Hey chickie! There IS no regularly scheduled program so you post just as much as you want to — you are ALWAYS welcome here!
Again, all I can give you is my personal experience since I don’t have any formal education in any of this (so take it or leave it
). My trainer explained to me (and others may disagree) that the goal with muscle building while losing a lot of fat is to try to preserve as much muscle as possible BUT that in the end, some muscle will inevitably be lost along with fat. In other words, it’s not possible to lose 100% fat and no muscle. So we want to keep building muscle to minimize any muscle loss.
I started at 108 pounds of LBM, peaked at 136 (when I weighed 200 pounds), and ended at 114 (now it’s up around 117 — 119 pounds). So I gained and then lost muscle as the last pounds came off but still ended up with more than I started with. In answer to your question, I don’t think I lost muscle in my legs — in fact, I’m sure I added some — but I sure as heck lost a lot of fat. Let’s see, my starting thigh measurement was 29” and ending was 18”, so that’s 11 inches (at least) of pure lard GONE.
Our legs and backs are indeed naturally strong because of us carrying around obese bodies — it’s strength training every minute of every day. And that’s a great thing — we’re actually better than “normal” people in a gym! For once!
My advice to you is keep doing what’s working so well for you food-wise and keep lifting weights and just monitor your progress. The fat’s going to come off unevenly, in funny lumps, in big chunks, and at it’s own pace. You’ll know when you get to the right place for your body to maintain. And I really think that you’ll be happy with your thighs (and all of the rest of you) once you get there!
Edited to add: I agree with Funniegrrl about BF % as being a better goal than scale weight, especially for those of us who started off obese.
Losing Muscle?
You know?
Wow!!!
