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372 points Eumenes | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.468s | source
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crazygringo ◴[] No.42203302[source]
I'm always so baffled by warnings about losing muscle when losing weight.

Of course you do! If your body is tens of pounds lighter, then you don't need the extra muscle to lug it around. This paper is about reduction in heart muscle, and of course your heart doesn't need to be as strong because there's less blood to pump and less tissue to fuel.

When you gain weight, you also increase the muscles needed to carry that weight around. If you see someone obese at the gym doing the leg press, you may be astonished at how strong their legs are. When you lose weight, you don't need that muscle anymore.

Our bodies are really good at providing exactly the amount of muscle we need for our daily activities (provided we eat properly, i.e. sufficient protein), so it's entirely natural that our muscles decrease as we lose weight, the same way they increased when we gain weight. Muscles are expensive to keep around when we don't need them.

Obviously, if you exercise, then you'll keep the muscles you need for exercising.

But this notion that weight loss can somehow be a negative because you'll lose muscle too, I don't know where it came from. Yes you can lose muscle, but you never would have had that muscle in the first place if you hadn't been overweight -- so it's not something to worry about.

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1. thisislife2 ◴[] No.42207576[source]
> When you gain weight, you also increase the muscles needed to carry that weight around.

I can't figure out how relevant that is. From what I've seen of obese people they always struggle with limited mobility, which often only improves with physiotherapy (or other forms of exercises). Sumo wrestlers are huge but can move faster than an equivalent obese person because (I assume) they have stronger muscles due to their regular regimented training and diet. Does this mean they have more muscle mass than fat compared to an equivalent obese person? Does more muscle mass indicate stronger muscles?

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2. cthalupa ◴[] No.42207959[source]
Well, based on my DEXA scan from before I started on tirzepatide, if I had dropped to 20% BF with my starting LBM, I would have been in close to the best shape of my life. I certainly have a lot of extra muscle in my legs from carrying my fat ass around.

> Does more muscle mass indicate stronger muscles?

Yes. Strength for specific movements involves CNS adaptation, but if you look at the top tier of powerlifters, ranking them within a weight category by MRI muscle mass would produce basically identical results to their actual rankings.