Muscle Development for Toning

M

MyScopia

New member
Heya,

Let's start of by saying that I'm a female, 5'4", 128-134 pounds (my weight fluctuates like mad it could be due to fluids), currently not in a gym (nor can I until end of April please don't question this) and it would seem like I am losing weight but somehow I'm the same size

Right now I guess what I really want is to tone certain areas through exercises I can do at home for NOW until I finally join a gym... I know they will be less effective but at least I can train for now - by the way I am a NEWBIE so if it's not a common exercise that like crunches, sit-ups then I probably have no idea what you are talking about... I will post once again when I join a gym and ask what to do then

Before I start - please don't laugh at my drawings because I am serious! I don't have a digital camera and even if I did I would be too embarrased to actually take a picture of my ugly figure


First Issue - Flubber on Sides
I started doing an exercise on my love handles (since the beginning of January)... basically and I use weights (5 pounds on each hand - I CAN'T DO MORE NO MATTER WHAT I TRY...) and swing them over my head on each side (2, 4, 6 and then 8 times) and bend down as far as I can go to the floor (saw a video of it somewhere... hope I explained it clearly)

So I noticed the following change happen in my body (see image) - sry if my drawings are bad


2 changes:
1- Two bones (the ones on each side) started appearing - I dun mind this
2- The two black arrows... for some reason those are a lot more evident now... perhaps I lost weight below and now they are showing me? No idea

Eitherway, anyone know if my hypothesis on #2 is true? Eitherway how do I work on that one particular area (exercises)? *remember I need to be able to do them at home*



Second Issue - My Ugly Upper Thighs
I have a recumbent exercise bike (which I know isn't as good as the regular one) at home.... I'm the kind of person where my fat get stored in my HIBS AND THIGHS (waist to hib ratio 0.7 max, less most of the time). So the problem is my thighs are big and ugly... even when I was a lot skinner, my thighs never have that nice and toned shape! In the summer I would walk for 3 hours a day x4 for 3 months (fast to speed walk-I can speed walk for hours without problem but I can never seem to be able to jog/run)... I use the bike I have a home A LOT (4-6 tension out of 8 and I bike decently fast) yet this is how my thighs look like:



I know I'm a nasty artist and my proportions are wrong

But lemme explain - #1 Arrow from the Front view - my upper portion of my thighs TOUCH my lower thighs DON'T tough and they have a curve in between them... the Side View with the arrows show that my lower thighs curve and actually they stick out more than my upper thigh (muscle maybe? When I touch them I do feel they feel like muscle). My upper thighs somehow curve in oO (from the side look smaller than my lower thighs).

Despite the above description, my upper thighs are much bigger (very round) and flubbery... and they have had this shape since the summer - I mean when I think about it wouldn't it make sense that after 6 months when I started to get muslces in my lower thigh (since I am improving) I would finally see a change in my upper thighs? I don't see any... I know I should probably decrease my fat overall.... but I guess one way to start is to get some muscles in my upper thighs? Any suggestions what I should do here - what kind of exercises I can do that work specifically on my upper thighs?



Third Issue - My upper stomach.... let's start by saying that my waist is normally 25-26 inches and my stomach isn't so big



But I'm really confused on this part - I want to tone my UPPER stomach... my lower stomach is almost flat (NOT toned) but my upper stomach always bulges out! I know both stomachs aren't to big but when I bend down you see folds and it's ugly... I want to work on it but but I keep hearing stories that it's not good to form stomach muscles for females before you burn the layers of fat on the stomach because it will just be buried down below the muscles and it will make your stomach "bulge out." I did do sit ups for a about 2 months during the summer and it did look like my stomach got bigger... but could also be my imagination

Any advice on this? If so, can you also suggest exercises that are effective especially for the upper stomach?


I guess that is it for now... I guess this post is probably going to sound VERY stupid to pros like you guys - I am serious to improve myself. I know it may not sound this way because I can't join a gym but life isn't exactly on my side right now... so please just try to suggest/advice whatever you can (even if they are NOT exercises) for now until I can finally sort some stuff out and finally join a gym.
 
That's a very interesting and ' long ' post about wanting to shed some fat, but nowhere did you even mention anything about your diet.

It's always been my view that ' the best workout in the world can't overcome a lousy diet ' :)

Not that your diet is ' lousy ' mind you, I just think diet is a logical starting point for anyone who is seriously motivated to shed some fat.

Anything you can tell us about your dietary habits ?
 
Well - let's see I'm at a 1200-1400 calorie diet...

So generally for breakfast I have a HIGH fibre cereal + milk, every 2-3 hours I tuck in a fruit/veggie (BIG difference from before), for dinner it all depends really but I try to incorperate lean meats (turkey, chicken breast) and such + other stuff. Generally if I eat cheese or drink milk it's all low or no fat. For fat it generally comes from the "lean-meats", maybe nuts or something - generally it depends on what I have/time I have that day. I drink no soda/pop/juices what-so-ever (this is KILLING ME!), no chocolate, junkfood, chips etc (BIG difference from last year). Let's just say I try to have a well round diet with 1 day which I call a "cheat" day that I go over or change my set-up for food. I've been all over the forums here finding out what to do about food. I also watch my sodium and make sure it does not go over 100% (even though those standards are for the 60kg man on a 2000 calorie die) - sometimes this is hard to control... but I don't have high blood pressure or hypertension (as a matter of fact I am generally lower than normal even with coffee). I may drink 1 cup of coffee a day (black or with 0% fat milk) and normally 2 cups of green tea a day (which I know is not much)

Nothing is SET - but it's well rounded I think at least for what I do...

Eitherway I am confused - I mean you can tone your body through muscle build-up... I've seen super skinny people who are less toned than those who work out and weight 30 pounds more... I know my arms are well toned even though I generally weigh more than most people around me (I used to lift weights all the time during my teenage years).... btw what is a "Metaform"?

I mean is this post sounding stupid? I'm open to advice
 
Right, you can build muscle. But that's not toning. Being 'toned' and defined is a function of having low levels of body fat.

That comes by way of your caloric deficit. Not direct exercise that you *think* targets the problem areas you drew above.

Sure, you can train the muscles under your problem areas, but that's not going to do anything for the fat that's on top of the muscle. And until you lose that, you're not going to be 'toned.'
 
I see what you're saying actually I guess that was what my concern what in #3 about my stomach which is why I'm somewhat reluctant to work on that

Hmmm... then is the reason why I have a "toned shape" in my lower thighs but not in my upper thigh despite *some* exercise is because of the way my body handles fat?


Also... would anyone know what happened in scenerio #1 where I got "flubber" bulging above my love handles AFTER starting to exercise there (by the way I have lost weight so I doubt that's fat I gained there... unless I lost a whole load of weight somewhere else and gained fat there... then I have no idea what it is)
 
You can't play that game.

Fat didn't magically appear on certain parts of your body b/c you were exercising and it isn't going to come off other parts b/c of anything else you're doing.

Fat distribution patterns are based on genetics. If you're in a caloric surplus overtime, you're body is going to store said surplus in the form of fat.

Vice versa, if you're in a deficit, it's going to pull from where existing fat stores to meet the bodies needs. This will also be in a predetermined, genetic pattern, which you have very little control over. (lyle mcdonald is coming out with some interesting stuff on stubborn body fat soon which will shed some light on this related topic).

Sure, it might look like you gained fat in one area, but don't let your body image fool you. You could have lost fat around the spot you think gained fat giving it the visual you did actually gain it. But if you're sure you're in a deficit, you're not gaining fat.

And don't be afraid to weight train for fear of building lot's of muscle. Isn't going to happen.

And what made you pick that caloric intake?
 
Well, I was looking at some journals and found one particulary interesting... it was about a girl (I have it bookmarked at home not here... it may have been a sticky... I can link it when I get home) who's been exercising/calorie limiting herself for more than 1+ year and she looks great! According to the calculator on that site, if I want to maintain my weight I should eat 1700 calories/day.... so I was thinking if I want to lose 1 pound a week then I should limit my calorie intake to 1200 - but sometimes that's really hard so to make it more realistic I say 1400-1200/day (so I don't kill myself if I ever go over 1200/day)


So then... I'm guessing muscle build-up = "faster" weight loss (b/c muscle uses more calories than fat does) but does not necessary help me lose weight in certain particular areas...


EDITING: Question though - you mentioned building lots of muscle isn't going to happen... at one point I started doing sit-ups and crunches for 2 months and I noticed my lower stomach got slightly elevated... the height was centered in the middle of my lower abdomen (see image done in paint at school - so even worse)



When I thouch it it's relatively hard (at least compared to my friends/cousin who never exercise and just diet) but the sides of my stomach are completely flat.... what is that? I mean could have be some muslces or just plain increase in fat? (asking this because I never gain weight in my stomach so when I noticed it I immediatly quit any stomach exercises...)... I guess this one point is what's stopping me from resuming my exerice on that part
 
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I forgot... you are pretty small to begin with, hence the low caloric intake. It's sort of low still, even given your size, but if it's working for you right now, so be it.

Eventually you might have to work in some sort of cyclical diet where you alternate high/medium/low calorie days or start taking more dieting breaks. Our bodies don't want us to get uber-light or lean.

As for your other point, adding muscle while you're dieting and a female at your weight probably isn't going to happen. And if it did, it wouldn't be to the extent where you had a huge increase in metabolic rate.
 
I gotta say that your drawings are very creative and I probably would do only stick figures at best.

I do have somewhat the same problems as you and what I'm doing is cardio exercises like the elliptical and treadmill. Then I use the gyms weight machines for upper/lower body exercises. However, when I can't get to the gym for those machines, what I do at home: jump rope, walk back and forth my steps and jog/walk around the neighborhood. I do a quick burst of jumping jacks, push-ups, abs, squats then repeat for more of a variety combo cardio. Then I lift free weights and I do practically anything that I can think of with the weights for upper/lower body. I have an exercise band and I use that too but not too often. I have ondemand so I follow exercise routines there plus youtube videos.

I'm am eating machine so this pretty much cancels my hard work, but one day, I'll learn to have better portion control and will reach my target weight.
 
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