[wendybirdx]

So I had to stop going to the gym for about a month because of a college craze (exams and projects week), and because a class I thought would end earlier got extended to the end of the month. I have been eating pretty badly compared to my previous rigor, though I'm still technically eating healthy. In about a month I've lost about 2kg, or 4-5lbs. I was really happy at first, especially since the start of my weight loss journey was on nutrition alone and I remember losing well from then. But is it possible I've just lost muscle mass? I don't really see any physical changes in my body, but then again, many people claim not to when they're losing fat. I know there's no real way to know unless I see my muscle/fat index or whatever it's called, but maybe someone knows from experience? Is this really fat loss like at the beginning of my journey or muscle loss?

[IanG]

Depending on what you have been eating it's probably fat and muscle. If you have been good eating protein you may have retained more muscle but the best way to do that is to strength train as well.

It is really hard to lose weight without losing some muscle. In my opinion, weight loss is only half of the journey. You then have to build yourself back up again.

As I lost a lot of weight, I lost a lot of muscle with the fat. So I ended up looking like a skinny fat guy. So the second part of my journey is exercising and eating healthy to build muscle while trying to trim the last bit of fat. In practice this has not been easy either as I have built muscle but also kept the fat. So I am now trying clean bulk and cut cycles.

On my cut cycles I try to lose fat and hold on to as much muscle as I can by dieting but keeping my protein up, doing lots of cardio and strength training.

On a clean bulk I do all the above but just eat more.

[wendybirdx]

Oh I see...well that makes me a bit more relieved haha it's good I got back to it and kept my nutrition at a good(ish) quality then (: feeling the DOMs today though haha

Also just looked up cut cycles, cool idea! How do you monitor each cycle? Do you go by time or by amount of weight lost or?

[IanG]

I am not sure on the cycles! This is my first time at cutting (after my big weightloss and then lots of gym and maintenance). Real bodybuilders often time their cycles to seasons. They aim to cut for the summer (or for competitions) and bulk in the winter months.

My current target is 165. We'll see how I look then.

I am not sure what I will do after. But, if I want to build more muscle I will need to eat more. And the cycle will continue...

And, yes, this is all about aesthetics. If I can lose 100lbs+ why the heck not!

[wendybirdx]

Oh cool! I could try that out, I'll see some other testimonies to see if it can benefit someone my height/weight/strength (aka very low at the moment :P)

Good luck! I hope it works out well for you

[jibobo]

is good information