Advice on how to lose and gain weight at the same time.. I know.. Confusing.. (losing fat, firm up)

[Luckyd609]

Originally Posted by lcouncil

Thanks! I think I always became confused when people stated that it did not matter if I did certain exercises because it would not help my targeted areas. The reason I was confused by this is because I figured "what is the point in doing different exercises than?" But I now realize that certain exercises help build muscle, not lose fat..

I eat pretty healthy and threw the idea of protein shakes out the window because I am not looking to be muscular at all.. Guess I will continue my workouts to hopefully gain muscle mass/become toned and maybe throw in some cardio to lose the excess fat and hopefully I don't disappear in the next few months..

My apologies for the confusing matter.. I guess I wanted a miracle..

Protein shakes will not make you muscular. Lifting weights will not make you muscular. In order for women to have visible muscles they have to be dedicated in lifting and eat a very strict diet. They devoted hours to their bodies and do much more than just the average women looking to get fit.
Lift away, it will do wonders for your body. Incorporate cardio and eat right and you will be doing the best that you can do. Where the weight comes off of is entirely up to your body type.

[AnonChick]

Originally Posted by Luckyd609

Protein shakes will not make you muscular. Lifting weights will not make you muscular. In order for women to have visible muscles they have to be dedicated in lifting and eat a very strict diet. They devoted hours to their bodies and do much more than just the average women looking to get fit.
Lift away, it will do wonders for your body. Incorporate cardio and eat right and you will be doing the best that you can do. Where the weight comes off of is entirely up to your body type.

Well - I wouldn't go that far regarding women with visible muscles. I mean, there's visible muscles, and there's body-builder muscles. I have "definition" (meaning - visible muscle) in my upper arms (triceps). And for the first time in my life (I'm not exaggerating), I can actually see that I have triceps. But no, I'm not dedicated to lifting, and my diet is - whatever I feel like eating, but less of it than I used to eat before I started paying attention to what I eat. I'm basically the average woman just looking to get fit.

However - I don't look even remotely like a bodybuilder, and I'm glad of it. I'm not even as close to looking as "fit" as I'd like. I'm still busty, still have a curved belly, still have wobble on the bottom of my upper arms when I hold my arms out in front of me. But I only have 1 chin plus a little poofy extra, instead of the 2 full-sized mama-bear chins I had when I first started out. I'm no longer bulky, I can now wear medium -womens- shirts instead of large -mens- shirts because my arms actually fit the sleeves and my back is smaller and my chest muscles are tighter.

You can lift weights, do strength-training, and not look like a bodybuilder. I want to be strong, fit, and healthy. I have zero interest in looking like a model, OR looking like an athlete. I already look like a woman and since that's what I am, I'm okay with how I look

[ogre]

Originally Posted by lcouncil

Thanks! I think I always became confused when people stated that it did not matter if I did certain exercises because it would not help my targeted areas. The reason I was confused by this is because I figured "what is the point in doing different exercises than?" But I now realize that certain exercises help build muscle, not lose fat..

I eat pretty healthy and threw the idea of protein shakes out the window because I am not looking to be muscular at all.. Guess I will continue my workouts to hopefully gain muscle mass/become toned and maybe throw in some cardio to lose the excess fat and hopefully I don't disappear in the next few months..

My apologies for the confusing matter.. I guess I wanted a miracle..

I think you're getting the idea about strength exercises. Doing strength training for a specific part of the body will not target that area for fat loss, but will benefit that part of the body by strengthening the muscles in that area.

What workouts are you doing now? It sounds as if your goal is to attain/maintain a good level of cardiovascular fitness while also making sure you trim down or stay trim in terms of fat, without wasting away to nothing overall. The best combination for this is strength training for all areas of the body, along with modest to mid-level amounts of cardio. By "modest to mid-level," I'm talking about somewhere around 30-45 minutes three or four times a week. If you get into long cardio workouts, like what a serious road racer would do for training, that's where you run the risk of losing a lot of weight that might be more than you'd like to lose. More modest amounts of cardio are good for fitness, but shouldn't cause excessive weight loss if combined with strength training.

It's important to include the strength training. One reason is that there are health benefits that result, such as maintenance of bone density. Another reason is that strength training helps maintain or build enough muscle mass so that excessive weight loss is not an issue. With lots and lots of cardio the body tends to gear up for substantial weight loss so you're hauling a minimal amount of weight over those long distances, but a solid strength workout can effectively counteract any modest tendency toward a little extra weight loss that you might get from moderate cardio.

Please don't worry when I talk about building muscle mass. AnonChick is right about the distinction between muscles and bodybuilders' muscles. Except possibly for the rare woman whose natural build is very stocky (which does not sound like you, judging by the numbers you provided in the opening post), women won't develop bulging, mannish muscles from doing an ordinary strength workout. Female bodybuilders attain their builds through a strict regimen of specialized exercise and diet particularly designed to provide those results--and don't be surprised if a lot of them use steroids as well. With an ordinary strength workout supplemented by solid but modest amounts of cardio work, you should develop a nice look that would often be described as "toned."

[lcouncil]

I was actually trying to gain weight because I feel sooo puny but lose the baby weight I gained in my stomach and lower back. I can seriously pinch it with my two fingers so it is not much fat at all but is noticeable because I am so skinny.

This is why I kept mentioning the protein shakes (which I am no longer asking about) because I wanted to gain weight overall but get rid of the stubborn belly fat. But unfortunately that is not possible and I am now seeing that when I work out, my pounds drop off pretty quickly; which is the opposite of what I wanted.

So, I've been doing some weight exercises using 5lb or 10lb weights and I am doing squats, lunges, side lunges, abs workouts to try to gain muscle in those areas. (I hope I am explaining it right...) I also do, literally, a five minute cardio workout just to get my heart pumping before my weight exercises. I am trying to avoid cardio because my body dwindles away the moment I start exercising and I am trying my best to keep on the little bit of weight I have...

I'm about to reach 30 and I look like a 16 year old...

[Luckyd609]

Originally Posted by AnonChick

Well - I wouldn't go that far regarding women with visible muscles. I mean, there's visible muscles, and there's body-builder muscles. I have "definition" (meaning - visible muscle) in my upper arms (triceps). And for the first time in my life (I'm not exaggerating), I can actually see that I have triceps. But no, I'm not dedicated to lifting, and my diet is - whatever I feel like eating, but less of it than I used to eat before I started paying attention to what I eat. I'm basically the average woman just looking to get fit.

However - I don't look even remotely like a bodybuilder, and I'm glad of it. I'm not even as close to looking as "fit" as I'd like. I'm still busty, still have a curved belly, still have wobble on the bottom of my upper arms when I hold my arms out in front of me. But I only have 1 chin plus a little poofy extra, instead of the 2 full-sized mama-bear chins I had when I first started out. I'm no longer bulky, I can now wear medium -womens- shirts instead of large -mens- shirts because my arms actually fit the sleeves and my back is smaller and my chest muscles are tighter.

You can lift weights, do strength-training, and not look like a bodybuilder. I want to be strong, fit, and healthy. I have zero interest in looking like a model, OR looking like an athlete. I already look like a woman and since that's what I am, I'm okay with how I look

I agree about definition because I have it. But I do not have big muscles and I look 100% feminine. And I do a lot weights. I could not get big muscles unless I ate a very strict diet and spent twice as much time lifting and even then I probably would not be outwardly muscular. It takes full on dedication for a woman to become buffed out.

[ogre]

Originally Posted by lcouncil

I was actually trying to gain weight because I feel sooo puny but lose the baby weight I gained in my stomach and lower back. I can seriously pinch it with my two fingers so it is not much fat at all but is noticeable because I am so skinny.

This is why I kept mentioning the protein shakes (which I am no longer asking about) because I wanted to gain weight overall but get rid of the stubborn belly fat. But unfortunately that is not possible and I am now seeing that when I work out, my pounds drop off pretty quickly; which is the opposite of what I wanted.

So, I've been doing some weight exercises using 5lb or 10lb weights and I am doing squats, lunges, side lunges, abs workouts to try to gain muscle in those areas. (I hope I am explaining it right...) I also do, literally, a five minute cardio workout just to get my heart pumping before my weight exercises. I am trying to avoid cardio because my body dwindles away the moment I start exercising and I am trying my best to keep on the little bit of weight I have...

I'm about to reach 30 and I look like a 16 year old...

I'm sure that plenty of women in their forties, fifties, and beyond would tell you that the day will come when you'll appreciate looking that much younger than your age.

You said how much weight you're lifting, but not how hard it is for you to lift that much weight. What you want to do if you're concerned about losing too much weight is to work with weights you can lift to failure (you can't lift anymore, even one more time) only a few times. Think in terms of weight you can lift at most six times on the heavy side, or at most 10-12 times on the lighter side. Maybe you could go as high as 15 reps per set with each exercise every two or three workouts, to give your body a break from the heavier lifting.

Lifting weights you can lift in this range of six to 12 reps (or up to 15 on lighter days) is the way you develop muscle mass, and that's the way to avoid losing too much weight from exercise. If you're able to lift those 10- and 15-pound weights a bunch of times, that's doing very little to maintain your weight. Lifting heavier weights is the way to go if you're concerned that exercise makes you lose too much. Being a woman with a naturally slender build, you shouldn't have to be concerned about looking brawny and mannish. Lifting weights in the rep range I'm talking about should give you that toned look I described in my last post. Then as a given weight gets easier to lift over time, experiment with weights a little heavier until you find the new weight you can lift around six, seven, eight times max.

It's best to do exercises for the whole body, not just certain parts. The body moves as a coordinated whole, so it's good to keep muscle development balanced, so that your body flows along smoothly and easily when you're in motion. It's also going to be nice for your looks to keep muscle tone and development in proportion all over your body. So do exercises for all the regions of the body, doing two or three sets of each exercise.

It's better to focus on large compound lifts--squat, deadlift, bench press, shoulder press, pull-up/lat pull-down, rowing, and some of those lunges you're doing are fine too--rather than doing a lot of isolation movements like curls and triceps kickbacks. Large-movement exercises are a more efficient way of hitting all the muscles than trying to isolate each one with a whole bunch of small-movement exercises. You do all that isolation work and you'll be in the gym all day. More importantly, if you have a petite frame and are concerned about losing too much weight, you may find that doing a whole bunch of isolation exercises will wear you down because of the sheer number of sets you're doing, so that you're too tired to work hard and get the most benefit out of your later exercises. Much better to do a few sets each of several large-movement exercises that use large portions of the body together in coordinated movements.

I'd also suggest that at some point you try doing a little more cardio, just because it's good for your health. A good plan for you would be to continue for the time being with what you're doing now, warming up with those few minutes of cardio, and then just lifting. After some months pass, and you begin to get a nice toned look all over, experiment with, say, half an hour of light to medium-intensity cardio maybe three days a week. See how much you can do without losing more weight than you'd like. You're likely to find that you can do this modest amount of cardio without concern once you've developed some good muscle tone, because if you're also doing some good strength training, this will help maintain muscle, and counter any tendency for the cardio to cause you to lose weight. The right combination of lifting with weights heavy enough that you can do only a few reps at a time and modest amounts of cardio should work together to keep you at a size that's nice and trim but not too skinny.

[AnonChick]

EDITED: THE BELOW WAS TOLD TO ME AS GENERAL, GENERIC, NON-SPECIFIC, NON-SCIENTIFIC ADVICE, TO FOLLOW AS A GENERAL, GENERIC, NON-SPECIFIC, NON-SCIENTIFIC GUIDELINE WHEN I AM WORKING OUT WITHOUT A TRAINER WATCHING OVER ME TO MAKE SURE I DON'T HURT MYSELF. YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY.

Since I wanted to get fit, tighter but not "bulked up" with muscle, lose inches overall, and not be sore all the time from taxing my muscles, my trainer explained it to me in very simple 3rd-grade terms:

Fast + easy = fat and weight loss.
Slow + difficult = muscle definition gain + inch loss.
Slow + easy = not much progress of any kind
Fast + difficult = muscle-bulk gain + possible pulled tendons.

And so.

I generally mix up the first two. For my cardio workouts, I do fast + easy, or fast + moderately challenging.
For my strength training, I do slow and difficult, or fairly slow and moderately challenging. Depends on the machine and how I'm feeling, physically, that day.
I avoid fast + difficult, but I do use slow + easy to "cool down" after cardio.

[lcouncil]

Thanks Ogre and Anonchick!

I'm going to print out your suggestions, along with a couple of others and try to re-program my workouts. I will definitely google a couple of exercises suggested beause I have the slightest idea how to do them..

If all else fails and I continue to lose weight overall, I will just cough up the money for a trainer..

[AnonChick]

What you might do, is set up a short-term training program, to get you started on a few routines for yourself. It could just consist of 3-4 sessions total. Let them know you want the following:

1 a solid cardio routine that you can do either on gym machines or on a bike or on foot. It should include non-machine aerobic exercises, with and/or without dumbbells.

2 a machine "circuit" routine for when you're feeling a little less motivated - this is a good time to focus on targeted, mostly mindless strength training and machine circuits are perfect for that. It's down and dirty, quick and easy, not too much sweat involved, though you'd still want to warm up with 10 minutes of cardio (treadmill is fine) first.

3. a cross-train routine, that mixes up cardio, core work, and weights. This is for days when you're really itching to burn, and feel that "oh baby it hurts so good" workout ache.

4. a routine that revolves around core training as the basis for the whole session. This is the planks, donkey kicks, situps, pushups, reclining leg lifts, yoga ball balancing, etc. etc. etc. All the stuff that makes you whimper and your face turn red.

Once you get all four of these sessions explained and demonstrated, and try them all out so you understand the basics, you spend a few weeks alternating them. After that, you'll have become comfortable enough with the routines that you'll be able to mix them up a bit, switch off a little this for a little that, add a little of something else that you're familiar.. and create your own workouts safely and effectively.

The point of the trainer is to get you started, and to show you the proper way of using machines, and the safe way to do various exercises that will work most efficiently to help you with your particular needs.

Once he's finished doing that, his main function is to keep you motivated and disciplined. But if you're already motivated and disciplined, you don't need a trainer to "train" you to do anything anymore, except if you want to add something new to your routine. And most trainers at gyms are happy to give you a quickie boost or a spot-watch if you need it, at no charge.

[ogre]

Great info, AnonChick. Would like to rep you, but gotta spread some. Nice quick summary of the effects of different lifting methods there in post 47 too.

Lcouncil, I skimmed back over this thread, and noticed that you never say how much food you usually consume at present. You say you used to pig out without getting unwanted fat before you had kids, and in one post you said that now you eat "pretty healthy." Does "pretty healthy" mean that you eat a good balance of nutritious foods, or just that you don't eat much?

How much do you eat roughly? I can't be sure without the answer to that question, but it occurs to me that part of the problem could be that you are eating too little. Also, how many reps do you do with those 10- and 15-pound weights? I can't be sure without knowing about the most weight you can lift on each exercise, but those weights sound kind of light. Lifting light weights for a bunch of reps may firm up those muscles some, but it won't actually add much muscle. If you do that kind of workout and also don't eat much, no wonder you're losing weight without losing fat. If you eat too little, your body will cannibalize muscle as well as fat, so you lose muscle and some fat, but never quite get rid of all the fat, while dwindling in size. And you're not going to counteract the muscle loss to any degree through light lifting, because that does little to build muscle tissue.

What works best is a good mix of some cardio, lifting heavier weights (you might need to experiment some to find the right balance between lifting and cardio), along with a balanced, nutritious diet that goes easy on the junk food, and where you don't starve yourself, but eat enough to just start feeling full, enough to satisfy hunger without stuffing yourself. That way you consume enough food to support physical activity and add muscle, which adds weight but without making a woman with your build mannish, while the exercise maintains a nice amount of muscle and burns enough calories to help you lose as much fat as you're able to given your genetic framework.