There’s a chart I need to present you in the present day.
It exhibits the proportion of fats vs. fat-free mass misplaced at completely different ranges of calorie deficit, relying on whether or not you’re power coaching or not. (You’ll discover it under.)
It additionally sheds mild on considered one of my LEAST favourite traits I see within the health trade in the present day: making sweeping statements with none context.
And with the rise of GLP-1 medicines like Ozempic and Wegovy, I see this one popping up all over:
“If you happen to don’t eat sufficient protein and raise weights, you’re simply shedding all your muscle.”
We’ll get into it, however excessive statements like this are simply wildly unhelpful, and miss a lot of the essential nuance.
Is power coaching helpful when you’re on these medicines or a calorie deficit normally? Sure.
However in the event you take heed to the final chatter on the web (by no means actually a good suggestion), it makes it sound like muscle is actually falling off of your physique with every step you are taking. And that’s not solely fear-mongering, it’s simply not true.
Let’s zoom out:
I need to break down what’s truly taking place in your physique so we are able to have some actual speak in regards to the completely different tradeoffs concerned.
✅ If you happen to’re in a calorie deficit, you’ll shed extra pounds
✅ Everytime you shed extra pounds, there may be at all times some quantity of lack of lean mass. (I.e. stuff apart from fats)
✅ Power coaching and consuming increased quantities of protein may also help you protect extra of your muscle mass whereas in a caloric deficit
✅ The bigger your deficit, the extra lean mass you are likely to lose regardless of what you do.
✅ And GLP-1s don’t change that – they simply assist folks persist with bigger deficits than they may in any other case.
So to recap, each time anybody within the historical past of perpetually has misplaced weight, a few of that has come from lean mass.
The bigger the caloric deficit you might be in (i.e. the quicker you might be losing a few pounds), the higher the proportion of that weight will come from lean mass. That is completely regular and anticipated.
Power coaching and consuming increased quantities of protein can completely show you how to protect extra of your lean mass. However you’re not going from “shedding all muscle” to “shedding zero muscle.” These adjustments are levels, not all-or-nothing.
How a lot of a distinction can coaching and consuming extra protein make?
I’m so glad you requested!
Right here’s a chart that exhibits on common the place we count on weight reduction to come back from. (Particular person outcomes will fluctuate primarily based on genetics, kind of coaching, weight-reduction plan, and so on.)
Normally, power coaching helps protect an additional 10-15% of lean physique mass.
So, for instance, in the event you misplaced 10 kilos over the course of three months on a 500 kcal/day deficit, you’d count on round 2.5 kilos of that to be from lean mass in the event you weren’t coaching, and 1.5 kilos of that to be from lean mass in the event you have been coaching (I.e. a 1 pound distinction.)
Why this issues:
I see so many individuals get discouraged as a result of they really feel like they’re not “doing it proper.”
Perhaps they’re not power coaching but.
Perhaps they haven’t discovered easy methods to hit their protein objectives.
Perhaps they’re simply making an attempt to keep constant with any a part of the method.
They usually begin listening to issues like:
“You’re simply shedding muscle.”
“You’re ruining all of your progress.”
“You’re doing it fallacious.”
However in actuality? You’re simply making a trade-off.
For instance, possibly a slight caloric deficit with no power coaching is less complicated so that you can keep than a a lot increased deficit with power coaching added in. Positive, it could take longer to see the burden loss – however the ratio of fats free and fats mass is actually the identical in every of those situations.
Or possibly you consciously go on a bigger caloric deficit for a brief time period, and comply with that up with a extra centered muscle-building part to rebuild a few of that lean mass. That’s one other viable technique.
The purpose is: if we are able to lower via the worry mongering and wildly overblown statements, we are able to have an precise dialogue about what’s your best option for you primarily based on the place you’re at at the moment.
Actual speak from a coach:
If you happen to’re simply getting began and weight reduction is your aim, focusing solely on staying in a modest calorie deficit may be the very best transfer.
That alone may also help cut back joint ache, enhance power, and increase confidence.
Then as soon as that’s stable? Add in power coaching.
Then protein.
Then possibly some strolling or sleep habits.
You don’t must do every part, in all places, abruptly to achieve success.
In reality, most people we work with discover success by constructing a basis after which including to it – one behavior at a time.
TL;DR:
- Sure, consuming sufficient protein and lifting weights will show you how to preserve extra muscle.
- Greater calorie deficits = extra muscle loss, even in the event you’re doing every part else “proper.”
- However these are levels, not disasters.
- Concentrate on what you can do.
Need to chat about easy methods to apply this to your plan? Simply hit reply and let me know.
You’ve received this.
-Matt
