High muscle mass

[AbsoluteBeginner1]

Hi all,

I'm trying to lose weight, so im 98kg. I have some fancy scales which say I have high muscle mass, so 59kg. I do walk a lot but that's it. Is high muscle mass a good thing and is it hereditary?

I have a high muscle mass. It wasn’t by accident I have been weight training and eating a high protein diet for years.

In terms of it being hereditary, there are three main body types and one will gain muscle (and weight) more quickly / easily than others.

From a weight perspective, having a high muscle mass will make you look leaner than someone at the same height and weight without. Eg my mum and I are both size 8 but I weight 20lb more.

I do think weight is not always the best measurement if you are high muscle mass. My DD also has high muscle mass and hates that she is ‘heavy’.

I second what the previous poster said. Does it also tell you what your fat percentage is?

I don't see how high muscle mass is a bad thing, but you just need to be aware of how your weight and BMI might not need to be as low as conventional numbers indicate for you to be healthy and slim.

Concentrate on how your body fat percentage and your waist to height ratio, which should be under 50% assuming you are female, rather than a number on the scale when deciding if you are a healthy weight.

Hi, body fat % is 42% so im obese, bmi is 35.

If anyone could decipher this! All i can see is im 98kg which sounds huge

High muscle mass is good and worth protecting with protein intake and exercise. It will keep your metabolic rate up which will help with maintaining healthy body mass long term.

You have more body fat than you need. If you're setting fat/ weight loss targets for yourself, being naturally more muscular means that you may well carry more body mass healthily than average. It's better to break targets into more managable stages anyway

I have muscular limbs which is healthy weight. I'd like to get my BMI down to around 23-24, but because of the healthy mass of my limbs there's no point in me aiming too low.

I've got these scales/ app and they are good for showing trends of change.

Which scales are these OP?

@BB49 Renphro on Amazon, they are brilliant. I bought Salter initially and they didn't work.

From my experience this type of scales tend to be very inaccurate, mine can show 10% drop or increase in muscle mass overnight.

A straightforward method of measuring body fat % is the US Navy method - it’s also cheap because the only extra equipment needed is tape measure. Another easy visual assessment of body fat, especially visceral is counting the skin rolls on the belly when we sit curled up (more rolls = less fat). Muscle mass is then estimated from fat % results.

Your stats are incredibly similar to what mine were a year ago. I’ve now lost 5st inc a lot of muscle mass weight but I now train at the gym and am much, much stronger than I was a year ago!

@umberpigeon that's brilliant! how did you do it? Any tips?

Your muscle mass is high because of your overall weight. Your skeletal muscle is 34% which is low, resistance training and exercise will improve that. Mine was 50% before I started on a weight loss journey. I've lost over 3 stones and it's still 45%. Your fat levels will reduce as you lose weight so nothing to be concerned about. It's the visceral fat that needs to come down as its around the organs. Also please drink more water as it is low and it helps burn fat. A water bottle will help. To burn more fat focus on increasing protein and reducing carbs.

Thank you @Histoscientist , i wfh usually though get long walks when kids are at school. Can anyone recommend home exercises, maybe with weights that could help me?

There's lots of YouTube videos you can follow for free. Just search for workouts with weights.