How to be more toned?

jennywilloo · July 2019

Hi everyone,

I've been on my fitness journey since November 2018. From exercising regularly and eating clean, I have seen changes to my body. Here is me in August 2018 vs me now.

Like many people, my main goal is to become more toned. I lead a healthy life style with no smoking, minimal drinking (once a month), and I go to the gym 2-3 times a week. I have a fibre and protein rich diet, and incorporate all the important food groups into my diet. I am also mindful of sugar content, rarely ever eat anything considered 'bad', and I count my calories daily on this app. Usually, I am eating 1600-1800 calories a day.

I tried a calorie deficit from around March-June this year and had noticed my weight increasingly dropped, but not to a level I wanted, I was beginning to become bony. However, I noticed that my stomach did not change drastically unlike the rest of my body, i.e shoulders, arms, and legs that had lost the most weight. I am just wondering why this is, what is it that I am doing wrong exactly? I am currently having a daily intake of 2200 calories (not junk food) in order to gain some of this weight back, and I just need some advice with achieving a flatter/toned stomach in the healthiest way possible.

Thanks for your help!

sardelsa · July 2019

If you lost weight without proper strength training and protein to spare muscle, then you may have lost more muscle than you wanted and ended up with a body composition you weren't as pleased with.

What are your stats? Are you still trying to gain weight? Make sure you are following a progressive lifting program while you do to gain muscle. If you aren't underweight or close you can also recomp .. eating at maintenance to lose fat and gain muscle over time. Again lifting and adequate protein will be key.

Also clean/bad/junk calories don't affect body composition as much as you would think.. provided you are getting adequate protein, fat.. and hitting your calorie goal and it's not affecting your workouts or sleep.. obviously I would recommend a mostly nutritious diet, nothing wrong with treats in moderation.

jennywilloo · July 2019

sardelsa wrote: »

If you lost weight without proper strength training and protein to spare muscle, then you may have lost more muscle than you wanted and ended up with a body composition you weren't as pleased with.

What are your stats? Are you still trying to gain weight? Make sure you are following a progressive lifting program while you do to gain muscle. If you aren't underweight or close you can also recomp .. eating at maintenance to lose fat and gain muscle over time. Again lifting and adequate protein will be key.

Also clean/bad/junk calories don't affect body composition as much as you would think.. provided you are getting adequate protein, fat.. and hitting your calorie goal and it's not affecting your workouts or sleep.. obviously I would recommend a mostly nutritious diet, nothing wrong with treats in moderation.

Currently, I'm 8 stone 8lbs, and on average I'm eating about 90g of protein a day.

I have gained some of the weight back that I have lost and will be soon going back to my regular 1600-1800 calorie intake to maintain this. Thanks for your advice

kshama2001 · July 2019

What do you do at the gym? Are you following a progressive lifting program?

jennywilloo · July 2019

I do an hour of cardio, consisting of the ski machine, rowing machine, bikes, treadmill, then half an hour of small 6kg weights and core exercises including leg raises, bicycle crunches, and flutter kicks. I've yet to try a progressive lifting program

jennywilloo · July 2019

kshama2001 wrote: »

What do you do at the gym? Are you following a progressive lifting program?

I do an hour of cardio, consisting of the ski machine, rowing machine, bikes, treadmill, then half an hour of small 6kg weights and core exercises including leg raises, bicycle crunches, and flutter kicks. I've yet to try a progressive lifting program

staticsplit · July 2019

1600-1800 probably isn't maintenance if you're active. Though I'm not sure how tall you are.

My suggestion is less cardio and lift heavier weights, following a lifting program (e.g. Strong Curves). If you've never done compound lifts before it's probably worth seeing a trainer at the start to make sure you have proper form. My gym does small group training which is pretty cheap on top of my normal membership fee.

I used to be a cardio bunny and I got smaller but my shape didn't really change. It was only once I started lifting weights and doing bodyweight exercises like yoga that I started having actual definition like abs and shoulder muscles. Plus it's just really satisfying to lift over half your body weight and feel strong!

Also seconding that eating clean doesn't have to be everything. I love eating whole foods as it energises me but I don't let anything be off limits and regularly eat 'bad' food. I had a slice of pizza and a vegan burger and fries yesterday. All about balance and not feeling deprived for me. Otherwise I'm prone to binging on what I'm 'not allowed.'

Teabythesea_ · July 2019

When people say they want to be "toned" what they usually mean is they want to lose a bit of fat, resulting in more defined muscles. However, as Sardelsa said, if you were not strength training while in a deficit then your weight loss will not reveal the definition you desire. This leaves a lot of people dissatisfied as their proportions remain the same, just smaller. Now the only way to get what you desire will be to gain muscle, whether that be through a bulk or recomp. In the gaining weight and body building forum under the most helpful sticky theres a link with a bunch of lifting programs. Your best bet is going to be to choose one and stick with it while eating at maintenance or a slight surplus. Cardio is good for you and all, but it won't help in the way of building muscle.

Lolalikeslolagets · July 2019

Lift all the weights 💪🏻💪🏻

How to be more toned?

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