Fat loss but unfortunately with muscle loss too

[popeye7]

I've been hitting the gym for the last 4 years and managed to add 18kg of muscle mass naturally. I weighed 82kg at 168cm tall last January. However my BF at that time was 19%. BF wasn't an issue to me back then as I wanted the body mass to look good in clothes. I was really skinny and short when I first started the gym.

Now, I've decided to lose the fats and get down to 12%. I started my fat loss workout in January with fasted cardio in the morning and a 500 caloric deficit from my maintenance level. The problem here is whenever I managed to reduce 3%-4% BF my muscle also shrinks. I had dropped to 16% BF at 75kg in May but I look really small. I tweaked my diet and increase my protein to almost 2g/lb and continued my fat loss workout.

Yesterday I recalculated my BF at 14% weighing at 71kg. Now I'm almost close to my targeted 12% but I look as if I've never been to the gym. Is this really normal? For your info, I have a low testosterone level to begin with. So did I just starved myself the last 12 months in order to reach 14%BF. I've read that people with a low test level have a hard time building muscles but easily stores fats.

 

[RADAR]

The fasted cardio dropping calories is probably what did it, i usually eat clean ,do fasted cardio 10hrs after the last evening meal, then i down a Hi calorie ,hi protein shake to feed afterwards. always works for me.


you also need to eat 6-7 small servings thru out the day ,each containing some protein.

 

[s18]

Same thing happened to me after dropping a lot of fat. I was 5'8 230 before getting back into it just under a year ago. I was attempting to build muscle while burning fat at the same time. Once I got down to about 207 I looked bulkier in my arms/chest/back but still had a noticeable amount of fat on me too. I'm now down to 191 lbs and now I just look skinny, I look like I did when I was 18. I still plan on dropping another 15 lbs of fat before summer and I now it'll make me look like a toothpick. But by then it'll be PH time

 

[WinnyPumps]

Several ways to avoid losing muscle while cutting:
- Lots of bcaa's
- Never eliminate carbs
- Keep healthy fats in the diet
- Keep training heavy
- Moderate intensity cardio (fast walk on incline treadmill)
- Lower calories a little at a time, never drastically

 

[zedhed]

Also bro get that low test taken care of that will make a difference too. I know for years I worked out and got nuthin out of it looks wise. I was as strong as anybody that I worked out with but just didnt look it. Then when I got on the HRT,
BANG!
It then that I started looking like I worked out.

 

[Zyglamail]

What does your cardio entail? The cardio most people employ turns your system into a cortisol factory and is bad news for muscle mass. Im continually baffled as to why people continue to do cardio in the general sense?

 

[Blaster22]

What does your cardio entail? The cardio most people employ turns your system into a cortisol factory and is bad news for muscle mass. Im continually baffled as to why people continue to do cardio in the general sense?

What type cardio do you recomend? Lots of opinions here between LISS and HIIT.

 

[Power36]

do HIIT....for a variety of reasons....you wanna look like a spinter,linebacker, wrestler, or a triathlete/marathon runner? Start googling interval training or go buy some books on interval training, plethora of material....do some reading shouldnt take long to convince you that steady state is for the birds, despite it being common practice...steady state is good for a light active recovery workout when you just need a little sweat to feel good, otherwise unless you are injured or obese or severely deconditioned, it just doesnt make sense

 

[sony190]

when i cut and diet down i sacrifice size also, really need to bulk then cut bulk then cut, and so on, its tough to balance being lean and carrying mass, thats why bodybuiding is so great.

 

[Zyglamail]

What type cardio do you recomend? Lots of opinions here between LISS and HIIT.

Ive done both and long boring low intensity only allows you to eat what, 1 extra snack a day? It does nothing for metabolism, your better off just cutting out a snack and skipping the cardio because of the cortisol it builds.

HIIT really is the way to go but dont get bogged down running, biking, rowing. There are tons of ways to do hiit style cardio with body weight movements and lighting weights.

I know its not popular around here but crossfit has been peeling pounds off people and building size and strength (albeit n9t as much as a dedicated strength/size program) for years and has literally 10's of thousands who have had great success.

Just ditch the cardio and do a crossfit workout 2-3 days a week. My guess is they will kick you ass and you will find the fat will start to melt off. In all probability you will likely have to add more food to your diet to keep the fat coming off of your body will go into starvation mode.