@AlexS-10
Let's clear some confusion first, because I think you are slightly confused in how to build lean muscle mass while reducing body fat.
In the body building world, we call this a cut and bulk phase. A cutting phase is a phase where you want to reduce your weight by being in a CALORIC DEFICIT. In a bulking up phase, your main purpose is to promote muscle growth and in order to build new cells, new muscles you must be in a CALORIC SURPLUS.
Just by looking at your cutting phase and you had been for more than a year now (way too long and very unhealthy for your body), the reason you were getting stronger and also be able to lose weight at the same time and also be in a caloric deficit is because you started out with a lot of body fat, where body fat were used as fuel to supplement the caloric deficit food intake to complete your intense workout. You were also clever enough to maintain protein synthesis but taking just enough protein (I say "just enough") to promote some lean muscle mass growth and stem the lean muscle mass loss which is indicative in the cutting phase where people kept pushing for more workouts, more caloric deficit and being in a weight plateau.
What happens is that, this cutting phase method will not last long because there is a finite point where the body will simply say I won't burn body fat anymore to promote your workout. So up to a point and since you are in a caloric deficit still and your exercises are consuming more calories that you are providing, you are now allowing the body to turn your muscle mass into glucose with a process called gluconeogenesis. So the protein intake you are consuming is allowing some protein synthesis which helps build lean muscle mass, but you are just doing that to allow your body to farm them later on for glucose. Some internal body organs can only function with glucose, not body fat, as fuel so your body can provide surplus glucose through converting muscle mass into glucose (fuel) because you are still in a caloric deficit. The reason why you can't no longer depend on your body fat as fuel is part of your body genetics and composition. Up to a point, you can only burn so much body fat while being in a caloric deficit. Which means the free ride you had been enjoying thus far had ended. From this point on, you need to rely on building more lean muscle mass so you can increase your BMR and burn more body fat. Also, more active lean muscle mass helps burn more body fat at rest or while sleeping.
Which is why there is a bulking phase. A phase where you stop being in a caloric deficit and be in a caloric surplus for awhile while bulking up your lean muscle mass. In this phase, you really NEED to monitor your caloric intake so you only consume what you lost, because you can easily gain muscle mass plus more body fat if you allow excess glucose (converted from eating too much food, but your body doesn't need) to be stored as body fat. Also in the bulking up phase, you will need to consume more natural lean protein like chicken, fish, eggs etc and rely less on protein shake which gives you more calories than you need and also has too much sugar content which helps promote more body fat! I personally love fish and I eat a lot of fish. Also in the bulking phase, it is important to maintain good nutrients, minerals and vitamin intake at adequate levels to allow good muscle growth as well as body fat reduction. A good amount of dietary fibre as well as a good amount of dietary fat like Omega 3 and 6 are essential in good body building, which I see in your diet list you are really lacking of. I am also surprised that your nutritionist did not see this, because a licensed and trained nutritionist would have raised some alarm bells with your diet. I highly recommend that you seek another nutritionist, someone who has ample experience in providing expert advice in proper nutrition with people who are in a cutting and bulking phase of their work out.
It is through a proper and smart cut and bulk phase or bulk and cut phase will you be able to achieve your goal. In my case, it took me about 1 year to accomplish. You are NOT going to achieve your goal with only a cut phase or your weight will plateau and not a thing will happen with your body fat.
The fact of the matter is, the body will always preserve body fat once it hits a critical juncture. Meaning that the body will do something like a medical triage; putting certain body functions at the lower list of essentials and only turning on the functions that are essential for survival, while operating in a lower energy deficit while not touching body fat. For women, the first signs of this would be the disruption of their menstrual cycle as well as their baby reproductive abilities since women need a higher body fat% than men as well as dry skin and cold flashes. Men have similar symptoms of feeling cold, dry skin but no menstrual cycles issues.
If you click at my trend weight at below, you'll see an example of a new school of cutting and bulking up phase also known as "Body Recomposition" where I gain lean muscle mass plus losing body fat at similar rates. My cut phase was from June 14th, 2018 to Dec 2018. My bulking phase through a caloric surplus and progressive overload of my workout from Jan 2019 to now has yield a much more reduced waist line and my upper body features are leaner and more muscle pronounced. And my Renpho scale recently picked it up after 6 months of bulking up. According to the scale, the trend line for lean muscle mass growth is up, but my body fat % had dropped. This is to be expected while my weight stayed the same! This may not necessarily apply to you in terms of keeping weight stable (I watch how much I eat and what I put into my mouth), but from the point where I hit the plateau, I had to rely on more muscle growth to continue reducing body fat and in order to foster more muscle growth, I have to be in a caloric surplus. There is simply no other way.
Too many people did the wrong way on working out and trying to encourage muscle growth in a caloric deficit stage. That will never work in the long run in the quest to lose body fat. All you get is a Yo-Yo effect of ups and downs of wild body weight swings rather than the smooth stable growth of muscle mass and smooth reduction of body fat.
The signature of a healthy body is to have a good composition of lean muscle mass and low body fat, slightly above the essential body fat range of both men and women. The number on the scale means nothing as it doesn't show you the body fat and lean muscle mass composition, bowel condition, water retention rate etc..
Hope this helps you. Good luck!
Fitbit Product Experts Alumni are retired members of the Fitbit Product Expert Program. Learn more
Best Answer
Platinum Fitbit Product Experts share support knowledge on the forums and advocate for the betterment of Fitbit products and services. Learn more
