lost 8 lbs of LBM in 2 1/2 months!!!

i'm kinda pissed off right now

i knew i was losing weight and the BF was going down, but i didn't know I was losing this much muscle!!

here are my recordings for the past few months...

9/9/03 -
Weight: 83.2kg
BF: 12.2%
LBM: 73.05kg

(after this recording i came off creatine, began to cut carbs out, and increase my CV sessions)

9/28/03 -
Weight 81.2kg
BF: 13.7% (i don't know why my BF went up here)
LBM: 70.59kg

10/8/03 -
Weight: 79.1kg
BF: 11%
LBM = 70.4kg

(after this recording I was feeling great! probably best shape ever in terms of fitness and muscle definition, but then I got the flu and could not train at all for 5 days)

10/29/03 -
Weight: 77.9kg
BF: 11.6%
LBM: 68,86kg

10/31/03 -
Weight: 77.5kg
BF: 11.2%
LBM: 68.82kg


I don't know what to do, keep cutting or go back to bulking, I really don't like the fact I've lost that much muscle, I've learnt some lessons and next time I cut it will be no longer than a month of carb restriction, I was on some weight loss supplements too which might have burnt some muscle off me, don't really know but I'm shocked i've lost muscle, when overall i'm stronger then before (up until the past week, but that is because i was ill)

i guess i'm 19, i'm an ecto, naturally hiogh metabolism, maybe i'm not designed to withstand a calorie restriced diet, maybe just a bit of extra CV and no carbs before bed would have done, i don't know

its just annoying, it will probably take me a good 2-3 months to put that weight back on, if not longer, i really do struggle to put it on, i can't wear like 1/2 my nice t-shirts coz they are all tight and i'm just starting to look skinny round my chest again

anyway on a positive note i have lost some fat, and i hope that will not come back on!

That sucks.

Simple answer - If you an Ectomorph then Bulk. D

I do have to say I recall your diet being full of simple sugars and not enough healthy carbs and lean proteins, so I'm not really surprised.

OIn a positive note you have lost some fat and hope it will not come back???

I hate to break your bubble here but it probably will come back, and maybe even more than before, once you up your calories again. Because, like all types of crash diets or just poor diets in general, you destroy LBM and compromise metabolism. Up your calories slowly.

should you cut mroe or bulk up?

You are 77kg (that is about 172lbs right?), how tall are you? If you are tall you probably have room on your frame to grow. Most guys here, for some strange reason, are always wanting to cut, even when thet are at a realtivly light weight. Just because there bodyfat is high they think they shoiuld diet. My response to that is "what the hell do you want to cut up? You are going to diet down and just be skinny." Why not clean up your diet and eat moderate calories and let your bodyfat even itself out. Then bulk up a bit, so that you have some muscle mass, and then diet down so you are at least big, or bigger, adn ripped instead of just being, for lack of a better phrase, a skinny little bitch.

Originally posted by Jodi
Simple answer - If you an Ectomorph then Bulk. D

I do have to say I recall your diet being full of simple sugars and not enough healthy carbs and lean proteins, so I'm not really surprised.

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whatever! simple sugars? lack of healthy carbs? don't think so luv! i've been eating right, i really changed my whole damm lifestyle, don't crit my diet when you don't know what my diet consisted of, thats just a foolish comment if ever i read one

it was not a crash diet, it was not a poor diet, i gradually cut out carbs when i didn't need them and cleaned my diet up, i will up my cals slowly, add 1 portion of carbs to a meal each day and keep going till i'm eating a shitload of them

and yo i'm 19, why get all big and bulky now? i don't like the bulked up look, its minging. i'd rather be muscular and lean, thats the look i have right now, the problem is i lost a lot of muscle and all for 2% of bodyfat, surely there would be another way, like just do a little HIIT or just cut a few carbs here and their, rather than changing your whole diet so carbs are only at 20%, i heard some BB have carbs at 50% even when cutting and just do walking to get lean, this is like the opposite of what i've read on here

so i will put this fat back on? is it even worth me eating healthy then if it will come back on anyway? if that is the case why do people go on 'cutting' diets when it will all come back on? you give me advice to cut... but 'oh when you bulk up the fat comes back'?

so ectomorphs should not cut? how dose a ectomorph go about losing a bit of BF then without losing muscle?

oh another thing, how will i put any fat on? if i'm burning muscle right now surely more cals will go to preserving that muscle and building that muscle.... why the hell would extra cals be stored as fat? logically it dose not make sense, and btw i don't put fat on when i eat junk, i very much doubt i will put fat on if i start my bulk diet with just clean foods then add a bit of junk in later on

i heard some BB have carbs at 50% even when cutting and just do walking to get lean, this is like the opposite of what i've read on here

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Yes, this is true, but.........you are not a bodybuilder. The tables are turned when you are taking things like steroids, insulin and growht hormone. These guys are always in an anabolic state so they can get a way with a lot more. When people like you or I are trying to do this stuff all natural we must be very meticulus and careful in what we do so that we get the best results while attempting to lose the least amount of muscle. I wasn't saying that your diet was a crash diet or maybe even a poor diet (I have no idea what you were eating). I was speaking in general terms. However, it appears that obviously this was your first attempt to diet or "cut up" and you over estimated some things and under estimated other things. No big deal, just fix the diet, gain some more muscle and try again and now you know what you did wrong and what can be fixed. That is the fun of this stuff, it is all about getting to know your own body. I would be lying if I didn't tell you that I myself have fucked up my diets and catabolized muscle, trying different ideas out and I have fucked up my bulks and gained some fat also. But now I know the best way to aproach both of these siututations so that I can get the results I want.

so i will put this fat back on? is it even worth me eating healthy then if it will come back on anyway? if that is the case why do people go on 'cutting' diets when it will all come back on? you give me advice to cut... but 'oh when you bulk up the fat comes back'?

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Obviously, when you gain weight you add some fat (it can't all be lean muscle). the idea is to try and add back as little as possible. So yes you will put fat back on. People go on cuutting diets to get a certain look. They try to catabolize as little muscle as possible in an effort to preseve their metabolism and keep it functioning at a normal rate so that when they do indeed come off the diet it is still "cooking". You, however, have catbolized some muscle and comprmised your metabolism so you need to just be a little more careful when adding the calories back in.

oh another thing, how will i put any fat on? if i'm burning muscle right now surely more cals will go to preserving that muscle and building that muscle.... why the hell would extra cals be stored as fat? logically it dose not make sense, and btw i don't put fat on when i eat junk, i very much doubt i will put fat on if i start my bulk diet with just clean foods then add a bit of junk in later on

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If it were only that simple. The body does not what to be overly musclular. It is hard for the body to handle being really lean. The last thing that the body wants is muscle so, after years of evolution (stavation and famine), this is usually the first thing to go in an attempt to preserver the body. The body loves fat, it wants to hang onto fat because it can live longer on the fat. The extra calories will not go to preserving your muscle or muscle loss because a diet (no matter how good it is) is in fact a form of starvation (energy in is less than energy out). So once you start eating again the bodies knee jerl reaction is to store everything, mostly in the form of fat, jsut in case this starvation occurs again, since it is un sure of when it will be fed like this again. Our bodies are a lot smarter than we give them credit for and the way we think in our heads things should work is usually the oppoisite of what really happens. So add your cals back in slow.

peace.\

whatever! simple sugars? lack of healthy carbs? don't think so luv! i've been eating right, i really changed my whole damm lifestyle, don't crit my diet when you don't know what my diet consisted of, thats just a foolish comment if ever i read one

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Wow your a defensive person if I ever saw one. It should be of no surprise to you. I've told you many times how I felt about your diet. Why the sudden shock?

Originally posted by young d
don't think so luv!

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Luv

dieting is like playing lottery ticket scratchers... just keep buying em and your bound to win something....

thanks patrick

i will gradually add them back in over the course of a month or something, maybe even leave it a couple of months till i eat everything in sight

i have been active and working out/playing sports for years, i've always had this fat, its hard fat from when i was a kid and its the type of stuff which is very very hard to shift, so i'm hoping it will not come back on as easily as that, if a little fat dose come on i'm pretty sure i will be able to get rid of it easier and it will not be fat from junk

obviously i have lessons to learn from this, i'm just shocked i lost so much muscle, i did everything ppl told me to so would not lose muscle, i was eating carbs before and after my weights, probably more carbs than i should have been, but then again... i'm 19, i'm tall, naturally skinny, ectomorph, high metabolism, heavy CV and low cals is bound to burn muscle off me, next time i will just have to make a slight change, like stop the weight gainer and simple carbs/sugars, and add in a couple extra CV sessions, that might be enough to trim some fat off, if the muscle comes off i will try something else, like a few no carb days each week for a few weeks, see if that will get the fat off, i might just leave cutting diets till i'm a bit older... they are probably not advised for young growing teenagers

peace

my advice:

Keep "str8 ballin"

that's what it's all about anyway

I recorded this today

Weight: 77.6kg
BF: 10%
LBM: 69.84kg

so according to this since last week I've lost some fat and put on some lean muscle, all i have done is added the complex carbs slightly and i missed out on 1 of my HIIT sessions, I was either A) overdoing it before, or B) my carb deficency was meaning my body was eating away at muscle rather than fat, or C) the illness totally messed my up and I have been doing the right thing (most likely a combination of the 3!).

This reading has def cheered me up a bit. I've upped my protein a lil as well as the carbs, I was getting between 20-30g per meal, i should be aiming for 30-40g per meal

I know next time to focus on not losing muscle rather than just losing weight.... this has been a great learning experience (my first cutting diet) I'm glad I did it, feel much fitter now too

thanks guys