Cutting/Weight Loss

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Faith413
Faith413 Posts: 9 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi! I am a female about 5'7 215lbs. I am pretty active. I workout about 5-6 days a week. I am not too focused on the scale cause I have an idea of how I want to look and not necessarily how much I want to weigh. I need advice on what to do to build muscle/tone up. Do I need to shed pounds first or what? HELPPP!!!

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  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
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    Depends on how you look now compared to how you want to look.

    Toning typically involves low enough body fat to expose underlying muscle, AND enough underlying muscle to be visible. Which of those you need to work on first/most depends on you.
  • Faith413
    Faith413 Posts: 9 Member
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    I guess that's where I am not sure what to do. Is it possible to work on both at the same time or should I strictly work on one?
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    With your stats, the best thing to do will be eat in a deficit, and if you want to preserve as much muscle as possible while you lose to give you a more "toned" or defined appearance, I recommend following a progressive resistance program and getting adequate protein (I would aim for at least 0.8-1g per lb goalweight). You may build some muscle being new to lifting and overweight, but your real aim will be to maintain the muscle you have right now and you lose weight.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
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    You can, just make sure you have appropriate expectations if you go that route. Progress will likely be exceeding slow and very difficult to see.
  • amberellen12
    amberellen12 Posts: 248 Member
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    I was told “you lose fat in the kitchen and build muscle in the gym”
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
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    amberellen12 wrote: »
    I was told “you lose fat in the kitchen and build muscle in the gym”

    I was told an Indian prince wanted to give me 10 million dollars.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    Typically building (significant) muscle requires eating in a surplus (ideally) or at least at maintenance. Once you get down in weight closer to goal then you can reevaluate your muscle base and decide what your next steps should be.

    Also keep in mind, lifting can make the scale go up, this will be water retention due to muscle repair. Many people think this is muscle gain, however, even some muscle gain (which may be minimal) will not outdo fat loss in a deficit, (provided you are in a deficit of course). If this happens, stick with the program and keep going and the scale should move shortly after.
  • Faith413
    Faith413 Posts: 9 Member
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    sardelsa wrote: »
    With your stats, the best thing to do will be eat in a deficit, and if you want to preserve as much muscle as possible while you lose to give you a more "toned" or defined appearance, I recommend following a progressive resistance program and getting adequate protein (I would aim for at least 0.8-1g per lb goalweight). You may build some muscle being new to lifting and overweight, but your real aim will be to maintain the muscle you have right now and you lose weight.

    Sorry for the ignorance but what exactly is a progressive resistance program or an example?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Faith413 wrote: »
    sardelsa wrote: »
    With your stats, the best thing to do will be eat in a deficit, and if you want to preserve as much muscle as possible while you lose to give you a more "toned" or defined appearance, I recommend following a progressive resistance program and getting adequate protein (I would aim for at least 0.8-1g per lb goalweight). You may build some muscle being new to lifting and overweight, but your real aim will be to maintain the muscle you have right now and you lose weight.

    Sorry for the ignorance but what exactly is a progressive resistance program or an example?

    A weight training program (or other means of resistance) where you continue to add more weight progressively as your ability allows.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    Faith413 wrote: »
    sardelsa wrote: »
    With your stats, the best thing to do will be eat in a deficit, and if you want to preserve as much muscle as possible while you lose to give you a more "toned" or defined appearance, I recommend following a progressive resistance program and getting adequate protein (I would aim for at least 0.8-1g per lb goalweight). You may build some muscle being new to lifting and overweight, but your real aim will be to maintain the muscle you have right now and you lose weight.

    Sorry for the ignorance but what exactly is a progressive resistance program or an example?

    You want your training to include progressive overload, so doing more as you go. Either increasing the weight, amount of reps, volume etc. over time.

    Here is a list of lifting programs in this thread:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1
  • Mistraal1981
    Mistraal1981 Posts: 453 Member
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    I would consider starting the program "Stronglifts 5x5" and following it for at least 6 months. It is a simple program that I found got me used to going to the gym regularly, got me used to how to put the weight on bars and do simple exercises that are giving you strength, but also the opportunity to watch others use other more complicated equipment as i didn't want to look like I didn't know what I was doing. I also found it gave me confidence to go into the typically male dominated section.

    I also cannot stress enough how important it is to build that core strength that comes from these exercises first before going on to the more specific muscle machines for isolation work to actually build your body to the shape you want.
  • Faith413
    Faith413 Posts: 9 Member
    edited April 2018
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    sardelsa wrote: »
    Faith413 wrote: »
    sardelsa wrote: »
    With your stats, the best thing to do will be eat in a deficit, and if you want to preserve as much muscle as possible while you lose to give you a more "toned" or defined appearance, I recommend following a progressive resistance program and getting adequate protein (I would aim for at least 0.8-1g per lb goalweight). You may build some muscle being new to lifting and overweight, but your real aim will be to maintain the muscle you have right now and you lose weight.

    Sorry for the ignorance but what exactly is a progressive resistance program or an example?

    You want your training to include progressive overload, so doing more as you go. Either increasing the weight, amount of reps, volume etc. over time.

    Here is a list of lifting programs in this thread:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

    Awesome! Thanks!
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
    edited April 2018
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    If you feel you need to lose some fat then you need to eat at calorie deficit to shed that fat.
    If you are happy with your body and just want to add muscle you would eat at maintenance calories or at slight surplus and lift heavy - some have already posted the links to the best lifting programmes.

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