Losing Fat vs. Losing Muscle

[DaydreamBeliever]

Hello Everyone,

I keep reading that in order to lose body fat you have to reduce your caloric intake, but in order to gain muscle you have to increase your caloric intake. I understand this, but what do you have to do to ensure that you do not lose the lean muscle you already have whilst dieting to lose body fat? I have read that eating protein helps, but that the loss of lean muscle is inevitable if you are going to lose weight.

At what point, and why, does the body start burning lean muscle instead of body fat? Does anaerobic exercise cause lean muscle to catabolize? If so, does that mean that I should not be doing strength training while I diet to lose fat? Is it better to do endurance workouts with lighter weight and more reps than strength workouts with heavier weight and less reps? Or will any anaerobic activity--endurance work, strength work, or even strenuous cardio--reduce lean muscle if I restrict calories?

I keep monitoring my body fat on my Tanita scale---not the best method, but it's what I've got. I am basing my goal weight on my current body fat percentage. I am concerned that if I lose lean muscle I will have to lose more body fat to compensate and acheive a healthy body fat composition ratio.

I have a feeling I stopped making sense a while ago, but any suggestions would be very much appreciated!

Thanks,
Frankie

 

[ducky]

That's a very good question and I'm anxious to hear what people say. I wonder why the body chooses to burn lean muscle at all if there is fat available. Isn't the purpose of stored fat? to be used for fuel? It's like burning the furniture when there's a whole pile of firewood outside. I know it happens, it just doesn't make a lot of biological sense to me.

 

[ColleenM]

Here is a great website to determine caloric need for losing fat, gaining muscle or a combo of both:

http://www.hussman.org/fitness/index.htm

Colleen

 

[lgw522]

Collen,

Excellent website. Thanks for the information.

 

[Venus]

Depending on how much weight you have to lose, you may have to lose muscle. To carry a large amount of fat around you will gain a lot of muscle if you are really overweight like I was. For example, my lean body mass (aka everything but the fat) at one point was 150 lbs., but my goal weight is 135 (which is actually on the high end for my height). So obviously I will lose lean muscle mass. My goal is to not lose any more than necessary. I try to eat the appropriate amounts of carbs, fat and protein, do a full body heavy lifting routine 2 times per week, and I've cut my cardio back to 4-5 days per week. Hopefully I won't lose too much as I go down.

 

[DaydreamBeliever]

Hello,

Thanks for your responses!

Colleen, that site is GREAT! Thank You! I haven't read through all the information yet, but hopefully I will find the answers to some of my questions.

Hey Venus! We have the same goal weight! You look fantastic!

Frankie