HELP: I dont want muscles, Just want to get rid of flab!

Hi everyone,

I wanted to lose about 25kg in total starting from 86kg to about 55kg. I have lost about 11kg up till not through just controlling my diet and incorporating minor exercises to my daily lifestyle like walking to and from college etc.

I am extremely pleased with my progress, but I would like to firm up my skin around my arms, like when I hold it out the skin under it kind of hangs loosely. Its not too bad, but I would like it to be more firm.

I just want to know roughly how much weight I would have to lift and how often including repetitions so that I don't get muscles and I just firm it up.
I hate muscles on a feminine body and I'm scared I might get it if I lift so please help me out on this!
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Replies

  • adenium11
    adenium11 Posts: 173 Member
    1) To get BIG Muscles on a woman.. you would have to push heavy weights and drop your body fat by A LOT. We don't have the testosterone that men do to naturally build muscle at the rate they do.

    2) Take a look at www.livestrong.com LOTS of advice there for women and weights. I squat 150 lbs and bench 100 lbs and dont have big muscles... however I have dropped a full size by burning the fat. You have to use weights that create some resistance to tighten up. So at first 5 lbs dumbells may be enough.. and next thing you know youll need 20 lbs.

    But dont be to concerned about bulking up.. that comes with a lot of weight and fat loss.

    Best of luck!
  • kjm3579
    kjm3579 Posts: 3,974 Member
    Lots of women doing StrongLifts 5x5 -- look it up, google is your friend.....
  • MsEmmy
    MsEmmy Posts: 254 Member
    You need to do something like 30 Day Shred. And actually look at pictures of normal women who lift - they are not monsters, they look amazing. When you say you 'don't want muscles' I think you are thinking of those crazy body building competitors - you really would be having to take all kinds of 'roids to get like that. You do want some kind of muscle - who wouldn't want to be stronger? People don't really aim for that weak looking catwalk skinny any more.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    Hate to tell you but you body is already covered in muscles. They are literally every where.
  • cgrout78
    cgrout78 Posts: 1,628 Member
    muscles aren't a bad thing...just don't do steroids. You could lift heavy 24/7 and still not get "he-man" look
  • kinsa2
    kinsa2 Posts: 58 Member
    Thank you, your advice is appreciated. But forget large muscles, I don't even want the smallest of toned muscles showing up on my arms. I want it to look just as it does without the flab, no tone no nothing.
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
    Thank you, your advice is appreciated. But forget large muscles, I don't even want the smallest of toned muscles showing up on my arms. I want it to look just as it does without the flab, no tone no nothing.

    Lipo might do it.
  • kinsa2
    kinsa2 Posts: 58 Member
    lol, of course they are. Maybe i'm using the wrong word. But let me try and explain it. You know how your arms look before you've done anything to them, with a mild shape to them but with some flab in my case. I just want that bit of flab to go away but my arm to stay in that shape and not get the slightest change to it because I don't find it appealing. Is that possible?
  • bubbleskiwi
    bubbleskiwi Posts: 148 Member
    Thank you, your advice is appreciated. But forget large muscles, I don't even want the smallest of toned muscles showing up on my arms. I want it to look just as it does without the flab, no tone no nothing.

    really? why not? muscles are beautiful!
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    Thank you, your advice is appreciated. But forget large muscles, I don't even want the smallest of toned muscles showing up on my arms. I want it to look just as it does without the flab, no tone no nothing.

    Do tons and tons of cardio while eating next to nothing. That will make sure you have no muscle.
  • kinsa2
    kinsa2 Posts: 58 Member
    I don't want to go down that path :) But thanks for the idea anyway :P
    I am prepared to lift weights, but I just would like some suggestions at how how much of them to do and roughly how heavy the weights should be so I could get the desired result.
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
    Thank you, your advice is appreciated. But forget large muscles, I don't even want the smallest of toned muscles showing up on my arms. I want it to look just as it does without the flab, no tone no nothing.

    Do tons and tons of cardio while eating next to nothing. That will make sure you have no muscle.

    Yeah, but it will also not do much to get rid of "flab". I think we are at an impasse here.
  • Bekahmardis
    Bekahmardis Posts: 602 Member
    Thank you, your advice is appreciated. But forget large muscles, I don't even want the smallest of toned muscles showing up on my arms. I want it to look just as it does without the flab, no tone no nothing.
    Then honestly there's nothing you can do that *I* can think of. Simply by losing flab, your muscles will start to appear because the flab won't be "coating" them any more. Even if you don't do anything to try to *add* muscle, it's still there. *shrug* not possible?
  • kinsa2
    kinsa2 Posts: 58 Member
    I personally just feel it wont look good on me and it takes the femininity of my body away. Of course though it looks great on other women, I just wont like it on myself
  • lisamarie1780
    lisamarie1780 Posts: 432 Member
    Surely you want your body to have shape?
    Toned muscles give your body shape and in order for them to become toned and not just hang in pockets of flab you need to exercise and stress them.
    I don't like the overtly muscualr look on women either, I find it masculine ... but I do like a nice toned firm body. Lift light weights, lots of reps or as I prefer ... do yoga... but not that wishy washy no sweat yoga... do Kundalini Yoga. Check out Ana Brett's DVDs ... Kundalini YOga Flow Bootcamp is the best. It's beautiful, hard and it works. It will give you a lithe, lean, feminine tone ... if you do it regularly that is x
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
    I don't want to go down that path :) But thanks for the idea anyway :P
    I am prepared to lift weights, but I just would like some suggestions at how how much of them to do and roughly how heavy the weights should be so I could get the desired result.

    Look, how about this. If you accidentally develop so much muscle that it troubles you, come back here for advice on how to get rid of it. What we have been trying to tell you is that it is quite difficult for a woman eating at a deficit to gain an appreciable amount of muscle.

    You've already been given advice on what you need to do in order to get firmer muscles. Lift heavy, with low reps. Choose a weight that really challenges you (not 3 lb pink dumbbells), and do 5 sets of 5 reps. Do compound lifts (squats, chest press, deadlifts). There isn't much more to say.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    Thank you, your advice is appreciated. But forget large muscles, I don't even want the smallest of toned muscles showing up on my arms. I want it to look just as it does without the flab, no tone no nothing.

    Diet ...... without exercise ..... you will lose muscle mass this way.

    Very low calorie diets (again no exercise) will cause even more muscle loss ..... oh & hair loss too. When you lose lots of muscle your metabolism slows down ..... this is one reason people try to hang onto as much muscle as possible.

    I want to look "Fit" .... not skinny .... different strokes
  • kinsa2
    kinsa2 Posts: 58 Member
    thank you, that was exactly what I wanted in a bit more detail :)
  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
    I am sorry to tell you this but you will have the arms genetics gave you. I am muscular but I know girls that lift a lot more weight withless muscles. it just how I am made.
  • kinsa2
    kinsa2 Posts: 58 Member
    thank u
  • Annie83uk
    Annie83uk Posts: 128
    muscle eats fat, without the muscle your skin will always hang. i have built muscles but my arms are smaller than what they were, the only way to tone is to turn the saggy skin into muscle which will then tighten your skin. don't be scared of a bit of muscle it feels good and makes you stronger. take a look at my pictures on my profile and see i have muscle but it isn't bad. :)
  • JDBLY11
    JDBLY11 Posts: 577 Member
    Thank you, your advice is appreciated. But forget large muscles, I don't even want the smallest of toned muscles showing up on my arms. I want it to look just as it does without the flab, no tone no nothing.

    Do tons and tons of cardio while eating next to nothing. That will make sure you have no muscle.

    So funny. Muscles are good and very sexy on a woman. Even the early female bodybuilders ( Cory Everson and Rachel Mclish) looked great and they had to lift very heavy weights to get there and be very disciplined in their eating so body fat percentages would be low. The female bodybuilders now look like they use steroids. It definitely is not natural. The style of lifting a normal woman does is not going to make you huge. You should look up Joyce Vedral. She uses weight lifting to shape her body and she is older and looks great. You can get sexy little muscles that add shape over your body if you train right. I hope to do it someday.
  • kinsa2
    kinsa2 Posts: 58 Member
    I am sorry to tell you this but you will have the arms genetics gave you. I am muscular but I know girls that lift a lot more weight withless muscles. it just how I am made.

    which means how ever hard I life I wont get muscles on my arms? because I am smaller on my top then I am on the bottom
  • msudaisy28
    msudaisy28 Posts: 267 Member
    If I'm reading your original post correctly it sounds like you really just want to get rid of the excess skin that hangs on your arms from where the fat was. You are young, so that should tighten up with time. Unless you want to lift and "risk" developing muscles, then the only options are really time or surgery to remove the excess skin.
  • kdiamond
    kdiamond Posts: 3,329 Member
    Flab = body fat

    Reduce your body fat by eating at a deficit.

    If you want to "firm up" you'll need to lift weights. If you are eating at a deficit there is no way you can have bulky or muscles popping through. You will be firm but lean.

    I lift heavy weights and I am 110 pounds and my muscles don't pop unless I flex (and even then it isn't much). I just don't eat over maintenance, so I will never build big muscles unless I do that.

    P.S. It really doesn't matter if you lift heavy or lift light, it will produce the same result if you eat at a deficit. You'll just have to do A LOT MORE which to me, doesn't make sense.

    You can't have it both ways, if you want to look firm you actually have to reduce the body fat, which will in fact, expose the muscle underneath.
  • kinsa2
    kinsa2 Posts: 58 Member
    So funny. Muscles are good and very sexy on a woman. Even the early female bodybuilders ( Cory Everson and Rachel Mclish) looked great and they had to lift very heavy weights to get there and be very disciplined in their eating so body fat percentages would be low. The female bodybuilders now look like they use steroids. It definitely is not natural. The style of lifting a normal woman does is not going to make you huge. You should look up Joyce Vedral. She uses weight lifting to shape her body and she is older and looks great. You can get sexy little muscles that add shape over your body if you train right. I hope to do it someday.
    [/quote]

    I understand, but that's a matter of opinion, I prefer not to have muscles showing up on my body :) I am entitled to wanting my body to be how I want it to be right?
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
    I am sorry to tell you this but you will have the arms genetics gave you. I am muscular but I know girls that lift a lot more weight withless muscles. it just how I am made.

    which means how ever hard I life I wont get muscles on my arms? because I am smaller on my top then I am on the bottom

    NO....You HAVE muscles in your arms - otherwise you won't be able to lift your lipstick.. " - you want to lose the "flab" - actually fat- but you don't want muscles to show????
    The only way to get that is to stop eating altogether, or get really sick, of go ask one of the anorexic models how they do it - this is My FITNESS pal....most people here want to be fit - which means they want strong muscles - not bulging muscles......
    And muscles are feminine - we don't all want to be waifs too weak to lift a grocery bag of briefcase.....That's not feminine, just a little sad......
  • 1ConcreteGirl
    1ConcreteGirl Posts: 3,677 Member
    ok listen. You can lift weights all day and never see muscle definition if you keep fat over your muscle.

    lift heavy. you don't have to be weak to not see muscle definition.
  • JDBLY11
    JDBLY11 Posts: 577 Member
    Thank you, your advice is appreciated. But forget large muscles, I don't even want the smallest of toned muscles showing up on my arms. I want it to look just as it does without the flab, no tone no nothing.

    I am not sure that is possible outside of genetics. In my family we get muscles in our arms even when we do housework and aerobics like Tae bo. My mom started getting muscular arms when she did Tae bo. To be healthy you have to exercise some or you are at just as much risk of getting sick as someone who is an unhealthy weight but exercises or is large and doesn't exercise. As you age you lose muscle every year as well so at some point you are going to have to start lifting weights and you don't want to wait until it is too late. I would like to get healthy by the time I am 30 or 31 and then work at my body a lot lifting and such so that I will gain more muscle so I will have more muscles when I am old. People who lift weights and do aerobics when they are older usually are very healthy physically. Just aerobics would not be enough.
  • csnyder0007
    csnyder0007 Posts: 26 Member
    Perhaps the best approach at this point is to follow the advice presented regarding smart eating habits and weightlifting and then make changes as you go along.


    1ConcreteGirl makes a good point. I personally have slabs of muscle but show little definition because of my BF %. Even at my "ideal" weight I don't look all that cut. You may discover that with resistance training you tighten up nicely, feel great and still look what you consider feminine.

    In short, try it, and if it doesn't yield the results you like you can change our training habits.



    Don't let the photos of these extremely fit and cut women on here intimidate you. I can't speak for them but I can make an educated guess that they spend a lot of time and effort to look like that. It's a direction you have to want to go.

    Good luck