Question: How to lose weight and NOT gain muscle!

If you want to avoid gaining muscle, don't take steroids. When you're eating at a caloric deficit, putting on appreciable amounts of muscle is nearly impossible. The muscular women you see have made a conscious, dedicated effort to building that muscle and have fought hard for every ounce of it...eating at a caloric surplus to "bulk up", then "cutting" (losing fat while making every effort to sustain lean muscle mass through very precise eating and supplementation) to get that "ripped" look. The female bodybuilders with massive amounts of muscle have (in many cases) done all the above plus 'supplemented' with anabolic/androgenic steroids. It's not easy and won't happen "accidentally", even if you lift heavy weights as part of your weight/fat loss regimen.

Precisely!

I have always wondered how to do this!
I have a lot of weight to lose,
and I really don't want to gain muscle.
It might sound weird, but I dont find a lot of muscle on girls attractive.
I ESPECIALLY don't want my claves to bulk up anymore.

Any suggestions?

HAHA I totally agree! My calves also don't need to gain any more muscle, hell I wish I could lose the muscle a bit and not gain any fat so they can fit in boots >.> I don't find A LOT of muscle on guys attractive either.

1. You can't gain muscle on a calorie deficit.
2. All those women on TV and in magazines whose bodies you wish you had - I guarantee they all lift weights.

Yep.

I really hope that after a little while here you learn that you're not thinking right. You WANT to be lifting heavy weights. You just don't know it yet. Trust me.

Muscles are sexy. I lift weights every day and I lift as heavy as I can. I am not "bulky" because I don't take steroids which is the only way a woman can get a body builders physique.

Skinny fat is not sexy.

=/ When will people stop posting about this and finally realize the truth about women and muscle...
Unless you do some serious training for a long time, you are not going to become some she-woman with big muscles.

Besides...If your at a calorie deficit to lose weight, your not going to be gaining muscle. Losing muscle is what most people worry about when losing weight. Thats why it is so important to get adequate protein and keep up weight training to try and retain as much of your muscle as you can. People can't typically lose weight and gain muscle at the same time.

Also if you have a good bit of weight to lose, weights is beneficial if you don't want to appear flabby in a lot of areas and want a tighter body in the end.

If you want to avoid gaining muscle, don't take steroids. When you're eating at a caloric deficit, putting on appreciable amounts of muscle is nearly impossible. The muscular women you see have made a conscious, dedicated effort to building that muscle and have fought hard for every ounce of it...eating at a caloric surplus to "bulk up", then "cutting" (losing fat while making every effort to sustain lean muscle mass through very precise eating and supplementation) to get that "ripped" look. The female bodybuilders with massive amounts of muscle have (in many cases) done all the above plus 'supplemented' with anabolic/androgenic steroids. It's not easy and won't happen "accidentally", even if you lift heavy weights as part of your weight/fat loss regimen.

Totally agree!!!

I'm not expert on the subject but I know what's been working for me. I do cardio about 85% of the time and for strength training I do like Yoga, Pilates, or arm workouts with the resistance bands. A lot of Reps but no weights though. The only weights I use are the ankle weights. I suppose I'll start with weights once I get to my GW. But so far this has worked for me. Good luck.

Why not lift heavy and if you dont like it...stop? Trust me you can - after a couple weeks no bench press i am weak again; its very easy for your muscles to get 'smaller' again.

Not tooting my own horn - just tryna convince ya hehe - but I model, particularly swimwear and underwear and obviously that means having a lean yet thin physique. Trust me, if I didn't do weights' I would not have any work
- before I used to do mainly fashion and was the same size as I am now but WAY flabbier. Weights were my miracle!

I feel like nobody has totally answered your question. The answer is yes you can lose weight without becoming cut or having standout defined muscles. The answers that you have gotten are good - don't take steriods, don't eat too little, keep your water intake up, etc.
But do lift weights - lower weight amounts and more reps increase your tone and therefore help you lose more weight and don't build the muscle up - they tone what you have. When you lift heavy weights you actually tear muscle fibers and as they repair they build up. Therefore smaller weights, more reps, no damage just tone and you will see the resulting feminine form you are looking for!

Wrong, no such thing as "tone" and low weight high rep just increases endurance, it will not strengthen you muscles very much, for that heavy weight low reps.

What eric said. You are totally incorrect unfortunatley. Additionally, lifting heavy does not cause muscle growth without being in a calorie surplus. But it mostly increases strength and burns fat. You are confusing neuromuscular adaptation with hypertrophy. The training for hypertrophy is higher reps, 8 to 12, and moderate weight. This stimulates muscle growth but is still unlikely to produce much in a woman due to lack of testosterone. As others have said, it is really, really hard to grow new muscle tissue. It does not happen by accident and it's next to impossible in a calorie deficit even when trying to train for it!

I was talking about thin, but "fit/athletic" type build/muscled look. I don't like that, and I naturally prefer the look of no muscle deffinition.

Thank you

I don't understand this, but okay, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

It's really easy to lose weight without gaining muscle, and while losing muscle actually. Just diet. Maybe do some light cardio. Don't eat a whole lot of protein.

I am sorry that you believe these myths that women bulk up if they work out or even lift weights. Check out women trainers from Beachbody like Chalene Johnson- she's anything but BULKY and she lifts weights.
And please listen to the people here. 5lbs of muscle and 5lbs of fat weigh the same- but the 5 lbs of fat is a lot bigger in size. That's why 2 people can weigh the same and be 2 different sizes.
Muscle burns fat- and keeps your metabolism faster.

Lift lighter weights with higher reps. That builds skinny lean muscle. Heavy weights that you can only lift 5-6 times into muscle failure will build the bulky muscle.

Lift lighter weights with higher reps. That builds skinny lean muscle. Heavy weights that you can only lift 5-6 times into muscle failure will build the bulky muscle.

This is completely the opposite of what you should do and what results you should excpect. See the post back a couple that says heavy wieght don't build bulk but build lean muscle. How many time in one thread is the same myth going to be repeated. To this poster, did you even read the rest of the thread where this was addressed multiple times??

Don't worry about it.
Nobody gains muscle while losing weight.
That's absurd.

THANK YOU.

I really wanted to read that - as that made more sense than most on here.



SO EVERYONE UNDERSTANDS:

I understand we all have different views on what looks good.
And no, I was not talking about huge massive weight lifiting muscled women.. I was talking about thin, but "fit/athletic" type build/muscled look. I don't like that, and I naturally prefer the look of no muscle deffinition.

Thank you

The thing is with that much weight to lose if you don't try and limit muscle loss you risk becoming very flabby with saggy skin.,