Weight doesn't matter to me any more, but SIZE does!

MeganMeCrazy247

Hey there! So after about 5 years of trying to figure out what I truly want from myself...I'VE COME TO A DECISION!! Now I know that calories do count and they're important but I feel that nutrition is more important more than anything. I also have finally gotten it in my head that muscle weighs more than fat and I like the look of a toned body that lifts over a thinner body that does cardio all the time. NOW my main goal is to LOSE body fat and GAIN toned muscle throughout my body. I understand everyone has a unique body and I probably won't get the exact results I hope for, but I'm ready to get in shape! I have been doing at home body circuits everyday. I keep track of everything that I eat mentally (don't worry I know how to portion things now lol) and I've been enjoying life so much more!

My question is: Is there anyone out there that have tips/keys for me? I'm not looking for an easy answer, things take time to be sculpt, but if you have some challenging circuits I could try out that would be great!

Some things about me:

>I'm 18, female
>I'm 5'3 tall



-I like at home body circuits (These are the best for me because it's like a chore list to check off as I go through my workouts by myself) I have one already but I've been doing the same circuit for 6 weeks now and it's getting boring
-I can push myself to run but I'm not a fan, I'd rather bike. Cycling and Dancing are my favorite!
-I'll eat any fruits/veggies
-The only meat I'll eat: Poultry, Seafood, and occasionally Pork

-My weaknesses: I have the biggest sweet tooth!!! Ice cream kills me during the summer, but I usually substitute that with a good cup of greek yogurt and some berries, and I work at a pizzeria as a waitress but I've gotten much better at controlling myself, I'll just eat the salads with some rolled up turkey.

My Overall Goal:
I want to have less body fat and sculpt my body to have powerful, muscular thighs and rear as well as a tight core (abs would be cool someday) a toned back, as well as tight toned arms.

canadianlbs

we have some differences: i'm more interested in physical capability and not in aesthetics so much, i do compound lifting 3x a week and detest circuit type things . . . and by the looks of your picture i'm about your mom's age

with that said though, i'm the same height as you and made roughly the same mental transition almost three years ago. i'd been focused equally on strength and a 'goal weight' at first, and once i reached the goal i just went to eating-for-strength. then about a year later i realised i'd let that get kidn of out of control, so for the most recent year i've been focused on chipping away at the weight again, while still having strength as my major focus. points from my experience so far:


- yes, muscle is more dense than fat, but not actually all that much more dense. from the more reputable information i've been able to find, five pounds of muscle takes up the same amount of space as about four of fat. so i learned to scale down my expectations in that respect. the visual pictures taht are out there got me more excited about the idea than i think is realistic, myself.

- women don't gain huge stonking amounts of muscle just naturally. if i gain 25 pounds of muscle total in the whole rest of my life i'll be doing pretty well (i'm 52). so even if i totally optimized everything (hah), it's going to look to the rest of the world as if i had lost only five pounds.

it's still a great thing to do though. with all of that said and with all the scolding out there about how 'there's no such thing as tone yada blah blah' i'm fitting clothes now in the 130's that i last fit into comfortably when i was in the 120's but less muscular. and body proportions and outlines do change, even if your overall size doesn't as much.

'm just saying that in my own experience keeping an eye on the scale has been necessary anyway. otherwise it gets way too easy for me to sweep a lot of small reality-bombs under the 'yeah, but i'm lifting, so it must be all muscle' rug.

rybo

I like your outlook.
But to get your goal, strength training is going to have to be a cornerstone of your plan. Bodyweight movements are certainly acceptable, I just wouldn't necessarily only do them in a circuit type routine.

SonyaCele

you should get on a bodybuilding program like PHUL or something. And you are going to have to eat right and then cut. Look at the programs and diets that the fitness models do. Some of them post their routines on bodybuilding.com Follow their diet and exercise programs to get an idea of what it takes to get powerful sculpted bodies. It takes a lot time and lots of dedication