Holding on to Muscle While Cutting

Nutrition Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hello,

First time poster here! Just wanted to start by saying thank you for all the great content here!

After putting on about 20lb in my first year lifting, I decided to finally cut some fat. I have been cutting for the last 3 months at a pace of about .5 - 1lb/week. I’m down ~10lb so far. During the first month, my lifts took a big hit, but I adjusted macros after reading TBAB and upped my carbs and dropped by fats. Lifts are steadily progressing again and weight loss is also steady. I’m down 10 lbs and stronger than I was before I started cutting. My question is whether my progressing strength is a good indicator that I’m losing minimal amounts of muscle? Or is there just no way to tell in the absence of doing something like a before/after DEXA scan?

Thanks!

2

Minaam,

Welcome to the forum and thanks for your post. A few thoughts: 1. In general, changes in strength are most reflective of the programming’s effectiveness for improving strength. I don’t think changes in strength, particularly in the short term, are reflective of muscle mass
2. When cutting, you should be able to retain most of your muscle with any reasonable training program and adequate protein. -Jordan

3

Thanks for the quick response, Jordan! That’s good to hear!