Date:   6/11/2005 3:36:56 PM ( 20 y ago)
Hits:   3,658
URL:   https://www.curezone.org/forums/fm.asp?i=66847

It is very unlikely you lot 11 pounds of fat, though water yes. Let's do the math. Each pound of fat contains 3500 calories. That would be 38,500 calories for the week. Given that the average American consumes approximately 3600 calories a day, 25,200 calories a week. Heavy competitive bodybuilding workouts consume about 400-800 calories per hour. These are extreme workouts that get you into extreme shape, e.g. 3-5% bodyfat).

Let's take a little more pessimistic perspective. Each pound of hard earned lean muscle can also be consumed for energy. However it only yields 2500 calories per pound. So, during the course of a week, if you stopped eating it is possible you could lose 7 pounds of muscle but I suspect very unlikely. More likely is that the lack of carbohydrates may have contributed to the loss. Each gram of stored carbohydrate (glycogen) will store 2.7 grams of water. It is likely that you lost 9-10 pounds of water and 1-2 pounds of fat and muscle combined and as the average person is not genetically gifted like Arnold Schwarzenegger half the 1-2 pounds lost would be fat while the other half would be muscle tissue.

Sorry to poop on your parade but this is what happens unless extreme dietary measures are employed and even then muscle loss is a significant concern. Most of us are not genetically blessed with good partitioning ratios (ratio of muscle to fat we put on or lose). It is possible to do the impossible but it requires a goofy cyclical diet (cycling carbs, cycling/zigzagging calories, lots of fat and protein, and enough exercise to make the body prefer hanging onto the muscle over the fat which it natually likes to keep over muscle -- survival) and an anal attitude to stick to it.
 

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