Toning: opinions & help?

Hi There,

hope im not doubling up on any threads.. read through lots and couldn't find anything similar so here goes..

2011 - lost about 3 stone (just diet, not much fitness)
2012 - spent maintaing weight loss, took up cycling to work & joined the gym (cardio)
2013 - would really like to get toned!

I found weight loss and cardio easy to "calculate" & grasp, x number of minutes on a treadmill = x number of calories burned, etc.

While I know its not all about the numbers and results, is there anything similar for toning and gaining muscle? how many whats should i be doing per week to see results in say a month or two?

My Current Plan (started monday)

Monday: step aerobics class (40mins), body pump class (40mins)
Wednesday: spin class (45mins) & resistance training: leg press 70lb 3 sets of 10reps, leg extensions 30 @ 3x10, chest press 30 @ 3x10, pull down 50 @ 3x10, shoulder press 10 @ 3x10, ab 50 @ 3x10.
Saturday: Core Work Class: push ups, etc. (30min) + cardio (30min)

And yes theres still alot of cardio in there as this is something I am looking to maintain, and just as an FYI I am brand new to all forms of stretching / weight training - I'm actually still sore after my first body pump class on monday!

Also im female, 5ft 4" & weigh 127lb.

Any thoughts?

Zombienosh

What is your diet like?

typical day:

Breakfast: porridge made with skimmed milk, honey, rasins & a banana
Lunch: tuna salad, apple & orange
dinner: Teriyaki Marinated Chicken served with sweet potato & green beans
snack #1: 3 sesame ryvita w/ humus, cherry tomato & 2 slices of chicken.
snack #2: weight watchers chocolate, typically about 80cal (and not every day..)


liquids: 1 tea, 1 coffee (decaff), 1-2 ltrs of water, a glass of juice & a small glass of milk

that was the general amount & type of food i ate throughout last year as well, with the exception of a few glasses of wine on a friday and the occasional bag of popcorn. that plus cardio about 2-3 times a week was what kept me at a steady weight.

Big_G

I hate the word "tone". One of the misused words in the English language. I assume What you mean is you want to build muscle and lose fat and create a particular appearance. You don't want to get too muscly, thouh, amirite?

I know this seems particularly unhelpful but if you want to understand how these changes come about you're going to have to get rid of this word from your vocabulary.

I'll let others in here explain how you go about getting the desired effect but its going to involve lots of eating and lifting of reasonably heavy weights over a reasonable period of time. Then after you've built muscle it's going to involve continuing to lift weights and trying to get a caloric deficit via dietary adjustments and exercise that raises the old heart rate a bit.

Sorry to seem a bit gruff but there are two things that really irritate me - the word "tone" and people who curl in the squat rack (there are way more than two things that irritate me by the way).

Also, you will need to learn to squat. Find someone who knows how to teach it and get them to teach you. This may be difficult.

yes, thats about right.

I don't mind being corrected, i admittedly know very little about this whole area!

Had hoped to not have to change my diet though, took me a while to get into a healthy routine

Zombienosh

You need to work out the exact calorie amounts and then the correct proportions of proteins/carbs/fats. Just from looking at that typical day it's very low in protein.

i used to track my calorie intake and it was an average of 2,150 per day.

from what i have been reading i need a calorie excess (plus lots of weights)..
the excess calories .. is this essential? or could i say keep my calories count at what it is now but just add in more protein?

thegreatiam

Deleted User wrote: »

could i say keep my calories count at what it is now but just add in more protein?

If you ate the same as you do now but took more protein then your calories would go up, protein is calories, so are carbs, so are fats.

Take a read of the stickies and learn a little more about the food you eat and how it affects your body.

To get bigger muscles you need excess calories, to lose fat you need negative calories.

to do both you need knowledge of exactly what you are eating and how it affects you.

I would suggest figuring out exactly what you want to end up with, 'toned' is a bit of a vague goal.

Usain Bolt is toned, so is Mo Farah, both because they have low body fat. yet they look completely different.

If you want to become 'toned' you need to lower your body fat.
if you want to look like Usain, then bulk up first, then lower your BF, if you want to look like Mo then eat less calories then you burn.

sorry what i meant by that was eat more protein in place of some of what i am already eating. so swap out foods..

sorry its vague i dont know how to gauge / describe / calculate the exact 'look' I am talking about, which was my initial point - loosing a pound is easy to figure out but gaining a pound of muscle baffles me still a bit..

Will look into the foods a bit more, but had originally hoped to just add resistance training to my current diet / fitness plan to build muscle over time. guess it doesn't work that way..

thanks for the help!

thegreatiam

Deleted User wrote: »

sorry what i meant by that was eat more protein in place of some of what i am already eating. so swap out foods..

sorry its vague i dont know how to gauge / describe / calculate the exact 'look' I am talking about, which was my initial point - loosing a pound is easy to figure out but gaining a pound of muscle baffles me still a bit..

Will look into the foods a bit more, but had originally hoped to just add resistance training to my current diet / fitness plan to build muscle over time. guess it doesn't work that way..

thanks for the help!

It kind of does, doing resistance training will build muscle, but only if you eat right.

Its more like one or the other, you cant lose fat while putting on bulk, and you cant gain muscle while losing weight. Its best to do one, then the other.

How much bodyfat do you have now? you might want to get down to around 12% BF and then start to bulk up. After you are a bit bigger then you want to be start to cut down again, that way you will look more toned.