Most data on HMB shows that it is effective in preserving muscle mass in people with cancer cachexia or the eldery, results are generally not great for those without specific diseases or of younger age.

I'm still taking it because it's cheap and I figure I might as well, but anavar is likely significantly more effective.

Yes, HMB is another compound that would be potentially very beneficial during catabolic times such as extreme weight loss. The typical dosage would be 3g/day.

Examine has done excellent write ups on all the research related to it, which can be found below. They recently paywalled the bulk of it, but it's still on the wayback.

https://web.archive.org/web/20240310004421/https://examine.c...