I was always small on top- so I like my larger shoulders. I had to donate a couple of tight shirts/sweaters to goodwill. The hardest part was that my bras got tight on my rib cage from bigger lats. It is hard to find larger band size with smaller cup size.
- You will find a different opinion on a bodybuilder thread but
- I wouldn't mind a smaller waist but not planning to cut.
- I guess I prefer larger shoulders and strength.
- Shirts/sweaters are easy to get, muscles are very hard to get. Why not get a few looser shirts and think about how awesome you look in a sleeveless shirt!!

I've been eating at maintenance for about a year while lifting heavy. I've gotten big arms, giant quads (26"+ inches) and I'm pretty trapped out. I have lost 10% BF ish according to the not-so-accurate body fat testing I've had done every three months. Regardless of whether the percentage is correct, it's been trending down and it's visible in my definition and face pictures. My weight is exactly the same. Jeans that were tight in the waist a year ago and loose in the thighs are now being pulled downward by my quads. I've totally lost my muffin top and my boobs and surprisingly, most of my *kitten*. My routine consists primarily of powerlifting and olympic lifting, not bodybuilding. Honestly I can't say whether I liked my body better now or before, aesthetically. I think I may have liked it better before. However, it sure can do cool stuff it couldn't do in the past.

DopeItUp wrote: »

Given that your weight has been stable, it sounds like you've been recomping. A little bit of fat loss over time combined with a little bit of muscle gain. It's a real thing, just very slow.

As far as the rest of it goes, wish I could help. I'd happily bludgeon a few people to death for a bigger upper body.

Yep. I had the same thing happen, although for me it was a good thing because I was getting a bit too thin on top and still had fat to lose on bottom.

I think waiting is out is a good strategy if it's not bothering you too much. You'll likely continue to see changes in shape as you lose fat. I'm still seeing subtle shifts. If it's causing you body image issues then you might want to take a more aggressive approach, assuming there is one, although I'm not sure what that would be. I'm sure SS and Sara will chime in.

In for thoughts as well!

What appears to have possibly been happening is that you have been recomping – you have lost some fat (which may have come more from your lower half in a higher proportion than your upper half), and gained some muscle. You may have gained more in your upper half or, because of the fact that our upper bodies are smaller/carry less fat in general than our lower half, it is more noticeable relative to the starting point. As I am having problems trying to explain this in words I am going to use some random math. If you look at 1/10 -> 2/10 v 1/20 -> 2/20. The increase is 1 in both, but the proportion is very different – the increase with the lower denominator is more pronounced than with the higher denominator. OK, so that’s probably as clear as mud lol.

You can in some circumstances gain muscle at maintenance and even at a deficit. Many factors will come into play as to how much, if any, you can gain, which include the size of your deficit, your prior training routine, gender and genetics. Even an experienced lifter can gain some muscle, in certain situations. For example, if you have been training say biceps sub-optimally previously, and then change your routine in a way that provides additional stimulus to them, you may be able to make some gains in that muscle. Generally, experienced lifters (particularly ones that have been on a good program for a while) do not have any of that ‘low hanging fruit’, but it is definitely possibly.
If you are getting uncomfortable with the amount of muscle you have in a particular area, you can always tweak your program in a way so as to provide 'sub-optimal' stimulus. For example, do not progressive load on rows, or keep the rep range outside the more effective hypertrophy range.

Regarding what I have seen personally with body recomp. I have always had issues with getting clothes to fit me as I ‘respond well to stimulus’ – i.e. gained muscle relatively easily (for a female and in context) at first and/or maintained muscle – at least on my upper half (too hard to tell on my lower half as I carry too much fat there to be able to tell). I also have ‘broad shoulders’ and tend to carry a bit of extra body fat when I was overweight in my upper back/arms. So both when I was overweight and it was fat, or lean and it was more muscle, I have always had issues with tops fitting me without having the waist (and bust unfortunately) be too big. I have issues with pants – but that’s because of the donk/waist ratio. I usually wear stretchy tops like t-shirts (luckily my work is uber casual) as my biceps are too large for a lot of non-stretchy ones.
Outside of the annoying wardrobe issues, there is also the preference re aesthetics. Do you like the amount of muscle you have? Do you want to stay at the status quo or are you uncomfortable with the amount you do have? Also, you mention have some body fat you still want to lose (which will play into the needing to buy a new wardrobe consideration).

While ‘women do not get bulky’ from lifting, we can get too muscular for our own personal preference. One way to ‘soften’ it is to gain a little body fat. Issue is, sometimes where we gain the body fat first is not where we want it and then we just end up with having too much fat in one area than we like and still have the issue of having too much definition in another. Or, we just put fat on over the muscle and end up 'too big', whether its defined or not. There is nothing wrong with not wanting to show that much definition. When I am lean, I know I am too muscular for many peoples tastes (even though I am not that muscular), and that is absolutely fine. Heck, even when I am not lean my biceps are probably bigger than many like. Personally, I am fine with my muscularity – but I have gone through times where I would have preferred some of my muscles to be a little less developed (from aesthetics). Other muscles I love seeing development (delts and my sartorius). For example, my spinal erectors developed pretty significantly (I think it was due to *kitten* conventional deadlift form which had me rounding my back when I started lifting – which was when I was ‘primed’ to build muscle…newbie plus overweight gains) and I was a bit weirded out by them a bit at first (anyone say back cleavage?). Since then, I have come to like them – partly because I have just got used to them, partly because I am more used to seeing body builders physiques now, and possibly partly because it’s linked with my strength/lifting performance.

All ^^that is probably more than you wanted to know about my personal thoughts about it but I tend to ramble .

If it’s really bothering you re aesthetics, I would possibly tweak my routine, but unless it is, I would wait until you have lost the extra couple of pounds and see. Your tops may well fit better then, and you will be able to see the muscularity better to see if its something that you are happy (or not) with re aesthetics.

The selection of a new lifting routine will sort of be dependence on your feelings re the changes you are looking to make when you lose those extra few pounds, so personally, I would wait until them and assess at that time.

As I say, I tend to ramble on these types of topics, but hopefully you can glean something out of my musings lol.

If you have specific questions or I have not actually addressed your question/concerns, feel free to follow up and tell me to stick to the point

Sarauk2sf wrote: »

^^holy crap, and essay.

Awesome infö!