My Reta 3 month Journey ( with Dexa scan results)

[TacoLifter420]

It's possible to mitigate the muscle loss while cutting. I went from 270 to 200 in about 9 months last year. I at a protein forward diet, but only 1300-1400 calories a day. Protein was only around 150 grams a day. I weighed and tracked my food religiously. I trained with weights 3-4 days a week and did 30 minutes of zone 2 cardio 5 days a week. In the last 3 months or so I would do a refeed every 3 or 4 weeks where I would bring my calories to maintenance for a day. I surely lost little muscle, but not much. I was using tirz at a max dose of 5mg a week and 200mg a week of testosterone. I then stabilized my weight for a few months and now i'm on a slow recomp, not bad for a regular 50 year old dude.

The tirz/TRT combo was key to this.

 

[yrrdead]

@yrrdead what are your thoughts on protein variance based on the focus of muscle fiber type? As a weightlifter/bodybuilder you clearly "need more" for fast-twitch, but what about slow-twitch endurance focused people? Will the demand for protein be different based on slow-twitch vs fast-twitch catabolism?

Also 1gm per ideal weight seems to be a common standard when not on Reta. Does Reta change the demand for protein in order to spare muscle?

First this is more a question for someone much smarter about nutrition/excercise science than me.

That being said I don't think much about variance based on muscle fibers. The last thing (again huge grain of salt) that I had read about the subject was "we don't really know wtf is going on". By that I mean you have a bunch of each type in a crazy mishmash that change type based on what you are doing and when you stop doing that they go back. That isn't anything I would want to base any type of protein variance on . Additionally unless you are doing constant muscle biopsies you would have no clue what your current ratios are if that makes sense.

I don't know of any mechanism that Reta would induce for changing protein demand.

Like most diet based things you need to modulate your intake based on your physiology and environment. But remember KISS. Start at some arbitrary baseline (1gm/lb lean mass) then go up or down based on data. Some type of body mass scale even a cheapie hopefully can give you some data to base your decision.

Finally , remember unless you are an elite athlete pushing the boundaries, it really doesn't matter that much. Make an effort to hit your protein goals. If you get there great, if not , no biggie. If you are on a deficit and aren't taking any of the more extreme exogenous substances you are going to lose some muscle. I would bet if you somehow had perfect knowledge and execution with your protein strategy vs regular joe taking 1gm/lb there would be a minimal difference in catabolism.