Reducing body fat question: Increasing muscle vs. losing body fat?

August 28, 2004

Hi everyone,

I hope you've all had a great week. I've got a question for Stasia,

, and any other BFL'ers who are more geared toward building some

visible muscle and definition vs. weight loss.

I'm going into my second 12 week cycle on Monday, and one of my goals

is to drop down to 18% body fat by November 21. I'm currently (at

5'6 " ) 133 lbs and 22.4% body fat (103 lbs of lean body mass). For

those of you with more experience at this program than me, is my goal

realistic? I did some calculations and figured that I'd have to drop

7 lbs of body fat while maintaining my 103 lbs of lean mass if I

wanted to hit my body fat goal through fat loss only, or gain 6 lbs of

muscle if I wanted to do it by maintaining my current scale weight but

increasing muscle mass.

Most likely, I'll get to my goal by doing something between these two

extremes, but my preference would be to put on at least 3 lbs of lean

muscle (Can a female gain that much in her arms? LOL...I still want

those Bassett arms.) and let the fat loss take care of itself.

Is this achievable in 12 weeks by just continuing to follow the BFL

program (and pushing harder on upper body workouts) without any

supplements like creatine or HMB? All I use is whey protein powder

for convenience, a daily multivitamin with iron and calcium, and

possibly flax oil in this next challenge.

I suspect that it would be easier to lose the fat than to gain muscle,

but I would like to balance myself out a bit more by getting my arm

musculature on par with my legs.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Maggie

August 28, 2004

and one of my goals

> is to drop down to 18% body fat by November 21. I'm currently (at

> 5'6 " ) 133 lbs and 22.4% body fat (103 lbs of lean body mass). For

> those of you with more experience at this program than me, is my

goal> I suspect that it would be easier to lose the fat than to gain

muscle,

>

Maggie,

I am not quite as experienced at or Stasia, but I was in the

same place you were a couple of months ago.

IMO, yes, you can do that. It should be really easy for you to

loose that fat, especially from what I've seen of your photos. You

seem dedicated to doing it whole-heartedly and staying clean.

As far as how much muscle...well, let me tell you, since I

finished my first challenge and started working on another goal

(compete in figure competition in October) I have found that muscle

gain is soooo hard. I think I've gained a couple of pounds of

muscle, but there is no way to be sure. I can see it though, and

everyone I know is complimenting me on my arms (hardest for me to

build...so glad for tank top season...motivation!).

What I've found to really help me is that when I do arms and

shoulders (which I now work on a different day from chest and back)

is to lift heavy. Heavy!!!! Don't do what you think you can do. Do

more! You may surprise yourself. I know I did!

And change up the exercises you are doing. I don't know wether or

not it really does *shock* your body into doing more, but I found

with a fresh set of exercises I wasn't bored, and I didn't have a

mental block against going heavier. None of that... " well I've only

ever been able to lift 20lbs, so that is my heaviest " .

Keep working like you are, keep setting your goals, stay focused,

think of having that hard body you want. You can do it! If I can do

this (and I am the height of lazy) I know anybody can do this.

You are really close to where you want to go, and I bet you can do

even more than you think! Go girl!!!!!

----Mandi

August 28, 2004

According to my calculations you would need to gain 2-3 pounds of lean mass and

lose 6-7 pounds of fat. That's a pretty realistic goal. Gaining lean mass gets

harder the longer you lift but gaining another 1-3 pounds in 12 weeks is

probably doable. The trick is to make sure your that your muscles are well fed

and that your calorie deficit doesn't get too big. You barely need to lose half

a pound of fat a week. So, nothing drastic calorie-wise. I would also eat before

and after workouts if you're not doing that already. Don't do the empty stomach

and wait an hour thing if your main goal is muscle.

Also, since gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time is rather difficult.

You might put more of an emphasis on muscle gain in your first 8 weeks (really

heavy weights, high-quality food, lots of rest). Then tighten up the diet and

let there be a slightly bigger calorie deficit in the last 4 weeks. That will

insure that you lean out nicely for the next set of pictures.

As far as your arms go, what Mandi said. You can't really pick where you want to

put your new muscle, but you're more likely to have good gains in your arms if

you're training them very heavy and constantly changing the routine.

Reducing body fat question: Increasing

muscle vs. losing body fat?