Should I continue to lose weight or up my calories and try to tone up?

emjam99

I'm coming off of a 45 pound loss, I'm 5'5 135. I'm not 100% happy with my body right now and I kind of want to tone up, but I'm not sure if I should lose more weight first for it to be effective. My loss has slowed/stopped the last few months. Where do I begin with toning muscle? I do not have access to a gym but can do things at home and I'm looking into investing into some weights. Here's my picture to give an idea. Thanks so much for helping! I love hearing from you guys!

RGv2

Your BMI is close to center for a normal weight.

Enjoy this light reading.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

JDixon852019

Cycling through "cutting" and "maintaining" is my personal strategy. This helps keep your metabolism functioning properly.
I set my calorie goal to loose 2lbs a week May-September, then set my MFP to Maintenance. But I reverse diet (add 50 cal to each day for a week and keep increasing the intake by 50) until I hit maintenance. I don't immediately jump into eating 500 more calories October 1st, I work my way to it.

tech_kitten

I would say your are a good weight for your height, and if you want to incorporate strength training, I would find some YouTube videos of some stuff and find things that you can do at home.

MelaniaTrump

I'm getting some arm definition and I'm old. I bought 3 lbs weights and do about 5 basic arm exercises a night 20 reps. You can do this. I also do leg lights and squats. Simple stuff. Don't over complicate it. I would have chosen stretch bands.
Take a before pic, you never know, in a year you could be transformed. Do that bodybuilders pose.

tillerstouch

If you can't get to a gym your best bet would probably be a good structured body weight program. Invest in a pullup bar or I just go to a park. I've never done one but people mention you are your own gym and convict training often.

If you can invest in weights you'll need a variety of weight for different exercises. For instance 5lb dumbells are good for shoulder exercises but are way to light for other things like row, dumbbell bench and even curls.

Usually when people say they want to tone they mean have defined muscles. You get definition though lower body fat, or just getting huge muscles. Honestly thoigh adding lots of muscle isn't easy even as a male eating a surplus lifting 6 days a week I never got bulky, so don't be afraid to lift heavy weights.

BettyEtte

I'm in a similar situation. I'm still eating at a deficit, but loss has slowed to about half a pound per week, which I'm fine with. For several months, I've added a 10 minute Fitness Blender workout (usually lower body, with heavy dumbbells) to my cardio, which consists of two 30-minute hikes with my dogs (have to walk them separately--don't ask!). Have been really pleased with what a 10-minute dumbbell routine can do. And the best part--the workout videos are free. I did invest in the Power Block adjustable dumbbells.

Everyone on MFP will say that you can't "spot-reduce", but with heavy weights, you sure can "spot-look-a-whole-lot-better"!

californiagirl2012

There is no reason you can't build muscle toning while you also lose fat at the same time. The fat loss will slow down now and go extremely slow. This is where you walk the finer line though because when we have a lot of body fat we can more easily eat at a deficit because there was more stored energy (fat) for the body to draw from to make up the difference. Now you can have some deficit days every week and some maintenance days, and as long as you don't go over maintenance calories you will continue to slowly lose fat while you tone up with some lifting. I would recomend any lifting routine that 3-5 days a week that includes all body for those days, or every day.

californiagirl2012

And by the way you look beautiful in that dress, and amazing right now. Nice work on the fat loss!

scoii

Your weight is pretty good for your height but as all women hold their weight differently you could have areas you are particularly unhappy with. Switching between strength and weight loss will keep things interesting.

Building muscle is pretty easy with a moderate investment, resistance band set and dumbell set would cost less than £50 in the UK and second hand always has some bargains. I would go for a bar and disk dumbell set over a multicoloured set of 3 pairs. These are usual very light and you'll grow out of them quickly

AliceDark

Whether you choose to keep losing or maintain for awhile (and I think either one would be okay), start doing some strength training NOW. If you don't have access to a gym, find a good bodyweight program like You Are Your Own Gym or Convict Conditioning.