Losing fat without losing muscle?

toasty

I'd initially planned to start racing this year, we're getting married soon though so it's kind of killed my free weekends. I've instead decided to drop a bit of weight while I have the chance, my BMI is 22 at the mo, so it's no biggy but I'd like to lose another stone and take that down to 21 or so. I'm a fairly slight build so it's safe enough, I've still got a bit of a belly from winter.

I'm currently eating cornflakes for 2 meals a day, snacking on fruit, eating a proper meal in the evening (meat + pasta normally), then riding for an hour or so a night at a fair pace. The weight seems to be dropping scary fast, 2-3 pounds this week already.

Is this sort of thing safe or will I burn off more muscle than anything else? I was banking on the carbs and sugars from the fruit to fuel me along.

Surf-Matt

You need to overtrain massively to lose/burn muscle - I wouldn't worry - just enjoy getting more toned up. Wouldn't hurt to up the protein a little though.

toasty

Ah good, I was hoping that would be the case.

Yeah, I'm getting a bit of protein through meat most nights, milk after rides and I bought some nuts to munch at work. I'm tempted to ditch the milk and go back onto a proper protein + carb shake like I did last year after rides, seemed to work well, recovery is a bit slow at the mo.

3wheeler

Definitely keep eating plenty of protein. It's good for your weight loss too: 1g or protein is about 1 calorie, 1g of fat is 9 calories.

You're probably not getting much carb from the fruit - or at least only sugary instant carbs that don't keep you going. They're good as a snack during riding but don't really replace proper meals.

Jungli

1g of Protein equates to 4 kcals
1g of Carbohydrate equates to 4 kcals
1g of Fat equates to 9 calories.

Pippen33

If its red your eating, you could ditch that for chicken

ddw

for endurance athletes 1.2 - 1.4 grams of protein per kg of wieght is recommended. if you were loosing serious muscle mass you would see a severe decrease in performance, so lean protein all the way!

Pippen33

Chicken is lean. Red meat has a Biological Value of 80, chicken has a BV of 79 (and less fat/saturated fat). The highest it gets is 100, with egg whites. 40 different amino acids and virtually no fat, quality!

Noel PT

Your body can only absorb 25g of protein per sitting. As ddw said you need approx 1.4 per kg of body weight. 1.4 x 70kg = 98. So to absorb your recommended daily intake you would need to break it up over approx 4 meals. So only having protein in you evening meal probably isn't enough.

As endurance athlete's we will never carry as much muscle as a power athlete, so to a certain degree you will loose muscle but not necessarily to your detrement.

Pippen33

Bodybuilders typically take in around *40g's* per supplement/meal replacement (which is evident in their size).

After exercise your body is primed for protein synthesis, due to the release of insulin. So it is possible to take in/ABSORB between 25-90g protein during that stage. Which is exactly the reason why taking in protein is important after exercise, either endurance or resistance.

Noel PT

You need a 3 or 4 to 1 ration of carbs to potein post training. You need to replenish your glucose that has been used during training as soon as possible. Having huge amounts of protein will only slow down this carb uptake.

We aren't body builders so we won't need anywhere near the ratio's you mentioned, body builders need a ratio of 2g to 2.2g per kg.

Surf-Matt

An alternative point of view:

Been weightlifting ans gyming since I was 16 (now 33) - always concentrated a lot more on the training than the diet - although I do eat fairly sensibly.

Put on 3 stone in my early 20s (to 12.5 stone, 5'8") , never ever gone above 12% bodyfat (currently about 9%) and always been able to to bizarre strength "tricks" (sort of power yoga/gymnast stuff) and always been pretty fit.

I really do think you can get too hung up on diet - just train more rather than wasting time weighing everything you eat - if you have to.

ddw

just a moot point, turkey is even leaner than chicken...

grantway

Fat is not muscle and muscle is not fat so train more and make muscle and
lose the fat.