Women who lost weight and gained muscle?
wonderwoman234
Posts: 551 Member
I'd love to hear from women who have been 40-50 lbs. overweight who have lost the weight and replaced fat with muscle. I have seen a lot of stories of women who have lost a ton of weight through dieting and THEN decided to strength train. I am trying to go from a size 14 to a size 8, to get rid of the fat on my body and show muscle underneath - or at least look toned.
I'm just trying to figure out which approach is realistic and will work!
I'm just trying to figure out which approach is realistic and will work!
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Replies
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I think that the Lean Body challenge would help achieve that goal. http://www.labrada.com/lbc I just joined it last week. It focuses on clean eating, high protein, lower carbs, and weight lifting. When you sign up they give you a workout plan.0
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Thanks! I'll check it out.0
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Don't wait - start now! While you can't realy gain muscle while losing fat (just won't happen on a calorie deficit, not enough extra energy to support growth), you will retain the muscle and gain strength and endurance and improve your overall fitness and health. As you lose the fat, the muscle will become more visible and that is the change you see in those success stories.0
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I'd love to hear from women who have been 40-50 lbs. overweight who have lost the weight and replaced fat with muscle. I have seen a lot of stories of women who have lost a ton of weight through dieting and THEN decided to strength train. I am trying to go from a size 14 to a size 8, to get rid of the fat on my body and show muscle underneath - or at least look toned.
I'm just trying to figure out which approach is realistic and will work!
I have lost over 40lbs...
keep in mind you can't gain muscle on a deficet...you have to eat at a surplus to do that..so you choose which one you want...
What you can do on a deficet is maintain what muscle you have...
I lost about 30lbs before I started resistence training and that's just because well I didn't really think about it..
Since joining here I have gone from body weight exercises (squats and pushups etc) to full on lifting and I am a size 8 at 163lbs..
I am not done yet tho...not quite where I want to be but getting closer...
My profile pic shows the changes...205-175 (same dress) then 165 LBD and it's a small...0 -
Well, you can't gain muscle on a deficit (maybe super minor newbie gains but nothing significant). You can gain quite a bit of strength from existing muscles though and retain LBM in the process of losing fat (which will give you that "toned" look). I've lost 50 lbs and gone from 45 lb barbell to 90 lb bench, 115 squat, 150 Deadlift without bulking (though I plan to someday.). Do not wait! Lift now! ♡0
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Don't know if you can't gain muscle on a deficit.....mine say something different. I was doing light strength training on machines, before I started with the weightloss.
Last September after losing about 12kg, I added push ups, sit ups and squats daily and really saw a difference in the muscles in my arms after 1-2 months. then I started with exercises with dumbbells (4lb) for my core, back and arms. And then discovered Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. Although I still have about 15lbs to go and quite a bit of extra skin, I can see my arm, shoulder, leg muscles have alot more definition. My abs aren't visible because of the extra skin, but I feel how my core has gotten stronger.
Alot of people say lift heavy. I'm not that interested in that and my gym doesn't have the equipement. But a few dumbbells, a mat and YouTube and you are ready for action. Lots of stuff on YouTube and you can do alot with your own body weight to train yourself. Fitness Blender is a good site too.0 -
Like mentioned, you won't be gaining a lot of muscle while dieting. It just doesn't work that way. Your body will not build new tissue when it doesn't have enough energy to sustain the tissue it currently has. However, yes, it is still very important to strength train while you diet. When we diet, we lose both fat and muscle. Strength training preserves as much muscle as possible, making most of the weight loss purely fat.
After you've lost all the fat you'd like, you can decide to focus purely on gaining muscle. To do this you must eat MORE than it would take to maintain your body weight, and will gain both fat and muscle. Then you repeat the first step.0 -
Don't know if you can't gain muscle on a deficit.....mine say something different. I was doing light strength training on machines, before I started with the weightloss.
<snip>
I can see my arm, shoulder, leg muscles have alot more definition. My abs aren't visible because of the extra skin, but I feel how my core has gotten stronger.
<snip>
You can have Noob gains that's it and that is if you are totally new and it wont be much or if you are morbidly obese but again wont be much. I read somewhere a couple oz at best.
What you are seeing is the loss of fat over the muscle...and strength <>muscle growth.0 -
At this point I've been losing about a pound of muscle for every 5 pounds of fat, which my trainer tells me is great (apparently it's usually more like 1:4 instead of 1:5). My body fat % has gone down about 3% and my strength has increased by ~45%.0
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I've lost almost 60 lbs and what has worked for me:
-calorie deficit
-some cardio
-main focus on weight lifting (heavy compound lifts to be exact)
My weight at this point isn't changing anymore, but the inches keep coming off. I actually weigh more now than I did back in high school, but I am wearing a smaller size.0 -
All great suggestions and responses. Thanks, y'all! I have been doing cardio, heavy lifting and calorie deficit, so I hope I'm on my way!0
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Don't know if you can't gain muscle on a deficit.....mine say something different. I was doing light strength training on machines, before I started with the weightloss.
<snip>
I can see my arm, shoulder, leg muscles have alot more definition. My abs aren't visible because of the extra skin, but I feel how my core has gotten stronger.
<snip>
You can have Noob gains that's it and that is if you are totally new and it wont be much or if you are morbidly obese but again wont be much. I read somewhere a couple oz at best.
What you are seeing is the loss of fat over the muscle...and strength <>muscle growth.
^^^Yep. Putting muscle on is EXTREMELY hard. It is even harder for females due to the lack of testosterone levels that males have. This is why strength training while in a deficit is so important.0 -
I've managed to only lose 3 lbs of muscle so far... which is really pretty good all things considered. That's just doing strength training at first, then weight lifting. And I'm honestly not trying to have more muscle... just want to lose more fat.0
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I have been working out for almost 5 months, I'm not sure how long "newb" gains are. But I started at 31.6% bf. I'm now 27.6%. I started at 130 lbs and haven't changed. Therefor, I am gaining muscle at the same rate I am losing fat. I do intense cardio for 15 min or so and strength train for 30-45 min 3 times a week.0
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I've put on a little bit on my delts and serratus! OK, so it's a few ounces probably, but it still makes me very happy
My deficit is only 10%-12%.
What's better but not new at all to me is that my existing muscles are much different now. Firm and more 'sculpted'. That's what I love about lifting. The fat loss has been slow, but I knew it would be with the deficit I chose. I've lost a lot of inches, and that was the main thing I was looking for!0 -
I have been working out for almost 5 months, I'm not sure how long "newb" gains are. But I started at 31.6% bf. I'm now 27.6%. I started at 130 lbs and haven't changed. Therefor, I am gaining muscle at the same rate I am losing fat. I do intense cardio for 15 min or so and strength train for 30-45 min 3 times a week.
Sorry but no your not...you are losing fat which takes up a whole lot more space than muscle..
BF% measurments unless done in a water displacment chamber or Dexa scan are estimates at best...
Newb gains are a couple oz of muscle(at best) for a woman...to gain a lb of muscle you have to be eating at a surplus for a period of time and doing heavy lifting consistently.
ETA: not saying you aren't doing a good job, weight vs inches...you may not have lost weight but what about inches?0 -
I have been working out for almost 5 months, I'm not sure how long "newb" gains are. But I started at 31.6% bf. I'm now 27.6%. I started at 130 lbs and haven't changed. Therefor, I am gaining muscle at the same rate I am losing fat. I do intense cardio for 15 min or so and strength train for 30-45 min 3 times a week.
Sorry but no your not...you are losing fat which takes up a whole lot more space than muscle..
BF% measurments unless done in a water displacment chamber or Dexa scan are estimates at best...
Newb gains are a couple oz of muscle(at best) for a woman...to gain a lb of muscle you have to be eating at a surplus for a period of time and doing heavy lifting consistently.
ETA: not saying you aren't doing a good job, weight vs inches...you may not have lost weight but what about inches?
My inches vary, down in the chest, up in the legs, down in the waist, up in the arms. My gains would equal .25 lbs of muscle per week if it's accurate.0 -
I have been working out for almost 5 months, I'm not sure how long "newb" gains are. But I started at 31.6% bf. I'm now 27.6%. I started at 130 lbs and haven't changed. Therefor, I am gaining muscle at the same rate I am losing fat. I do intense cardio for 15 min or so and strength train for 30-45 min 3 times a week.
Sorry but no your not...you are losing fat which takes up a whole lot more space than muscle..
BF% measurments unless done in a water displacment chamber or Dexa scan are estimates at best...
Newb gains are a couple oz of muscle(at best) for a woman...to gain a lb of muscle you have to be eating at a surplus for a period of time and doing heavy lifting consistently.
ETA: not saying you aren't doing a good job, weight vs inches...you may not have lost weight but what about inches?
My inches vary, down in the chest, up in the legs, down in the waist, up in the arms. My gains would equal .25 lbs of muscle per week if it's accurate.
I thought of this after, the hand held machine may not be accurate, but it is consistent.it has dropped a steady 1% each month.0 -
I have been working out for almost 5 months, I'm not sure how long "newb" gains are. But I started at 31.6% bf. I'm now 27.6%. I started at 130 lbs and haven't changed. Therefor, I am gaining muscle at the same rate I am losing fat. I do intense cardio for 15 min or so and strength train for 30-45 min 3 times a week.
Sorry but no your not...you are losing fat which takes up a whole lot more space than muscle..
BF% measurments unless done in a water displacment chamber or Dexa scan are estimates at best...
Newb gains are a couple oz of muscle(at best) for a woman...to gain a lb of muscle you have to be eating at a surplus for a period of time and doing heavy lifting consistently.
ETA: not saying you aren't doing a good job, weight vs inches...you may not have lost weight but what about inches?
My inches vary, down in the chest, up in the legs, down in the waist, up in the arms. My gains would equal .25 lbs of muscle per week if it's accurate.
A professional bodybuilding female would be hard pressed to put on .25 lbs in 4-6 weeks.0
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