Can you reduce the size of muscles?

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  • mickipedia
    mickipedia Posts: 889 Member
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    that little dude at the computer has a lot of anger inside him. i think he needs a good work out!! some serious stress relief!! no one should die by keyboard!!! ;-)

    I know right.. kapeluza made my day by posting that :)
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,549 Member
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    Please keep it civil.

    Thank you.

    Stormieweather
    MFP Forum Moderator
  • KimmieBrie
    KimmieBrie Posts: 825 Member
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    that little dude at the computer has a lot of anger inside him. i think he needs a good work out!! some serious stress relief!! no one should die by keyboard!!! ;-)

    HA - this whole thing just made me LOL, funny stuff
  • mickipedia
    mickipedia Posts: 889 Member
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    glad all that garbage got removed from here

    no it hasn't
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    I'd like to clear up a few things on this thread.

    If you're running a deficit in your calories its going to be nearly impossible for you to do any major bulking up. You will definitely build muscle but don't worry, you're not going to "accidentally" end up looking like those female body builders who do competitions! Believe me, super muscular women work HARD, harder than we can imagine, to look like that and it involves a whole new type of diet.

    Also, this is a general problem I have noticed on threads like these but you can't "lose fat cells." Once your body has fat cells, they can enlarge and shrink, but nothing will actually make them go away except for medical procedures such as lipo. This is not to say you can't decrease your body fat percentage, you definitely can! Just the fat cells have shrunk down in volume. Unfortunately once you have these cells (many of them developed when you were a child,) it does make it easier to gain the fat back if you're not careful.

    Ok off my soapbox.
    Not actually true. Fat cells will die once they are emptied. It takes several months, but eventually they will die.

    As for the OP, like everyone else has said, you will not bulk up by lifting heavy, especially on a calorie deficit. I'll preface this by saying I'm male, but I've been lifting very heavy for the last few months, and my arms look much bigger and more defined in the mirror, but according to my measuring tape, they are 1" smaller than before I started lifting. What you're seeing is an optical illusion, your arms aren't getting bigger.
  • AlsDonkBoxSquat
    AlsDonkBoxSquat Posts: 6,128 Member
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    I just checked your profile. Your body fat is 29%. That is the upper end of 'average'. I doubt you have any muscle definition at that level, yet.

    wow. just wow.
    If you're implying I'm being rude, I'm not. I'm being honest. Go look up some images of women at 30% body fat. Unless they have very unusual fat distribution, that level of body fat is simply too high to see muscle definition. I know this also from personal experience, because I had more than 30% body fat less than a year ago. I always had great arm muscles because of my day job but they were invisible until I reduced my body fat. I doubt the muscles have really gotten much bigger since I was eating at a deficit the whole time (much like the OP which is another reason she has no reason to be concerned about bulky muscles), they have just been uncovered.

    I think the person said that because taken in context of what the op actually wrote it could be interpreted as rude as the op's concern wasn't about the definition that she's showing but instead for the size of her arms now that she's starting to build muscle with her fat.

    As stated before, the radius of your upper arms will decrease with your decreasing bf%. Unless your arms are strong, and your bf% reasonably low you will never get rid of those bat wings. The size of them is pretty genetic. However, your eating will also impact the size of your muscles all the way around. Unless you are eating to bulk, or are taking steroids, or have a hormonal imbalance, or skip rope on a starry night while the harvest moon dances above you will not get "man arms" but you will get drool worthy arms that make people stop you on the street and ask you your secret.
  • dieseljay74
    dieseljay74 Posts: 376
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    That's probably the most counter productive thing you could ever do. You're not going to get big. You're probably only noticing definiton from fat loss around the muscle making it appear like "more". Losing muscle will only lower metabolic rate and put you right in line for a skinny fat state later on.
  • MrsCon40
    MrsCon40 Posts: 2,351 Member
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    Reduce the weight you lift but increase the repetitions.

    That's what Ive always been told. It tones without building more apparently. I'll be honest though, my knowledge in this area is pretty limited so there will be people here far more qualified to answer than me.

    Hope this helps x

    You have been told wrong.

    The "bulk" you will see is the body fat on top of the muscles. You cannot - except in very limited circumstances - grow muscle on a caloric deficit. In fact, it is much more difficult for women to increase muscle mass than it is for men. Your best strategy is to continue lifting (to exhaustion at 8-10 reps) and continue to reduce your over all body fat percentage.

    Without pharmaceutical assistance, or unless you are an extreme genetic outlier, you will not get bulky from lifting weights. If you do not desire a muscled look then only reduce your body fat percentage to the point of being happy with your size, but not so far as to be uncovering the muscle definition.

    I think that's where ladies get confused.

    I lift heavy and I still look nice and womanly, no?
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    Without pharmaceutical assistance, or unless you are an extreme genetic outlier, you will not get bulky from lifting weights. If you do not desire a muscled look then only reduce your body fat percentage to the point of being happy with your size, but not so far as to be uncovering the muscle definition.

    I think that's where ladies get confused.

    I lift heavy and I still look nice and womanly, no?

    This!

    MFP member StephanieLynn76 has AMAZING muscles. Check her blog... http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/stephanielynn76

    She just got done with a "bulking" phase where she's been eating a lot and lifting really heavy to build more muscle. In the process, her body fat percentage has gone up. She has more muscle, but doesn't look as "muscular" as she did when her body fat was very low. If you don't want to look very muscular, don't let your body fat percentage get below 15%.
  • Fit_Canuck
    Fit_Canuck Posts: 788 Member
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    I just checked your profile. Your body fat is 29%. That is the upper end of 'average'. I doubt you have any muscle definition at that level, yet.

    I have to ask....how the heck would you know if she has any muscle definition?
  • thefuzz1290
    thefuzz1290 Posts: 777 Member
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    Dear OP,

    Welcome to MFP, where honesty is rude. If you want people to coddle you and set your weight loss back months, then go somewhere else. I also suggest taking a few moments and browsing the first few pages of each forum you may be thinking about posting a question, as it has most likely been answered...multiple times. As for your question, ditto on 99% of the posts. Unless you're taking anabolic steroids, or have manly testosterone (which you don't have a beard, so I assume your'e a normal woman), you won't be buff.

    Sincerely,

    Me
  • sweetheart03622
    sweetheart03622 Posts: 928 Member
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    I love how, despite the fact that the men work endless hours and endlessly watch what they eat in order to get muscles, us ladies seem to have them pop up like none other. Seriously?!
  • MinnesotaManimal
    MinnesotaManimal Posts: 642 Member
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    ^^^
    Exactly

    tumblr_lr82a8QyR01qeow5po1_500.jpg
    \

    and now I am hungry... thanks allot.
  • RoanneRed
    RoanneRed Posts: 429 Member
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    Haven't read ALL of the posts so apologies if someone else made these suggestions.

    Make sure you stretch and that you're doing a variety of resistance exercises for the triceps muscle group to target different muscles within the group.

    Also, keep the weights at the current level to maintain the muscle where it's at rather than increasing weight to build more muscle.
  • kealambert
    kealambert Posts: 961 Member
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    I love how, despite the fact that the men work endless hours and endlessly watch what they eat in order to get muscles, us ladies seem to have them pop up like none other. Seriously?!

    perception can do that do a person
  • swood0114
    swood0114 Posts: 43
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    I'd like to clear up a few things on this thread.

    If you're running a deficit in your calories its going to be nearly impossible for you to do any major bulking up. You will definitely build muscle but don't worry, you're not going to "accidentally" end up looking like those female body builders who do competitions! Believe me, super muscular women work HARD, harder than we can imagine, to look like that and it involves a whole new type of diet.

    Also, this is a general problem I have noticed on threads like these but you can't "lose fat cells." Once your body has fat cells, they can enlarge and shrink, but nothing will actually make them go away except for medical procedures such as lipo. This is not to say you can't decrease your body fat percentage, you definitely can! Just the fat cells have shrunk down in volume. Unfortunately once you have these cells (many of them developed when you were a child,) it does make it easier to gain the fat back if you're not careful.

    Ok off my soapbox.
    Not actually true. Fat cells will die once they are emptied. It takes several months, but eventually they will die.

    As for the OP, like everyone else has said, you will not bulk up by lifting heavy, especially on a calorie deficit. I'll preface this by saying I'm male, but I've been lifting very heavy for the last few months, and my arms look much bigger and more defined in the mirror, but according to my measuring tape, they are 1" smaller than before I started lifting. What you're seeing is an optical illusion, your arms aren't getting bigger.

    Actually it is true. I'm a biologist, but if you don't believe me feel free to research it on any journal site!
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    From Washington University School of Medicine In St. Louis, response is from a professor from Duke University Medical Center.

    https://secure.wuphysicians.wustl.edu/newsarchive.aspx?navID=&category=&ID=471&deptID=&divisionID=
    Can you ever get rid of a fat cell once you have it?

    Yes. You can shrink fat cells by losing weight, and fat cells do die off once they're not needed as storage depots, although scientists are unsure how long that takes, says Christopher B. Newgard, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and cancer biology at Duke University Medical Center. However, it's much easier to add fat cells than to get rid of them, says Klein*.

    So they do eventually die on their own, they just aren't sure how much time is needed.

    *Klein is Dr. Samuel Klein, professor of medicine and nutrition at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
  • kealambert
    kealambert Posts: 961 Member
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    From Washington University School of Medicine In St. Louis, response is from a professor from Duke University Medical Center.

    https://secure.wuphysicians.wustl.edu/newsarchive.aspx?navID=&category=&ID=471&deptID=&divisionID=
    Can you ever get rid of a fat cell once you have it?

    Yes. You can shrink fat cells by losing weight, and fat cells do die off once they're not needed as storage depots, although scientists are unsure how long that takes, says Christopher B. Newgard, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and cancer biology at Duke University Medical Center. However, it's much easier to add fat cells than to get rid of them, says Klein*.

    So they do eventually die on their own, they just aren't sure how much time is needed.

    *Klein is Dr. Samuel Klein, professor of medicine and nutrition at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
    Nutriti-OWNED

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