Just to be clear, I know you cannot spot reduce or lose fat over a certain area. But I'm wondering how long it would take to see some muscle definition or notice tone appearing? My stats: I'm female, 22 and I am 195 lbs, but I'm 5'9 so my weight stretches out some.

If I did strengthening exercises 3x a week, would it be unrealistic to notice some mild definition in a month?

Everyone can be so different, but I would think that's very reasonable.

Absolutely a month is reasonable. I was TOTALLY surprised at how quickly I saw definition when I started weight training. I had told myself that, like losing weight, I shouldn't expect to see results too quickly and so really given myself some low expectations. But I saw changes in my arms especially very quickly.

Now, I will say that I had already lost about 40ish lbs when I started weight training, so there was less fat padding my muscle, but even so, I was very happy with the changes I saw the first month. And it's really motivating, too!

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I felt the difference a lot sooner than I saw it. I would say you start to see a difference in two or three weeks -- at least for me. I felt a difference after the first couple of sessions. Nothing like tiring those muscles out.

I've gone from absolutely no definition to lots in about 10 days, going to the gym every day and just doing some light free weights, cardio and power plate. It's most noticeable in my arms - my biceps are rock hard!

And my upper legs, which are my most flabby bit, are getting tighter and harder. I can't believe how quick it's happened, so I would say a month is definitely possible.