this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2026
272 points (98.9% liked)
People Twitter
10181 readers
2090 users here now
People tweeting stuff. We allow tweets from anyone.
RULES:
- Mark NSFW content.
- No doxxing people.
- Must be a pic of the tweet or similar. No direct links to the tweet.
- No bullying or international politcs
- Be excellent to each other.
- Provide an archived link to the tweet (or similar) being shown if it's a major figure or a politician. Archive.is the best way.
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
If caloric intake was higher sure. Muscle breakdown is easier than fat so is a prime target in starvation diets to get energy. Results in long-lasting problems for people who have experienced famine or eating disorders. More moderate caloric deficits are healthier for a reason but obviously takes longer to lose weight.
There's a lot of variability in nutrition that can impact things but generally protein in the diet helps maintain and grow muscle but doesn't affect that when your body is starving for energy muscle tends to go more than fat.
Nutritional fads including the current lots of protein one are likely bunk or only for certain lifestyles.
I'm not familiar with this so am interested; presumably there's a calorie deficit where more fat is consumed than muscle? Where does it switch?
It is complex, precise dietary requirements vary person to person (even mouse to mouse but less for lab strains). As a generality women have lower caloric requirements, men higher. Age, height, weight, activity level, genetics, etc all have impacts.
The timeline of caloric restriction matters. Muscle breakdown occurs first because muscles store glycogen which is a much faster energy source than fat. Fat breakdown can go on for longer as it has a higher density of energy. Simple short-term reduction in calories thus results in muscle before fat. Higher protein intake mitigates or prevents muscle loss in longer-term diets compared to lower protein intake as the muscle cells are used to process/use the protein. Exercise is the best at keeping or growing muscle as it turns them from energy providers to energy users.
Resistance training. When on a calorie deficit while doing weight training, you will lose less muscle. You'll still lose some, but your body will try to rebuild the muscle using proteins and stored nutrients.