscle mass - Need Guidance

[aman99]

I am in need of guidance from the more experienced, scientific minds in this forum.

I am currently undergoing a full medical workup in Texas because of unexplained, undiagnosed 24/7 eye pain. That's a long medical story, but I'll get right to the point.

As the doctors were working on my case, I caught a nasty stomach bug. Because of this I had no appetite for weeks and I lost 30 pounds (and I was not overweight!)

I am 5'8 and I went from 170 pounds to 140 pounds.

This weight loss (again, of primarily muscle tissue) caused my pain to decrease by 50%! The doctors have no idea what the mechanism is behind this pain relief (the running theory is that the muscles in my neck atrophied and I, in turn, got better venous blood flow)

After getting over the stomach bug I resumed my normal eating which is:

breakfast: egg whites, black beans, tomatoes
lunch: pinto beans, chicken breast, vegetables
dinner: chicken or lean turkey, vegetables

I thought that maintaining this eating regimen would keep my weight low, but I gained 8 pounds of muscle.

Is there some way (hopefully not starvation) that I can lose muscle mass to achieve my desired weight of 140?

there are a million books on fat loss but I'm needing advice on ​muscle loss

I would appreciate any suggestion, comment, or piece of advice

 

[vidapreta]

Wow, you have to weigh 140 forever so you don't have eye pain??

 

[vidapreta]

And fyi your diet looks pretty good except you need more of those good fats.. forget the egg white thing, eat them yolks and all.

 

[aasdferic]

lol wut???

 

[Profion]

sounds to me, that it could be in your mind. The mind is capable of making up illnesses allthough your trying not to, i can become a habit that really affects your in reality.

As your doing now, keep working out. Keep going to the doctors ect, if it has something to do with the blood flow or wtf ure talking about the doctors could try some blood vessel relaxing meds or blood thining and thereby conclude if it has anything to do with a pressed vein

imo i think ure fine, ure 140lbs ? that aint nothing

 

[mr.cooper69]

That's a rather odd conclusion for your doctors to arrive at.

 

[vidapreta]

lol wut???

lol.. that's what I'm saying.

 

[zv3]

Guys are killing themselves for every bit of mass, myself included and you have to LOOSE mass? Sounds like a horrible proposition. Most doctors are anti-bodybuilding I have found, my doctor included. I'm 240lbs of muscle but he told me to loose 60lbs! He looks at my height and a chart but I told him a bodyfat test is more accurate. Anyway, I don't think it's wise to loose your mass unless you really must.

 

[Jiigzz]

That's a rather odd conclusion for your doctors to arrive at.

This.
Would not an increase in muscle or even regular exercise improve venous return? I recommend seeking a second or third opinion before doing something this drastic.

 

[mr.cooper69]

This.
Would not an increase in muscle or even regular exercise improve venous return? I recommend seeking a second or third opinion before doing something this drastic.

The veins of the neck are largely superficial. I have a tough time believing his sternocleidomastoid muscle/traps/strap muscles were hypertrophied to the point that they were causing venous occlusion, but I'm not a doctor. If that was indeed the cause, systemic muscle atrophy is a pretty poor approach just to reduce the breadth of these muscles by a few millimeters.

Also, a weight loss of 30 lbs diminished the pain. It's quite a logical leap to say that muscle loss was the cause here. I mean, think of all the other things that changed (no eating, stomach bug, no exercise, etc).

Lastly, how is your eye pain undiagnosed if the doctors believe that an excess of blood is the cuplrit (hence, poor venous return)? Perhaps you could explore pharmaceutical therapy to this end before inducing atrophy.

 

[bioman]

That's a rather odd conclusion for your doctors to arrive at.

That's putting it very nicely...professional decorum and all.

Sounds like they are completely throwing poo at the wall just to see what sticks. Asking you to lose muscle when you are only 170 is kind of unprecedented.

 

[steam]

they're being presumptious rather than scientific...which is not what you pay them for
by their logic, decreasing your pain to zero would require you to be around 100+ lbs then..

imo, seek second, third opinion, find out the real cause of pain

e.g. a tumor might be hitting a nerve causing said pain... a big weightloss starves the cancer so it becomes smaller, alleviating the pressure/pain...this does NOT mean solution to problem is 'starve oneself'

 

[R1balla]

if you really want to test the doctors theory, gain weight back and if pain comes back along with the weight gain, then you have more data (for another doctor)