My experience is that cyclic ketogenic diets will work better than anything else. By cyclic we mean that periods of ketosis (not to be confused with ketoacidosis) will be altered with periods of no ketosis. Without going into exhaustive detail, you deplete the muscles and liver of glycogen, then carb load, coast for a few days, then repeat.
I've used this technique to prepare for (and win) several bodybuilding shows without loss of muscle mass. The naysayers may scoff, but I started competing over 20 years ago, and this has never failed. And, no, drugs are not necessary.
Riskarb, you are correct in stating that caloric restriction is not the way to go. What this does, as calories are progressively lowered (which they need to be on these "straight-line" diets to continue losing weight), is suppress thyroid function, and catabolize amino acids from muscle (amino acids can be stripped of their nitrogen group via deamination to create a sort of carb), thus reducing muscle mass.
This does get a bit complicated and requires monitoring urine for ketone body levels, but it is truly elegant and works better than anything else I've tried (and if there's a mistake to have been made, at one point or another I've made it LOL!)
And thanks, too, Trader273 for trying to keep the bicep-curlers out of the Squat Rack!!
