Scared I'm losing muscle

[Jt7453]

Alright, I've tried to cut before and went about it completely wrong, ate zero carbs, lifted light weight for high reps, and did solid state cardio everyday. Obviously this did'nt turn out very well. Anyway I got back to where I was plus some and want to try and cut again. Problem is Im scared I'm shrinking again. I weighed about 170ish and I think around 14%bf. I was eating around 1800-1900 calories a day so I decided to drop it down to around 1400 for the cut. I'm eating around 80-90 carbs per day and 1.5grams of protien per lb of body weight. Im still lifting heavy and and maintaining most of my strength. I might be paranoid but when I look in the mirror I think I'm starting to lose size. I didn't have access to a scale for around 2 weeks and dropped from 170ish down to around 163 range. Is it too late to raise my calories a little to slow the weight loss or did I just screw myself and lose a ton of muscle mass?

[benh2]

If your protein is as high as you say it is, you're lifting as heavy as you say you are and your deficit is no more than 15-20%, then you probably aren't losing muscle.

[BCAshock]

You're always going to loose some muscle during a cut. That is just how it is. The severity of the deficit and nutrient intake will determine how much muscle is wasted. I would up your caloric intake to around 1700(depending on your activity level). Up the carbs and lower the fats. Don't go too far into a deficit and your muscle loss will be minuscule.

[JaredPunch]

Measure your unflexed biceps and the flexed. If the ratio stays the same, even if size decreases... you're not losing muscle

[Rocklee2]

You're always going to loose some muscle during a cut. That is just how it is. The severity of the deficit and nutrient intake will determine how much muscle is wasted. I would up your caloric intake to around 1700(depending on your activity level). Up the carbs and lower the fats. Don't go too far into a deficit and your muscle loss will be minuscule.

what about a 30 % deficit with high protein ?

[MrM27]

what about a 30 % deficit with high protein ?

A 30% deficit for who? For you at 180 lbs? Well you need to provide much more information than that for anyone to even begin to tell you what might happen.

[phoenix4444]

You are dieting on 1400 calories? You are a grown man and cutting on what a child would eat. I would seriously consider upping that if you are afraid of losing muscle.

[BCAshock]

what about a 30 % deficit with high protein ?

So you're 170lbs at around 14% bf? How about a 5% deficit. If you're so worried about loosing muscle.

[MrM27]

So you're 170lbs at around 14% bf? How about a 5% deficit. If you're so worried about loosing muscle.

A 5% dedicit? Really? Lol

[BCAshock]

A 5% dedicit? Really? Lol

fine 10%.. maybe. But we don't know his BMR nor his LBM. Misreading his post, he says he weights 160lbs. So how far of a deficit should he go in order to minimize muscle loss?

[MrM27]

fine 10%.. maybe. But we don't know his BMR nor his LBM. Misreading his post, he says he weights 160lbs. So how far of a deficit should he go in order to minimize muscle loss?

Giving him any kind of suggestion on what he should actually do really isn't even possible because he still needs to provide lots of information unless he wants random generic suggestions that are not taking context into consideration. I would say 90% of the time the OP should be answering more questions before people start giving suggestions.