There’s a chart I wish to present you right this moment.
It exhibits the share of fats vs. fat-free mass misplaced at totally 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 tendencies I see within the health trade right this moment: making sweeping statements with none context.
And with the rise of GLP-1 medicines like Ozempic and Wegovy, I see this one popping up far and wide:
“Should you don’t eat sufficient protein and elevate weights, you’re simply dropping your whole muscle.”
We’ll get into it, however excessive statements like this are simply wildly unhelpful, and miss a lot of the vital nuance.
Is power coaching helpful if you find yourself on these medicines or a calorie deficit normally? Sure.
However if you happen to take heed to the overall 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 wish to break down what’s truly occurring in your physique so we will have some actual discuss concerning the totally different tradeoffs concerned.
✅ Should you’re in a calorie deficit, you’ll drop a few pounds
✅ Everytime you drop a few pounds, there’s at all times some quantity of lack of lean mass. (I.e. stuff aside from fats)
✅ Power coaching and consuming increased quantities of protein may help you protect extra of your muscle mass whereas in a caloric deficit
✅ The bigger your deficit, the extra lean mass you are inclined to lose regardless of what you do.
✅ And GLP-1s don’t change that – they only assist folks stick with bigger deficits than they may in any other case.
So to recap, at any time when anybody within the historical past of endlessly has misplaced weight, a few of that has come from lean mass.
The bigger the caloric deficit you might be in (i.e. the sooner you might be reducing weight), the larger the share of that weight will come from lean mass. That is completely regular and anticipated.
Power coaching and consuming increased quantities of protein can completely allow you to protect extra of your lean mass. However you’re not going from “dropping all muscle” to “dropping 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 return from. (Particular person outcomes will range based mostly on genetics, sort of coaching, food regimen, and many others.)
Normally, power coaching helps protect an additional 10-15% of lean physique mass.
So, for instance, if you happen to 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 if you happen to weren’t coaching, and 1.5 kilos of that to be from lean mass if you happen to had 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.”
Possibly they’re not power coaching but.
Possibly they haven’t found out learn how to hit their protein targets.
Possibly 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 dropping muscle.”
“You’re ruining all of your progress.”
“You’re doing it fallacious.”
However in actuality? You’re simply making a trade-off.
For example, possibly a slight caloric deficit with no power coaching is simpler so that you can keep than a a lot increased deficit with power coaching added in. Certain, it might take longer to see the load loss – however the ratio of fats free and fats mass is actually the identical in every of those eventualities.
Or possibly you consciously go on a bigger caloric deficit for a brief time frame, and observe that up with a extra targeted muscle-building section to rebuild a few of that lean mass. That’s one other viable technique.
The purpose is: if we will lower via the worry mongering and wildly overblown statements, we will have an precise dialogue about what’s your best option for you based mostly on the place you’re at presently.
Actual discuss from a coach:
Should you’re simply getting began and weight reduction is your objective, focusing solely on staying in a modest calorie deficit could be one of the best transfer.
That alone may help scale back joint ache, enhance power, and enhance confidence.
Then as soon as that’s strong? Add in power coaching.
Then protein.
Then possibly some strolling or sleep habits.
You don’t need to do every thing, in every single place, suddenly to achieve success.
In truth, 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 allow you to preserve extra muscle.
- Larger calorie deficits = extra muscle loss, even if you happen to’re doing every thing else “proper.”
- However these are levels, not disasters.
- Give attention to what you can do.
Need to chat about learn how to apply this to your plan? Simply hit reply and let me know.
You’ve acquired this.
-Matt
Discussion about this post