Muscle Mass Loss

[FishingNurse 1,211]

I am a little upset! I have a fancy 490 dollar body composition scale that tells you how much fat, muscle, viseral, Water, etc weight you have. My body fat % has gone from 48.7% at 245lbs to 50.5% at 214lbs, and says I have lost almost 12lbs of muscle mass. But is it good to work out if I am only eating 500-700 calories a day? I am worried and I don't want to lose any more muscle. I am going to refocus on my protien intake, any other suggestions?

[Rainydayz 27]

JMO, but maybe you should try to up the calories a bit and do some strength training when your dr. says it's ok. You're still early on so I wouldn't do it without talking to the dr. Some say 6 weeks some say more. And yes, definitely work on the Protein. Good luck!

[Forensikchic 528]

They have this type of scale at my surgeons office. It showed my %bf was 50 when I first went. Then a week later it had dropped to 49 and I had lost 9 pounds. (preop). When I was there for my two week checkup after surgery... it was 41% and I had lost 18 pounds. I had a kidney stone and a lot of fluids pumped in so two weeks after that it went back up to 45% fat and I weighed 217! I didnt understand how it could go up in fat % but the weight about the same. The PA said it was either a misread the time before, or the way the scale works and it might be all the Fluid retention. I was very puzzled over this. I wonder how they really do work. She tried to explain to me that it subtracts everything else and whats left is supposed to be the fat % but Water retention can make a difference in the numbers. Makes no sense to me. I know I didnt gain any fat over those two weeks. I ate nothing! I was in too much pain. I only sipped Water and had pain meds and fluids!

I dont know that i would chalk that up to lost muscle mass just yet. It could be other things according to my dr. ?? I am confused about how they work and I dont know that it means you are loosing muscle mass. I am going to try to figure out how they really work and I will let you know what I find out!

[FishingNurse 1,211]

thanks guys! I feel better already! I am going to try to up the cals a bit and try some weight lifting.

[Southernlawyer 7]

I have been sleeved for 2 years this october. I would NOT worry about increasing your calories. If I read your post right you just got sleeved this summer. Just worry about losing weight...once you get down then I would worry about muscle mass. I mean in theory yes, you want to lose fat not muscle and thats why its so important to get your Protein. But, increasing calories is not a good idea. There will come a time when your caloric intake will naturally increase...

I would just stay focused on eating small, low calorie, high Protein meals. There will always be time for the rest. Thats what I did. I spent the last year building muscle and exercising--that was what worked for me. I lost more than I weigh. I even skirted with being underweight for a couple of months.

thanks guys! I feel better already! I am going to try to up the cals a bit and try some weight lifting.

[scottiff 3]

I was told that you need to excercise at least three times a week. Because if you use the muscles it tells your body to burn the fat not muscle because you are using it. If you don't excercise your body may use your muscle instead of fat for energy.

[RickM 1,753]

The body composition scales are sensitive to your hydration, so they will vary some day to day depending upon how well you are doing on your hydration efforts, and during the day as your hydration naturally changes with the time of day. i routinely see about a five point shift in my fat% between early morning, when we are dehydrated from sleeping, and late afternoon when we are typically fully hydrated. The instructions with my Tanita says that a late afternoon reading, before dinner, most accurately represents your actual body composition. With as much hydration variation that we have, it is difficult to put much significance to a percent or two change in a snapshot reading at the doctor's office every few weeks or months.

What is most significant for me is not any particular reading, but the trend of the readings. Those late afternoon readings I have been doing are now showing some 24's and I'm rarely seeing 27's anymore, so I figure that 25.5-26 is about where I'm at right now (which is a lot better than the 42 that I started at, but still short of the mid teens where I would like to be.)

We will naturally lose some muscle mass with our weight loss, as our body no longer needs as much strength to carry around that extra weight, and adjusts to it. The body adjusts to our usage, so if it's not used, we lose it. One rule of thumb that I have heard is that we will normally lose about a pound of muscle for every nine pounds of fat lost. I don't know the validity of that figure, but it is consistent with my own experience, and I do regular strength training (and have for several years.) Likewise bone density will tend to decline with weight loss as there is less weight for the bones to support; strength/resistence training helps to maintain and improve the bone density by giving the bones something to do - resisting those stronger muscles!