Can someone explain how to go from obese to toned? I don’t understand how you can lose while gaining

ellie27x

I’m female, about 250lbs, obese, I would like to lose fat but tons up my arms and back, how do I do this? I don’t really understand how you gain muscle and lose fat? Any simple explanations/ advice/ steps would be great, thanks!

Retroguy2000

You build muscle with stimulus and adaptation, plus fuel. What is your stored fat? It's energy.

That said, the best chance to build muscle in a calorie deficit is to be a new lifter and be in a small deficit. No offense, but you're some distance from focusing on toning, which basically means body fat % being low enough to see muscle definition.

You should focus on fat loss for now. Lift if you want, but temper your expectations for results there for a while. Lifting will help to maintain muscle while losing weight though.

neanderthin

A 250 lb female will have more muscle mass than a 140 lb female by default, as an example, from the sheer volume of extra weight that needs to be mobilized. Just engage in our adaptive physiology by adding progressive overload (weight bearing exercise) to facilitate the maintenance or increased muscle mass that would/could be the favorable outcome to an environment. The environment your suggesting is one where food scarcity is evident and where body fat will be used in lieu of enough food energy to maintain the current homeostasis and worst case scenario in a deficit is you lose some of that extra muscle mass, not the end of the world especially when all your health markers are getting better. Yes, there can be extreme examples of too much muscle loss. Also toned is just being at a body fat percentage that allows for the visual appearance of your muscle, nothing more.

AnnPT77

ellie27x wrote: »

I’m female, about 250lbs, obese, I would like to lose fat but tons up my arms and back, how do I do this? I don’t really understand how you gain muscle and lose fat? Any simple explanations/ advice/ steps would be great, thanks!

Good advice from the guys above.

Toning, as they said, is a matter of having a certain amount of muscle mass, and little enough body fat that that muscle shows in a way you find pleasing.

Your best route will be to start strength training now. Weight lifting is the most efficient route. If you can afford a good personal trainer for few sessions to learn good form, that would be ideal. Next best would be a group class that's classic reps/sets weight training with good instruction and supervision. (The fast-paced high-rep low weight classes where everyone is doing the same exercise at the same time aren't great, usually, because the instructor's attention is spread too thin, if they even supervise for safety and good form.)

If you need to strength train on your own, follow a professionally-developed program. There's a thread here with programs others have found useful:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

I think @Retroguy2000 has some YouTube source he usually recommends if someone needs to learn lifting form on their own, but I don't remember who it is. Maybe he'll come back and drop that name.

Muscle mass gain alongside fat loss is less likely, and if it occurs will be very slow. Lifting is still worthwhile if only to keep existing muscle. Also, strength develops more quickly from neuromuscular adaptation, i.e., better recruiting and using existing muscle fibers. Strength feels good, and is useful in daily life, so that's a win in itself. Once you reach goal weight, muscle gains become more likely at maintenance calories (or a bit above).

You also ideally will get good overall nutrition while losing weight and lifting, especially but not exclusively adequate protein. Something in the range of 0.6-0.8g protein daily per pound of healthy goal weight is a reasonable minimum, but more is OK. If you don't know a goal weight, use the middle of the normal BMI range for your height; that will be close enough. Leave room in your calorie goal for some healthy fats and varied, colorful veggies/fruits for micronutrients and fiber.

You don't say how tall you are, so I can't guess how much weight you have to lose, or how likely it is that your current weight is in itself creating health risks. If you don't have weight-related health conditions now, slower loss may be feasible, and can help accomplish good nutrition, plus fuel exercise well and make it more productive. Something around 0.5% of current weight per week would be reasonable in that scenario, IMO, so something like a pound and a quarter per week, i.e., 625 calorie daily deficit. Relatively faster loss may be necessary if your health is already compromised in some way, but super fast loss is usually not easy and increases health risk, so if undertaken IMO the person should be under close medical supervision for deficiencies or complications.

That's a lot to do all at once. It's fine to phase in calorie deficit, strength training, and nutritional tune-ups gradually, if it makes it more achievable.

TL;DR: Well-designed strength training program faithfully performed, good overall nutrition (especially but not exclusively adequate protein), sensibly moderate weight loss rate.

You can make excellent overall progress over the next few months, if you adopt a realistic approach and stick with it. "Stick with it" is really important. Overdoing interferes with "stick with it". It will take patience and persistence, but the results will be worth it.

I'm cheering for you to succeed!

tomcustombuilder

At your size you want an aggressive calorie deficit, decent protein and a good lifting program. You'll maintain your current muscle and lose fat. Just losing the fat will give you a more "toned" Look. Attempt adding muscle once you're a lot leaner. Fat loss should be your priority for now.

springlering62

Hi Ellie.

I started at 225, so a little less than you, and (presumably) a lot older than you.

I started by simply walking and doing basic yoga, but by the time I had lost about 50, found a trainer I liked.

In all honesty, the only reason I decided to do weights was to build upper body strength for yoga goals, but to my surprise I discovered I loved it.

I sincerely wish I had started weight training at the very beginning, but being new to exercise, I was fuzzy on all of it.

A great trainer can show you how to build muscle, and strength. Muscle also burns slightly more calories, but tbh, seeing muscle develop was so encouraging to me, it fed into the desire to continue losing weight. More muscle? Lose more weight! Lost more weight? See the muscles better!

If you can’t afford a trainer, watch videos, seek help here, ask for help at the gym. If you do get a trainer, they need to be someone you can like and respect, not someone who bullies you during workouts or pushes protein powders at you for profit. I’ve had those trainers and they flat out suck. A truly great trainer is a rarity and you may have to shop around til you find one.

A other thing that happened for me was, by continuing weights well into maintenance, the extra skin from weight loss continues to diminish and tighten, even at my more advanced age. 😚

I don’t lift especially heavy, but I do do it consistently, and always strive to increase the weight of whatever I’m doing. In other words, put some effort into it.

The hardest thing about lifting for most women is getting over gym-fear and actually starting a regular practice of doing ir.

springlering62

Check your local gym for cardio weight classes. My gym calls them “Muscle Madness”. Other gyms may call them Beach Body, or Les Mills, or something similar. These are a great way to learn how to handle dumbbells, and familiarize yourself with a gym, while you eyeball to see who’s a good trainer out on the floor and who’s not. (Although you’ll also learn that there’s much more precise and beneficial ways to handle dumbbells than flinging them rapidly in a cardio class.)

Oh and you asked how you could lose while gaining.

Muscle is very difficult to gain. It’s highly unlikely that gains from adding muscle weight would ever outpace losses from fat or weight loss.

Also. Muscle is much denser than fat. I actually weight 15 pounds more now than at my lowest weight a couple years ago, but am the exact
same size, just a lot more muscular.

If I had it all to do over again, I’d have started weight training the same time I began weight loss. It is literally never too early.