Toning down without building muscle?

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  • DanyellMcGinnis
    DanyellMcGinnis Posts: 315 Member
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    I'm starting to think getting more muscle definition is just going to happen, no matter what. I am at maintenance now, have been for 4.5 months. Still doing a lot of cardio (hey, I like to eat and 1520 calories a day are just not enough for me). Not really doing much in the way of strength training. Still losing inches -- have lost about one pants size in all the time I've been at maintenance. (Staying between 117 and 120 in terms of weight, basically tracking monthly hormonal cycles.)

    On the other hand, this doesn't bother me. (Well, having to go out and buy size 0 pants after I went out and bought a bunch in size 2 is a money drain, but whatever.) Being strong is useful and, as a woman pushing 40, I just don't have the hormones (nor the protein consumption) to look like a bodybuilder.
  • happysherri
    happysherri Posts: 1,360 Member
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    rybo wrote: »
    So what is likely happening is that you are losing fat and exposing the muscle you have. You may be building a tiny bit of muscle, but it's more likely that as you lose weight and become leaner, your muscle is more visible.

    So you have 2 options...make that 3.
    1 stop losing weight so that you don't get leaner and appear too muscular for your liking
    2 stop all strength training, wait a while (probably months) in hopes that your muscles atrophy and then don't lose too much fat to expose the muscle you still have
    3 accept that muscle is a good thing, it's part of being strong and healthy

    Love this. Don't lift - just do cardio.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    edited May 2017
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    Assuming you want to maintain the muscle you have AND assuming you are actually building muscle during your diet, one thing you could do would be reduce the overall training volume on the muscle groups you want to stop building.

    So just for example if you are currently doing 6 sets of bicep work in a week, and those 6 sets are all taken close to failure, you could reduce that to 4 sets and also consider reducing the relative difficulty of those sets by taking them slightly further from failure (leave a couple additional reps left in the tank at the completion of the sets).


    I would take an incremental approach where you make a reduction in overall work rather than completely stop all resistance training since the latter may lead you to losing some muscle in those areas, which you might not want.
  • MystikPixie
    MystikPixie Posts: 342 Member
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    Ironandwine69 wrote: »
    May I ask, what's wrong with muscle?

    This is my question as well, unless you work out like the Rock and power load calories, you will never beef out. But you will look slender, toned and attractive with whatever amount of muscle comes from your normal CiCo and weight training.
  • deputy_randolph
    deputy_randolph Posts: 940 Member
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    When I did LOTS of steady state cardio...I had no muscles.
  • Sharon_C
    Sharon_C Posts: 2,132 Member
    edited May 2017
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    Ironandwine69 wrote: »
    What do you consider too muscly, @rachhanley? Different people have different ideas of the perfect physique. The thread below has some ideas on what heavy lifting can do.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/977538/halp-heavy-lifting-made-me-supah-bulky/p1

    ilv8xq3c3qjg.jpg



    OMG the women on the right are my dream bodies. But I doubt this almost 50 year old body will ever look like that. Still can't hurt to try though :D
  • Muscleflex79
    Muscleflex79 Posts: 1,917 Member
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    I've heard of "tone up," but never even heard of "tone down" - what exactly are you trying to do OP?
  • Muscleflex79
    Muscleflex79 Posts: 1,917 Member
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    and as others have said, no one (especially women) grow huge muscles accidentally...it just doesn't work like that!
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    edited May 2017
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    rachhanley wrote: »
    Hey everyone,

    Possibly a dumb question but anyway..

    I have lost about 15kgs in 12 months (dropping from 93-78kgs) and found weights training to be really helpful for weight loss.
    I am now starting to notice that I am building muscle particularly in my biceps. I still want to lose another 8-10kgs and really tone down, but I don't know how to best do this without building too much muscle.

    Any suggestions for what I should be doing with my training to still lose weight and tone down without building muscle?

    Thanks,
    Rach

    1. Weight lifting is not for weight loss...it's for health and fitness.
    2. You are not building muscle if you are losing weight unless you are obese, new to lifting or a teenage boy (none apply to you)
    3. If you don't want to build muscle don't do a bulk...but what you are doing now is not going to build muscle.


    As others have said if you don't want to see definition you need to stop losing weight.

    ilv8xq3c3qjg.jpg
    [/quote]



    and to address this..and not to be snarky either...none of these pictures represent what will happen to a regular woman lifting weights and losing some weight.

    All of these woman train hard and are of low body fat....even the one on the far right does not happen just from lifting...

  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Chef_Barbell wrote: »
    Your not building muscle. You won't accidentally look like the Hulk. :yawn:

    This^

    You are eating at a deficit so you aren't building muscle. You are losing the layer of fat covering the muscle. We don't get to choose where we lose fat from, so it's frustrating. I see my upper body shaping up nicely....but the bottom half never quite catches up (genetics).
  • FreyasRebirth
    FreyasRebirth Posts: 514 Member
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    Build muscle, then slow down if you get to a point where it is 'too much'. I'm sure it is going to take a long time before you get to that point, you'll definitely see it coming.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    What is more likely is that you have a decent amount of muscle mass and as you cut fat, that muscle mass becomes more defined thus giving the impression of increased mass...

    My wife is a former collegiate athlete and has an athletic build and good genetics...she carries quite a bit of muscle mass and when she cuts her winter weight, a lot of people comment on her buffness and ask her what she's doing in the weight room...she only lifts once per week, so she's not putting on mass...she's just getting shredded when she cuts the fat. In the winter she looks softer.
  • stelly76
    stelly76 Posts: 120 Member
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    I saw a muscle growing on my arm and it disappeared the second I stopped using the weight machine. I haven't seen it since.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,397 MFP Moderator
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    stelly76 wrote: »
    I saw a muscle growing on my arm and it disappeared the second I stopped using the weight machine. I haven't seen it since.

    That would be swelling (or water retention).
  • Muscleflex79
    Muscleflex79 Posts: 1,917 Member
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    ndj1979 wrote: »
    i wish gaining muscle was as easy as some people seem to think it is....

    this x 100000 !!
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    ndj1979 wrote: »
    i wish gaining muscle was as easy as some people seem to think it is....

    There would definitely be a lot more huge, ripped people walking around if it was that easy. Building muscle takes a lot of time, a lot of attention to nutrition and a lot of hard, consistent training. It certainly doesn't just happen by accident, or within the span of a few days/weeks/months.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,139 Member
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    AnvilHead wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    i wish gaining muscle was as easy as some people seem to think it is....

    There would definitely be a lot more huge, ripped people walking around if it was that easy. Building muscle takes a lot of time, a lot of attention to nutrition and a lot of hard, consistent training. It certainly doesn't just happen by accident, or within the span of a few days/weeks/months.

    so your saying I can't just pack on four pounds of muscle in four weeks?????????????
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    AnvilHead wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    i wish gaining muscle was as easy as some people seem to think it is....

    There would definitely be a lot more huge, ripped people walking around if it was that easy. Building muscle takes a lot of time, a lot of attention to nutrition and a lot of hard, consistent training. It certainly doesn't just happen by accident, or within the span of a few days/weeks/months.

    also a lot of milk and meatballs
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
    edited May 2017
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    SideSteel wrote: »
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    i wish gaining muscle was as easy as some people seem to think it is....

    There would definitely be a lot more huge, ripped people walking around if it was that easy. Building muscle takes a lot of time, a lot of attention to nutrition and a lot of hard, consistent training. It certainly doesn't just happen by accident, or within the span of a few days/weeks/months.

    also a lot of milk and meatballs

    But then you're not natty, 'cause milk and meatballs are anabolic!

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