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Need to worry about muscle loss?


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Hi, I am a 32 year old female, 5'10" and over 300lbs.  I am in week 3 of my first whole30, and am loving it.  I can feel my body and my relationship with food changing, and am planning to keep going with the template for at least 60 days before reintroducing because I feel like I am going to need longer than another week or so of reinforcing these good new habits for them to take effect. 

 

Here is my question...

 

I have read that when you lose a substantial amount of weight like I need to, that you also lose some muscle along with the fat, and that since your heart is a muscle, that it could potentially actually cause health problems when you actually think that you're getting healthier.  Is this something that I need to worry about?  Is there anything that I can do to minimize muscle loss and maximize organ health during this process? 

 

Thank you for reading.

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Interesting reads MeadowLily, thanks, but it doesn't really answer my question.  Obviously lifting weights will help with muscles in your libs, etc. but I'm wondering about organ health here... should I be concerned about stress on the heart? Are there any other organs that can be negatively affected?

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I've seen some articles about how long-term calorie restriction can harm your heart, but the Whole 30 isn't about calorie restriction at all.  It's about nourishing your body and changing your relationship with food. I would not be concerned about this in the least.  

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There are some excellent tips in those links for maintaining your muscle mass.   If you're doing a Whole 30 according to hoyle,  your internal organs won't atrophy or go into muscle wasting.   Weight loss may be so slow and some won't have any weight loss in 30 days.  It really is a Food Reset rather than a diet.

 

Lifting things/heavy things is the way to maintain muscle whilst releasing weight.  It also prevents the skin from sagging as the muscle is being built.  It's a  Win Win all the way around.   Rapid starvation weight loss diets can be the cause of sagging skin, damaged organs and muscle wasting.  

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I've had some serious issues with my muscle mass before finding Whole30, I lost enough of it that they thought I might have cancer (I didn't).

 

The most important part is to get enough protein. If you don't get enough protein, your body will eat the only other supply it has, your body's muscle.

 

Muscle loss is not a requirement of weight loss, but a lot of people do not eat enough protein, especially when working out (this is why pre & post work out meals are really important - if you're not eating these, please read up, you could be wasting your efforts as well as your muscles).

 

Muscle retention also requires proper nutrients. Muscles are biologically active and will consume nutrients whether you're using your muscles or not (24x7). Fat uses nothing, whether you're awake or asleep. This is why more muscle and less fat is easier to maintain, muscle burns calories/fat even while sleeping. Magnesium is required for healthy muscles and many people do not get enough from their food (due to our poor over-farmed soils).

 

The best way to preserve your muscle mass is to make sure it's well fed and to use it, you don't need to be Arnold Schwarzenegger, just lift some heavy things sometimes, go for a walk, do some stretches.

 

Being catabolic (when your body is eating your own muscle) feels pretty awful. Extreme fatigue, joint and muscle pain, being unable to sleep and something feels really "off" (for me, I realised something was really wrong when I was walking up a ramp I'd walked up hundreds of times and I couldn't get to the top without stopping for two "rests". I was weak, really weak and my muscles kept hitting the wall). I was recommended liver during my recovery and it really helped. If you're at this level of breakdown, blood tests are important to resolve any deficiencies as your body is usually also malnourished at this point.

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