Fat loss or muscle loss?

[Jonno34]

I am following the diet plan (NHS one) on here. Based on my activity etc I can consume 2000 to 2600 cals per day.

I rarely hit the bottom level and am comfortable with that. This morning I did 20 mins on the treadmill, 20mins weights then my 45 min spinning class. I was struggling toward the end of the spinning class but my calorie count yesterday had been quite low. I explained to someone there and they said to be careful as my body would use up muscle before fat. Anyone have any input on that?

Yesterday I took in about 700 cals, low against my allowance but did not feel too bad at the time!

[S11m]

Re building muscle:

youtu.be/WWtE4OX86pQ(Not working as expected?)

[IndigoBlue61]

Good afternoon Jonno34

Under eating can have lots of long term issues, and you won’t lose fat any faster than your body wants to . . . Usually a set % of excess fat, around 2% per week was the figure I saw ( but it’s not an exact science). If you undereat you may lose pounds on the scales but it’s unlikely to be fat.

My advice is take time to create better eating habits, and eat a good healthy diet, including a balance of protein and fat. And don’t be in a hurry, rapid loss often leads to rapid re-gains ☹️

[Jonno34 Visitor]

My diet is good, healthy, lots of vegies and salads along with fish and white and red meat. Today I had a portion of allbran with milk and half a banana, bowl of soup, chickpea and spinach curry with rice and 2 microwaved papadoms. 2 cups of tea. Tops out about 1100 cals. I will hit the 2000 to 2100 a couple of times a week, yesterday was lower than normal.

[Lorna2204 2 stone]

As I understand it, maintaining the recommended calorie intake and ensuring that weights remain part of your exercise routine should be enough to avoid muscle loss. I think consuming under 1200 calories is the absolute danger mark (although this could just be for women- not sure) where muscle will definitely be affected.

Could it just be that treadmill, weights and spinning all in one day is a lot and you were worn out? It is also really important to give your muscles time to repair by taking rest days or resting one set of muscles when you are working another set. So arm day followed by leg day etc. If your muscles don't have time to repair between workouts, they also wont have time to grow. Also, especially when it comes to legs, muscle fatigue can effect your overall performance in cardio-based activities. When I have done a lot of min rep, max weight squats, for example, my cardio suffers the next day. Perhaps you could take a look at your workout schedule and spread it out a bit more?

Of course, it could be that you are some insane kind of superman and that amount of exercise is no big deal to you in which case I will be quiet. I am not an expert - I just read a lot of articles about training and spend too much time talking to my body pump instructor haha.

Good luck and keep us updated if you find an answer i would be interested to know too!