Training & Nutrition - Muscle loss and weight loss

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salvaico
07-27-04, 03:16 PM
Is there any rule of thumb for how much muscle is lost as a part of the weight you've lost? My understanding is you will always lose muscle as you lose weight.

Recently I went on a four week tour and I've come back 15 pounds lighter. Is it 10 pounds of fat and 5 of muscle? Is it completely different for every person depending on their build? I can see were I've lost some fat on the torso and face, I can see more muscle/definition on my lower body, and the upper body looks about the same.

The main reason I'm wondering about this is because I was debating if I should start doing a bunch of upper body work outs again. If I've lost a bunch of muscle with the weight I'd be more inclined to do so, versus a regime of mainly cycling and jogging.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Fat Hack
07-28-04, 07:14 AM
It's more than likely, that if you lost that much weight without doing resistance exercises, you would've lost some muscle mass -- I wouldn't like to speculate on the ratio, but (here i go anyway) I'd say 1/3 would be about the maximum.

Muscle gains and maintenance does depend on genetics.

I would say that if you continue to lose weight at any rate greater than 2lbs a week, you will continue to lose muscle mass off your upper body. You may even end up with arms like Lance Armstrong. :)

So, in other words, if you lift weights, and don't lose weight too quickly, you will most likely make muscle gains, especially if you haven't done weights for a while

I enjoy mixing cycling with upper body weights.