Lean muscle tissue loss and exercise regime

[slimmerwithin]

I have been told by my doctor that if I go on a very low calorie diet that I will lose a lot of lean muscles tissue and that this will mean that my metabolism will decrease permanently, and that I will never regain that lean tissue only replace it with fat??????

Either way, I am still going head, pig headed as usual, but thought I would try and reduce any lean muscle tissue loss by doing some resistance and strength training which I know absolutely nothing about.

I have bad knees so struggle with squats (hopefully wont when the weight starts to drop off), can anyone suggest a programme/DVD that I can do in my own home.

Any help would be great, hopefully will tone up my muscles so that when some of this fat goes I will be able to see them again.

Thanks

 

[4isnotenough]

You may and probably will lose some muscle but you certainly will lose lots of fat too. Your doc is exaggerating, after all everyone in VLD would be walking piles of jelly fat with no muscles to hold them up. your metabolism will change as you alter your food and exercise routine, it won't suddenly drop down never to return again either. If that were the case I'm sure We all ruined our metabolisms years ago the first time we skipped meals in order to lose weight.

I'm not sure on the exact science behind VLCD but the nutrients in the diet probably ensure you are better nourished than you would be living a lifestyle which includes eating all the wrong foods and making us overweight in the first place. I know that per-dieting days I never ate all my 5 a day or even gave eating a salad consideration either I'm sure my body is tons healthier now.

Please don't worry too much, you need to go easy on the exercise in the early days of VLCD too as you could create a calorie deficit and really slow your weight loss.

 

[Bethers]

Prolonged periods of VLCD can harm your metabolism, which is why you can only follow one for 12 weeks at a time. The idea of having a break at 12 weeks is to restore your Glycogen store and boost Metabolism.
Hope this helps

 

[slimmerwithin]

I didnt know we had to come off slim and save after 12 weeks? Can anyone enlighten me on what the procedure is.

What he said was that every time you go on a strict diet you mess your metabolism up as you lose lean muscle tissue which can'te be replaced. In its place all you can do is put fat on and that most people put all the weight back on and more because of this as there is more "pockets" to fill with fat. Not sure it makes sense to me, but it worries me nevertheless as I have found a similar phenomenon with every diet I have been on, lose the weight (or some never get to goal) then put it back on plus a few more pounds. Also as I have an underactive thyroid my metabolism is already not good and I dont want to harm it even more. Although on the other hand I am far too heavy and my knees and hips are creaking badly. they have not got arthritis in the joints and I need to lose weight to take the pressure off as I will need replacements and I am far too young. Also the damage I am doing to my heart etc.

Any advice?

 

[Clarabow]

What an interesting thread.

When I did lighter life the first time round we also had access to a personal trainer who advised sensible levels of exercise to maintain muscle tone and aid weight loss. The cardio side of it was in relation to duration and at a medium level rather than flat out intensive cardio. Gentle weights were also used. So I suppose you could introduce something like that depending on your bodies tolerance and fitness levels.

The week break in lighter life was done just by adding milk, cant remember how much, nothing major however I dont think. Most people still lost weight.

Planning on upping my exercise to any level as will need something to fill in the time where I was previously eating, drinking and sleeping.

The Dukan diet book had some very interesting things to say about weight loss and maintinence,worth having a look at. Basically my weight gain after whatever diet has been because I have returned to old patterns of eating and so put the weight back on.

Hope that helps x

 

[Lexie_dog]

Utter tosh. If I was on a 'normal' diet I would still lose lean muscle because I don't need as much muscle to carry me around. Even after a 'normal' diet is 'finished' your metabolism will be lower because you don't need as much energy to cart your heavier frame about. So your metabolism will be lowered REGARDLESS of how you lose weight

 

[Lexie_dog]

Oh and the reason there's a 12 week cut off is because 12 weeks is the longest study performed by NICE examining VLCD's, so the results after that aren't known.

I'll be adding in an extra meal after 12 weeks for 1 week so I'm abover 800 calories and no longer on a VLCD.

 

[slimmerwithin]

Thank you for all of your advice. I think it's utter tosh too I just don't these people have studied it all properly.

Can anyone recommend a specific strength training or body sculpting DVD or routine. A friend of mine swears by kettle bell workout but she says you do use about 250 calories each workout which I think would not be good on such low calories.

I want to tone up and try and not lose too much muscle tissue,

help?

 

[meoww]

Its not true as when the body is in ketosis it uses fat for energy (those stores we didnt want to keep!) not muscle tissue.

What you need to be careful with is exercising, if you work too hard the body may use muscle tissue for energy instead, as its quicker. If you exercise, monitor your heart rate and keep it below about 130 (in the fat burning zone as you seen on gym equipment) this is why heavy exercise is not recommended.

I started weight training last time I did a VLCD and my counsellor did not approve and insisted it slowed my losses, I still lost 3st in 3 months and didnt regain for ages after, I actually regained after stopping the gym.. The best thing for me was to just see how I felt and not push myself.

I think pilates is great as its all about building strength and virtually no cardio and low impact, plus it makes you feel so relaxed. kettlercise is great fun but deffo NOT on VLCD, one for once you're on food again maybe.

The high protein helps with muscle strength too and if you do want to lift weights, then add more protein to your food.

 

[Lexie_dog]

30 day shred? I use 2 x 1L water bottles because I don't have weights. (I say 'I use' loosely as I've done it a couple of times and then been too lazy to do anything else)

It works your whole body - takes about 20 minutes a day and you'll get it for about £5 off amazon etc.

 

[meoww]

also, what the doctor said can be true but that is for the 2 or 4 week 'crash' diets such as cabbage soup or maple syrup diets, but I dont see this as a crash diet as it is safe to do for long periods of time.
also..; there was recent research supporting the low and VLCDs especially this type and your doctor needs to get ahead of the times! heh

 

[biggusburdus]

30 day shred? I use 2 x 1L water bottles because I don't have weights. (I say 'I use' loosely as I've done it a couple of times and then been too lazy to do anything else)

It works your whole body - takes about 20 minutes a day and you'll get it for about £5 off amazon etc.

You can also find it on sky, fitness channel or YouTube ?
Have a browse and see what you fancy off there?

Pilates may be good as well..

Sent from my iPad using MiniMins

 

[weasey]

I had my fat% measured today - 22.5% fat 77.5% muscle - the max healthy for a woman is 25% I think - so being on a VLCD and losing over 9 stone without exercising much hasn't done me too much harm...

 

[Bethers]

Anyone wondering why we haven't got PhD's?
We seem to know more than most Doctors.

 

[biggusburdus]

I had my fat% measured today - 22.5% fat 77.5% muscle - the max healthy for a woman is 25% I think - so being on a VLCD and losing over 9 stone without exercising much hasn't done me too much harm...

Lol! I love your stats that defy that docs attitude! I think everyone gets tarred with the same brush and as we all know we are not all the same!
What works for some doesn't work for others so it's just a case of finding the right balance to keep us all on the right track. Doctors need to understand that more than most..

Sent from my iPad using MiniMins

 

[Twinklecheeks]

You don't have to have a break on Lipotrim. You can do as long as you want on it until you want to stop. Maybe that's because you are monitored though?

 

[Wisney]

Ive said this before on here, but you will not lose muscle if you do weight training as your body will recognise that that muscle is not 'dispensable'.

A study was done with putting people on a vlcd and having one group weight train and the others not. The group who trained didnt lose any muscle but the group who didn't train did lose some muscle.

It's because muscle uses energy, so if you're not putting stress on your muscles, say your biceps, your body will slightly reduce the size of them in order to conserve more energy. If you do train them a little, your body recognises that you 'need your arms to stay that size' and it will leave it alone.

Of course if calorie levels are WAY too low or there's a nutrient deficiency, then your body will just say 'look, we can't maintain this, we need to get rid of something' and in those cases, weight training won't do as good, but on a vlcd you're getting everything and you have enough calories from fat and the diet to maintain. Just do a little toning to keep your muscles 'needed'

 

[weasey]

I should add that I always made sure that I got the protein I needed every day - either 4 packs or 3 packs plus protein. If you don't get enough protein (and some people deliberately have only 3 packs for example) then you are likely to lose muscle mass.

 

[slimmerwithin]

Wisney can you help with your weight training routine or one for beginners. Never done it before don't exercise much and also have bad knees. Really want to build muscle and tone up. Can you help?

 

[Wisney]

Slimmerwithin, I'm a guy (I know u wuldn't think it from my signature, lolll) so what I do might not be what you necessarily want to do. I focus on trying to build my shoulders, my upper chest, my biceps and back. I shoulddd really do lunges but it takes too much out of me to do them because it's like a cardio workout aswell and I HATE it! I will start doing them once I'm a bit lighter so it's not so tough on my body.

Basically, I focus on using a heavy weight that I can't quite lift/press for 6 repetitions, 3 times in a row. So say for chest press, I press 20kg dumbells in each hand 6 times, take a 3 min break, try and press again for 6 times (which gets hard), take a 3 min break then try one more time to press them for 6 times. At the moment I'm only getting to 4 times on the last repetition. My aim is to keep working with that weight until I can do 3x6 repetitions, then I'll increase the weight and keep working with them until I can do 3x6 with that. That's what I do for each of my exercises, I just use exercises that target the things I want to shape or build.

I don't workout as hard or as often as I should, so my progress has been slow but noticeable, and I'm ok with that. I just want to make sure that after I've lost weight, i have a body underneath that looks nicer.

So for you, research exercises you can do with PROPER dumbells, not the silly pink ones, that work muscles you want to keep firm or make slightly more shapely and then pick a heavy weight that you can't quite do 3x6 reps with and work with that until you can do 3x6 then increase the weight. It might be doing lunges whilst holding dumbells so you can shape your bum and back of your thighs, doing a little bicep work, doing a little chest press to make your cleavage more shapely, anything you like. Just choose 2 exercises for each body part you want to work on and workout 3/4 times a week. So on monday you could do legs and arms, wednesday do legs and chest, friday do arms and shoulders, etc. Your workouts will probs take about 30-40 mins usually.

Hope this helps!