Calories v Weight Loss v Toning

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edinburgh1975

New member
So i've been on my healthier lifestyle since Jan 2010, and im nearing my short term target... I'm liking what I see in the mirror, apart from the lil belly and love handles that will prob. be the last to go... but i'm wondering how to approach the next stage already.

My question is, with a calorie deficit so I can still lose the excess fat, will I still tone up my body with my workouts or not (just take for granted that my workouts are as they should be)? I mean, ppl on here say that muscle dosen't really build if you are eating in a calorie deficit, but is toning different? im not after muscle btw, i'm going for the slim but athletic build, just wondering how I should be eating calorie wise to lose weight AND tone up at the same time, or is this not even possible?!

Any advice would be great, cheerz :D
 
Congrats on nearing your short term goal!

Thing of toning like this...

One becomes toned or lean or shredded or whatever you want to call it by optimizing their ratio of muscle to fat. This means to be lean, you need to maximize your fat loss and muscle retention.

I can't get into specifics with you since you didn't really give us specifics about what you're doing in terms of exercise.

But the gist of it is a calorie deficit and some low level, metabolic exercise will be the primary drivers of controlling a calorie deficit while some form of progressive resistance training and adequate protein consumption will maximize muscle retention.

Can you gain muscle while being in a deficit? Sure. It happens quite frequently. Generally the more untrained and/or fat you are, the more it happens. But it's never very appreciable in relative terms and it's not going to last forever.

The biggest takeaway should be toning isn't a verb. It should be an adjective, as in toned, which happens when fat loss reveals the muscles you've worked to maintain.

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Cheers Steve, really helpful, sounds like im doing everything right then!!! :D Im in a weekly calory deficit and i do the gym 3 x per week, each session around 45mins cardio and 45mins resistance, my diet contains around 120g of protein per day atm, not quite the 1g per 1lb of body weight that is reccommended.

I guess it's just the frustration that I am gonna need to lose alot more weight than I first though, cos I don't wanna stop until I get THE flat stomach... I'm 6ft3 and currently 12stone6lb... Looks like im prob gonna have to be close to 11stone to get the flat stomach, which sounds a lil unhealthy for my height?
 
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