My personal data on Lean Mass (muscle) loss during long term pure CICO weightloss. (DEXA data collection)

I was concerned that CICO only weight loss (little to no extra exercise) would lead to significant losses in muscle mass. So I ran a little experiment on myself, I got a DEXA scan, lost another 25lbs and got another DEXA scan.

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Please note prior to the first scan I had already lost 103lbs.

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Scan Results

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That is showing at only ~6% of my weight loss is lean mass and ~94% is fat.

I am theorizing that the vast majority of my lean mass loss (water and muscle) happened during the initial 103lbs of weight loss, and now it's really just the fat being used. I am going to guess that if I were to attempt to go too low that would change. I am going to get another scan after another 25lbs and will report the results here. Details of my diet are below.

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The following is for informational use only, I am just saying how I am doing it. I am not saying any one way is right or wrong.

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Things I am doing:

Intake Calorie Counting, Originally TDEE set to sedentary minus 1000, however, when that number dipped below the NIH recommended minimum of 1500 per day, I manually adjusted the counter to stay at the 1500 minimum. (It doesn't go in my mouth if it's not already on a log)

I take evening walks several times a week, usually 6.5 miles in length

My job has sporadic periods of heavy physical activity.

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Things I am not doing:

Keto or any sort of Macro control/counting. According to the data logs, my CFP Macros vary from 40/40/20 to 33/33/33 on average. (Please note, Pizza and ice cream are considered crucial parts of my weekly food intake)

Strength Training, yea I am not going to the Gym, I plan to in the future but right now it's a bit of an overload.

Cheat days/meals. I have stayed constant on my caloric deficit targets (+/- 5%) since October 2018.

Intermittent fasting: I eat when I am hungry, usually around meal times. Most days I skip breakfast though.

Fluid intake control: If I am thirsty, I drink something, if I am not thirsty, I don't drink anything. (Please note I drink lots of diet coke for what it's worth)

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I would also like to give a plug to the r loseit discord. There are a lot of good people there, some just starting out, some who have lost more than I. Link to the lose it discord.

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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2wuSofF