Could I be losing muscle? 20 lbs/limited results...help?

[finecanine]

So I'm Kai, 23, guy, 5 ft 9 in, dieting for 2ish months. New and happy to be here!

So I'm officially at 193 (started at 217 lbs). My goal is 160ish. Lost 20+ lbs so shouldn't I notice? Minus my gf, nobody can notice. Clothes are baggier I guess, but beyond that, I can't even say I notice which is kinda scary. I realize my BMI was sky high and I still have 30+ lbs but guess I expected some change by now. If I get to 180 and still feel this way I'll be sure to talk to my doc. Guess I've been thinking my skin needs to tighten up so maybe that's why its not noticeable. But now, that should have started I imagine lol. Is it possible to just lose muscle (or mostly muscle) and not fat? How would one tell? Especially if they didn't measure such things before starting a program.

Exercise plays a role in muscle maintenance/fat loss, I have been walking (at least 10,000 steps every day) and stretching. I'm kinda limited in what I can do for medical reasons and don't have access to the gym. But I'm open to suggestions! Anything to avoid having to take up jogging, but I might have to do that too!

Generally, I just focus on a diet. I've been using MFP app and fitbit. I generally stay around 1600 calories. I generally eat pretty healthy-don't drink anything but water, occasional dairy, whole grain, plenty of fruits and veggies (trying to increase), and I eat skinless fish/eggs/whey/greek yogert for protein. I don't go for anything I couldn't maintain (a form of) long term so I'm not opting for anything crazy. But of course, I'm open to suggestions here too. Tried upping protein and started a multi to ensure nutrition hopefully wasn't an issue either.

So yeah, there's that. Thanks for any help in advance!

 

[Trusylver]

If you are not doing any strength based training then there is a big likelihood that you are loosing muscle along with the fat.

Walking is good for general fitness / cardio and stretching while not exercise as such is ok if you have range of motion problems. However some form of strength training is needed to help maintain muscle mass while in a calorie deficit for fat loss.

 

[SarahDuffLifestyleCoach]

Hey,

Totally agree that you could be losing muscle there is no way to tell without getting a fully body composition reading done.

Although if you start to feel weaker and more tired then these could be an indicator of muscle loss Obviously I don't know your full circumstances but maybe investing in some resistance bands and maybe even some dumb bells for home would allow you to some form of strength based training to help with muscle maintenance. There are many workouts on things like you tube

The power of just doing very simple moves even at a bodyweight would be of massive benefit. Sounds like your doing ok on the diet i am not really to comment on your calories etc as I don't know all your details but your doing right to increase those veg make sure there is a good array of colour and lots of greens. I would say make sure your veg intake outweighs your fruit.

Hope this helps
S xx