Noob - afraid of getting too big

Annadriel

Hi,

I started to use MFP a month ago. My goal is to lose 12kg (4 down already) and to shape my body, so it would look nice. Sth like this:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/7670261839749565/
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/298996862732022328/
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/372672937886758334/

But I am afraid I would overdo it or sth and I would look too "big" so would start to form too many muscles, which I don't find cool anymore.

On the border:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/36169603230652741/ (because of her legs, I found them too much muscled) http://www.pinterest.com/pin/260786634645898519/ (because of her stomach, I wouldn't like that much muscles)

No way I want to look like this:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/260786634645898884/
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/260786634645898815/
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/260786634645898500/
All too masculine ... I mean for my taste that is.

I started to go to the gym (10min cardio, all other is weight lifting), I intend to do it every second day and every second day I want to continue with my normal cardio workout. But How do I know when do I need to stop, so I don't get too "big" or how do I even stop? Do u need to go on smaller weights or how do u maintain some exact amount of muscles?

I know this might sound stupid, but I was never into these things and it is my 1st time I would want to try shape my body. So any suggestion about how to achieve the result as pictured on first 3 examples, would be helpful.

My current gym workout list covers all the body (chest, shoulders, back, biceps, triceps, legs, stomach and 10min bike). At every other 2nd day at home I run/ play tennis / swim / sworkit / ski,....

Thanks.

LishieFruit89

Im too lazy to copy the URLs into my browser because im on my phone.

But it takes years and years of Lifting and eating right for a woman to have large muscles. Sometimes steroids are involved. You wont just wake up with muscle (but man do I dream)

3laine75

I haven't looked at the pics.

I'm pretty sure you won't manage to get too big by accident though.

vjohn04

Youre not going to get "bulky" without really trying-- like years of trying, or by taking steriods. The muscles you're seeing in those pics are from a low body fat perspective, like someone prepping for a competition (at least the first one was, I was too lazy to look at them all.

rejectuf

Women have the ability to become very strong without really showing it. It takes years of dedication and specific dieting for most women to become "too big."

JesterMFP

Get leaner with a calorie deficit and maintain the lean mass you already have by eating enough protein and doing some resistance exercises. You won't get "big" by accident. You won't achieve the looks in the second and third groups by accident, I promise. Those bodies take a long time and a lot of work. The last lot in particular take years to achieve, lots of progressive strength training, eating more calories than you burn, bulk & cut cycles etc. That's not going to happen unless you intend it to, and even then it would take a lot of hard work and dedication.

Also, don't discount the powers of good lighting, photography and photoshop, for all of those images.

For what you actually want to achieve, start here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants


ETA: oh, and how do you know when to stop? Look in the mirror and stop when you're happy with what you see. And, I don't mean stop exercising, but stop trying to lose fat.

SunofaBeach14

There is no way that you will ever get "too big" eating at a deficit. It's simply not going to happen. It takes quite a bit of work eating at a surplus for a woman to become "bulky" so put this out of your mind.

delicious_cocktail

Please look through this thread which has a lot of pictures of what has happened to women through weight lifting.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/977538-halp-heavy-lifting-made-me-supah-bulky

It truly won't make you bulky. That is a myth.

geebusuk

First off, don't take anabolic steroids.

Then, look in the mirror once a month. If you feel you've got enough or too much 'tone', stop increasing weight.

3dogsrunning

I have looked at your links. Even the border line ones - you do not look like that accidentally. I can't stress that enough. Those bodies takes a lot of hard, intentional work and attention to diet. Not all of them take drugs to achieve it, although some may, but it is years of working towards a specific goal to achieve that.

liesevanlingen

It is literally IMPOSSIBLE to look like that accidentally. You don't just suddenly wake up and find yourself "too big" one day. You stop, or ease up, when you're happy with how you look . It will take weeks (or months) for you to start losing significant amounts of body fat, and muscle is built slowly. Nobody gets a body like that unintentionally.

oaker

Believe me it will not happen overnite. Just start a lifting program. Pick something simple that works the entire body. You can always stop, lower the weights, eat less etc. once you have achieved the results you want. Remember, genetics plays an important too.

Cranquistador

What everyone else said for the most part.

3dogsrunning

I should also add that most, if not all, of your "ideal" and "borderline" photos are photo shoots. These models, while they maintain a low body fat most of the time anyway and still look good, still prep for these shoots through diet and use other techniques to look leaner and show off their muscles. Plus lighting techniques and photoshop.

For example - a different look from your #2 "don't want" group. Different level of bodyfat
http://www.yummyliciousyoga.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/jamie_eason_2_3U8okww.sized_.jpg

jackpotclown

I don't think it's going to become a real issue.....ever......\m/

SugaryLynx

Don't worry. Women only get sexy

ihateroses

That's like saying "I'm going to school for nursing...I only want to be a nurse though not a doctor. How do I make sure I won't accidentally become a brain surgeon."

You have nothing to worry about.

MyChocolateDiet

Maybe you could invest in a mirror. That way if you wake up one morning after your umpteenth workout and notice that you have turned into The Rock, you can change your game plan.

Unknown

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mereditheve

Some of my very good friends are professional bodybuilders, and it takes an incredible amount of work, a very specific diet (e.g, one eats over a dozen eggs for breakfast every morning during part of his training), and they aren't always lifting heavy weights like you might think. I would add that the way they look for a show is not how they look every day, and once they stop, their body quickly changes to looking more normal. You will not look like a bodybuilder by accident -- I guarantee it. On the other hand, I knew an Olympic weight lifting trainer who could lift incredible amounts of weight, and he looked like a normal guy.

I have lifted weights, and heavy weights, for the last 14 years with a 3-year break in the middle. Initially I was actually trying to get bigger because I weighed just over 80lbs at the time and I was in college. I drank weight gainer, ate fast food, tons of protein bars and shakes... and after graduation, my size hadn't changed by more than a couple pounds, and I was wearing all of the same clothes. About the only thing that really seemed to change after years of lifting weights almost daily is that I had low body fat, defined triceps (for a girl) and I could lift more than some of the guys at the gym.

usmcmp

I'm a natural bodybuilder. It took me years of hard work to build the muscle (very, very, very hard work). The girls in the pictures have very low body fat PLUS they did a quick workout before the shoot to fill the muscles with blood and make them look round/big. When I'm wearing regular clothes I don't even look like I have muscle, I just look athletic. Even in a swimming suit unless I put effort into flexing I just look like a normal in shape person with slight "tone" to my body.

FromHereOnOut

There's no way to look like any of those accidentally. (Oh, but how I wish!)

In fact, I would venture to say that if you go to the gym and work as heavy and hard as though you intended to look like the last pictures (the ones that you thought were too big), you'll have a better chance of actually looking like the first pictures (your dream body pictures). And the abs and veins that you see are because those women are extremely lean due to meticulous diet that only very few people have the will and knowledge to follow (and even then, it is only done periodically before competitions and photoshoots).

usmcmp

By the way, this image that you want to look like is Kristina Krstic. It's a relaxed picture of her.

Here are other pictures of her flexing:




This is Eileen Marcinkewicz and an example of her flexing that you don't want to look like:

Here is her in regular clothing or not flexing:

MissB46

No way I want to look like this:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/260786634645898884/
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/260786634645898815/
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/260786634645898500/
All too masculine ... I mean for my taste that is.

Sorry not with you on that at all - none of them are masculine.....all very beautiful women and I bet they are working very, very hard for how they look

DopeItUp

With a decade of hard work, you will not look like any of those pictures so I wouldn't sweat it too hard.

Annadriel

Thank you all it was helpful.
I know these things doesn't happen over night , I am aware if it and I promise I have and use a mirror too . I just wanted to get some proof that I won't become too big. Mostly because I started to train a month ago (cardio) and just a week ago (gym weight lifting which I never did before). I work out around 1h per day quite intense. Every second day cardio. And 7th day I am on pausa.
I am a bit more relaxed now. Thank you again.

usmcmp

Initially you will feel and maybe see your muscles get firmer. This is because you will be burning the intramuscular fat. Think about how tender a nicely marbled steak is. Once that fat is gone the muscles will feel firmer and people with low body fat will see them better. Some women will feel "bulkier" at first, but it is often just that the firm muscle under the skin makes them feel like they are bigger. In reality measurements should stay the same and as fat is burned the measurements will go down.

Unknown

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JoRocka

By the way, this image that you want to look like is Kristina Krstic. It's a relaxed picture of her.

Here are other pictures of her flexing:




This is Eileen Marcinkewicz and an example of her flexing that you don't want to look like:

Here is her in regular clothing or not flexing:

nailed it.

also this

That's like saying "I'm going to school for nursing...I only want to be a nurse though not a doctor. How do I make sure I won't accidentally become a brain surgeon."

You have nothing to worry about.

this. very much this.

I really wan to to go to the magical gym where women get bulky over night lifting 10 lbs weights. This would make me happy.

berlinberlinveg

That's like saying "I'm going to school for nursing...I only want to be a nurse though not a doctor. How do I make sure I won't accidentally become a brain surgeon."

You have nothing to worry about.

I love this! They should hang it on the wall in gyms...


I had a 2-week trial at a gym, they had these weird "weight lifting" (ahem...) machines that you had to put at almost no resistance and "push FAST!...no faster, yep like that! so that you don't get big muscles but only toned muscles!!". As I was guided through them all during my intro. Absolutely no soreness the next days, total waste of time. Half the room was cardio machines, then these, and only a few weight lifting ones.
It was a womans gym.... do I need to mention that I chose another gym?
I hate it when places that are supposed to help and educate people on their bodies and health spread these myths...

If it was so easy to build muscle we would all look like the models in sports magazines.

FrnkLft

Not going to happen. All of this works exactly the same for men as for women. There is no such thing as a man workout or a woman workout, that's bull**** marketing.


Diet = Lose/Maintain/Gain Weight (be it Fat or Muscle)
Cardio = Most time efficient way to burn calories, Great for cardiovascular health and conditiong, Not *required* to burn fat
Heavy Lifting = Burns lots of calories, Builds strength, Builds or Maintains Muscle

Recipe for Toned Look = Lower Bodyfat %, Increase Muscle Mass, Mix to taste

Recipe for Ripped Look = Even Lower Bodyfat %, Increase Muscle Mass, Mix to taste

You can't spot reduce fat with exercise or diet, so where/when/how the fat comes off depends on your genetics. Usually first on means last off... is what it is. Keep lowering BF% until you're happy. You do this by eating a deficit of calories. If you screw up a day or a week or whatever, don't worry, just get back on it. No shame. You'll start looking better and getting compliments well short of reaching your actual goals anyway. Big plus. How noticable it is though depends on how much you have to loose.

Your body's natural shape is also determined by genetics, and unless it's fat that's giving you size, you're going to have trouble getting rid of it. Also, you cannot influence the shape of muscle, only size.

You have to eat a surplus of calories to put on any appreciable muscle, and some of the weight gain will be fat as well. And the whole process is slow.

So... don't worry about getting bulky, whether you're a man or a woman. Getting bulky is slow for men and even more difficult for women, so you'll know well in advance when you're approaching whatever aesthetic goal you're aiming for.

My book recommendation, and *I swear on my life* it will help you and is worth your time to read, is "New Rules of Lifting" (they have one geared a bit more towards women as well, although there's 0% difference in the way this works for either sex). The program at the very end of the book is kinda "fluffy" lol, but it's perfectly fine to use if you like it. If not...

An excellent starting program is Stronglifts 5x5, doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman. Uses the five main, fundamental compound movements to build strength, and it's a simple workout that hits nearly every muscle in your body. Do that for a while to start, and then use "ICF 5x5" to up the volume a bit and keep the "5x5" compound lifts for strength (just review the programs and you'll see what I mean).

You're going to freaking love this.