This one has a reasonably settled answer, so here it is. The honest range is roughly 20 to 40% of total loss as lean mass without deliberate resistance training, and roughly 10 to 20% with it plus adequate protein. Both numbers need a caveat that matters: "lean mass" on a DEXA is not muscle. It includes water, glycogen and the lean fraction of organs, and glycogen alone carries about three grams of water per gram. A large early lean drop is mostly the glycogen and water going, which is why the first scan flatters and the second is the honest one.
I lifted three times a week throughout and still lost lean mass. Not as much as I expected to, but the idea that training prevents it entirely is not what my scan says.
What would genuinely help is knowing what fraction of loss being lean mass is actually normal, because the numbers quoted here range from 10% to 40% and cannot all be right.
I have searched first, so if this is covered somewhere point me at it and I will read it.
Dr.NateNeph said:The honest range is roughly 20 to 40% of total loss as lean mass without deliberate resistance training, and roughly 10 to 20% with it plus adequate…
Right, and protein targets should be set on a reference weight rather than current weight. Setting 1.6 g/kg on a starting weight of 130kg produces a target nobody hits on a suppressed appetite.
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Shop Reference Standardsamsterdam_pete said:I lifted three times a week throughout and still lost lean mass.
Same position here, arrived at the long way round. There is also a quality change that the scan cannot see. Weight loss shifts fiber-type distribution toward Type I and improves mitochondrial density and insulin-stimulated glucose uptake per fiber — so the muscle you keep is metabolically better even though there is less of it. That does not make the loss irrelevant, but it explains why function often holds up better than the number suggests.
Clinical perspective, offered as context rather than as advice.
Back pain as a lean mass side effect: not from the medication itself, but from rapid body composition changes. Losing 58 lbs shifts your center of gravity and your core muscles need time to adjust.
Physical therapy has been essential. Core strengthening exercises (planks, dead bugs, bird dogs) daily for 10 minutes have eliminated my lower back pain. Your body is literally relearning how to carry itself.