sarah.morrison said:The honest range is roughly 20 to 40% of total loss as lean mass without deliberate resistance training, and roughly 10 to 20% with it plus adequate…
I read this differently from sarah.morrison, on substance rather than tone. I think this board over-worries about lean mass. Some lean loss is obligatory — you need less muscle to move a smaller body, and preserving mass you no longer need is not a health outcome. The question is whether strength and function held, and mine did.
nancy_portland said:I lifted three times a week throughout and still lost lean mass.
Body composition tracking via bioimpedance on lean mass (InBody scan every 3 months):
| Metric | Baseline | Month 3 | Month 6 | Month 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skeletal Muscle (lbs) | 71 | 67 | 72 | 71 |
| Body Fat (lbs) | 108 | 69 | 53 | 41 |
| Body Fat % | 39% | 34% | 26% | 21% |
| Visceral Fat (cm²) | 158 | 123 | 93 | 58 |
Note: skeletal muscle mass dipped initially then recovered with consistent resistance training + high protein. The visceral fat reduction is where the metabolic magic happens.
Dr.NateNeph said:I think this board over-worries about lean mass.
My endo's protocol for lean mass plateau: if weight loss stalls for 6+ weeks at current dose, we go through this checklist before titrating up:
- Food diary review — is intake creeping up?
- Protein check — minimum 100g/day
- Activity audit — steps + resistance training
- Sleep quality — poor sleep kills GLP-1 efficacy
- Stress/cortisol management
Only after addressing all of these do we increase the dose. Often fixing one lifestyle factor restarts progress without needing more medication.
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View ResultsOne thing that is still open after pam_stl’s answer:
Whether resistance training and protein change the ratio or only the absolute amount?
OP back with an update, since a thread like this is useless without one.
Follow-up: I dropped the cardio to two easy sessions and put the effort into three real lifting sessions. The scale slowed and the scan improved.