Hey yall, had a quick question. I’m mid 20’s, 6’3”, and about 300lbs. I weightlifted for about 8 years before I stopped so I do have a solid base of a good bit of a muscle. In person, no one believes me when I tell them my weight. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a fat fuck lol.
Now here’s my issue: what do I need to do to prevent loss of lean body mass when fasting? I usually do OMAD and I really try to consume enough protein but is that enough if I’m on a fairly severe calorie deficit? I eat anywhere from 1500-2000 calories a day which is well below my TDEE so I’m just worried about losing lean mass.
Should it be a worry when I have so much extra fat on my body? Any help appreciated
I wouldn’t worry too much about it if you’re doing body weight exercises, etc. already. Intermittent fasting is really helpful for preserving lean mass. Any method of weight loss with a caloric deficit will result in some muscle loss, but you should be just fine
Preserve the muscle mass you want to keep by using it. It doesn’t have to be an all out 5x5@80% thing, but keep physical activity and compound movements in your daily routine. It will help burn fat and preserve muscle.
Eat mostly protein, some fat, and keep the carbs low. To me, “mostly protein, some fat” means have some days where you eat lean meat like pork and chicken, and then have the other days where you the fattier beef cuts.
Just do that, and keep up your current activity level, and you will be golden
Yes, I think maintaining as much as you can is important in the long-term. All that muscle tissue is pretty metabolically active, something like six times the amount of fat. It’s not a huge amount every day, but it still adds up day in day out just being there overtime making the whole process easier.
Try to incorporate as much high quality protein as you can. Protein is 4 calories per gram, so finding sources close to those numbers really helps stretch your calories while still keeping protein high. And as someone else mentioned, keep using them so that the body isn’t so quick to discard it.
Not very much… The many benefits of losing weight far exceeds the benefits of holding onto some extra lean body mass that you can always get back.
Are you currently doing resistance training? If so, continuing it will help preserve LBM. If not, lose the weight and I bet you will be motivated to get back in the gym at some point.