Good bye weight...and muscle

[Chiefzero]

Hello,

So I get this has probably been written about a few times but I’m still confused. 

For starters, I have lost more than 40 kg(88 pounds) before Fitbit even existed back in uni so I am not a stranger to weight  loss. I am currently trying to loose a little more and eventually add on more muscle. Now that I can check things more precisely, I’m at a loss. 

I have currently lossed 4 kg(8.8 pounds) in a month and a half and that is fine and dandy but the fact that it is all muscle is confusing. And I mean all muscle according to my scale. The first I week or two I was at a 3:1 ratio of fat to muscle loss and then it became 2:1 and then last week it fat increased to its original amount and muscle decreased almost 1.5 kgs. I just assumed I ate bad the day before(cheat day I rotate it a little) so I didn’t mind. This week the same thing happened...obviously I’m not happy about this. While loosing wieght is a short term goal, muscle is the end goal. I do karate 2 times a week and walk/run my dog twice a day. I also lift weights at least twice a week and the weight on those have all increased since I started the wieght loss(let it be only 2.5 kgs). My protein intake is a little low at about 20% average of my daily calories intake so I need to raise that.but could this cause the extreme loss?

What do you think is causing this completely muscle loss? Unless the scale (not Aria but similar) is making mistakes I am. Please help.

I also apologize for this extremely long post. 

[Dominique · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the community, @Chiefzero!

I wouldn’t worry too much about what the scale is telling you the ratio between fat and lean mass loss is. Total weight is an objective measurement, everything else are estimates, not measurements.

What’s the "recipe" for minimizing loss of lean mass while losing weight?

• lose at a reasonable pace (max. 1% of bodyweight per week)
• don’t lose for too long without taking a break (suggestion: 3 months)
• engage in some form of sensible resistance training (e.g. lift weights)
• eat enough protein

Do you check all the boxes? If so, just trust the process and continue what you are doing, regardless of the fat/lean mass ratios reported by the scale.

If you are 100 kg or heavier, 1 kg per week should be OK. If not, I would reduce the deficit so as to lose at a more moderate pace. 

Protein intake should really be based on bodyweight (or even more precisely, lean body mass), rather than expressed as a percentage of total intake. 20% could be OK if you are a very active person, and therefore consuming a lot of the other macronutrients, but it could be on the low side if your total intake is smaller.

You definitely haven’t lost 4 kg of muscle and 0 kg of fat (again, regardless of what the scale is telling you). Use a tape meter and take measurements of your waist circumference at the level of your belly button. If it’s shrinking over time, you are losing fat (not much muscle in that area). For me, for each kilogram lost, my waistline shrinks by 1 cm. If you don’t have a tape meter, your pants and belt should also tell you whether your waist is shrinking.

[Chiefzero]

Thanks for your reply!

I’m within the points that you said. And my pant size has gone down. Though I’ll pick the  tape measure up again and try that too. Like I said, I’ve lost wieght before but never with this much technology (which makes me sound old lol) so I was worried I was sabotaging myself. 

Thanks again for your insight.