body fat vs. muscle

A couple of things I can suggest, firstly you have to add some kind of resistance training, ie weights, to your workouts. Nothing too heavy, just light weights and lots of reps. That's really the only way to build muscle.

Secondly instead of focusing on your weight concentrate more on body fat percentage and shape. After all your weight is just a number.

I'm no expert on this, just suggestions that have worked for my wife.

First off, quit that whole Atkins thing. if you want to keep fat you need the carbs. that is what your muscles use as energy. You just need to focus on "good carbs", like whole wheats, oatmeal, and fruit. if you want to lose fat you have to have a calorie deficiency. meaning eat less than you use.

if you want to have more muscle then you need to do some work to tone those muscles. you don't need to lift a lot of weights just lift less weight more times. around 15-25 reps. this will tone and strengthn but not get you all swoll' up. hope this helps

I'm no expert on this, just suggestions that have worked for my wife.[/QUOTE]thanx for the suggestion! about body fat pecentage, is there an easier way to calculate it than the way that most people do it? Like you need to measure your wrist, neck, forearms, calves, waist and hips! i think i'd probably be off if i used that method so i was wondering if there was an easier method. Like for bmi, there is a formula and not🙂 measuring tapes involved!!

sorry. i didnt get to delete your last sentence! dont get confused.

sounds like a good idea. thanx a lot😄

refinnej said:

thanx for the suggestion! about body fat pecentage, is there an easier way to calculate it than the way that most people do it? Like you need to measure your wrist, neck, forearms, calves, waist and hips! i think i'd probably be off if i used that method so i was wondering if there was an easier method. Like for bmi, there is a formula and not🙂 measuring tapes involved!!

I don't know of any formula, the most accurate way is underwater weighting, and the easiest and cheapest is measuring wrist, etc like you said. If you need to know your percentage exactly then underwater weighing is needed. But if you just want to know if it's decreasing (or increasing) then the measuring would work fine.

I know you may not want to measure but mybodycomp.com lets you just type in the number and it tells you what you want to know.

thanx! but for some reason, the page is not available. i dunno maybe its this stupid cpu or the connection at my job!😄

the formula for calculating body mass index is weight in pounds x 705 the divide the answer to that by your height in inches and then divide again by your height in inches for example a 70 pound rider at 5 foot 10 would be

705x158 = 111,390

11,390/70 = 1,591.3
1,591.3/70 =22.7 with 22.7 being the body mass index

thanx! i am pretty familiar with the bmi calculation. i was interested on how to calculate body fat percentage.😄

hmm i always thought body mass index and body fat percentage where the same guess you learn something new everyday anyway why dont you get on of those scales which have a body fat index tester from what i know the scale sends a small electric shock through your body as muscle is denser than fat the less body fat you have the lower the reading but then again im no expert so what im saying could be a load of rubbish😄

yeah, they're differnt! i think one of those scales would be easier since manual clculations can be off by a bit. i dunno about the electric shock thing! sounds kinda scary! its amazing all the contraptions they have out there for calculating body fat percentage and mass!!😄

Here's the thing - no matter which method you're going to use you're not going to be 100% accurate - so the best thing to do is to take measurements and then don't look at the actual number, but the trends. For example, did you go up or down in the last month (and do each monthly measurement the same)

I measure once a week - you can find my results on thesteckers.netfitness.htmlOpen ↗

I do it two ways.

1. I found a caliper to buy on ebay for around 10 bucks and use this site for a 3 site method:
rustyiron.netbodyfat.htmOpen ↗

2. I use mybodycomp.com and use a tape measure for each body point. On ebay I got a myotape with my caliper to make it easy, but I still have to have my wife help me measure some points. (The shoulder, for example, is very difficult to do alone)

Then I take these two and average them out.

To lose the fat, I'd pretty much just do what the above people have said:

1. Ditch atkins - you need the carbs. Instead, just eat a bit less than you need per day to maintain your body weight. Make sure you get plenty of protein as well. Atkins is for lazy people who refuse to exercise.

2. Hit the weights if you can.

3. Be patient and lose it slow - you want to hang on to as much muscle as you can.

yeah. i wanna keep muscle mass but not look like "sheman".🙂 i guess your advice will work like calculating by using the sites. i hop eit'll help. thanx a lot.🙂

refinnej said:

yeah. i wanna keep muscle mass but not look like "sheman".🙂 i guess your advice will work like calculating by using the sites. i hop eit'll help. thanx a lot.🙂

You're not going to look like she-man. That's what a lot of people think will happen if they lift a bit of weights, but those chicks spend years and years and years getting like that - they have the genetics to get huge, and most of the time their on roids.

Jessica Simpson lifted a lot of weights to get the body she has, and so did Jennifer Annston. Do they look she-man? Is there a body type your going after - or is there someone that you wouldn't mind looking like?

I don't think those scales give you a shock. They just send an pulse through your body. If they gave you a shock, I'm not sure they'd be very popular. Not sure how accurate they are, but you can baseline with them. Eat less sugary foods, eat less red meat.

Ride your bike more!

tfstrum said:

I don't think those scales give you a shock. They just send an pulse through your body. If they gave you a shock, I'm not sure they'd be very popular. Not sure how accurate they are, but you can baseline with them.

I have one it is isn't very accurate, but it gives me a pretty good idea about trends. Plus you can use it every day when you get up so it is easy to watch the trends. They vary alot with your hydration level. meaning if you drink a couple of glasses of wine the night before know that you are not going to get a very good reading. But it works for me. I still measure with mybodycomp.com every couple of weeks.

I have made a spread sheet to track BF%, Fat weight trends, and lean weight trends. If you get a scale let me know and i will post it on here.

im not looking for any specific body type. however, if Jessica Simpson and Jennifer lift those weights, i'd be glad too also! They're beautiful! well, at least Jessica is. Anyway, i just wanna tone but be thin and not majorly (if thats a word) buff!😄

Like Stecman said you don't have to worry about getting 'majorly buff', very few woman have the genetics and testerone levels to get like that. Those woman body builders are like walking pharmaceutical factories.

Just remember, light weights, lots of reps. If you've never worked out with weights before a couple of sessions with a trainer would probably help.