People on WLI who are trying to build/keep muscle/do body recomp, talk to me about it

[Pumpernickelbrakes]

How are you balancing weight loss with retaining muscle mass/building strength? So far I’m doing ok but I’m trying to find the sweet spot between losing fat (especially visceral fat) with gaining/re gaining muscle.

Are you finding it is possible to build muscle and strength whilst losing weight?

Anything that is working well for you?

Do you find you need to eat more calories than a standard intentional weight loss recommendation? Eg: my food intake tracker wants me to eat around 1300 calories per day. The fitness/weight training experts are telling me to eat more calories.

I’m logging everything and am usually around 1200-1400 calories per day. Once or twice a week I’ll get closer to 1600.

100g+ protein daily, high fibre levels, no bread, pasta, no alcohol no UPF - diet is Mediterranean and very healthy.

I’m 54, 5’6, and currently work out 4 times a week with heavy weights plus 30 min walk or swim most days. I have 40 lb more to lose and am two months into using GLP-1s.

I'm not being that precise with calorie tracking and protein, but I did track for the first several months, and still weigh my food, and I know roughly what about 14-1500 calories a day is. I also try to eat a high protein diet, but again, I do allow myself some flexibility.

So typical breakfast is fat free Greek yoghurt with some seeds and granola, lunches are often lentil based, and evening meals are usually chicken or fish based curries with rice or noodle dishes, adding in plenty of veg. I tend to nibble my way through a bag of pistachios over the course of a week as snacks, plus fruit. I eat some carbs but not loads, mostly because I aim for low gluten/FODMAPs, although MJ seems.to have cured my IBS so I am enjoying bagels because I can!

I do body pump twice a week (with instructors who focus on progressive weights/building muscle/technique/push you), also Pilates and just started reformer. Swim for 2 hours a week, plus do a lot of walking. As in, just come back from a 2 week trip, walked 200 miles and climbed 3 mountains.

Boditrax data suggests I am keeping muscle, but probably not building, although it's been a month since I updated, as I have been away walking up mountains 🤦‍♀️🤣

My quads remain solid, and I have good glutes, or a big curvy bum still. So I think it seems to be working. I have been on WLI since Feb and lost 26.5kg

I’m on 1200 calories, I think it’s always a bit of tying out different amounts to see what leads to loss.

I do 3 weight sessions a week and run 2-3 times a week too.

I prioritise protein in my food choices.

I’ve been on MJ since Dec and lost 32.5kg from BMI 35 to 24. My scales reckon that about 4-5kg of the loss was muscle.

Whenever I’m not poorly I train at the gym 2-6 times a week, weights and own weight exercises, some rowing, yoga. I’ve had some periods of a few weeks with infections when I couldn’t train, and suspect those were when muscle went.

Still, it’s not a bad proportion, and I’m at 26% body fat now, which also isn’t bad for late 40s. I think some of the lost muscle was just unnecessary, like I needed larger calves for carrying myself around.

I aimed for about 1400 a day while I was losing most, and over 100g protein. As much protein as possible, really. But I didn’t weigh food after an initial phase of working out approximately what would fit in my allowance. I’ve also always let myself have a little bit of anything I fancy, and have been to restaurants, sometimes had alcohol - this has to be sustainable for me.

Now I’m a good weight but focusing on health, so making the increase in calories more protein, fruit and veg.

Today for example I had skyr with vanilla protein powder mixed in for breakfast with hazelnuts, dried berries, açaí powder, bee pollen on top. Dark rye bread with soft cheese and smoked salmon, carrots, kiwi berries, physalis for lunch. Huel bar for snack. Shakshuka for dinner with a bit of flatbread and some harissa skyr.

It's of course challenging, as building muscle requires calorie surplus and losing weight is the opposite. I kept lifting, but I did accept that I won't actually put on muscle mass during the weight loss process. Am in maintenance now, so have increased my calories and can almost visibly see how the muscles are growing again. And now that I have very little bodyfat left and at BMI 20, I look shredded! Very happy to walk around casually flexing 😂
If you're already lifting heavy and eating your protein, I think you will be fine.

Thank you for all the encouraging responses. Some really inspiring stuff eg mountain hiking @PurpleCoo 😮 and I appreciate the details on eating choices/WOE. It is reassuring as my food choices are similar (high protein, lots of veg etc).

@HeidiLite its good to hear that having reached GW whilst continuing to lift you can quickly transition to what sounds like impressive gains!

I can accept not gaining whilst in a strict calorie deficit but want to defend the muscle mass I already have (I was already weight training before I started GLP1S and am mindful that as a menopausal woman I don’t want to risk losing lean body mass if I can help it).

Is anyone worried they are losing muscle rather than fat on MJ? Last time I lost weight was sloooow on fast 800 and doing ridiculous amounts of exercise and I just seemed much tighter by this point? Only few years ago so not a teenage self!
Ive kept up my exercise and weights etc but not to the extreme I was doing as I think it didn’t help my cortisol (pcos) and the weight loss is going well (not zooming but steady) but I feel more jiggly around my tummy and it’s definitely not shrunk as much as last time?

I think it’s very hard to gain muscle in a deficit and so for me it’s just been about maintaining muscle and losing fat but thats because I already have good muscle tone.

I eat 120-150g protein a day. Calories around 1,200 but can up to 1,400. Also heathy lowish carb unprocessed broadly Mediterranean diet loads of veg.

Lift heavy most days, in a push pull legs split.

Hard to say for sure but I’m quite confident almost all the weight loss has been fat. Re: visceral fat doubt much less as can see a visible 6 pack.

i’m 51, 163cm and 58kg. My bench press has dropped a little but squat and deadlift I just got PBs despite the weight loss.

You can body recomp at a maintenence calorie.

OP - you need someone to properly calculate your calories and give you a proper macro split. I don't normally do this but can I PM you with a recommendation for a FB group? It's free. I've no connection to the group. I just know they'll be good for you.

Great question and this is something I was TERRIFIED of when I started Mounjaro in January.

I’m 34, started at 111kg and now 78. I weight train three times a week but I also do aerial arts four times a week, so maintaining strength was really important to me. I use Team RH (yes he’s a dick but the app is really freaking good), which has me on 1443 calories.

I go for protein first, fibre second, and then other macros next but I keep carbs under 100g because that’s what works for me.

My muscle mass is 36% so very high for a woman, so I’m taking BMI with a pinch of salt (although I was giddy seeing that I’m no longer obese). I was aiming for 64kg but I’m already a size 12/14 so I think 70 is the max or else I’ll look like a bobble head!

I would say that if you train a lot, accept that it may take a little longer, and you may see more fluctuations due to inflammation from hard sessions, but the trajectory will still be what you want!

I’m switching to Wegovy in two weeks, and I am aiming to wean off by February. At that point, I’m going to start working towards a bodybuilding competition so that I can really focus on my body recomp but right now my aim is to keep training and get rid of some fluff.

I train 3-5x a week and have continued to gain muscle mass on MJ, I’ve lost really slowly though.