tips for starting up again

[nvarness]

I did the McDougall diet for all of 2012. I loved the food. I felt good. I didn't have a ton of weight to lose bit managed to lose about 20 pounds. I ended up joining a gym towards the end of the year and theyended up doing a body fat analysis with calipers. I was not happy with what I found out. Tje majority of the weight I lost was muscle. I wasn't really surprised since I noticed when looking in the mirror that I was smaller but jist kind of looked soft all around instead of a lean muscular look. That kind of made me upset and I lost all motivation to stay on the diet until recently when I've been craving some of the mcdougall recipes I used to make. My question is what kind of changes can I make this time around so I don't lose a lot of muscle?

Thanks,
Noah

[Lani Muelrath]

I did the McDougall diet for all of 2012. I loved the food. I felt good. I didn't have a ton of weight to lose bit managed to lose about 20 pounds. I ended up joining a gym towards the end of the year and theyended up doing a body fat analysis with calipers. I was not happy with what I found out. Tje majority of the weight I lost was muscle. I wasn't really surprised since I noticed when looking in the mirror that I was smaller but jist kind of looked soft all around instead of a lean muscular look. That kind of made me upset and I lost all motivation to stay on the diet until recently when I've been craving some of the mcdougall recipes I used to make. My question is what kind of changes can I make this time around so I don't lose a lot of muscle?

Thanks,
Noah

Hi Noah,

The thing about muscle is that it is expensive to maintain and carry around - in terms of energy - so are bodies are willing to let muscle go when it is not challenged sufficiently. This means that to maintain it, we need to work hard at doing so.

How fantastic that you are inspired to pick up the McDougall fork again - so good for your health! Keep muscle challenging exercise in your schedule and you should be able to maximize saving muscle mass.

Hope this helps!

Lani