[vessenes]

This is true, but I'd qualify it. I'm MUCH more active than when I started, just naturally, and my heart health / true age stats (for what they're worth) are twenty years lower than when I started. I lost a lot of muscle, but as a percentage, my body fat is nearly half what it was when I started. 10/10 would do again.

Recomping is a huge struggle, you just can't eat enough to add muscle bulk. Cycling on and off is tough because if you don't taper off it, your body is like "thanks for ending that long term caloric deficit, have you heard of cake?". So you definitely need to approach the muscle mass question seriously, but in no world was I healthier back when I had an extra 10 to 20lbs of muscle, and the rest in fat.

[vladgur]

Would you mind sharing before and after lean/fat percentages and or numbers? I am really curious if there is a way to optimize bulkng prior to getting on these drugs with a goal of retaining muscle mass(important as we age)

[throwup238]

Take a look at the protocol for the protein sparring modified fast which is a form of short to medium term fast that is designed to retain muscle mass by eating tons of protein with a large caloric deficit (1k+ calories a day). You can easily convert it to a more sustainable Ozempic diet by adding more fat/carbs to make the lean protein more palatable.

Fair warning though, this isn't an easy diet if you're not good at cooking and can't easily develop your own recipes. Lots of lean chicken breast so techniques like sous vide really help.

[vessenes]

Prefer not -- sorry! I'm here on my real name. If you want my advice, lose the weight then worry about it. A good amount of research indicates you tend to gain muscle mass in the fat/muscle percentage you start with; regardless if you are seriously in need of weight loss, the benefits of doing that far outweigh the (temporary?) downsides of losing some muscle mass for most people I bet.

[vladgur]

Totally understood. I do hear amazing results from people whose BMI is 35 or above.

I wonder how well it works for people with Normal to Overweight BMI of about 25 to 35

[vessenes]

I went from BMI 38 to 24. It worked fastest in the mid ranges.