At what point should I stop trying to lose fat and start trying to gain muscle?

tshook12397

So I'm 5'4" and a female. I've lost 7 pounds and am now 122.6. My goal is to be toned (I want abs really bad but for now I'll settle for toned) but I read it's better to lose the fat first before you start gaining muscle. How do I know when I'm ready to start increasing my calories and working my muscles harder?

I don't want to make a mistake after coming this far and end up gaining fat all over again because I'm doing something wrong. For those of you who are toned, how did you do it? Is there any advice you can give me? Especially wanting to know how many calories I should be consuming to gain muscle. I'm currently eating 1300-1400 to lose fat.

BrianKMcFalls

Start lifting now, pick a program with some kind of linear progression. You can gain strength and some muscle even while you are losing. As to your question about when to bulk, I would lose all the weight you want to lose and then maintain for a month or so before attempting to bulk, you might even decide that just recomping is a better fit for your goals.

AliceDark

Are you lifting weights or doing other resistance exercises? If not, start immediately.

Losing fat and gaining muscle really aren't mutually exclusive activities, although we talk about them as if they were. Plus, you don't lose 100% fat or gain 100% muscle; any time you lose weight you're losing fat and muscle, and when you gain weight you typically gain both as well. The goal is to do things like resistance exercises that push you toward losing more fat (and encourage your body to keep the muscle that you do have) when you're losing weight.

Think about it this way: you're at a healthy weight, so what you're doing is basically trying to strip off the fat so that your muscles are more visible. You need to make sure that you keep enough muscle underneath so that when the fat is gone, there's something under there to show.

Are you happy with your current weight, or would you like to lose more? If you're happy now, maybe switch to maintenance and lift. If you'd like to lose more, stay in a deficit and lift. Either way, lift.

TavistockToad

You won't gain loads of fat by accident...

Given your stats I'd go recomp.

estherdragonbat

It's hard to gain muscle in a deficit, but you can tone the muscle you already have. Right now, I'm getting my cardio from a Nordic skier which includes some toning benefit: http://www.livestrong.com/article/312647-is-the-nordic-track-ski-machine-a-good-workout/

Muscle Building

The NordicTrack doesn't provide the heavy resistance of free weights or a Universal gym, and thus is not the best choice for building large and strong muscles. However, the resistance of the arm and leg motions will strengthen and tone the muscles of your body from head to toe.

<snip>

Good Workout?

Whether or not the NordicTrack ski machine is a good workout is a matter of your goals. If you want a strong cardio burn, it's one of the best available. If you're looking to pump up, or for a varying circuit workout, there are better options.

Recently, I started using fit tubes for toning/resistance every 2nd day. Over the month I've been doing this, I've gone from doing 2 sets of 12 reps for biceps and lats and 2 sets of 8 for triceps to 3 sets of 15/15/12 using medium resistance: https://www.theragear.ca/ftr.html (I'm using the green).

Keep in mind that while the goal of cardio is to burn fat rather than tone muscle, there are several pieces of equipment that will also help with the latter: http://www.livestrong.com/article/445949-cardio-for-toning-muscles/

sardelsa

As mentioned, start lifting now. You don't have to wait until a certain time to start working your muscles.
You have a few options to gain muscle:
1) Keep losing (while lifting) until you are at a comfortable BF% to bulk (this can be hard to gauge for your first bulk especially if you are undermuscled)
2) If you are close to goal, you can start recomping (eating at maintenance and lifting)

Based on your stats and your desire to be toned, I would go with option #2.
You may want to check out these threads for programming and more info on recomping:
community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

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

CharlieBeansmomTracey

estherdragonbat wrote: »

It's hard to gain muscle in a deficit, but you can tone the muscle you already have. Right now, I'm getting my cardio from a Nordic skier which includes some toning benefit: http://www.livestrong.com/article/312647-is-the-nordic-track-ski-machine-a-good-workout/

Muscle Building

The NordicTrack doesn't provide the heavy resistance of free weights or a Universal gym, and thus is not the best choice for building large and strong muscles. However, the resistance of the arm and leg motions will strengthen and tone the muscles of your body from head to toe.

<snip>

Good Workout?

Whether or not the NordicTrack ski machine is a good workout is a matter of your goals. If you want a strong cardio burn, it's one of the best available. If you're looking to pump up, or for a varying circuit workout, there are better options.

Recently, I started using fit tubes for toning/resistance every 2nd day. Over the month I've been doing this, I've gone from doing 2 sets of 12 reps for biceps and lats and 2 sets of 8 for triceps to 3 sets of 15/15/12 using medium resistance: https://www.theragear.ca/ftr.html (I'm using the green).

Keep in mind that while the goal of cardio is to burn fat rather than tone muscle, there are several pieces of equipment that will also help with the latter: http://www.livestrong.com/article/445949-cardio-for-toning-muscles/

you dont tone muscle. you lose fat and strengthen the existing muscle underneath and get a toned look.and cardio burns calories not fat per se. a caloric deficit is what helps you to lose fat.

estherdragonbat

Ah, thanks.