Hi ladies who lift.. I don't really post much on this forum, but I have lifted weights for awhile now over the last year when I lost the bulk of my weight.

Now I'm not a body for life gal.. so haven't read the book. I have read about the myth that "the more you lift the bulkier your muscle will get".. and how thats not true and really depends on the level of testosterone in your body. Please correct me if I am wrong.

So I've noticed that my arms have gotten quite a bit bigger and its not entirely the look I was going for. Any advice on how to maintain the muscles I have without making them grow much more? Or even to reduce them a bit? Or is this out of my control?

Its gotten to the point where I have stopped do any arm weights because I just don't want them to get bigger.

Any advice is appreciated and feel free to educate me if I am misunderstanding anything.

do you know your bf %? you really can't know if the muscle is making you bulky unless you're fairly lean...like 15-18%.
trust me, i have felt the same way but then i realized that its the fat over muscles that is making me look bulky not the muscles....

how much cardio do you do per week also..

What ebe said about body fat is spot on. However, if you are really lean and it's not fat bulking you up, try higher reps and lower weights, and don't lift to failure. If you stop lifting entirely, what now is muscle tone is going to revert to flab. That's probably not the look you were after either, I'm guessing

mel

I usually do 30 minutes run/walk on the treadmill (3+ miles) .. 3-5 days a week. Thats before I stopped lifting weights (which was recently). Now I do 45 minutes run/walk (closer to 4+ miles) 5 days a week.

You do have a good point about the body fat percentage. I do not know that. That could be it. I just really started to notice my triceps were huge (or so it seems).

So for measuring body fat index, do I see my normal doctor or do I find someone at the gym who does this kinda stuff?

Thanks ladies!!

To get your body fat measured, find the most experienced trainer you can, and get him/her to do at least a 7 site caliper pinch test. Or, depending on what's available in your area, there are immersion tanks which give a pretty much 100% accurate reading. Unfortunately, they also measure the fat you want, like boobs A highly experienced trainer can give you a reading that is considered accurate within 3%. Don't let anyone sell you on the Tanita scales or bioimpedence methods- they are very unreliable. A Tanita measured me one day at 11% ( still laughing!!!) and on another day at 30%. Calipers put me at 18% at that time.

mel

Thanks so much for the information mel. I had heard the Tanita scales could be really far off which was why I never purchased one.. although the idea of a scale that also determines body fat percentage is a very cool idea.

I've had far worse experiences with trainers trying to measure me with calipers than with my Tanita, which has never measured me more then 2% off as long as I used it properly. If you're going to use a traininer, be prepared for very inaccurate measurements, since from my experience that's more common than with an objective device like a Tanita.

Brian, you have a good point. Calipers depend entirely on the ability of the person using them.

My own example: During cycle 3 of BodyRx last year I was measured by one trainer 3 times over 6 weeks.

119 18%
117 17%
113 12% and with a different point test 10.7

(these are all rounded, btw).

Keep in mind that during this 6 weeks I averaged 1850 calories a day (I am female, 43, and 5'2"). I was doing a 4 day split and ZERO cardio. So the numbers made perfect sense; I was losing fat every week and not losing muscle, in fact I gained some.

However...I was so flabbergasted by that final number (DBI ya know) that I decided to get a second opinion. I asked a female trainer to do it; as soon as she grabbed a huge handful of my ab skin and pinched my tricep muscle so hard it hurt I knew I was in trouble. She told me I was 22.3%, which meant I had somehow lost 6 pounds but gained fat/lost muscle. BTW, by this point I was wearing size 0/1 pants, too.

I told the first trainer about my experience; he just shook his head and told me she had no idea what she was doing as far as calipers. This made me feel better, but it really shook me up, too.

As I understand it, the Tanita is highly dependent on hydration and there has also been some discussion on how far the current really goes; in women, who tend to hold fat on their hips and thighs, there is some thought that the numbers get skewed higher.

I would think the Tanita would be useful for showing a trend, which is all most people really need...we all know that our BF% is not stamped on our foreheads and the same % can look very different depending on the individual.

Laura

Exactly. While the Tanita isn't necessary 100% accurate, it is very consistent when used consistently, and so shows trends accurately. Thanks for crystalizing that.

The only way you're going to become bulky is if you're using steriods. Most women do not produce nearly enough testosterone to become hulks.

Futhermore, muscle is not bulky. Fat is bulky, and it's the fat that's causing that look more than the muscle.

My advice is to do cardio regularly as the others suggested and watch your DIET real close. Your results depend on this a lot.