Lose fat 1st and THEN strength? Need workout plan suggestions please.

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justinejacksonm
justinejacksonm Posts: 75 Member
edited January 2019 in Fitness and Exercise
Long story now, see short story below but here's my back story about my struggle. I usually just follow fitness blender's programs but even though it's said rather often that incorporating strength will help burn more fat...
well...I feel like I don't lose fat, I just feel like I'm developing more cardio endurance and the muscles under my fat firming up/ growing (thus making my fatty skins bigger).

I also don't want to lose the muscle I've deliberately *tried* to build in my legs, by doing too much cardio.

That said, HELP!!

I try to take one of my really long walks (about 5 miles in hilly mountain terrain ) atleast once a week which I feel really help.

There are two tai-bo type cardio videos I do which include cardio sculp and definitely leave my lower body feeling worked well.

My thought usually is (and I always chicken out, in fear that I'll burn muscle, and revert back to letting Kelli and Daniel boss me around with their power blocks) I'll just do cardio and HIIT and long slow burn stuff like walking and toning/pilates to lose the fat first and *THEN* I'll start incorporating strength into my workouts, once I can actually SEE my muscles underneath.

Don't believe me? I used to have really shapely legs and have a little gap in my upper thighs which I could use to gauge any weight loss/gain. Sadly it's closed and while my legs are taking on more shape and stuff and I've lost weight, there's even less gap. Granted, while any gains I've made are good and noticeable I'm still about 8-10 lbs from where I need to be so I haven't hit that weight zone yet.

However, I have more lower body mass now than I did in those days so I'm not sure I'll ever have that gap back and I'm also not sure I'll ever hit 124 again because I didn't have as much muscle as I do now.

But my legs still look really big notwithstanding, having gained muscles AND not yet lost fat over top.

Short Story:
Long way to get there but what do I do? What *should* I do? Can anyone point me in the direction of what type of workout plan may be best in my current situation?

Btw I'm a female, I don't want that muscley athletic look, I prefer (though never been able to attain it) that slim toned yoga look.

Mainly I want to lose fat and tone up while building and maintaining *some* muscle in my legs.

Replies

  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    I'm not sure what you are asking. But fat loss is about calorie deficit. How are you tracking your caloric intake? :ohwell:
  • justinejacksonm
    justinejacksonm Posts: 75 Member
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    quiksylver296 wrote: »
    I'm not sure what you are asking. But fat loss is about calorie deficit. How are you tracking your caloric intake? :ohwell:

    I want to lose fat and most of my workouts involve strength training, so I often (at the moment) debate whether or not I should just do mainly cardio and toning workouts with some *light* strength..

    *I want to lose fat because
    *Even though I'm toning up underneath, I can't really see it yet until I lost fat
    *I don't want to lose/burn off any muscle I have gained thus far, by doing mainly cardio
    ...but I also don't know how much strength training I need to do maintain what muscle I already have without *gaining* additional muscle.

    I don't know what balance of cardio and strength I need to lose fat without losing muscle.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
    edited January 2019
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    You lose fat by creating a calorie deficit. Are you doing that?

    You preserve muscle by strength training and eating enough protein.

    Does that help? I'm feeling kinda thick, cuz I'm still not understanding what you're asking. :#
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    justinejacksonm wrote: »
    quiksylver296 wrote: »
    I'm not sure what you are asking. But fat loss is about calorie deficit. How are you tracking your caloric intake? :ohwell:

    I want to lose fat and most of my workouts involve strength training, so I often (at the moment) debate whether or not I should just do mainly cardio and toning workouts with some *light* strength..

    *I want to lose fat because
    *Even though I'm toning up underneath, I can't really see it yet until I lost fat
    *I don't want to lose/burn off any muscle I have gained thus far, by doing mainly cardio
    ...but I also don't know how much strength training I need to do maintain what muscle I already have without *gaining* additional muscle.

    I don't know what balance of cardio and strength I need to lose fat without losing muscle.

    Exercise doesn't default to losing fat...a calorie deficit is how you lose fat. Wouldn't recommend it, but you don't need to do any exercise whatsoever to lose fat. I exercise 6-7 days per week and I gained 10 Lbs of fat over the winter and holidays...because I was overeating.

    Your diet is going to have far more impact on fat loss than what exercise you are doing. To mitigate loss of muscle, make sure you're getting adequate protein and that your deficit isn't too large and do some resistance training. I'm partial to full body weight lifting programs that are typically run 3x per week. I do cardio on my non lifting days. I do cardio to maintain my cardiovascular health and fitness...I lift weights to build a better physique, maintain my strength, maintain bone density, etc.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    • Cardio doesn't use muscle for fuel.
    • Fat loss is down to calorie deficit not exercise choice.
    • Doing strength training is the strongest signal you can send to preserve muscle in a calorie deficit.
    • Cardio is great for fitness and high calorie burns.
    • No-one gets too much muscle by accident.

    The rest of your post is too many words and not enough clarity. Sorry - but it's really confusing!.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    TLDR, do strength training while you're losing. This helps minimize muscle loss and gives you a shape you'll likely be happier with when you get to goal. I started on day 1 of my journey and am still doing it 4 1/2 years later.
  • j010219
    j010219 Posts: 20 Member
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    OP, I have no advice for you but just wanted to tell you that you are not alone. I feel really alone reading everything on the internet because I *never* like the results I get with heavy lifting and surely I can't be the only woman feeling this way.
  • justinejacksonm
    justinejacksonm Posts: 75 Member
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    quiksylver296 wrote: »
    You lose fat by creating a calorie deficit. Are you doing that?

    You preserve muscle by strength training and eating enough protein.

    Does that help? I'm feeling kinda thick, cuz I'm still not understanding what you're asking. :#

    I am working on the calorie deficit. Decided to come back to MFP to start tracking again just to gauge my Cal's in/out since it's been a while.

    I definitely eat alot of protein or try to but after a couple weeks of tracking I'll do a report to see where I stand with my macros.

  • tcunbeliever
    tcunbeliever Posts: 8,219 Member
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    Fat loss is definitely all about the kitchen, not the gym.

    In terms of exercise, if you want to preserve the muscle you have, then you need a full body strength routine 2x/week...if you want something that is going to give you a lean look rather than a bulky one, they try body weight workouts or ballet workouts or really, whatever you like since twice a week isn't going to stimulate a lot of new growth anyway.

    Cardio exercise is for keeping your heart and cardiovascular system healthy, it's not generally designed to build muscle and it generally stimulates appetite at least to as much of an extent as it burns calories.

    The fat loss is really about eating less. Cut out 250 calories a day, or 500 every other day, or fast one day a week, or whatever works for you in terms of altering your consumption so that you are eating less and your body needs to burn stored fat for fuel. You don't have your diary open, so I can't offer any more specific tips.

    Do keep in mind that seeing muscle is more about low body fat than it is about having big muscles...so if you do lose fat as anticipated, you may find you look more muscular than you desire, even if you don't gain any muscle. It's the subcutaneous fat between the muscle and the skin that makes limbs look smoothed over, if that is lost via reduced body fat, then the individual muscles will be more easily seen no matter if they are big muscles or small muscles.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    j010219 wrote: »
    OP, I have no advice for you but just wanted to tell you that you are not alone. I feel really alone reading everything on the internet because I *never* like the results I get with heavy lifting and surely I can't be the only woman feeling this way.

    what results are they, that you doing like?
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
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    You should, do strength training and eat at a slight calorie deficit to lose some fat. If you do strength training you will help preserve your muscle that you already have.
  • justinejacksonm
    justinejacksonm Posts: 75 Member
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    tcunbeliever wrote: »
    Fat loss is definitely all about the kitchen, not the gym.

    In terms of exercise, if you want to preserve the muscle you have, then you need a full body strength routine 2x/week...if you want something that is going to give you a lean look rather than a bulky one, they try body weight workouts or ballet workouts or really, whatever you like since twice a week isn't going to stimulate a lot of new growth anyway.

    Cardio exercise is for keeping your heart and cardiovascular system healthy, it's not generally designed to build muscle and it generally stimulates appetite at least to as much of an extent as it burns calories.

    The fat loss is really about eating less. Cut out 250 calories a day, or 500 every other day, or fast one day a week, or whatever works for you in terms of altering your consumption so that you are eating less and your body needs to burn stored fat for fuel. You don't have your diary open, so I can't offer any more specific tips.

    Do keep in mind that seeing muscle is more about low body fat than it is about having big muscles...so if you do lose fat as anticipated, you may find you look more muscular than you desire, even if you don't gain any muscle. It's the subcutaneous fat between the muscle and the skin that makes limbs look smoothed over, if that is lost via reduced body fat, then the individual muscles will be more easily seen no matter if they are big muscles or small muscles.

    How do I open my diary? I love pilates and such, I have an upper body workout I found on YouTube when I had a broken foot and couldn't do anything and I was doing that daily and starting to really see tone in my arms I never had before. It's though so even though I've tried to schedule myself doing it every day or other, I often do not have time after other workouts.

    About the subcutaneous fat... That's what I was referring to. I've gained leg muscle but haven't lost any fat in my legs yet, so my legs look thicker than I want so it may just *look* like I've gained weight or developed too much muscle. Make sense?

    The fitness blender videos combine weights, body weight, HIIT, cardio, pilates. Even though they do strength most days, I'm not sure if it's enough to build from.

  • justinejacksonm
    justinejacksonm Posts: 75 Member
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    Thank you all for your replies!

    Started writing this the other day but lost it before I could submit. In getting alot of ideas and suggestions.

    I used to go about it all wrong when I first started with diet and exercise back in highschool. I wasn't well educated but there was also still alot of misinformation like spot reduction, and such. I used to kill myself on the treadmill and such and then go home and eat my little 250 Cal lean cuisine dinner and starve. I was what I once heard so effectively referred to as a "fat skinny girl". I have landed alot since this days and building some mass in my thighs was a huge game changer back when I first got on MFP in 2011. The muscle filled in what I felt were poorly shaped thighs and reduced the look of cellulite which I had really bad.

    My arms just look so thick whenever I start doing upper body workout.

    Protein is definitely something I try my best to take in alot of.

  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    justinejacksonm wrote: »
    quiksylver296 wrote: »
    I'm not sure what you are asking. But fat loss is about calorie deficit. How are you tracking your caloric intake? :ohwell:

    I want to lose fat and most of my workouts involve strength training, so I often (at the moment) debate whether or not I should just do mainly cardio and toning workouts with some *light* strength..

    *I want to lose fat because
    *Even though I'm toning up underneath, I can't really see it yet until I lost fat
    *I don't want to lose/burn off any muscle I have gained thus far, by doing mainly cardio
    ...but I also don't know how much strength training I need to do maintain what muscle I already have without *gaining* additional muscle.

    I don't know what balance of cardio and strength I need to lose fat without losing muscle.

    "Toning" muscle is something many people don't understand. The "tone" you are seeing in your arms is because you are losing the layer of fat covering existing muscle, it's not that you added muscle, or replaced fat with muscle.

    Exercise doesn't burn fat (or muscle) - it burns calories. A moderate calorie deficit, a decent protein intake and strength training can help you keep the more existing muscle. Strength training is like a signal....."hey I'm using those muscles." Adding muscle in a deficit is not very likely.
  • AudreyJDuke
    AudreyJDuke Posts: 1,092 Member
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    Great ideas!

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