Body fat question for the professionals : General Health Forum : Active Low-Carber Forums

#16 ^

Tue, May-18-04, 20:04

Built

Registered Member

Posts: 3,661

Plan: Metabolic Surge
Stats: 170/139/? Female 5'8"

BF:
Progress: 100%

Location: Canada's Wet Coast

Well, I'll watch this one, but seriously, I'm at a loss.

Everything I do is to put on MORE muscle. I havn't actually considered the possibility of wanting to LOSE it on purpose, so I haven't looked into the "best" way to do this.

I'll be interested to see how it goes for you though, and to hear the suggestions.

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#17 ^

Tue, May-18-04, 20:04

tcastro

Senior Member

Posts: 763

Plan: Atkins
Stats: 282.6/273.1/225 Male 6' 3"

BF:34/33/17%
Progress: 16%

Location: Milwaukee, WI

Vanity, perhaps lose 7lbs of fat, then post your pics?

You'll probably look great at 17%.

If you want to 'escape your shape', you might wanna pick up the book of that title. I've never read it, but others have suggested it.

#18 ^

Tue, May-18-04, 20:24

Vanity3

Senior Member

Posts: 828

Plan: Atkins
Stats: 265/247.5/145 Female 5'4.25"

BF:50%/46%/15%
Progress: 15%

Location: West Hartford, CT

You know, I have the book, escape your shape, but I haven't read it in a while. Maybe it's time to pick it up again.

#19 ^

Tue, May-18-04, 20:25

Built

Registered Member

Posts: 3,661

Plan: Metabolic Surge
Stats: 170/139/? Female 5'8"

BF:
Progress: 100%

Location: Canada's Wet Coast

Quote:

Originally Posted by loCarbJ

Deanna,

What kind of question is that? Of course you can!

You can shape your body any way you want, and in good health!

Some people have this mistaken idea about muscle that it is some kind of "Holy Grail" that we just shouldn't mess with: NON-SENSE!

It's only significant if you don't have enough. You have more than you want. You know that you don't have too much fat, your medical tests confirm it. You want to re-shape your body to a smaller weight (and slimmer hips, right!?). Your goals are well within established healthy ranges. GO AT IT!!

It is far easier to re-shape muscle into leaner, smaller proportions. It just takes a change in your fitness lifestyle, to a lifestyle that supports smaller musculature. You will then lose muscle mass (especially around your hips and glutes).

You may have a more unique situation, but certainly not an unsolvable one.

J.

Hi again. I just re-read your post. You sound like you've had experience with helping women remove muscle from their bodies in a spot-specific way. I'm sure there are many here who would be very interested to hear how this is accomplished without gaining fat. Mind sharing?

#20 ^

Tue, May-18-04, 20:27

Vanity3

Senior Member

Posts: 828

Plan: Atkins
Stats: 265/247.5/145 Female 5'4.25"

BF:50%/46%/15%
Progress: 15%

Location: West Hartford, CT

Hold on, I don't want to LOSE muscle. I want to gain a toned body and lose the fat under the muscle I already have. Particularly in my lower tummy and hip/thigh region. Any suggestions?

#21 ^

Tue, May-18-04, 20:28

Built

Registered Member

Posts: 3,661

Plan: Metabolic Surge
Stats: 170/139/? Female 5'8"

BF:
Progress: 100%

Location: Canada's Wet Coast

Lift weights and do less cardio?

That's what I do, anyway.

#22 ^

Tue, May-18-04, 20:38

fridayeyes fridayeyes is offline

Senior Member

Posts: 2,044

Plan: low glycemic
Stats: // Female jkl

BF:
Progress: 69%

I have to agree. Chances are, you are already very 'toned'. All you need to do is uncover it. So keep on training and stick with your plan. If you are training heavily, btw, you may need to worry more about getting *enough* carbs and cals. For me, I do better on slightly higher carb counts, 40-80 net g. I see you're on Atkins. He says that it's ok for serious atheletes to go that high. Might possible read up on CKD or some other variation that will let you slip in some extra carbs for glycogen now and then.

Cheers,

Friday

#23 ^

Tue, May-18-04, 20:38

Vanity3

Senior Member

Posts: 828

Plan: Atkins
Stats: 265/247.5/145 Female 5'4.25"

BF:50%/46%/15%
Progress: 15%

Location: West Hartford, CT

If I do less cardio and lift weights will I continue to gain or will I eventually burn the fat that is presently under the muscle?

And what type weight training program are we talking about?

#24 ^

Tue, May-18-04, 20:44

Built

Registered Member

Posts: 3,661

Plan: Metabolic Surge
Stats: 170/139/? Female 5'8"

BF:
Progress: 100%

Location: Canada's Wet Coast

Well, I do heavy lifting with mostly freeweights 4 times a week. There's a link to my current lifting programme on the first page of my journal.
I've scrapped much of my cardio, because I found it was interfering with my fat loss. But you're talking to someone who gained 30 pounds in two years running 10k 3X a week, and TRUST me, it wasn't muscle. I was on a low-fat diet at the time, to be fair, but still, I just find that although SOME cardio is good for me, MORE definitely isn't better. It was a hard lesson to learn.

#25 ^

Tue, May-18-04, 20:49

fridayeyes fridayeyes is offline

Senior Member

Posts: 2,044

Plan: low glycemic
Stats: // Female jkl

BF:
Progress: 69%

Vanity, Galadriell and Mrschmelz are both marathonners. Might look them up and see what they recommend.

#26 ^

Tue, May-18-04, 20:51

Built

Registered Member

Posts: 3,661

Plan: Metabolic Surge
Stats: 170/139/? Female 5'8"

BF:
Progress: 100%

Location: Canada's Wet Coast

Good idea Friday. I'm out of my league here - Vanity really needs to talk to runners who know how to do this. I was never able to make it work for me.

#27 ^

Tue, May-18-04, 20:57

fridayeyes fridayeyes is offline

Senior Member

Posts: 2,044

Plan: low glycemic
Stats: // Female jkl

BF:
Progress: 69%

Me either. One does not run marathons while sporting a set of DDs. At least this one doesn't. Spoiled my sprinting too. The phsyics/aerodynamics were just *not* gonna happen.

#28 ^

Tue, May-18-04, 21:06

Built

Registered Member

Posts: 3,661

Plan: Metabolic Surge
Stats: 170/139/? Female 5'8"

BF:
Progress: 100%

Location: Canada's Wet Coast

(Visions of Friday with two black eyes...)

Sorry. Couldn't resist!

#29 ^

Tue, May-18-04, 21:16

Vanity3

Senior Member

Posts: 828

Plan: Atkins
Stats: 265/247.5/145 Female 5'4.25"

BF:50%/46%/15%
Progress: 15%

Location: West Hartford, CT

Quote:

Originally Posted by fridayeyes

Vanity, Galadriell and Mrschmelz are both marathonners. Might look them up and see what they recommend.

Good tip Friday, Galadriell is a buddy of mine that's been helpful.

I did find this info on bodybuilding.com

SPOON:

The lower body is distinctly larger than the upper body, thick upper thighs, bulky inner thighs, outer thighs stick out (saddle bags) dense calves, thickset ankles, weak lower ab muscles and weak upper body.

Recommended Exercise:

Cardiovascular exercise: Cycle at higher speed and lesser tension, brisk walking or walking at high speed on treadmill without incline. Avoid steppers/stair climbers, high impact aerobics as they will further add bulk to lower body.

Strength training: Doing compound movements with moderate to heavy weights for the upper body, and both compound movements and isolations with high repetitions for the lower body is recommended.

#30 ^

Tue, May-18-04, 21:33

Built

Registered Member

Posts: 3,661

Plan: Metabolic Surge
Stats: 170/139/? Female 5'8"

BF:
Progress: 100%

Location: Canada's Wet Coast

Sounds like what I do, actually.

Oh, beware of the "toning exercises" for legs. High reps doesn't mean low weight. It means as HEAVY as you can, given you're gonna do 5 sets of 15. It's a distinct difference, TRUST me.