Losing fat while keeping muscle

[Milos108]

Hey,

I ve got 2 questions about fat(might seem idiotic but please bare with me).

1.) Lets say you ve lost all your fat from your body except the stomach area. If you keep the same stuff you ve done before(same caloric deficit, same cardio time etc), will you start loosing the last fat stored in your stomach area or you re gonna lose your muscle?

2.) Different scenario, lets say you ve lost your lower belly fat finally and you wanna start bulking again. Wouldnt you in time just regain that lower belly fat you ve lost?


I m really not sure what to do, i had about 83 kg(183 cm tall), i ve lost mostly all the fat from by body except the hip and lower belly area. The problem is, i ve lost about 7-8 kg and well my stomach is kinda the same. I m in fear if i lose another 2-3 kg that it would mostly be muscle and 0 fat..

[spradish]

1) You'll eventually lose the stomach fat.

2) I don't know. I've wondered this myself as I was previously very overweight and have struggled with the final fat on a stretched out stomach. I need to get leaner than I'd like in order to lose it and I'm not sure if it's worth it if I'd then just regain in that same area when I add back fat.

[Milos108]

I know i will eventually loose but will i first lose a bit of muscle or nah?

[SuffolkPunch]

Well you won't literally only have fat on your stomach because it's always distributed throughout your body. Different people get different amounts in different places - but never in just one place.

It's true to say that the leaner you get, the harder it is to lose fat without losing muscle too. Not only that but having more muscle also makes it more likely you lose muscle - your body takes resources from the places that have the most tissue. Fairly logical really.

The solution is to take it slowly, about half a lbs a week once you get below about (a genuine) 10-11%. Also get enough protein. I strongly recommend you dose it through the day - at around 4 hour intervals including just before bed. Yes I know Intermittent Fasting blah blah - but MPS matters when you are lean and don't want to lose muscle.

[Luclin999]

One other thing is to not obsess too much about losing a bit of lean mass while getting to your goals. It ~will~ happen so accept the inevitable and understand that once you return to a calorie surplus, or in some cases even to maintenance for several weeks that recovering muscle lost that way is much easier than building it up originally was.

That is because the additional cell nuclei which were developed in the muscle tissue from lifting will remain even after the weight loss and because of that will allow faster muscle recovery.

This is why people who had lifted and developed themselves in the past can recover muscle faster even after years away from the gym than someone who is untrained.

[Time4New]

The solution is to take it slowly, about half a lbs a week once you get below about (a genuine) 10-11%.

So how much is safe to lose at 15% and 20% per week? Something like:
15% - lose 0.75% of body weight
20% - lose 1.25% of body weight

[dwightaroundya]

So how much is safe to lose at 15% and 20% per week? Something like:
15% - lose 0.75% of body weight
20% - lose 1.25% of body weight

You could afford to lose a lb a week. Then when you think you’re at 12%, just add 250 calories to maintenance to minimize fat gain

Option 2 is to just eat at maintenance while a 15%. If you’re getting stronger, that percentage decreases, i.e, body recomposition

[SuffolkPunch]

So how much is safe to lose at 15% and 20% per week? Something like:
15% - lose 0.75% of body weight
20% - lose 1.25% of body weight

Maybe. I'm not generally a fan of trying to lose it as fast as possible - because that tends to affect your training more and make it less likely you keep the weight off too.

[Gleendel]

Maybe. I'm not generally a fan of trying to lose it as fast as possible - because that tends to affect your training more and make it less likely you keep the weight off too.

Up for this. IMO, muscle is lost because you cannot keep the same intensity as you were bulking, not mainly because of lack of calories. It might even possible to gain muscle while cutting even for an intermediate lifter if you can trigger adrenaline rush which will make you lift heavier than usual, because the need to build those muscles is greater than conserving energy. The body will think that you will die if you don't build those muscles.