Suddenly losing muscle @ 5 months out...any advice?
Ok, let me give you the background details: I am just over 5 months out and have been tracking my fitness level @ my gym every month. I have had gains of 3-4 lbs of muscle each time with 15 or so lbs lost per month. My body fat dropped from 34.9 to 20.1. Several weeks ago, I added 3 hour long cardio classes to my existing workout schedule of 25 mins elliptical runner/30 mins free weight training 3x per week. In addition, I have been slowly increasing my caloric intake from my (doctor recommended) 600 per day to 1000/1100 as my workouts have increased. I get a minimum of 95/100 grams of protein per day, 70 or so oz of water. So, when I get my body fat analysis, it turns out I have lost 5-7 lbs of lean mass in a month as well as significant loss of strength in the grip test. My trainer advised me to cut out some cardio (NEVER thought I would hear a trainer say that!) Have any of you experienced this? I find it hard to believe I could lose that much muscle when I eat so much protein, but would be interested in knowing if there are any other anal retentives out there that monitor themselves this closely and what they did to halt the loss. (hehe) My trainer refused to offer me advice on my calories b/c of my surgery; she feels I can lost my last 20lbs to goal and then rebuild. My doctor is obviously not accustomed to dealing with this level of activity if he recommends 600 cal for the first 6 months, so he isn't any help. Anyway, any thoughts from you exercise buffs out there would be appreciated. Lap RNY 6/25/03 276/179/160
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