So I have lost 20.8 lbs of fat and gained 11.4 lbs of muscle in the past 3 1/2 months. Which, yes is fantastic, but considering that I am training for triathlons now, I'm not looking for a body builder physique. With my current 128.6 lbs of lean mass, even if I get my body down to 10% BF, I will weigh 143. And chances are that if I continue in the pattern I have been following, I will gain even more muscle. If I gain just 5 more lbs of muscle, I will not be able to get below 148.5 lbs of total weight.

I know that getting into such amazing shape is a long way off, but triathletes are usually very thin and low weight people. For example the "athena" category is for women who are over 145 lbs and the "clydesdale" category is for men who are over 200 lbs. Maybe since I am 5'9" I will just always have to be in the "athena" category...?

I guess my question is, should I actually stop trying to gain muscle? Is there a way that I can focus more on just losing the fat? I don't want to stop weight lifting, and I'm certainly not disappointed in my muscle gain. Thanks in advance for your input and I hope this post isn't too rambly.

Hmmmm, if I may just throw in some horse sense, I think that no matter what category you may end up in once your trim all the fat off that you're aiming for, that is where you will be and it shall be good.

You obviously have some meso tendencies in your body type and my philosophy is to always go with the flow of your genetics. Striving to be something that you likely never will without sacrificing strength, the very thing you need to excel is, IMO just not worth the negatives.

There is far to much emphasis on scale numbers these days.

I too have gained some muscles over the past few months, pushing the scale up a couple of kg's from where it was just after I reached my weight loss target number and while at first this troubled me in a completely knee-jerk way, I see now that the ripples on my chest and the strength gains I've made literally far outweigh any scale-goals I may have had for myself at one point.

Go figure I'd type all this; you and I are cut of the same cloth, me thinks.

And thanks for the reminder to update my profile to reflect these changes.

Hey Rachael,

Fantastic Stats!!!!!!!!!!!!! And huge respect to the results you have made!!

I wouldn't change a thing myself, as after a while the muscle gains will begin to taper off and the extra lean mass will provide good advantage for your endurance work. Most tri-athletes fail to hit their potential by not focusing on developing their maximum strength, as endurance is closely linked with your maximal strength. (It is easier to maintain 20% of maximum effort for a 2 hour race than it is to maintain 30%, and yes small percentages matter after such a long event).

Your tri-athlon training alone will take care of any excess body weight so there isn't an issue there. Also, your fat loss will rocket with your super lean physique and the strong core will sculpt a formidable physique and it's no wonder you can't drag yourself away from that mirror!! (Don't lie to me, you know it's true!!)

Go Girl!!

I am a clydesdale and proud of it. Those skinny guys see me coming and they run faster. Its amazing to me the look on their faces as they get passed by my 280 pound frame. muscle is best and stop worrying about that scale it will only tell you lies all lies.

rachael, first of all: that's awesome.

secondly, is the weight-training helping you compete the tri's? just curious. i'll do core workouts sometimes, but most of my time training, especially while i'm working AND in school, is in the pool, on the bike, and on a track. i'm putting on (very minute) weight also, but have lost two inches in a short amount of time.

Definitely. It just seems like if you are lighter, it would be easier to get your body up that hill.




Thanks, guys!!!

Dean, I did not know that "Most tri-athletes fail to hit their potential by not focusing on developing their maximum strength, as endurance is closely linked with your maximal strength." So you're saying that (to a certain point), the more muscle I have, the stronger I get, the more endurance I will have, the better a triathlete I will be?

Stacy, I didn't know that you do tris! That's fantastic! What is your BF % if you don't mind me asking?

Bean (I guess you prefer that now? ), the program that I somewhat follow highly recommends at least 2 weight training sessions per week (2 min, 3 max) so I usually do about 2 30-minute weight training sessions per week. That includes core exercises, arms, and legs.

In theory yes!!! It takes a lot of physical strength to constantly grind out each step, and a physically weak muscle will have lower glcogen stores, lower levels of robustness and will fail earlier. Each time your foot hits the floor do you have any idea the pressure going through your body??!! It takes massive reserves of strength to keep powering you on, especially when many good courses include plenty of hills.

Triathlons and iron man competitions are very different to marathon running though almost get looped into a similar category. A top marathon runner would struggle to complete a swim, power through the cogs on that pedal bus and still run home as they wouldn't have the physical conditioning and strength.

Same as military personnel almost. The scrawny git just hasn't got the staying power though in theory everyone thinks he has an athletic advantage.

Of course we have to focus on power to weight ratio, but it appears that you are playing to your natural strengths and capitalising on your god given genetics.

Thats living the dream!!

Though to clarify, we are talking about the benefits of strength over muscle. However, if your body naturally develops that way and is maintained throughout your intense training then as far as I am concerned it is meant to be there.

I had to work extremely hard to maintain bodyweight throughout a rugby season as I was trying to go heavier than my frame naturally likes to be to achieve more performance. Other guys would have no problem and put minimal effort into maintaining bodyweight as it was just their natural state. Natural states of course are a major advantage.

Don't fight the nature of the beast, nature always wins!

Exactly. Give us an update in 5 months. If you gain another 11 lbs of muscle with tri- training, I would be surprised.

That's excellent result, Rachael!

Even thought I am training for marathon only, it is also recommended to do wt training to gain more muscle in addition to lower bf. I have started wt 2x/wk for more than 1 month already. Stronger muscle does improve my running performance.

Unfortunately, I am still learning to eat properly to sustain and gain more muscle. My result is not as good as yours yet.

I'd say you have lots of company in that athena catergory as I at 5'6" will be lucky to get less than 145 lb. Currently may target is 150 lb which I am hoping to lower to a low 140 LB (once I get closer) but from past experience this is where the going gets tough!

But you know what - it's about more than the scales. It's about how you feel about yourself - and I know that even if I got stuck where my weight is today (160 lb)...I am a hell of a lot healthy and in better shape than when I started this journey. And I know that alot of that 160 is LBM as even my PT is commenting on the muscles and tendons that bulge when I am lifting! Just gotta get tested to comfirm that fact!

And Rachael I agree with Angie...in 5 month I am sure you will have lost more fat but not seen the same muscle weight gains has you have done so far...things will balance out!

What in the world are you doing to have stats like that? I am training for a bodybuilding contest on July 12, and am struggling to lose the fat....I feel like I am losing alot of muscle. I am still at about 28% bodyfat and my diet is flawless..... about 323g protein daily and VERY little carbs if anything.... What do I do?......

Hi Rob, welcome to Traineo.

Why don't you start a new post and give us some more details including your height/ weight, current training plan, preparation plans, what you've done so far, rough meal break downs.....etc..

Maybe then the community can give you some real value and help you with your question.

I don't know exactly how to start a new post, so here are my details

starting weight 237 current weight 215 (not as good as it looks here)
5'9" tall
currently I work with a 3 day split with a max time 1hr in the gym
I cardio 4-5 times a week for a minimum of 30 min.
my diet consist of:

meal 1- Whey protein shake, bananna
meal 2- chicken breast, 5-7 egg whites, 1 whole egg
meal 3- lean ground beef, 5-7 egg whites, 1 whole egg
meal 4- chicken breast, steamed broccoli
meal 5- chicken or turkey
meal 6- Post workout/before bed whey protein shake

I work the graveyard shift, so my schedule gets a little messed up, but I don't see any real gains or losses with the program I am on now. I have been on the 3 day split for about a month now.....

Here is what my typical training schedule looks like:
M - lift and swim - that's full body lifting including arms, legs, and core work plus stretching and usually swimming about 1,000 yards. I can usually do the weight lifting in about 30-40 min and the swimming in about 30 min.
T - spin class and running. I have a spin instructor who likes to kick our tails for a minimum of 45 min then I usually go run for 10-15 min just to get my legs used to that transition.
W - run. I slowly built up my time from 15 min to an hour but over the past month and a half, it probably averaged to about 50 min runs.
R - lift and swim (same as Mon)
F - BRICK (biking and running) - go up to Oak Mountain, bike for about an hour then run 3 miles.
S - running again.
S - rest

I also made sure I stretched well every day.

As for the diet, I think that you are eating more protein than your body can handle. I'm betting that Angie will be around to comment on that pretty soon. You still need carbs and fat in your diet. They are not the enemy, you just need to get good carbs and good fat, and the right balance of it. I'm not saying I'm perfect by any stretch, but you are getting probably like 85% of your calories from protein every day and that is too much.

Plus, as mentioned earlier in this thread, it would appear that I am a mesomorph. Maybe you have a different body type and that makes it harder for you to gain muscle.

Welcome to Traineo, btw.

Will do!!



Thanks, Glovia! And from what I read about your eating, you seem to be doing a very good job. Don't be so hard on yourself. We all eat simple carbs sometimes!



Absolutely! I still have a long way to get down to my goal weight of 150, but I have made a fantastic start and I am proud of myself.

How long have you been doing that routine Rob?

Rob, pick up any Muscle & Fitness magazine or go to bodybuilding.com and they will show you that you need more carbs. You need the carbs for fuel and recovery and help build muscle. You especially need these after workouts.

First of all, let me say that this thread is pretty funny to me; not many people would be complaining about gaining too much muscle... seems like a good problem to have

I do completely understand your concern though, and that has been the biggest deterrent to my desire to train for an iron man or marathon... YET. My body still generates enough testosterone for me to bulk up and maintain good muscle mass, so while I can, I'd rather be a sprint/sport focused athlete and have that body-type than the leaner look of a marathon runner.



If you're mainly trying to burn fat and not training for any endurance type events (which I'm sure is your goal, as body building competitions don't really factor in your running distance ) I would LIMIT your cardio sessions to 30 minutes, but up the intensity. Focus on intervals, in fact I would say don't do anything but intervals... alternate between HIIT and standard intervals (1-2 minute work, 1-2 minute rest). When you finish a 30 minute cardio session you should feel like you left it all on the treadmill, the idea of getting right back on it should scare the living crap out of you

I've dropped almost 13% body fat since Christmas, and I've never done more than 4 days of cardio a week, in fact it's mostly been only 3 days per week of focused cardio (I typically only take off one day every other week from the gym, so my main focus has been weights) and, once I got myself back into running shape, never more than 30 minutes at a time... my HIIT sessions were typically only 15 minutes, not counting warm-up and cool-down time. I also try to avoid cardio AND weights in the same gym session; typically I'll try to space em out by at least a few hours and a meal, but when that's not possible, always do weights first.

As far as your diet, don't follow the low-carb trend... other folks have touched on that so I won't go there, but yes, you are definitely taking in more protein than your body is efficiently using. I'm willing to bet that, while you're taking in 323g of protein, your body is probably only effectively using 225-250ish, and the rest is being pissed away.

Since my focus has been on maintaining LBM (lean body mass) while losing fat, I've focused my calorie intake on exactly that, but pretty soon here I'll be increasing my calories to increase muscle mass, which is another thing to consider: if you're in a significant deficit your body will sacrifice muscle, despite what you might be doing in terms of exercise. You can try to calculate your base metabolic rate (BMR) to get a rough idea of how many calories you need, but if you do, take whatever number you get with a grain of salt... the best way to determine that is to track your LBM by calculating it from your weight and body fat % a couple times a week, if you see that number dropping then there's a good chance your calorie intake is the culprit on why your body fat isn't dropping and why you aren't getting muscle gains as quickly as you'd like. More calories = more muscle, it only turns to fat if there's a) a massive excess and/or b) your body isn't using the fuel to rebuild muscles (ie. you aren't exercising).



Yeah, it's a bit counter-intuitive at first; you have to drill down into an actual forum, since the "Forums Home" page is just a "What's New" page; if you scroll down further you'll see the actual forums and, once you're in one of those, you'll get a control at the bottom of the page to add a new thread.

Anyways, back on subject: Rachael, your success is inspiring, even if it's not necessarily success that you want I wouldn't worry too much about your muscle mass increasing until you actually see your performance take a hit from it... plus I don't anticipate that weight will factor as heavily into anything but the run since your weight is at least partially supported on the bike and in the water, but I could be wrong. Who cares where they categorize you anyways, if being an "Athena" is supposed to be bad, imagine how smug you can feel when you come in ahead of some of the featherweights!

On a slightly off-topic, but still slightly related note: your success has inspired me to look into sprint triathalons in my area and I may be registering for one in September if I can find a bike to train on and if it doesn't conflict with my vacation plans that I'm still trying to iron out If not that one then definitely the next one though. We can be triathalete buddies!

[Edit: typos and I considered cutting back the wall-o-text and smiley overuse, but I finally decided to leave it all there!]

I'm not really complaining. Haha. Just kinda thinking that it's strange that I may not be capable of getting out of the heavy weight division. But you are right



That's awesome that you are going to do a triathlon now!!!! Very exciting! I want to know all about it! Let me know how the training and stuff is going!!

Bean we can still be friends, just read "The Abs Diet" by David Zinczenko!

Haha! The 3 of us can be triathlon buddies! Before you get the honorary title though, you must actually complete a triathlon. If you are in serious training (and have coughed up the entry fee) you will be a triathlon buddy squire.

Hi Rachael,

maybe just read the book I gave you, to just build strength and not mass ^^

Combine that training with cardio will be excellent.