Decrease in muscle size - real muscle or just water/glycogen

[ForecasterJason]

Hi,

I lost a few pounds recently, and while I know a good chunk of it should have been fat (my waist did decrease), my muscle measurements also went down. The thing is, my strength isn't much lower than it was before I lost weight, as I did still keep up some training. My body fat is close to 10%. I'm curious as to any thoughts on whether it's more likely I lost only water weight and glycogen, or if there was actual muscle loss as well. My thinking was that most of the measurement differences could be due to water and glycogen given my strength level, but I didn't know if it's possible that I could have lost actual muscle and just maintained near the same strength level because I continued to train. I'm hoping those who have had experience cutting may be able to give some insight.

Thanks

[TolerantLactose]

Other than a body fat estimate, you've given no points of reference for anyone to answer.

[ForecasterJason]

Other than a body fat estimate, you've given no points of reference for anyone to answer.

The total weight loss was 8 pounds. I know it isn't much, but I'm 5'8" 122 lbs right now so my frame is obviously rather small to start with. My waist decreased by about an inch, my thighs went down close to 1.5 inches, hips down close to 2 inches, and my chest by 1.5 inches. For most exercises, I'm lifting 90-95% of what I was before.

[Ghawk21]

Unless you did a biopsy(edit or maybe something like a DEXA) there's no way too know your muscle measurements went down since taking said measurements also includes fat,water, skin etc. Is it possible you lost a little muscle on a cut, sure, but if strength stayed steady its likely it wasn't much. At the end of the day, who really cares. If I told you that you lost 1mm worth of muscle, 2mm worth of water/glycogen changes and 2mm worth of fat changes what would you do with this information?(all of these are just random numbers for sake of making a point).

[AlexSays]

Photos? Height? Weight? Amount of weight lost? info needed

As a general point usually muscle measurements will definitely go down during a cut because of three things:

1) loss of glycogen. While in a deficit your muscles 'deflate' somewhat as the sugars that would normally be diverted to your muscles as glycogen are now not being replenished and you eventually use up your existing muscle glycogen

2) loss of fat. Most people don't realise that a fair amount of their 'size' is accounted for by the layer of sub-cutaneous fat lying over their muscle. Lean muscle looks smaller

3) loss of muscle. You are likely to lose some muscle mass during a cut (if done properly, very little). If your deficit is very aggressive you will lose more and I believe you are likely to lose more the leaner you get so if you were approaching 10% it could have accelerated.

A combination of the above will decrease your measurements. If you have noticed no decrease in strength then number 3 will likely account for very little of this and you can put it down to a combination of 1 and 2

[SuffolkPunch]

Could be glycogen.

Don't forget we also carry fat on our limbs so that could also account for some loss of measurement size. If you didn't get persistently weaker (not just 1 bad day) then you probably didn't lose tissue

[TolerantLactose]

The total weight loss was 8 pounds. I know it isn't much, but I'm 5'8" 122 lbs right now so my frame is obviously rather small to start with. My waist decreased by about an inch, my thighs went down close to 1.5 inches, hips down close to 2 inches, and my chest by 1.5 inches.

You're 122 lbs and male. I'm going to say you lost muscle.

For most exercises, I'm lifting 90-95% of what I was before.

Again, there are no points of reference. If your squat was 405lbs, I'd expect some loss during a cut. If your squat was 115lbs, I'd expect you to increase your numbers unless you're absolutely starving yourself.

[ForecasterJason]

You're 122 lbs and male. I'm going to say you lost muscle.



Again, there are no points of reference. If your squat was 405lbs, I'd expect some loss during a cut. If your squat was 115lbs, I'd expect you to increase your numbers unless you're absolutely starving yourself.

My estimated 1 rep max using dumbbell squats went from 99 lbs to 91 lbs. Overhead press with dumbbells went from 74 lbs to 70 lbs for 1 rep max. Lateral raises went from 41 lbs to 39 lbs for a max. I've also noticed my grip strength when using dumbbells did go down a bit, but I can't quantity the extent of that though.

[Ghawk21]

Why the hell are you cutting. Jesus I missed that when I posted. You didn't lose any muscle, you don't have any to begin with. Bulk dude.

[ForecasterJason]

Why the hell are you cutting. Jesus I missed that when I posted. You didn't lose any muscle, you don't have any to begin with. Bulk dude.

It was unintentional (I had some busy things going on in life at the time and ended up skipping some workouts).

[Garage Rat]

Your body will lose weight/bodyfat where it wants to.
When you lose weight through a calorie deficit you may lose some muscle size also.
The goal here is to train hard enough to maintain as much as you can while losing weight.
This requires intense training,higher protein ,and adequate recovery/rest.
Yes some of what your lose can be that junk weight not actually muscle mass but as i said some muscle loss is inevitable.
Good luck.

[TolerantLactose]

My estimated 1 rep max using dumbbell squats went from 99 lbs to 91 lbs. Overhead press with dumbbells went from 74 lbs to 70 lbs for 1 rep max. Lateral raises went from 41 lbs to 39 lbs for a max. I've also noticed my grip strength when using dumbbells did go down a bit, but I can't quantity the extent of that though.

When I was basically noobie, I was about 165lbs, ~23%bf and was squatting 170lbs. I cut down to about 142lbs (way too much) and my squat went to about 285lbs.

You're moving in the wrong direction strength-wise. I would also question why you would max your lateral raise, much less care what it is.

[ForecasterJason]

Also, I should have included a picture earlier (which is current). I think my height and weight is a little misleading with regards to my actual amount of muscle.

[Ghawk21]

Also, I should have included a picture earlier (which is current). I think my height and weight is a little misleading with regards to my actual amount of muscle.

You should without a doubt be bulking.

[TolerantLactose]

Also, I should have included a picture earlier (which is current). I think my height and weight is a little misleading with regards to my actual amount of muscle.

Bulk.

[xsquid99]

Spend the next year of your life on a bulk. Try to add about 25-30 lbs to your frame over that time.

[ForecasterJason]

I suppose it doesn't really matter, but after thinking it through some more, I think I have come to the conclusion that I did lose some actual muscle.

I've read that it's really just pushing strength that would decline on a cut. However, I did lose some pulling strength as well. I also read that one way to tell how much muscle vs fat is being gained in a surplus is by performance on bodyweight exercises. I did have a tiny bit of strength loss with bodyweight exercises as compared to a previous instance when I was in a bulk, which should not have happened. That tells me that the additional weight I had at one point was most likely actual muscle, not just glycogen and certainly not fat.

I will say, I have been trying to bulk back.

[Ghawk21]

I suppose it doesn't really matter, but after thinking it through some more, I think I have come to the conclusion that I did lose some actual muscle.

I've read that it's really just pushing strength that would decline on a cut. However, I did lose some pulling strength as well. I also read that one way to tell how much muscle vs fat is being gained in a surplus is by performance on bodyweight exercises. I did have a tiny bit of strength loss with bodyweight exercises as compared to a previous instance when I was in a bulk, which should not have happened. That tells me that the additional weight I had at one point was most likely actual muscle, not just glycogen and certainly not fat.

I will say, I have been trying to bulk back.

Its been 6 months, trying to look back at what may or may not have happened is utterly pointless at this stage(was 6 months ago too given the complete lack of reference points or actual imaging/data). In the last 6 months how much weight have you gained?

[ForecasterJason]

Its been 6 months, trying to look back at what may or may not have happened is utterly pointless at this stage(was 6 months ago too given the complete lack of reference points or actual imaging/data). In the last 6 months how much weight have you gained?

I have gone back and forth since then trying to decide my goals. Given this inconsistency, I can't say that I've packed on a whole lot of weight. But I do realize that I have spun my wheels some.

[Ghawk21]

I have gone back and forth since then trying to decide my goals. Given this inconsistency, I can't say that I've packed on a whole lot of weight. But I do realize that I have spun my wheels some.

Unless your goal is too look sick then it should be to bulk. Don't spend the next 6 months continuing to spin your tires.