Lean body mass- do you lose some after surgery?

[mamachef82 7]

I had the Bod Pod body composition test done at my surgeon's office to get a baseline for the "before" surgery stats. I am 336 lbs, and my lean body mass is 180 lbs. To be at 22% body fat with that much lean mass, puts me at 230 lbs. as a goal weight, possibly 240 lbs. I'm female,5'8" and and have a solid structure, but 180 lbs of bone and muscle? Do you lose muscle during the rapid weight loss after surgery?

The guy who ran the test on me said I was the most dense woman he had ever seen.

[GeekMomChanging 48]

I swear I lost all the muscle I had after the surgery. I've rebuilt it mostly at seven months.

[Daisee68 2,493]

My dr didn't have that test, but that is very interesting. I have been warned you will lose muscle mass thus the reason for keeping up with Protein and resistance training not just cardio (my NUT said probably 50/50 weights vs cardio). I have unfortunately not progressed in the exercise area.

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I wonder if they will redo the test once you get closer? That would be interesting to see if your goal was adjusted. I am 5'10" and at my initial consultation, my surgeon said she would like to see me under 200 pounds but I would have to work hard to get there. <_<​

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

I don't think it would be wise to deliberately try to lose muscle mass just to match a number on the scale. Don't forget that your organs are also made of muscle and you do not want to damage them.

Make sure you get enough Protein so you lose fat, rather than muscle.

What does your surgeon and NUT advise?

[mamachef82 7]

I don't plan on losing muscle mass, I'm just surprised how high my goal weight is. It's kind of a relief to think that I only have 105 lbs to lose as opposed to the 160 lbs that I originally thought I needed to lose. I haven't met with my surgeon or nut. since I had the test done on Friday, but I have an appointment with my nut. on Tuesday. I'm sure it will be ok. I'm not married to a number on the scale- more whether or not I can keep up with my kids and how I feel in my body.

Thanks for your input!

[RickM 1,750]

You are pretty much assured that you will lose some muscle mass as you go through this. While we work to minimize that loss by virtue of our Protein intake and the recommended resistance exercise, that only goes so far. Consider that our legs are being stimulated/exercised by all the excess weight that we are carrying around, and they are going to atrophy some as we lose that weight - a couple hours a week doing some resistance training at the gym isn't going to compensate for that extra 100+ lb (or whatever) that we are carrying around all day, every day.

I, too, set my goal based upon body composition (mid teens BF%, to be on the lean side of "normal" for guys), making adjustments to the scale weight goal as I lost and got closer to "normal". With a moderate amount of weight training along the way, I wound up losing about 10 lb of lean mass out of the 100ish total that I lost.