muscle or fat

[fatback]

Hello every one if i start this diet again will i lose muscle mass at the same rate as i am losing fat, i guess what i am asking is will my body discriminate between fat and muscle or is it all fair game

[Buddrfly]

Normally as you build the muscle, it burns fat...so you should end up with more muscle mass than fat.

Are you looking to gain muscle and lose fat....or are you hoping to lose fat without bulking up? Depending on your answer to that question..it all boils down to the kinds of workouts you do. If you mainly lift heavy weights...you will have a more bulky look about yourself, however if you focus on building long lean muscles with workouts like pilates, light weight lifting (for toning), yoga, etc...you are a lot less likely to have the bulk.

Hope this is helpful,
Iyshia

[cgdat136]

that is actually a very good question and as well one that i wrestled with prior to beginning atkins. as a man......i definitely need to lose weight but i did not want to lose muscle. many people decieve themselves when dieting when they are not losing weight and say, its turning into muscle. when in reality, i once read and believe that it could take an entire year to add just 5 pounds of muscle. now although this statement may be disputed......give or take two pounds or so, i would tend to believe it.

so you must assume then.....if you were to lose 60-80 pounds (or whatever), that you would lose some muscle mass. then you must further ask yourself where you would be most upset losing muscle on your physique. for me, it was arms and shoulders.....without a doubt.

to this end i have embarked on a crusade of sorts with these pushups. i have been very fortunate in that the first 30 came off pretty easily. and with my pushups i have stayed tone, in fact, i am even more toned now but in terms of adding muscle weight....i doubt it?

so it does become a matter of priority......and losing extra weight is more important then maintaining the muscle you currently have. well, if your 5-10 pounds overweight i wouldnt mess with the system. but if you are, like many of us, 70+ lbs overweight........then some of it needs to come off regardless of what effects it has on you % of muscle mass.

the exact question you ask is a hard one to pinpiont in terms of percentages but i guess this is why dr atkins said exercise was non-negotiable.

[fatback]

i definitely want to lose fat i just don't want to get small for the sake of getting small there are a couple of things i need to maintain like my push ups and sit ups and being able to lift my own weight. i have a weight bench in the basement and i tend to go more heavy then anything else, as soon as the city thaws out i will start running again. and i weigh 238 and i would be happy at 217. heck i would be happy at 238 with a lower body fat index

[quotidianlight]

One of the things about Atkins is that you conserve your muscle a lot more then with other diets. I am personally not of the belief that losing fat at the same time as gaining muscle through body building is a good idea as some research suggests it can trigger you to lose muscle. BUT, you can certainly maintain the muscle you do have and then gain more if needed after most of your fat is lost.

[TyCowboy]

My (albeit unresearched) understanding of muscle tissue is that essentially whatever you have is whatever you get to keep with regard to smooth muscle tissue. What I mean is that while we can exercise and make these fibers larger and more capable, the actual amount of muscle tissue in terms of sheer numbers, does not change. I have no basis to substantiate this, so take it as useless hearsay.

On to digestion, this issue begs the question of why Dr. A recommended eating fat, as opposed to a low-fat and low-carb lifestyle. In terms of digestability, energy generation, etc., the body first looks to burn carbohydrates...this isn't because they contain the most energy per gram consumed, but because they are the most efficient...that is, they take the least energy from the body to convert to energy. The trouble is the body very easily can become "spoiled" if it were, into seeking to consume only carbohydrates. Not to mention, carbohydrates which are consumed by the body and not near-immediately converted to energy will turn into fat for long-term storage. Fat actually produces 3.3 times the energy of a similar gram of carbohydrates when burned; the trouble is that it takes more energy to generate this energy. (This is actually a good thing, in some respects).

Protein (at least in the form of muscle tissue) would be the last thing consumed by the body for a number of reasons that are well beyond the scope of this response. Suffice it to say that the undergirding structure of the body is basically protein/amino acid-based.

It would be naive to suggest that the body only consumes carbohydrates, fats, or proteins in a given day; it depends greatly upon stress levels on the body, physical activity level, age, diet, health, etc. That said, the idea behind Atkins is that the body can be converted (and even SHOULD have been/should be) a fat-burning system instead of a simple carbohydrate-burning one. The body should not excessively burn muscle as a source of protein, this would indicate something of a last resort by the body to provide nutrition for basal metabolic functions.

That's my take on things anyhow.

Ty.

[fatback]

well im most of the day down and im doing ok. thanks for all the replies from what ive been reading im assuming that i would not lose muscle as long as i am providing something else for my body to burn however if there is no food to burn in my stomach then my body will began to burn the protein in my muscles