The myth about "burning muscle"

I'm glad to read this topic because I was miss informed too. I tried to have enough calories at least every 3 hours and ate nuts and lowfat quark so that I dont burn off muscles....

I appreciate this post because this is a phobia I have. (Probably most do!)

Ancestors. 24 hours of hunting for food everyday..yet their muscle didnt get eaten. They got more stronger surviving. If there muscle got eaten then they would be screwed no?

why not experiment yourself and see if you end up going down in weight might mean that your losing muscle.

I haven't done any research of my own but I have looked at tons of research by others and I am a currently studying sport and exercise scientist so hopefully you'll listen to me without any references to quote.

Basically my argument for not losing muscle through cardio is energy systems and fatigue. Basically the body has number of energy systems, the one we use for long bouts of aerobic exercise is aerobic glycolysis, we use available readily glycogen first (from food we've eaten recently) and then from fat. Due to our bodies ability to self preserve you should not ever get below 50% of your energy stores and I'm talking about just fat and glycogen here not protein, your body will literally collapse before going below a certain amount therefore stopping you exerting yourself any more. For example check the funny yet informative video link below:

Very Funny Marathon Finish

I could literally talk for hours about it all but I doubt that would help at all so I'll stop there, but seriously the only way to lose muscle is from malnourishment, over exercising wouldn't work, your body would stop itself long before you started getting into the 3rd source of energy in the body.

Just a thought here: If you are working hard at lifting weights one of the things you notice is the blood pumping into the muscles. The muscles are enlarged and if you continue to work at this they will grow. However, they don't explode overnight...yet even a very small response, regarding growth of the muscle, can be noticed.

If you decide you want to go to cardio and discontinue your weight training you will eventually see your muscles appears smaller. They are no longer subject to the stresses of weight lifting. But your fats are now being reduced from your body.

So for me, I believe this falls into not understanding exactly what your seeing. It is right to think you burn muscle when you do cardio if you look at those who do mostly cardio and very little weight training. But what your seeing and how your interpreting this is not correct.

If you keep up on your weight training and do lots of cardio you will not burn up muscle!!! Otherwise Scooby would be a broom stick from all that bike riding he does. Also don't forget the people who see their arms as huge when infact they are looking at muscle under layers of fat. As your cadio burns up the fat you may seem like your losing muscle when infact your bringing out the muscle that is actually there.

Interestingly the original post basically says what Dr. Atkins from the Atkins diet says regarding weight loss. That's why you reduce your carb intake, then slowly bring your carb count back up introducing natural and better carbs....insulin resistance may be one of the biggest issues today!

Eat your balanced meals, balanced for you not simply everyone, and mix your workouts up. You need cardio and resistance training. No muscles will be burnt in the making of the new you.

I think this question has been answered so many times by scooby. The video on facebook about that study where they looked at how much muscle marathon runners burnt while running 2800miles pretty much explains it all. Scooby doesn't give a link to the study but I trust what he says. Plus guys, he does triathlons and runs 10K a day (if i'm right). The dude cycled through Laos and pretty much does a crap load of cardio for a guy his size. And does it look like he burns muscle? Heck no! Just watch his video about gaining muscle and losing fat. He explains clearly where your energy sources come from and when you use them. What scooby says in that video pretty much says the same thing some you guys say. Point is, do your cardio and stop worrying about burning muscle and all that crap. You need. Scooby has been doing his cardio everyday for more than 25 years so I tend to listen to him. Whenever I hear something like cardio burns muscle or aliens are eating my brain when i left weight or whatever crap people say, I ask people with experience and know what they are talking about. Just my two cents.

http://scoobysworkshop.com/cardioBurnsMuscle.htm

http://scoobysworkshop.com/GainMuscleLoseFat.htm

http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=1787797173956

A bit of a side question - Have you tried warping your waist with cooking foil so you burn off more fat around that area? It's sounds ridiculous to me but maybe i'm wrong. And another thing - Does sweating help you lose weight? Of course you lose a lot of water via sweating, but are there any long term result like burning fat.