How to Prevent Muscle Loss During Weight Loss

When you are attempting to lose weight, wanting fast results is perfectly understandable. Seeing the figure on the scales fall quickly can make it feel as though you are making progress.

Yet, as with many aspects of weight loss, there is a drawback: losing weight too quickly can mean losing a substantial amount of muscle alongside fat.

How can you recognise that you are losing excessive muscle, and what steps can you take to avoid it?

Why muscle mass matters

Muscle helps determine your metabolic rate - the amount of energy your body uses while at rest. It depends on the proportion of muscle and fat you carry. As muscle is more metabolically active than fat, it uses more calories.

Dieting for weight loss creates a calorie deficit, meaning that the energy supplied by the food we eat does not cover our bodies’ energy requirements. To provide fuel, the body then begins to break down fat and muscle tissue.

Losing calorie-burning muscle mass reduces metabolism. This can rapidly slow weight loss and affect your capacity to maintain your weight over the longer term.

How to recognise excessive muscle loss during weight loss

Unfortunately, it is difficult to measure changes in muscle mass.

The most precise method is an advanced type of X-ray known as a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan. It is mainly used in medical settings and research to gather information on weight, body fat, muscle mass and bone density.

Although DEXA is increasingly offered by weight-loss clinics and gyms, it remains expensive.

Many “smart” scales for home use also claim to give an accurate percentage reading for muscle mass.

However, the reliability of these scales is doubtful. Researchers found that the scales they assessed greatly overestimated or underestimated fat and muscle mass.

Fortunately, there are three free, scientifically supported indicators that you could be losing too much muscle mass while dieting.

1. You are losing far more weight than expected each week

A large, rapid reduction in weight is an early indication that your diet may be overly restrictive and that you could be losing too much muscle.

Fast weight loss - more than 1 kilogram a week - causes a greater loss of muscle mass than gradual weight loss.

Losing weight slowly preserves muscle mass more effectively and can also lead to a greater reduction in fat mass.

One study examined people in the obese weight category who followed either a very low-calorie diet (500 calories per day) for five weeks or a low-calorie diet (1,250 calories per day) for 12 weeks.

Although both groups lost comparable amounts of weight, those on the very low-calorie diet (500 calories per day) for five weeks lost significantly more muscle mass.

2. You feel tired and everyday tasks seem harder

It may appear self-evident, but feeling fatigued and sluggish, or struggling to complete physical activities such as exercising or household tasks, is another clear indication that you may be losing muscle.

Research indicates that reduced muscle mass can adversely affect the body’s physical performance.

3. You are feeling moody

Mood changes, and feelings of anxiety, stress or depression, can also indicate a loss of muscle mass.

Research into age-related muscle loss suggests that low muscle mass may have a negative effect on mood and mental health. This appears to arise from the link between low muscle mass and proteins called neurotrophins, which help to regulate mood and feelings of wellbeing.

How to maintain muscle during weight loss

Fortunately, there are also three measures you can take to preserve muscle mass while following a calorie-restricted diet for weight loss.

1. Include strength training in your exercise plan

Although a varied exercise programme is important for supporting overall weight loss, strength-building exercise is a reliable way to help prevent muscle mass loss.

A meta-analysis of studies involving older people with obesity found that resistance training could prevent almost 100% of muscle loss caused by calorie restriction.

Using diet alone to lose weight reduces muscle as well as body fat, which slows metabolism. It is therefore vital to include enough suitable exercise in your weight-loss plan to retain your stores of muscle mass.

However, going to the gym is not essential. Bodyweight exercises - including push-ups, pull-ups, planks and air squats - are equally effective as lifting weights or using strength-training equipment.

Encouragingly, moderate-volume resistance training (three sets of ten repetitions for eight exercises) may be as effective as high-volume training (five sets of ten repetitions for eight exercises) at maintaining muscle while following a calorie-restricted diet.

2. Eat more protein

Protein-rich foods are essential for building and maintaining muscle mass. Research also shows that they can help prevent muscle loss when you are on a calorie-restricted diet.

This does not mean eating foods containing protein only. Meals should be balanced, with a protein source, a wholegrain carbohydrate and healthy fat to meet dietary needs. Eggs on wholegrain toast with avocado are one example.

3. Make your weight-loss plan slower

When we alter our diet to lose weight, we move the body outside its comfort zone and activate its survival response. The body then works against weight loss by setting off several physiological responses intended to protect body weight and “survive” starvation.

The body’s survival mechanisms seek to restore lost weight so that we can survive the next period of famine (dieting). Research shows that participants regain more than half the weight they lose within two years, while more than 80% of lost weight is regained within five years.

However, taking a gradual, steady and step-by-step approach to weight loss stops the body from activating mechanisms that defend weight when we try to lose it.

In the end, long-term weight loss depends on making gradual lifestyle changes that help you build habits lasting a lifetime.

At the Boden Group, Charles Perkins Centre, we are studying the science of obesity and running clinical trials for weight loss. You can register here to express your interest.

Nick Fuller, Charles Perkins Centre Research Program Leader, University of Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.