Protein During a Deficit · the Muscle-Preservation Playbook

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Connected to · 4

cofactor · 1

Eating Less Without Going Short
During a cut you can eat fewer calories, but do not skimp on protein. The usual advice is 1.6–2.4 g per kilogram of body weight a day: with enough, more of the weight you lose comes from fat; with too little, muscle goes along with it.

regulates · 2

Genetics of Weight / Not Just Willpower
Weight loss sets off a defense that pulls weight back up: in one study, appetite-related hormones had still not returned to their earlier levels a year after the weight came off. Strength training plus enough protein decides how much of the lost weight is muscle, and keeping muscle means resting metabolism falls less.
Carbs & Fiber
When carbohydrate intake is very low, the liver makes its own glucose from amino acids and other materials (gluconeogenesis) to supply the brain and other tissues that depend on glucose, and part of those amino acids comes from breaking down muscle protein. This is one reason a cut costs muscle, and why protein is the last thing to skimp on.

contrast · 1

Weight-Loss Supplements Debunk
The approach with real trial support during a cut is not on the supplement shelf: eating enough protein in a calorie deficit, plus strength training, protects muscle. The effects of the supplements on that shelf are not in the same league.

Read full story

Stop 1/4

Why weight loss isn't only fat loss

EVIDENCERCT 2

READ THE ORIGINAL

When you lose weight, the body does not burn only fat. Part of what leaves the scale is something you did not want to lose: skeletal muscle.

This is the body's default in an energy shortage. The brain runs almost entirely on glucose, and when you go without food, the small store of sugar in the liver runs low fast. Amino acids are then taken out of muscle, sent to the liver, and rebuilt into glucose to cover the gap, a step called gluconeogenesis. Muscle is also a tissue that costs a fair amount of energy to keep, and if you do not use it, the body treats it as an expense it can cut. So fat and protein get taken apart together.

This can be negotiated: eat enough protein, and give the muscle a signal it can use (strength training), and you help it stay. In one small 4-week trial, young men in a large calorie deficit who trained hard and ate a high-protein diet even gained a little lean mass. It was a proof-of-principle trial, not a plan for everyone.

Educational content, not medical advice — consult a clinician.

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Protein During a Deficit · the Muscle-Preservation Playbook

Story

Connected to · 4

cofactor · 1

Eating Less Without Going Short
During a cut you can eat fewer calories, but do not skimp on protein. The usual advice is 1.6–2.4 g per kilogram of body weight a day: with enough, more of the weight you lose comes from fat; with too little, muscle goes along with it.

regulates · 2

Genetics of Weight / Not Just Willpower
Weight loss sets off a defense that pulls weight back up: in one study, appetite-related hormones had still not returned to their earlier levels a year after the weight came off. Strength training plus enough protein decides how much of the lost weight is muscle, and keeping muscle means resting metabolism falls less.
Carbs & Fiber
When carbohydrate intake is very low, the liver makes its own glucose from amino acids and other materials (gluconeogenesis) to supply the brain and other tissues that depend on glucose, and part of those amino acids comes from breaking down muscle protein. This is one reason a cut costs muscle, and why protein is the last thing to skimp on.

contrast · 1

Weight-Loss Supplements Debunk
The approach with real trial support during a cut is not on the supplement shelf: eating enough protein in a calorie deficit, plus strength training, protects muscle. The effects of the supplements on that shelf are not in the same league.

Read full story

Stop 1/4

Why weight loss isn't only fat loss

EVIDENCERCT 2

READ THE ORIGINAL

When you lose weight, the body does not burn only fat. Part of what leaves the scale is something you did not want to lose: skeletal muscle.

This is the body's default in an energy shortage. The brain runs almost entirely on glucose, and when you go without food, the small store of sugar in the liver runs low fast. Amino acids are then taken out of muscle, sent to the liver, and rebuilt into glucose to cover the gap, a step called gluconeogenesis. Muscle is also a tissue that costs a fair amount of energy to keep, and if you do not use it, the body treats it as an expense it can cut. So fat and protein get taken apart together.

This can be negotiated: eat enough protein, and give the muscle a signal it can use (strength training), and you help it stay. In one small 4-week trial, young men in a large calorie deficit who trained hard and ate a high-protein diet even gained a little lean mass. It was a proof-of-principle trial, not a plan for everyone.

Educational content, not medical advice — consult a clinician.