3071: How To Lose Muscle While Dieting By JC Deen of JCDFitness on Nutrition Advice

Optimal Health Daily - Fitness and Nutrition

Optimal Living Daily LLC

Fitness, Health & Fitness, Nutrition

4.4 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 3 August 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3071: JC Deen offers a strategic breakdown of how to intentionally lose muscle mass while dieting ideal for athletes in weight-class sports or anyone seeking a leaner frame. He demystifies common misconceptions and provides precise methods for reducing muscle through controlled calorie deficits, specific training changes, and deliberate nutritional shifts. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://jcdfitness.com/2009/09/how-to-lose-muscle-while-dieting/ Quotes to ponder: "If you want to lose muscle, you’ll have to stop training them so hard, stop giving them a reason to stick around." "Eating in a deficit, doing cardio, and lowering your protein intake will surely help the muscle fall off." "You can’t expect to maintain your muscle mass if you’re not giving your body the stimulus or fuel to do so." Episode references: The Rosedale Diet by Ron Rosedale: https://www.amazon.com/Rosedale-Diet-Ron/dp/0060565721 Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle by Tom Venuto: https://www.amazon.com/Burn-Fat-Feed-Muscle-Transformation/dp/0804137846 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Optimal Health Daily, How to Lose Muscle While Dieting, by J.C. Dean of JCDFitness.com, and I'm Dr. Neal.
0:09.6	Hey there, happy Sunday. Welcome back to Optimal Health Daily, where I simply read to you from the best
0:15.1	health and fitness blogs for free. It's kind of like an audiobook, but with articles instead, and
0:20.6	from a bunch of different authors.
0:22.6	And always with permission from the sites, and it's a bonus, a bit of my commentary at the end.
0:27.9	And with that, let's hear today's article and continue optimizing your life.
0:36.0	How to Lose Muscle While Dieting by J.C. Dean of JCDFitness.com.
0:43.0	Learning how to lose muscle while dieting is probably easier than you think. No, really. All you have to do
0:49.2	is train too much and eat too little. Here's what I mean. I remember the first time I dieted down. It was my
0:55.9	freshman year in college, and there was a bet between me and 15 other guys to see who could get the
1:01.2	leanest. First, second and third place winners would walk away with some cash. I was sold. Show me the
1:07.2	money. The best way to lose muscle. Most all of us were up for the challenge.
1:12.9	We all began training four to five days per week with lots of cardio. Now at this time, I was 19 and
1:18.6	could withstand much more mental and physical stress because I was in college, had no job or
1:23.6	obligations outside of my studies. Food was taken care of at the mess hall, and I only needed to
1:28.7	worry about what I'd be doing on the weekends for fun. I lost about 30 pounds during a 16-week period,
1:34.6	but along with a lot of fat, I also lost a good amount of muscle. I know this for two reasons.
1:40.7	One, I lost a good amount of strength on my major lifts, a more than 10% reduction in total loads.
1:48.1	And two, I lost a good amount of size in my upper body and noticed it considerably in how my clothes
1:53.2	fit. My training was comprised of 4 to 5 days of weight training and 6 days of cardio. Here's a sample
1:59.1	schedule. Before class, 45 minutes to an hour of fasted
2:03.4	cardio on the treadmill or the elliptical. Breakfast, lots of egg whites, with maybe one to two yolks
	...

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