To be clear- I acknowledge I look better! My disappointment has nothing to do with aesthetics, but simply, I thought I could add muscle in a calorie deficit, yet I did not.
The older I get, the more I cross over from fitness and nutrition for physique goals, into true strength and longevity goals. I know how vital it is to keep muscle for disease prevention and to age well, and that’s the bottom line!
On April 25th, I set out to simultaneously lose fat while gaining muscle.
I believed my plan would work based on two things:
- I have evidence that I HAVE gained muscle and lost fat in a deficit back in 2020 when I first started lifting and eating more protein.
- and second, there are actual scientific studies that SAY it’s possible to build muscle in a deficit!
So, equipped with all the optimism and faith I could muster, I stuck to my plan for an entire100 days. I knew I was losing weight, because the scale was going down. Slowly, but I was OK with that. I actually convinced myself it was BETTER that the scale was going slow, because maybe that meant I was preserving some lean muscle in the process. I was feeling leaner. My clothes were fitting better. And, I never felt like I was too restricted in my food (I ate plenty of untracked veggies, and was pretty flexible with my meals.
So, with all the excitement I could imagine, at the end of 100 days, I went to do a second Dexa scan. The results:
- I Dropped 6.1 lbs. total
- 5.4 lbs. of it was fat
- But, lost 0.8lbs muscle. (and for the record, I had similar food and water the 24 hours leading up to both tests so that the Carb/Glycogen content in my muscles would have a similar effect.
- Body fat went from 16.6% to 12.6%.
For 100 days of consistent, hard work, that seems like such a subtle change! And the lost pound of muscle has gotten me frustrated.
