Fat layer on top of muscle?

jessicaliujiexin
jessicaliujiexin Posts: 27
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone :)

I'll get straight to the question and try not to blab too much. :tongue: I'm a gal with a petite frame, so any fat or muscle layer is quite visible on my body. Even so, I have begun to lift heavier weights with a barbell and dumbbells, so hopefully any muscle gains will help eat away at the fat. My main area of concern is my upper arms, since they look slightly big for my body. I don't know if it's the muscle (which I do have some of) or the fat layer on top, or a combo of both. They jiggle when I wave. What can I do to slim down my arms for a lean, slender, feminine appearance? Keep lifting? Do more cardio? (Which I don't really do much anymore). I'm 5'3, 118lb, so not overweight, my body fat percent is just a little high in my opinion. What can I do about it?

Thanks for reading and sharing and good luck!

Replies

  • keefmac
    keefmac Posts: 313 Member
    You can't do spot fat reduction, only option is to try and lose a bit more fat though dieting?.

    I'm 2kg away from goal weight but will have to re-evaluate as I still have some fat around my stomach (probably another couple of kg).
  • Branstin
    Branstin Posts: 2,320 Member
    You can't target which area of the body to burn fat. Eating at a calorie deficient and weight lifting/strength training is the best way to go.
  • alereck
    alereck Posts: 343 Member
    Once you start to lose fat it will come off different places in your body at different rates. I lost pretty much all my boobs :sad: but my thighs still carry fat.

    I’ve leaned out my arms by lifting weights, they got thinner with defined muscle at first. I’ve built on them but because I wanted to, I’m tall and have big hips so it helps to have defined shoulders and a wider back. Anyway, my point is that I think you should keep with the weights and do isolation exercises for the arms, I have a day where I work only my bicep/triceps/shoulders and they leaned out pretty good. But like I said, if there is where the fat wants to be it will get harder to get rid of it no matter what. Genetics suck! :angry:
  • jessicaliujiexin
    jessicaliujiexin Posts: 27
    Once you start to lose fat it will come off different places in your body at different rates. I lost pretty much all my boobs :sad: but my thighs still carry fat.

    I’ve leaned out my arms by lifting weights, they got thinner with defined muscle at first. I’ve built on them but because I wanted to, I’m tall and have big hips so it helps to have defined shoulders and a wider back. Anyway, my point is that I think you should keep with the weights and do isolation exercises for the arms, I have a day where I work only my bicep/triceps/shoulders and they leaned out pretty good. But like I said, if there is where the fat wants to be it will get harder to get rid of it no matter what. Genetics suck! :angry:

    Dang genetics! :frown: I have no idea where the fat will come from, but praying it won't be my boobs! But yeah, I'll keep lifting I guess :) since it is probably too early to see results anyways. Good for you for getting in good shape though girl, your profile picture is looking good!
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    If you are eating at a surplus, you will gain weight, but if you are weight training and getting in enough protein for your body then you will put on more muscle than you will fat.

    If you are eating at maintenance while eating enough protein and lifting, then you will recomp. Slow, but you will drop some of your body fat and gain a bit of strength, or at least maintain what you have. You won't put on anything significant.

    If you eat at an appropriate deficit (10-20% below your maintenance needs) and eat plenty of protein and lift heavy, you will lose mostly body fat but a small amount of muscle as well (nothing major, but it cannot be entirely avoided), while maintaining strength and possibly even increasing strength for some lifts. I've been able to increase deadlifts, also rows a bit, but many of my others are on maintenance as I don't have the energy to increase.

    Doing isolation exercises will not impact your fat loss. So if you spend an entire session on tricep extensions and then some cardio, you won't lose more fat where you want to compared to simply doing your normal weekly routine and eating at a deficit (or maintenance if you want to recomp).

    So TL;DR, make sure your lifting program allows you to hit every muscle about as equally as possible (full body split, upper/lower split, push/pull, a program like SS or 5/3/1, etc), eat the appropriate calories for your goals (fat loss, recomp, or gain), and eat the appropriate amount of protein (0.8g/lb would be fine since you;re not overweight, although if you know your body fat % then you can do 1g/lb of lean body mass). Rest properly to allow your body to recover.

Categories