Goal: Drop Fat While Keeping Lean Mass

Sarkothenta

Sarkothenta

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So I need to drop about 20-25 lbs of fat and I'm hoping to do so without losing any significant lean mass or strength. I've progressed quite a bit in the past couple of years and I'd hate to sacrifice too much - especially now that I'm hitting mid 40s. But instead of trying to walk that fine line of body recomping that often doesn't work (at least not like when I was younger) or takes longer than I'd like, I'm wondering if I can do a straightforward caloric restriction fat loss without losing muscle mass or strength this time. Here's why: The reason I'm thinking that might work well, is that I've been on TRT for a while now - 100mg/wk of cypionate, nothing amazing - and that should be muscle sparing I would imagine.

So I'm wondering, since I have that Test base running nonstop, do you think it's more likely that I could simply focus on doing a more aggressive caloric restriction and focus on the fat loss, with a priority on protein, to drop the fat quicker without sacrificing lean mass? I'm not really sure to what degree that level of TRT can help to preserve lean mass while on a caloric deficit, but it seems it would help some. I've also considered running some RAD140 on top of that during the fat loss phase, as I've read that's a good stack on top of a test base for cutting.

Unfortunately my maintenance calorie level is pretty low (slow metabolism I guess) so cutting it down is going to suck, but if I can manage a more aggressive, faster fat loss while the TRT (and possibly RAD140) help to preserve lean mass from any significant muscle loss, then it'll be worth it to grind it out and get it over with. So does anyone think the TRT tips the scales in my favor for a more aggressive calorie restriction fat loss while preserving lean mass?

Thanks in advance for any input.
 
Smont

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If yiur maintenance calories are low you can increase your calorie needs with more weight training and cardio. As far as losing muscle on a normal weight cut, you're not gonna lose much muscle. The large majority of the time people think they're losing muscle when they're not they just carry a lot more body fat than they think they do and the way it's distributed a lot of it appears to be muscle. So a guy might have a 18in arm and be 25% bodyfat, he probably thinks he has a lot more muscle then he does, if he was to successfully cut from 25%bf to 10% bf and didn't loose any muscle at all its still very likely that 18in arm is going to turn into a 14 or 15 in arm from the fat and water loss leading him to believe he lost muscle.

Anyway if your on trt and you wanted to run some rad 140 or any sarm for that matter I don't see a huge deal. I would wait u till you diet off a significant amount of fat and then when you're strength and everything starts feeling low from losing the weight then you throw it in the kick things back up a knotch
 
Gerbil

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Assuming you are still lifting and your protein intake is relatively high. You will most like lose almost no muscle, assuming you are not at a very low body fat percentage. You will lose muscle size and strength most likely during the cut because you are going to be losing glycogen stores in your muscles. Also when you lose fat you do lose some leverage on lifts.

I really dont think throwing anything on top of TRT is really needed. Just focus on training, nutrition and rest and you should be good.

Also you can get your bmr tested if you would really like. I have had it done and mine was within 30 calories of the online calculators. To up calories burned basic increases of exercise can really help. Try and get 8-10k steps a day, take the stairs, do basic things like that and it will really increase your calories burned.
 
Sarkothenta

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I appreciate the input. I did have my BMR tested where you have to sit and breathe into that device for a half hour. It had my BMR at only 1920, which is about 200 calories lower than the calculator (I use Katch-McArdle since I measure my BF% using a bioelectrical impedance device). The real problem I run into is when the calculator factors in activity - it has me consuming 3200 to 3600 calories/day for maintenance, but that's crazy high for me. If I ate even close to that I'd get fat so fast. Even with my 1.5 hr lifting session 5 days of the week, a half mile walk on the treadmill every day, plus my once a week 4-5 mile hike and once a week 4 mile run, if I eat even a crumb more than 2400 calories, my weight and BF% start jumping up quick. Drives me nuts.

So for this aggressive fat loss calorie deficit I'm about to embark on, I'll probably have to aim for somewhere around 1600-1800 calories/day - not very fun, but doable. That's why I was concerned about potential muscle loss, but hoping the TRT and priority on protein minimizes or stops that. I guess the only way to know is just to go for it, and if my strength declines too much for my liking over time, then as Smont suggested, I could add the RAD at that point or after I've lost a significant amount of the fat I want to lose and as I start gradually increasing the calories again. I imagine my muscles will temporarily get a little "flat" from all this but that's not a real big deal. Should be an interesting process to see how it goes verses the old slow-n-steady.

Anyway, thanks again to both of you for the input. Time to get this rolling. I imagine I'll update in a month or so to post how it's going. Cheers.
 

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