need advice on how to lose muscle

luce · 28-Feb-06, 12:36 AM

hiya,
does anyone know the best way to lose muscle? i've got a little more bulk than i'd like and i'm gonna be a bridesmaid at a friends wedding in 2 months. firstly i have to drop a dress size (she's already bought the dresses) and secondly, i got some photos developed from a christmas party and looking at me next to most of my other female friends, i look particularly unfeminine, especially my shoulders and biceps.
so anyways, comments about the benefits of being fit and having muscles aside, and how hot muscly girls are, etc, etc, can anyone tell me the best way to lose muscle mass?
cheers folks,
luce

fitricise · 28-Feb-06, 01:15 AM

ehm stop lifting, do excessive cardio, and maintain an inadequate diet?

but seriously, if you lift weights why would you want to sacrifice your hard earned muscle to look more feminine?

luce · 28-Feb-06, 03:16 AM

cheers. don't suppose there's any way to do it without the inadequate diet part?

**Jaster** · 28-Feb-06, 06:56 AM

Be yourself and go to a tailor.
A woman with muscles is a lot sexyer!!

**.V.** · 28-Feb-06, 07:23 AM

Agree with Jaster.

Craig Titus lost a lot of muscle while training for his UFC fight or whatever it was he was going to do...look what happened to him.

It can be done with extra cardio AND eating a bit less - like a poorly planned cut - you get really ripped and lose any excess fat -but end up with less muscle at the end.

**midgetcop** · 28-Feb-06, 10:30 AM

Keep doing what you've been doing (cardio/nutrition), but just stop lifting.

Seems like a waste, though. *shrug*

**Lady C** · 28-Feb-06, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luce

i got some photos developed from a christmas party and looking at me next to most of my other female friends, i look particularly unfeminine, especially my shoulders and biceps.

Could you post the christmas pics? I am curious why you find yourself "unfeminine". Is it more because you don't fit the "Hollywood image"?

I would suggest getting a thermogenic like Hot-Rox and doing lots of cardio. I would do a full body routine only once per week. This should keep your muscles somewhat and reduce your bodyfat as much as possible. I would also maintain a healthy diet. This would be interesting to see how much muscle loss you really would see in 2 months.

Keep the christmas pics as the 'before' and then take pics at the wedding as the 'after'. I would bet that you will be able to get into that dress and not lose that much muscle by doing the once per week routine.

luce · 28-Feb-06, 04:58 PM

hey,
thanks for the advice. um, if i posted photographs you'd all just laugh, or tell me to wake up to myself, cos i don't look very muscly at all, compared to the pics i've seen in that before/after thread. you'd all just tell me i need to put on more muscle

it's just that for most of my life i've been about 5'8" and weighed about 120 pounds and looked really slender and had low body fat, but never had any muscle, but then i changed my routine from walking/cycling to pump/step/cross trainer etc, and started to get a little more weight. am now about 132 pounds (hope i'm converting these right - 60kg) and i don't like it. so when i say i think i'm starting to look a little too muscly for my liking, you'll all say i'm a victim of fashion mags and really oughta beef up a bit

but thanks again! i really enjoy the pump classes and after this wedding, i'll probably start back again, just not everyday, like i was doing!
cheers,
luce

**Lady C** · 28-Feb-06, 05:17 PM

You are a victim of the glamor magazines. At 5'-8" and 133 lbs, you are still too skinny. Remember if you look great and are unhealthy - what is the point? 68 kg (150 pounds) is more a realistic number to target.

I obviously have a much different perspective than you. I would not want to look sickly skinny.

luce · 28-Feb-06, 05:30 PM

at 120 i don't look sickly skinny - that's my natural body. i eat more than every girl i know and more than half the boys i know. i just have a small build and (usually) an active lifestyle. can't fight genetics! but i know that it's not a healthy target for most people and i appreciate what you're saying.

**midgetcop** · 28-Feb-06, 05:39 PM

I hope you don't feel that anyone here is being condescending. But maybe to get an objective opinion, you should post some pics on here. Sometimes we look at ourselves and are overly hard on our own appearance.

My gf is 5'9", 166lbs and appears to be at a completely normal weight.

luce · 28-Feb-06, 06:14 PM

ok, so here's a new years pic (hope it worked, never tried to uplaod a pic to any kind of forum before...) i just i don't like the shape i was/am becoming with the weights and stuff. i know you can't tell from that pic, but my quads especially were starting to get really square looking and do that thing where they bulge out above the knee. and my waist was starting to thicken a bit from all the ab work and stuff. i think fit healthy women look fantastic, but muscles, even small ones, just aren't me.

luce · 28-Feb-06, 06:18 PM

ok, well that didn't work...

**.V.** · 28-Feb-06, 06:20 PM

http://www.imageshack.us/

Use the link, host your picture, use the code for "hotlink for forums 1" and it will give a link to the photo. Easy to do - and free.

KaiserSose · 28-Feb-06, 07:23 PM

Quote:

You are a victim of the glamor magazines. At 5'-8" and 133 lbs, you are still too skinny. Remember if you look great and are unhealthy - what is the point? 68 kg (150 pounds) is more a realistic number to target.

I obviously have a much different perspective than you. I would not want to look sickly skinny.

I hate to be the detractor here, but I can see why she may be reluctant to build too much muscle. Obviously the opinions on this site are skewed (as it should be on a fitness oriented site), and I'm not saying my opinion is representative of the population, but I think that 133 can, depending on the body type, be a perfectly fine weight for a female who is 5'-8". Personally I know almost all of my friends, from an aesthetic standpoint, would concur. Additionally I think that 133 is a weight where you could not only look good but also be very healthy. My mother (who I wish would gain 10 pounds), only weighs 113 pounds at 5'-6", has never had any health problems and just recently ran a few marathons.

Keep in mind I am much younger then a lot of the posters on here and that probably has an influence on what I find to be physically appealing. Also, although I support a weight of around 133, I think 120 is probably too thin for someone your height. In my opinion A toned body with visible muscle (it doesn't have to be lots of muscle), looks much better then a skinny body with traces of excess fat.