Nutrition & Training · Resistance training

Realistic expectations for strength while losing weight quickly

Nutrition & Training › Resistance training fatigue DXA lean mass loss

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p.iyer_pharmdTL3Pharmacist30 May 2025#1

Posting this under the heading it deserves: Realistic expectations for strength while losing weight quickly Everything below is what sits behind that.

Working notes on realistic expectations for strength rather than a conclusion. I would rather post the reasoning while it can still be corrected than post the answer once I am committed to it.

Everything below is checkable. Where I have taken a figure from somewhere else I have said where; where I have estimated, I have said that too.

1 like 14mo

n.nybergTL210 Jun 2025#2

Noted, and thank you for writing it out rather than summarising it.

4 likes 14mo

t.pereiraTL217 Jun 2025#3

n.nyberg, post #2: Noted, and thank you for writing it out rather than summarising it. Go to post

The practical version of realistic expectations for strength is three sentences long. The rigorous version is three pages and reaches the same conclusion with the conditions attached.

19 likes in reply to #2 13mo

f.villalobosTL224 Jun 2025#4

Coming back to post #3, because the follow-up matters more than the original answer.

Maintenance is the goal: preserving lean mass and strength during weight loss is the goal of resistance training in this context, not building new muscle. That goal is usually achievable with consistent, moderate training.

0 likes 13mo

c.grimaldiTL230 Jun 2025#5

Reading rather than contributing, but this is the most useful thread I have found on it.

0 likes 13mo

dr_okonkwoTL4 Moderator6 Jul 2025#6

Realistic expectations for strength is worth one more sentence than it usually gets, and the sentence is the one about how the number was arrived at.

2 likes 13mo

j.fonsecaTL212 Jul 2025#7

f.villalobos, post #4: Coming back to post #3, because the follow-up matters more than the original answer. Maintenance is the goal: preserving lean mass and strength during weight loss is the goal of resistance training in this context, not building new muscle. That goal is usually achievable with consistent, moderate training. Go to post

Adaptation and plateau: if strength does not change for weeks, that is stability, not backsliding. Expecting continuous progress during weight loss is unrealistic.

I looked this up rather than remembered it, which is the right order.

13 likes in reply to #4 13mo

PharmNotes_WhitfieldTL4Pharmacist17 Jul 2025 · edited#8

Having read the whole realistic expectations for strength thread before replying: the question in the first post has not actually been answered yet, and three of us have answered a nearby one instead.

27 likes 12mo

LundqvistTL2Member22 Jul 2025#9

Post #8 answers the question as asked. The question underneath it is different.

An update on my earlier realistic expectations for strength post: the pattern held for another six weeks and then stopped, which I did not predict and cannot explain.

0 likes 12mo

f.laurentTL228 Jul 2025#10

On post #6 — agreed on the reasoning, with one qualification.

Nothing here is medical advice and anybody with a relevant condition should have a programme reviewed by somebody qualified rather than assembled from a forum.

Worth reading the earlier posts in this thread before acting on mine.

0 likes 12mo

s.beaulieuTL22 Aug 2025#11

Coming back to post #9, because the follow-up matters more than the original answer.

The arithmetic on realistic expectations for strength is the easy part and it is where the errors are, which is an uncomfortable combination. Show your working and someone will catch it.

22 likes 12mo

g.haalandTL3Regular6 Aug 2025#12

Agreed on all of that, and I have nothing to add to it.

10 likes 12mo

to.vargaTL211 Aug 2025#13

Collapsed as off-topic by two members at trust level 3 or above

If you are new and reading this thread for the answer to realistic expectations for strength: the answer is conditional, the conditions are in the third reply, and the rest of the thread is worth skipping.

cohort_driftTL3Regular16 Aug 2025#14

t.pereira, post #3: The practical version of realistic expectations for strength is three sentences long. The rigorous version is three pages and reaches the same conclusion with the conditions attached. Go to post

Post #11 answers the question as asked. The question underneath it is different.

Deload weeks: periodic weeks (every 4 to 8 weeks) with reduced volume and intensity can help with recovery and sometimes reveal strength gains that got obscured by fatigue.

If it helps: the failure mode here is usually boring rather than dramatic.

0 likes in reply to #3 11mo

a.sorensenTL220 Aug 2025#15

s.beaulieu, post #11: Coming back to post #9, because the follow-up matters more than the original answer. The arithmetic on realistic expectations for strength is the easy part and it is where the errors are, which is an uncomfortable combination. Show your working and someone will catch it. Go to post

No disagreement from me. Posting only so the question does not look ignored.

16 likes in reply to #11 11mo

a.salcedoTL3Regular25 Aug 2025#16

This follows post #14 rather than contradicting it.

Offering a way to settle realistic expectations for strength rather than another opinion about it. Two measurements, taken the same way, a fortnight apart. If the difference is within the noise, the question was not answerable at this precision.

6 likes 11mo

n.nakamuraTL229 Aug 2025#17

I have three months of notes on realistic expectations for strength and the honest summary is that the trend is real and the week-to-week numbers are noise. I nearly drew the opposite conclusion from the first fortnight.

1 like 11mo

JFitzgibbonTL2Member3 Sep 2025#18

n.nyberg, post #2: Noted, and thank you for writing it out rather than summarising it. Go to post

Reduced appetite makes fuelling a session harder, and that is a practical problem with practical solutions rather than a reason to stop.

The evidence for this is thinner than the way I have phrased it suggests.

0 likes in reply to #2 11mo

r.coelhoTL27 Sep 2025 · edited#19

Post-weight-loss training: once weight loss is complete and energy deficit ends, training can shift to building again. The transition from preservation mode to building mode is real and worth planning.

I would rather post the uncertainty than round it away.

0 likes 11mo

endpoint_marginTL2Member12 Sep 2025#20

a.salcedo, post #16: This follows post #14 rather than contradicting it. Offering a way to settle realistic expectations for strength rather than another opinion about it. Two measurements, taken the same way, a fortnight apart. If the difference is within the noise, the question was not answerable at this precision. Go to post

Joint comfort frequently improves with weight reduction, and members here report being able to train in ways they previously could not.

The general case is well covered; this is the awkward specific one.

21 likes in reply to #16 10mo

n.abernathyTL3Analytical chemist16 Sep 2025#21

Picking up post #18: that is the part I would want checked first.

Strength and hypertrophy respond to different things, and preserving one during a deficit is a different objective from building the other.

8 likes 10mo

h.agyemanTL220 Sep 2025 · edited#22

Where somebody is losing strength rapidly, the first questions are intake, sleep and total training volume, in that order.

That much is documented. The rest is how I have interpreted it.

20 likes in reply to #3 10mo

PharmNotes_WhitfieldTL4Pharmacist24 Sep 2025#23

Two questions I would want answered before drawing anything from the realistic expectations for strength data above: how were the cases selected, and what happened to the ones that dropped out.

0 likes in reply to #11 10mo

s.mbekiTL228 Sep 2025#24

Same experience here, different supplier, so it is at least not unique to one of them.

2 likes 10mo

bench_notesTL4 Moderator2 Oct 2025#25

This follows post #22 rather than contradicting it.

I would keep realistic expectations for strength and the decision it usually gets used for separate in this thread. They are related and they are not the same question, and merging them is why the last one went badly.

5 likes 10mo

s.cabreraTL26 Oct 2025#26

p.iyer_pharmd, post #1: Posting this under the heading it deserves: Realistic expectations for strength while losing weight quickly Everything below is what sits behind that. Working notes on realistic expectations for strength rather than a conclusion. I would rather post the reasoning while it can still be corrected than post the answer once I am committed… Go to post

I read post #25 twice before replying, because I had assumed the opposite.

Cardiovascular work has its own benefits and is not a substitute for a resistance stimulus for this particular purpose.

14 likes in reply to #1 10mo

k.vanheckeTL210 Oct 2025#27

This is the sort of exchange that makes the archive worth searching.

0 likes 10mo

v.baptistaTL214 Oct 2025#28

Deload weeks: periodic weeks (every 4 to 8 weeks) with reduced volume and intensity can help with recovery and sometimes reveal strength gains that got obscured by fatigue.

The reasoning is more useful than the number, which is why I have shown it.

0 likes 9mo

b.aaltoTL218 Oct 2025#29

endpoint_margin, post #20: Joint comfort frequently improves with weight reduction, and members here report being able to train in ways they previously could not. The general case is well covered; this is the awkward specific one. Go to post

Where I would push back on the realistic expectations for strength consensus is the confidence, not the direction. The direction looks right. The confidence is borrowed.

2 likes in reply to #20 9mo

k.fonsecaTL222 Oct 2025#30

v.baptista, post #28: Deload weeks: periodic weeks (every 4 to 8 weeks) with reduced volume and intensity can help with recovery and sometimes reveal strength gains that got obscured by fatigue. The reasoning is more useful than the number, which is why I have shown it. Go to post

That is clearer than the version I had in my head. Thank you.

9 likes in reply to #28 9mo

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