Hi, I started to the low carb lifestyle, ive been on and off for years and back with a force... anyways, Im now really big on working out, but I have heard that when you are on a low-carb diet that you lose muscle aswell as fat and water. I wanted to know if that was a myth or if there is some validity to that statement , I work out alot and I would hate to know that this WOE is harming that.

-Jon

Perhaps you'd lose muscle if you eat very low calorie, low protein with a higher fat percentage and exercise, especially cardio, more than what you're eating can handle. Generally, if your protein and fat intake are adequate you will gain, not lose, muscle. .. Of course given you are providing proper stimulus to your muscles, not overdoing the cardio etc. Just a note.. saturated fat promotes testosterone production, so it's in a lifters (or any male's) best interest to consume adequate saturated fat.

It's a myth. If you hold calorie and protein intake constant and put people on diets that vary only in the amount of carb versus fat they consume, the ones eating less carbs will lose more fat and less lean tissue.

"Charlotte Young, professor of clinical nutrition at Cornell University, compared the results of overweight young men placed on three diets. Each diet provided 1,800 calories, but with varying degrees of carbohydrate restriction. The regimens contained 30, 60 and 104 grams of carbohydrates a day, respectively, and subjects followed them for nine weeks. Then the researchers measured body fat loss as well as total weight loss--they wanted to see how much of the weight loss was fat and how much was muscle. The subjects who ate 104 grams of carbs lost slightly more than 2 pounds of fat per week, on average, out of 2.73 pounds of total weight loss--pretty good for 1,800 calories per day. Those on 60 grams of carbs lost nearly 2.5 pounds of fat per week, out of 3 pounds of actual weight loss. But the subjects who ate only 30 grams of carbs a day--the only situation that produced lipolysis and the secondary process of ketosis--lost 3.73 pounds of fat per week --approximately 100 percent of their total weight loss! This study demonstrates that (1) more weight loss occurs when lipolysis and ketosis kick in, metabolizing fats in the absence of substantial amounts of carbohydrates and (2) more fat is burned and less muscle is lost when lipolysis and ketosis occur."

http://university.atkins.com/briefs...6c&briefId=1007

You lose some muscle on ANY DIET! But low carb is better fopr preserving muscle mass than high carb low fat diets if you eat enough fat and protein for your exercise level. Weight lifting is also a good way to hold onto your muscles, makes your body thinking that you need it. You can search the web and find tons of info on how low carb diet is better for losing fat and not msucles.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/becker25.htm

Jon,

What's your alternative ?

People making unsubstantiated claims like that are just flinging mud around.

I have heard and visually seen quite the opposite. high protein and fat intake vs carb intake promotes lean muscle mass growth, even in the absence of exercise!!

If there is a healthier alternative than low carb for dietary encouragement of muscle growth, then I would like to see the proven science!

All the diet books I have been reading say the body deprived of carbohydrate turns to protein for its first source of glucose energy from the muscles. It had me worried a bit, but I have not seen any evidence of that, in fact when I lift now I gain weight. I think they have it mixed up with a total starvation fast where you lose both muscle and fat over time. The 1st thing to go is glycogen in both cases.

That's correct. On a starvation diet eventually muscle tissue is cannibalized for glucose. It has nothing to do with a lowcarb diet with adequate protein and calories. It's annoying that diet and fitness books keep repeating this canard.

There are many 'experts' who do not understand that low-carb eating and starvation are not the same thing. Both can result in being in ketosis, but one has sufficient calories and protein intake and the other does not.

Unfortunately, there have been few exercise related studies that involve adapted low carbers. Glucose addicts do better with more glucose, but low carbers burn fat, not glucose. Using high carbers to 'prove' that carbs are required to build muscle and endurance is foolish.

The Atkins diet in particular is about getting adequate calories to satisfy natural hunger.

So in the pressence of enough dietary protein and fat, the body will not cannibalise the muscle, the way starvation does. (It may a little, but I think that happens with all weight loss).

Many people criticize the Atkins diet (even other low carbers) for not focusing on calorie counting, but it's not a liscence to gorge yourself!

But most low carbers and Atkins followers are in no danger of inadequate calorie intake!

You could lose some fluid and glycogen from the muscles, but the amount of actual muscle tissue lost on a LC plan will be negligible if you are moderately active.

The body goes for protein but due to the fact that it is not in a starvation mode, protein in the diet suffices the need. Now, if the body is starving, such as what is caused by anorexia, then the body will turn on itself. This causes the skeletal affect that we see in anorexics. I have never seen anything like this in a soul who eats well. Native Americans are an example of one of the planet's strongest cultures when they consumed a traditionally high protein lifestyle. Not only were they physically supreme, they were blessed with an unusually efficient immune system. This characteristic changed when they began eating higher amounts of carbohydrates, supplied by government handouts. In otherwords, when their diets became laden with pastas and sugars, their health took a sickly turn. Take a deeper look into this. Native Americans are human beings. They can be considered as human canaries.

As you recall, miners used canaries to warn them of the presence
of deadly gases in the mine. If the canary died, they knew of the danger
that lurked within.

The Native American experience should shake us up in a similar manner. They lived a traditional low carb/high protein/low carbohydrate lifestyle with stunning results. Why shouldn't that affect is in the same way?