some ongoing studies looking at body composition (body fast to muscle mass) with DEXA scans but honestly can't recall what's out there or if it's out there now.
Anecdotally, what I see and what it's been like for me is my strength is within 5% of my prior maxes even when I'm trying to drop weight. Now I'm just a month or so in but I guess we'll see.
My hope is that by lifting 4x a week (2 days heavy, 2 days dynamic) that I can maintain and just drop within 5% or so. But I'm not a super strong guy to start with (bench 225-235 range 3-5 reps). I've been hanging out mostly in the 215-225 range.
But with the calorie restriction there is more focus for protein too.
We have some that opt to get DEXA scans at 1, 6, 12 months just for their own curiosity. But they're not at the 6 month stage even for them.
A lot of what this stuff is based on is the Peter Attia MD stuff. I buy into about 90% of what he preaches so I'm starting a new clinical practice based on that - more prevention/lifestyle/precision medicine stuff with a cardiology flair (my background).