Kate Gilroy is an expert author on health and fitness who enjoys helping people to reach thier fitness and lifestyle goal.
One particular area of interest is
fasting to lose weight and health benifits.
Does Fasting for Weight Loss Cause Muscle Wastage
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
One area of concern for people fasting to lose weight is if they will lose muscle mass whilst fasting. Although some people may be unhappy with muscle that they have on their arms or legs from previously playing sport, the vast majority of people do not want to lose muscle mass as muscle helps to protect the joints and organs as well as helps to burn fat.
Many people have been told and believe that they will lose muscle if they do not eat every 3 hours however the research shows that as long as you’re using resistance training during your fasts you will maintain your muscle mass.
So if restricting our calorie intake does not cause muscle wastage then what actually does? Well have you ever had your arm in a cast or seen someone that had and witnessed how skinny that arm had become once the cast was off even though the person ate the same amount of calories as they normally do?
This common example clearly shows that the cause of muscle mass is simply not using the muscle. It is something that also happens to patients that are bedridden. As the old adage goes – if you don’t use it you lose it!
A study conducted at the University of Nottingham examined this ‘disuse atrophy’ (muscle wastage) in 22 male and female participants that had casts on their right leg for two weeks. Despite no change in their diet there was a significant decrease in the cross sectional area of the participants quadriceps (thigh muscle) by 10%.
Therefore this study suggests that the real cause of a reduction in muscle mass is simply a lack of use and that calorie reduction may will not causes muscle wastage as long as the muscles are being used by performing regular resistance training and that by fasting for weight loss you will not lose valuable muscle mass.