I am 62, 5ft 4in and was diagnosed with Type 2 10 years ago. My weight was stable at 9st 8lb but my blood sugars were getting higher and higher and the next med step was insulin. I do a fair amount of aerobic exercise but have slim arms and legs and all my fat is round my waist and tum. I decided to try the diet and have been on it for 16 days so far. I was aware I did not want to lose any muscle so I started regular resistance exercising. and made sure I was eating a minimum of 50 grammes of protein a day. I have lost 10 pounds so far but my waist has only reduced by 2.5 inches to 33 inches and yet my thighs have lost an inch each and my physio can see the muscles look reduced.. I belong to David Lloyd and used their Bodyscan analyser machine the day before I started. I used it again yesterday and it shows the weight loss being evenly split between fat and muscle mass. I want to lose the waist and the fat but I do not want to lose any more muscle and do not really want not drop below 8st 8lb and take my BMI below 20. Any advice?

Muscle does reduce if it is not being used, at 16 days you should be sufficiently adapted if you have been low carb to burn the fat before the muscle if it is in use, so have you still been doing your usual aerobic exercise as well as the resistance work? I have experienced some muscle loss, but considering a lot was built up when I was very active and obese I was not so worried. The body maintains the muscle it is using, and I am no longer carrying around several stones of ballast. I used slightly more protein than you and tried to time it to during/after exercise, but I am slightly taller. In 16 days 2.5 inches is actually quite a lot to come from the waist, and my waist stopped reducing at just under 31 inches despite the Boditrax scanner telling me I had 4cc of visceral fat only and an athletic trunk. Not something I had ever imagined I would have.

I would keep going, maybe increase the calories but not carbs slightly if you are worried about losing too much weight or up your exercise and protein to protect the muscle, or try the 5:2 variant. It will be slower but should still get you there safely. You are entering the phase now where most of the visceral fat is lost (which often has no resultant weight loss, weight loss stalls and inch loss only are common in weeks 3 and 4).

Thanks for your advice. I have been keeping up my normal aerobic exercise but am increasing the resistance work. I am having trouble keeping the protein up despite having eggs in the norming and large portions of fish and chicken in the evening which takes up a lot of my calories. What are you using to up the protein round exercise times?
Anne

I need more protein on a regular basis than most people seem to need, so getting enough protein and getting down to 800 calories was a significant problem when I started, so I made a spreadsheet to work out the calories to protein ratios of all my favourite foods, and there isn’t much at all with a high enough ratio! Tinned tuna being the best by a significant margin, then various meats, then pilchards and eggs.
More recently I discovered whey protein powder, and use this regularly to top up my protein intake.
Hopefully, once I have lost my excess pounds, and don’t need to worry so much about keeping the calories down, I will be able to get enough of everything from normal food without putting on weight.

Hi Anne LL, Ancient Weaver and Mnm — I agree that everyone has their own level of necessary protein but it should be fairly easy to get 60-80 grams daily protein in 800 calories (or even much more) — 4 ounces chicken breast is about 150 calories and 36 grams protein, same amount lean beef about 180 calories and 28 grams protein, 6 ounces shrimp and cold water wild fish about 150 calories and 34 grams protein —
Also don’t forget eggs, cheese, nuts, seeds, vegetables — it all adds up — I usually had two small servings of good quality protein per day and an egg and some nuts/seeds/cheese and regularly got over 60-80 grams protein per day. That level supported a very sporty life and lots of weight lifting.
And Mnm is right, some muscle might appropriately be lost because you are smaller than before and you still need to be proportionate.
Don’t worry — just focus on eating good quality protein and lots of good green veg and it will be fine.
Also, protein of these kinds is very filling and satisfies hunger for hours!

I did wonder about whey protein but prefer to try and get everything from food. I have also realised that tuna and chicken have the best calorie to protein ratio but was really shocked to discover that 7 almonds plus 4 walnuts was 130 calories for barely 4 grammes of protein. I am going to up the calories now anyway as my BMI is 20.5 which is getting too low at my age so it will be easier to get the extra protein in

Thanks

Anne

I totally agree with getting everything from regular food if you can.
After I posted I wondered if perhaps, with all that exercising, you should stop limiting yourself to 800 calories.
I should have paid more attention to the detail in your OP. You’re not overweight, so you don’t need such a drastic calorie restriction anyway.
Re-reading the OP more carefully, I wonder if you’re losing muscle at the same rate as fat because as you lose fat, you are carrying less weight so need less muscle. IYSWIM
“Belly fat” is associated with insulin/diabetes, and I’m not sure what you can do about it other than cutting out carbs and artificial sweeteners and eating things that encourage fat burning. The BSD WOE and other similar diets are known to reduce belly fat particularly, (I actually found this out when googling to see why my belly was going down but my hips weren’t!), so stick with it!
Walnuts and almonds are really good food, it’s really annoying that they are so high calorie. It’s because they’re rich in oil/fat, but those oils/fats are actually good for weight loss and type2 diabetes, so don’t give up on them either. 🙂