I flaired this as "other/meta" because I'm not looking for personalized advice so much as a rule of thumb.
Long story short:
I know that some muscle loss is normal and expected as part of a cut, what I don't know is how much loss is acceptable, versus what's the point where you should be slowing down/adding protein/gym bunny-ing harder/etc.
So I guess I'm looking for a "for every X pounds lost overall, expect to lose at least Y pounds of muscle mass, more means you're going too fast".
Long story long with personal details:
So on my current fitness kick (going since Jan 2024, so a long streak for me) has got me the following stats:
- Kickoff, Jan 24: 180 lbs
- New scale, Aug 25: 178 lbs, "121" muscle mass†
- Peak weight, Jan 26: 192 lbs, "129" muscle mass (started to count calories/cut after panicking over breaking 190)
- Current weight, Apr 26: 172 lbs, "123" muscle mass
(Progress pictures are a little off from those dates, as I weigh myself daily, but only take gym selfies when the locker room is empty.)
Now, if the muscle mass part of the scale is accurate in relation to itself, then in the last three months I've lost most of the muscle mass from the five months before that. But I am almost ten pounds lighter overall then I was then, and twenty lighter then my peak in January.
So yeah. I'm wondering if I screwed up this cut and went too fast, or if this is an acceptable rate of muscle loss and I should stop fretting.
Either way, I'm pretty sure I'm going to end the cut in a few weeks (this is week 14, I've read that 16 is a good duration) and (after a few weeks of maintenance to let my metabolism readjust) then try an slow and intentional (rather then my last accidental and erratic) bulk. So I'm not really looking for advice on "bulk or cut", more of "did I cut correctly?"
Thank you for any response, I'm trying to get smarter on this.
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†I'm well aware that these scales aren't accurate when it comes to fat/muscle composition, but looking at the data I'm persuaded that they're accurate enough in relation to themselves. So the actual value may be +/- 10%, but the change in value over time is close enough for government work.