Question:
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    — Rachael B. (posted on November 20, 2003)

November 20, 2003
Did you say you EAT your protein or you get it via supplement?
   — vitalady

November 20, 2003
This may not be accurate but, I do have a few thoughts on this being a former (and now semi) workout junkie! So, here it goes: First, I would think that at a certain point, the body would need to 'lose' some muscle as it is no longer needed to haul around the extra weight we carried - which is good, even though it's not quite what you had in mind. Second, there also comes a certain point where your body is going to burn what ever is available (even muscle) to feed itself. Like you said, your body fat is only 20.1% - yet you have 20 pounds to lose to get to your goal - and you upped your excercise on top of it! If you lost all of the remaining pounds just in fat, your body fat would probably drop to excessively low (possibly dangerous) levels. Essentially, it sounds like your body is trying to reshape and protect itself. I agree with the trainer on this one....either cut out the cardio, or the eliptical runner (to mix things up for a while) and give your body a chance to do what it's gonna do. You are already so close to your goal that you probably couldn't help but lose it all even if you never set foot in the gym again! Congrats on the awesome weight loss so far!
   — eaamc

November 21, 2003
Same thing happened to me-- I cut the cardio to a half-hour a day (I do 6 days a week) and added weight training a half-hour a day (I do this 5 days a week with a split routine-- upper body one day, lower body the next day). Yes, it seems anathema to what we have all been told by our surgeons, but, you do not need hour-long sessions of cardio when you are doing weight training. I also had to increase my calories to continue this type of workout schedule.
   — lizinPA

November 21, 2003
Thanks for the great responses, I can see your points. Michelle, I drink at least one shake (Pro-Score 100 - that I buy from you :P) each morning, sometimes one @ night if my protein needs a boost.
   — Rachael B.