Advice Needed: Maintenace Strength training: lose more or no

NikkisNewStart

Here is my dilemma: I entered maintenance a few weeks ago. I am 5' 7" and 135 lbs give or take. My "goal" weight was just a number I pulled out of my hat when I dreamt of losing weight. I never thought I would get here. I am not unhappy with my body, per se, but I am not where I want to be physically. I have been focusing on strength training for a couple of months now and am pleased with the results for the most part. However, certain areas are masking the muscle behind pesky pockets of fat. Should I drop another 5 pounds? I do not want to sacrifice the lean muscle I am working so hard to showcase! I have never been in this position and need direction. I want to decrease my bmi and continue to focus on lean muscle mass. However, with certain areas still having fat (saddlebags, triceps, lower abdomen) the muscle cannot be seen. Trust me, I feel it under there when I flex.

Direction please from my fellow MFP members that have "been there, doing that" please or at least point me in the right direction to obtain some research based info. Thanks!

carolinegeorgia

ooh your the same height and weight as me, know what you mean about pockets of fat, personally I'm not sure losing another 5lbs would work for me as I really don't want to lose anymore weight from the waist up so I'm trying to do more exercise.
sorry, not exactly answering your question! x

xraychick77

The thing is, to see all your hard work you need to get rid of the fat. And since you can not 'spot reduce' fat, all you can do is try to lose that fat. You can lose fat and maintain muscles. I have done it.

You just have to make sure you are eating correctly to burn fat and maintain muscle. Now we have to accept that you may lose a little muscle while burning fat, its inevitable. But dont worry, you probably wont lose enough to notice. And in fact when you lose the fat over those muscles you'll be able to see them better and may even appear bigger.

The best thing to do, is make sure you keep up with your muscle training along with some light cardio to help burn the fat off. Just lower your calorie intake, but not too much, as you still need to feed those muscles. What I did was, I did weights for 40 mins then hit cardio for 50 mins. 6 days a week. Remember to split your weight routine so you can give your muscles time to recover.

I was 124 ish, when i started 'cutting' the fat. I got down to 118 in about a month on a 1300 calorie diet. I didnt always eat back my calories, but my muscles stayed hard anyways. I am 5'2" 33 yr female.

NikkisNewStart

Thanks for the input! I do about the same weights/ cardio breakdown as you... Today I did anout 60 in cardio and 50 in weights. I am eating 1600 plus as much of my exercise cals as I can. Maintenance for me is 1850 and I haven't made the full plunge to that number yet. It is so hard to find the right balance but I know to get the appearance I want, that I need to drop some more fat. I think my family is "concerned" because they have never seen me this small, ever, lol however, I eat a lot, I eat clean for the most part as much as I can, and I exercise. I like to think I have lost the weight the "right" way. I feel great physically... Now I just want the hard work to truly show. I may decrease to 1425 for a few weeks and see if I notice a change in the appearance of my muscles.