[Discussion] FFMI not weight, or you will celebrate losing muscle
Posting this as a discussion rather than a claim: FFMI not weight, or you will celebrate losing muscle.
Strength retention is an imperfect but free longitudinal proxy: it is affected by neural factors and by being in a deficit, so it tracks tissue change loosely rather than exactly.
Fat-free mass index is a ratio of fat-free mass to height squared. It moves when either term does, which makes it awkward to interpret during active weight change.
Hydration status and fasting state affect the lean mass estimate. Standardising both is the difference between a comparison and a coin toss.
Screenshot none of this. Read the whole thread, including the parts where I am told I am wrong.
best — the order this archive was captured in
Nothing here is a training or nutrition prescription. Targets and programmes are matters for somebody who knows your history and your training background.
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losing weight slower does not automatically preserve more lean mass
That protein figure is grams per day, not grams per kilogram. Different claim entirely.
the appetite effect makes eating enough protein a logistics problem
Agreed on the error margin. Quoting a DEXA to one decimal implies a precision the method does not have.
nothing on this board is a training or nutrition prescription
Yes. Lean mass change during weight loss is expected; the useful question is the proportion, not whether it happens.
Agreed — protein and resistance training. Everything else in these threads is a rounding error on those two.
Small fix — that is fat-free mass, not muscle mass. The scan cannot separate them the way the post assumes.
Tracked grip strength and three lifts monthly. Cheaper than scanning and directionally the same answer.
Same. Volume over novelty. Changing programme every six weeks cost me a year.
DEXA has a meaningful coefficient of variation, and it differs between machines and protocols. Comparing scans from different clinics adds a systematic offset that is invisible on the report.
Cosigning that protein gets harder precisely when appetite drops. That is the actual difficulty and it is logistical.
Correction: those scans are from different machines, and the difference you are describing is within the measurement error.
a single DEXA is a number, two is a comparison, three is a trend
Push back: strength dropping in a deficit is not the same as lean mass loss. Related, not identical.
Not convinced by that DEXA comparison. Different machine, different protocol, and the difference is inside the error.
I would not change the programme on the strength of one scan. The measurement error is larger than the effect you are reacting to.
- 1Nothing here is a training or nutrition prescription. Targets and programmes…10 comments in this branch · started by u/nayeli_fonseca