Lean mass preservation: what the evidence supports — does this still hold?

Asking directly, because I could not find a straight answer: Lean mass preservation: what the evidence supports — does this still hold?

Maintenance rather than loss, which is the part of this that almost nobody writes about.

I have been at roughly the same weight for 7 months. The interesting questions are all different from the ones I had at the start, and the documentation here is much thinner on this phase.

I would like to compare notes with people who are further along, and I would like to know what the published evidence says about this phase specifically rather than by extrapolation.

Comparison to published data: the trials reported mean fat and lean mass changes. Individual results vary around that mean. Being above or below average is not a sign of something wrong.

Maintenance phase: tracking body composition during maintenance (weight stable) is different from tracking during active loss. Changes are smaller and precision becomes more important.

Comparison to published data: the trials reported mean fat and lean mass changes. Individual results vary around that mean. Being above or below average is not a sign of something wrong.

Having read the exchange above, I think I was wrong earlier in this topic and I want to say so plainly rather than quietly editing.

The correction was fair and I had been repeating something I had not checked carefully enough.

Resting metabolic rate: body composition affects metabolic rate. As fat mass decreases and lean mass is maintained, metabolic rate is usually maintained better than with simple weight loss alone.

For anyone arriving from a search: the marked solution above is the direct answer, and the replies underneath it add the caveats that make it safe to use.

post #99 is right about the mechanism and I think understates the practical bit.

For anyone arriving from a search: the marked solution above is the direct answer, and the replies underneath it add the caveats that make it safe to use.

Practical note that does not fit anywhere else. Whatever you conclude from this topic, write down what you did and when. The single most useful thing in your own records is not any individual result; it is that they are dated and consecutive.