What Should I Be Doing? Maintenance Calories and Toning.

ninjakowski

Feeling a bit confused and would appreciate some advice.
I am 5'10 and 62kg (136 pounds). I know my BMI is low but its been like that my whole life, no matter what I eat, its just my body type.
When I joined MFP I lost a couple of pounds (flab I wanted to lose from my stomach and butt) and now I have changed my settings from 1lb loss per week to 0.5. I dont need to lose any more weight but I need to tone up what I have, my belly and hips especially are still quite blobby.

I'm not sure how much to be eating? At the moment I'm on 1600 cals plus exercise calories - which I usually eat back. I know I dont need to lose more but I feel like if I up it to maintenance calories, I'll just be leaving room to add too much junk back into my diet just to fill up the calories and I don't want to put on any more fat, only tone the muscles.

I'm doing the 30 day shred and jogging a few days a week and have good results....but not sure if I am on the right track for getting super toned. Should I up my calories or leave them as they are for now?

Help?

Jemmuno

No such thing as toning. What you actually want to do is lose body fat so that your muscles are more defined. Good ways to lose fat are weight training.

LorinaLynn

I'm older and shorter. 5'5, 134# and 40 years old.

My current "maintenance" is eating just a little below maintenance calories Mon-Fri, and not logging on weekends or holidays. So I'm at 1600 plus exercise calories, when maintenance would be about 1750 plus exercise. For exercise, I run 3 times a week, and do heavy weight training 2-3 times a week. And I'm slowly losing about a pound a month. I really don't care what the scale says, but I'd like to be just a teeny bit leaner.

30ds is a good place to start, but it's more of a cardio workout than strength training, so you'll probably need more to get super toned.

BABGURL

You might want to add some strength training to your work out to build muscle and help with your toning. That's the 'road' I'm on currently. I've lost all the weight I set for myself (actually a few more than I wanted) lol, so now I'm just toning and maintaining. I do weight training everyday along with my cardio. A website I found useful was bodybuilding.com. It can formulate a workout for what you'd like to do, (ie. lose weight or gain muscle) according to age range. I used it for about 2 months and I enjoyed my results. Hope this helps.

ninjakowski

*sigh* I was afraid somebody would say weight training...not my favourite thing in the world *cough cough*.

What kind of weight training are we talking about? As in all the machines at the gym that have weights or actually lifting weights with my (weak and puny little) arms.

Hubby will be happy, he will be gleefully dragging me back to the gym :ohwell:

LorinaLynn

I started with the machines at the gym, but I recently bought a bench and barbell for home.

I really don't particularly enjoy it, but I LOVE the results it's given me. So I put it in the same "basic maintenance and grooming" category as showering, tweezing my eyebrows, shaving my legs, etc. It's part of my upkeep. I don't LIKE shaving my legs, but I like having smooth legs. I don't like lifting weights, but I like not being jiggly and soft.

Jemmuno

No your 30DS is fine until it gets too easy, then try other videos that are similar, they incorporate weights with cardio which is prolly best, becuase the cardio burns the fat and the resistence and weights build muscle.

palmerig88

Definitely weights. Once you begin to see results, you will like it at least enough to keep going. And if your husband will be excited and show you what to do? Even better! As soon as you learn a few routines you will know what to do on your own for the most part, and will be able to test your own limits.
I stopped doing cardio for the sake of cardio near the end of my weight loss, I guess when I was about 15 or 20 pounds from my goal because I was already really liking my body.
The cardio I do get is from sports, mainly softball, which is a double bonus because batting practice actually gives me an ab workout, something I have never really worked on yet.
The weight training I have been doing since Feb. is whole body, I alternate my workouts in this order:
Biceps, Triceps, Shoulders, Back, Chest. I do legs whenever they are no longer sore.
I currently weigh 139 (5'6") and have smaller arms, legs, waist, and a WAY flatter belly than I had when I weighed 133 pounds in 2004. I barely ate anything and had tummy flab. Now I can eat 2100-2500 calories per day, sometimes more

Lesa_Sass

I am 5'3.5 and 44 years old. I had to raise my goal to 1700 per day + exercise cals so I would stop losing. I have been injured so I have not been able to run or lift, so as soon as I get back to weight training, I will be raising that to around 1900.

erickirb

No your 30DS is fine until it gets too easy, then try other videos that are similar, they incorporate weights with cardio which is prolly best, becuase the cardio burns the fat and the resistence and weights build muscle.

No, light weights will not build muscle, and cardio does not burn fat, it burns calories and strengthens the heart. A caloric deficit is needed to lose weight, and strength training ensures that most of the weight loss comes from fat, not lean muscle and fat.

geekyjock76

^^Yep, read up on P-ratio - the ratio of protein (muscle) lost during weight loss vs muscle gained during weight recovery. As a main objective to shrinking body fat, you should try to spare as much muscle tissue as possible. Having a favorable P-ratio is really important once you shift back to maintenance (weight recovery).

LadyIntrepid

Suggest pulling back on cardio, adding more strengh/weight training and lots of protein. Eat at maintenance or whatever you need to not lose additional weight, or even more than that to help build muscle. It's possible to continue to reshape your body and lose body fat while not losing pounds. (It's where I've been the last couple of months and continue to be happy with the results.)

AnvilHead

No, light weights will not build muscle, and cardio does not burn fat, it burns calories and strengthens the heart. A caloric deficit is needed to lose weight, and strength training ensures that most of the weight loss comes from fat, not lean muscle and fat.

^This. Lifting little pink dumbbells hundreds of times isn't effective weight training and it isn't effective cardio...basically it's a waste of time. If bodyweight exercises (pushups, bodyweight squats, dips, etc.) are difficult and tax your muscles right now, they'll work - but at some point you'll adapt beyond them and have to start picking up heavy things and putting them back down.

Here's a link to a study which examined fat loss from cardio vs. strength training programs:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10204826

geekyjock76

All women should include resistance training - it's the one activity that many avoid doing yet it is what will yield the results you actually desire. Check out this woman's success story after lifting heavy weights:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/722432-darn-hit-heavy-lifting-left-me-toned

Rae6503

You are pretty thin for your height. I wouldn't suggest trying to lose more fat unless you build some muscle first. I'd first go up to maintenance and start lifting. Then after a month or so, add 10% to your calorie level.

I think this is a great program for beginners. Start low. Study the form videos and make sure you get it right.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/4618-stronglifts-5x5-for-women

ninjakowski

Thanks so much for all your advice - fantastic! Going to look into the info and sites suggested and I guess it's back to the gym I go!!

Thanks again everyone