Does gaining muscle mean you are losing fat?

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JordanGirl5
JordanGirl5 Posts: 56 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have been dancing since I was 6 years old and have developed some pretty muscular legs. Yes, in the last 1 1/2 years they have gotten out of shape. My pants fit tight. Since I have started doing Leslie Sansone's Walk DVD's I have noticed that my pants are even tighter in the legs. Should I be doing a different type of work out to burn more fat? I'm confused. I thought I was doing good by doing the workout but want to be able to wear smaller sizes and don't think I'm going to do that by continuing the walk DVD's.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Kelly

Replies

  • pyro13g
    pyro13g Posts: 1,127 Member
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    Unfortunately any muscle you lost will come back quickly through muscle memory. It's extremely difficult to get a lot of muscle to atrophy permanently. Sorry, one of the downsides of advanced muscular development.

    Example: I walked around with a burst appendix for 5 days. The resulting carnage on my system left me 13 pounds of muscle short in just 6 days. So, you see the what has to happen to the body for the muscle to be wasted. But within 30 days all that muscle was back and I really didn't exert that heavily since I felt like real crap and I had a 4inch incision through my abdomen that I didn't want to pop my guts through and have to deal with a bigger problem.
  • cbirdso
    cbirdso Posts: 465 Member
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    Calories are still the driving factor but I think you also need to change your exercise routine. While it is not possible to target fat loss, you can target muscle development and avoid what you are experiencing now. Check out 'Escape your Shape' by Edward Jackowski.
    http://books.google.com/books?id=u3ODYv3yct8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=escape+your+shape+edward+j+jackowski&source=bl&ots=LScVLBEiQ-&sig=CeIU1BOw_XLqQlXhHME9gScJKow&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false
  • shreddingit
    shreddingit Posts: 1,133 Member
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    I have been dancing since I was 6 years old and have developed some pretty muscular legs. Yes, in the last 1 1/2 years they have gotten out of shape. My pants fit tight. Since I have started doing Leslie Sansone's Walk DVD's I have noticed that my pants are even tighter in the legs. Should I be doing a different type of work out to burn more fat? I'm confused. I thought I was doing good by doing the workout but want to be able to wear smaller sizes and don't think I'm going to do that by continuing the walk DVD's.

    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks!

    Kelly
    you have to lose fat before you can gain muscle. You want thiner legs then start running. My thighs have muscle now from all the running I do but they did get slimmer :)
  • ShapeUpSidney
    ShapeUpSidney Posts: 1,092 Member
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    Cardio cardio cardio. I had to dramatically cut my strength training (more reps, lighter weights, less frequency) to tone my legs and slim down. I was just packing on muscle and retaining fat. This new workout has helped dramatically. I do 60 mins of cardio, 5x per week.

    If you tend to pack on the muscle without losing the weight, you might be high on testosterone. The likely culprit? Progestin only birth control. When the body has an excess of progesterone, it converts it to dihydrogen testosterone. This can cause you to bulk up, and is the driving force behind hormonal acne caused by BC. I had this very problem, and my doctor prescribed an aldosterone inhibitor (spironolactone). I slimmed down and my acne disappeared.

    If you are on progestin only BC, you might want to consider switching it up (copper IUD, condoms, etc). Otherwise, increase the cardio and adjust your strength training.

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