I have been on BSD since 21st January and have lost 28lbs. I’m very happy with weight loss – just a few more pounds to go. I was diabetic but am now in the pre diabetic range according to my last diabetic clinic results. My problem is my legs and rear are really, really thin, but I still need to lose about 6 inches from my waist/belly fat. I know visceral fat loss is the most important for diabetics and I really intend to keep this up until I do. I do resistance training 3 times a week for upper and lower body and cross trainer or walking 3 times a week. My calf muscles especially are very weak even though I do incorporate calf raises etc into my routine. I am so afraid of losing any more weight from my legs as they really scary looking. Any advice please?

Hi mistyb, congratulations on the weight loss 😊 I’m not sure it’s possible to gain muscle when you’re on a vlcd as I don’t think you’d be able to get the required amount of daily protein, you need 0.7 – 0.9g per 1lb of weight to build muscle. I think the best you can do is retain your existing muscle. Once you’ve reached your target weight and are able to increase your calories you’ll be able to work on building muscle. If you can afford it a PT will be able to help you develop a personalised programme for legs. Good luck 😊

Hi mistyb,
Well done on reversing from diabetic to pre-diabetic levels.
I have read a number of articles which suggest that our bodies are designed to carry extra weight at our waist because of pregnancy. Which is why our waist area is the first place it stores fat and the last place it looses fat. – Certainly those of us with a lot of weight to discard have found that our shoe sizes changed and collar bones emerged before any changes to our waist measurements.

Various studies comparing low calorie keto, moderate and high carb diets have shown that a keto diet is what is known as muscle sparing. – If we count calories and have our carb levels low enough our bodies can access our fat stores to make up the missing calories. But if our carb intake or protein intake is high enough to raise insulin levels then the body can not access our fat stores and has to make up the short fall in calories from some other source. That’s when calorie controlled diets result in muscle loss. This paper specifically covers the changes in body composition when doing crossfit training between a group on a keto diet and “normal” diet. https://www.clinmedjournals.org/articles/ijsem/international-journal-of-sports-and-exercise-medicine-ijsem-3-054.pdf
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I have read an article which suggests that just 20 to 30g of protein taken directly after resistance training (weight training) is enough to trigger increases in muscle. It has a lot of useful links to research papers at the end which may help provide the answers you need to develop a plan for yourself. https://hvmn.com/blog/keto-diet/building-muscle-on-keto-an-evidence-based-guide
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Wow, thank you! I have no problem keeping carbs down, but I do have to be careful with my protein portions. Perhaps I should save them for after my weight training. That’s really interesting.