How to lose muscle?

[xcvc]

Hey everyone this is my first post.

I want to begin my fitness journey. Today was my first day at the gym and I checked my body fat. It's 12.4%.

My stats are:

Gender: Male
Age:20
Weight:140lb
Height:5'6

The problem is that. I don't look lean at all. I look fat at the belly and lower bottom specifically thighs and buttocks.

At 12% I don't see any sign of abs either.

My thighs are big and that's where I believe most of my muscle is... I don't thinks there's alot of fat on them only muscle..it's just too big and makes my body look weird. I don't have that much muscle on the top part of my body, most of it all directed to my thighs.

I used to run a lot and play soccer a few years back.

So my question is, how can I lose both fat and muscle from the lower body. I want skinny thighs and a more muscular upper body. Can someone please help me.

I used to weigh 160 last year so I lost some weight by dieting and cardio.

What diet should I follow, what should my macros looks like and what workouts should I do to achieve a slim thigh not a muscular one. Thank you

[nosirrahx]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS-oRydlnCE

[8LAKE]

Strange request. If you want to build muscle you're going to have to eat in a calorie surplus and eat at least 1g of protein per pound of lean body mass. However this isn't going to help your leg "problem".

Just train hard on your upper body and catch up with your legs, most guys have the opposite problem. Large torso skinny legs, it doesn't look too great. If you're determined to have that physique however just don't do much weight on leg days I guess would be your best option.

[freymart]

I am a climber hence my goal was always to have slim legs along with a strong upper body (strong muscles without any useless hyperthropy) to max my strength to weight ratio. There I did a lot of research a while ago as I also have pretty heavy legs due to many years of athletics and Basketball when I was a teenager.

Heres what worked for me (Slim legs are ok if you upper body isn't packed with mass, however it will look stupid if your goal will be bulking up):

If you want to loose muscles on your lower body you have to skip everything that creates some sort of pump in your legs (weight training, cycling, rowing, "going up stairs fast"). Then you can start running long and easy runs in a fasted and/or glycogen depleted state. But be careful to not force muscle tissue breakdown in your legs too much as this is actually harmful for your body especially with such a big muscle as this creats a lot of waste products that you organs have to deal with.

Generally legs will slim down during extensive long distance running as slim legs with dense muscles are much more ergonomical when running hence your body will work torwards reaching that goal automatically.

If easy running for >90min is not an option then stick to skipping leg days. However some sort of easy running would be a good idea I suppose.

However: If bodybuilding is your goal than you should not waste any time developing your legs. In that case just workout and see if your upper body can catch up. This works as the maximum rate of muscle gain (usually 200g a week) will slow down when you approach your genetic limits.

Your genetic limit can be easily estimated with great accuracy by subtrating 100 from your height in cm. The result will be the weight in kg that you can reach while at competition bodyfat levels of 3 or 4%. If you want to overcome this value you have to add other things beside just working out.

You should avoid the "special snowflake" syndrome and not think that you legs are special! just stick to the rules and gain lean body mass and one day you will be at you max. If your legs are still bigger compared to your upper body once that day comes around then you are indeed special.

[xcvc]

Thanks for your insightful answer.

I went to the gym again today in a fasted state, ran for an hour on speed 5 and burned almost 600 calories.

I got my body fat rechecked because I felt as if something was wrong and my assumption was correct. The second test gave me 15.6% body fat. which explains why I see no abs etc.

You mentioned running in a glycogen depleted state which I think I did today. I know there is muscle loss but at how long should I be running and at what speed?

I just did an hour at 5 and I didn't stop for any breaks at all. I just stayed constant with my speed and felt I could go much longer.

Any more advice on how long I should run and speed and daily cal limit would be appreciated. Thanks

I am a climber hence my goal was always to have slim legs along with a strong upper body (strong muscles without any useless hyperthropy) to max my strength to weight ratio. There I did a lot of research a while ago as I also have pretty heavy legs due to many years of athletics and Basketball when I was a teenager.

Heres what worked for me (Slim legs are ok if you upper body isn't packed with mass, however it will look stupid if your goal will be bulking up):

If you want to loose muscles on your lower body you have to skip everything that creates some sort of pump in your legs (weight training, cycling, rowing, "going up stairs fast"). Then you can start running long and easy runs in a fasted and/or glycogen depleted state. But be careful to not force muscle tissue breakdown in your legs too much as this is actually harmful for your body especially with such a big muscle as this creats a lot of waste products that you organs have to deal with.

Generally legs will slim down during extensive long distance running as slim legs with dense muscles are much more ergonomical when running hence your body will work torwards reaching that goal automatically.

If easy running for >90min is not an option then stick to skipping leg days. However some sort of easy running would be a good idea I suppose.

However: If bodybuilding is your goal than you should not waste any time developing your legs. In that case just workout and see if your upper body can catch up. This works as the maximum rate of muscle gain (usually 200g a week) will slow down when you approach your genetic limits.

Your genetic limit can be easily estimated with great accuracy by subtrating 100 from your height in cm. The result will be the weight in kg that you can reach while at competition bodyfat levels of 3 or 4%. If you want to overcome this value you have to add other things beside just working out.

You should avoid the "special snowflake" syndrome and not think that you legs are special! just stick to the rules and gain lean body mass and one day you will be at you max. If your legs are still bigger compared to your upper body once that day comes around then you are indeed special.

[freymart]

Thanks for your insightful answer.

I went to the gym again today in a fasted state, ran for an hour on speed 5 and burned almost 600 calories.

I got my body fat rechecked because I felt as if something was wrong and my assumption was correct. The second test gave me 15.6% body fat. which explains why I see no abs etc.

You mentioned running in a glycogen depleted state which I think I did today. I know there is muscle loss but at how long should I be running and at what speed?

I just did an hour at 5 and I didn't stop for any breaks at all. I just stayed constant with my speed and felt I could go much longer.

Any more advice on how long I should run and speed and daily cal limit would be appreciated. Thanks

Glycogen depletion sets is usually reached after >90min of running with some sort of increased or even max effort during the last 30min or less. You will feel it once glycogen is depleted because you will slow down and it is much harder to maintain the pace. However slimming down your legs will happen if you just do longer easy runs of >90min at a pace which allows a conversation without catching your breath every other word.

[xcvc]

Does it really take 90 minutes? What if I was to deplete my glycogen before the cardio or on a Keto diet?

Glycogen depletion sets is usually reached after >90min of running with some sort of increased or even max effort during the last 30min or less. You will feel it once glycogen is depleted because you will slow down and it is much harder to maintain the pace. However slimming down your legs will happen if you just do longer easy runs of >90min at a pace which allows a conversation without catching your breath every other word.

[freymart]

Does it really take 90 minutes? What if I was to deplete my glycogen before the cardio or on a Keto diet?

When I follow my diet plan I am on low carb for 96h straight (60g of carbs over that span) while consuming ~0,9g/lbs of LBM per day in protein with the remaining kcals coming from healthy fats (~50-120g/day). On the first day of that low carb phase I do my easy paced depletion run of >2h and a high rep upper body circuit training on the bars. After that day every run feels like I am wearing a weight vest as my ONLY source of energy is some glycogen in my liver which is produced overnight by using protein (That is the reason you shouldn't consume to much protein when on a Keto diet) and the rest is bodyfat or MCT oil. After the 96h I do a 30h lasting carb supercompensation refeed. This allows me to have a quality run on the weekend with topped out glycogen stores. Then the cycle starts all over. This diet is called Saltin's Diet and is used by long distant runners to prepare for races. The well known Ultimate Diet 2.0 is actually pretty much the same with minor variations.

I will start a 6 or 8 week fat loosing log today (you can find it in the log section "The Ultimate Diet 2.0 - another 6 week log") If you want me to I can measure my thigh circumference together with the skinfold of my thigh and calve and log that as well over the weeks. As I will diet, skip leg days and run a lot in a depleted and fasted state it might be exactly what you you are looking for. If my legs slim down then you have something that you can follow :-)

[freymart]

Btw. it is indeed possible to reach a nutrional ketosis state after only 72h of low carb. No glycogen intake, less than 120g of protein/day, MCT oil and initial forced glycogen depletion will force your body to produce ketones for energy generation. I have a link however as I am new to the board I am not alllowed to post links and pics yet.

[xcvc]

When I follow my diet plan I am on low carb for 96h straight (60g of carbs over that span) while consuming ~0,9g/lbs of LBM per day in protein with the remaining kcals coming from healthy fats (~50-120g/day). On the first day of that low carb phase I do my easy paced depletion run of >2h and a high rep upper body circuit training on the bars. After that day every run feels like I am wearing a weight vest as my ONLY source of energy is some glycogen in my liver which is produced overnight by using protein (That is the reason you shouldn't consume to much protein when on a Keto diet) and the rest is bodyfat or MCT oil. After the 96h I do a 30h lasting carb supercompensation refeed. This allows me to have a quality run on the weekend with topped out glycogen stores. Then the cycle starts all over. This diet is called Saltin's Diet and is used by long distant runners to prepare for races. The well known Ultimate Diet 2.0 is actually pretty much the same with minor variations.

I will start a 6 or 8 week fat loosing log today (you can find it in the log section "The Ultimate Diet 2.0 - another 6 week log") If you want me to I can measure my thigh circumference together with the skinfold of my thigh and calve and log that as well over the weeks. As I will diet, skip leg days and run a lot in a depleted and fasted state it might be exactly what you you are looking for. If my legs slim down then you have something that you can follow :-)

Interesting diet, I have done ketosis before it's just difficult getting in al the fats or finding good food that can fit in ur cal limit without them tasting bland, etc.
I will look forward to your log since it's something very similar to what's I'm doing and yeah I will follow it, you can go ahead and post your thigh measurements and we can work on this together.

At the moment I'm doing intermittent fasting, running in an empty stomach and eating 1g/body weight of protien at limited calories. I can take my approach and you can take yours and from there adjust for maximum weightloss. thanks!

[freymart]

I tried IF before however I can't stick to it because I love carbs and being able to bath in carbs once a week really helps me mentally!

Actually I weigh-in at 80,6 yesterday, did a 15g carb day and a 19km glycogen depletion run in the evening. This morning I am at 78,3... all water! If I would continue with low carb + high fat (MCT oil) I will probably be in ketosis by saturday night. However I will refeed on saturday to prepare for next week where I will start to follow the plan!

I actrually started the log yesterday! I hope I have the strength to stick to it, motivation is at 9/10 right now ;-)

[purecambogia12]

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[greenslim13]

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[InspecktaDeck]

If you "dont look lean at all" its because your not lean. Your probably not 12%. Its not because you have too much muscle..