I am female and I would like to reduce my body fat. I understand that by gaining muscle and losing fat you end up looking slimmer because muscle weighs more than fat; but I am concerned about ending up looking too muscular. Also e.g. on my stomach I don't have much fat anyway, I can already see defined abs so if I exercise those muscles would my waist measurement actually get bigger? If I exercise my thighs but end up loosing fat from elsewhere on my body will my thighs end up looking bigger? Are there any muscles in particular that are good for women to build?

Also, I would like nutrition advice. Is it possible to reduce body fat percentage on quite a low calorie diet; and how much protein would it be advisable to consume? Is it best to eat protein shortly after exercising muscles? Should you eat protein after cardio as well?

Also I don't have access to a gym, is it possible to improve body fat composition just doing sit-ups, press ups, leg lifts etc? I would have thought it would because I was pretty muscular back when I did alot of gymnastics and we spent hours doing those kind of conditioning exercises; but I have read things that suggest the contrary.

Naturally, females do not have enough testosterone to gain a lot of muscle. Plus, it is not that easy. Female body builders and fitness models train for hours a day and take a lot of supplements and probably illegal drugs to look how they do.

So no, I doubt you would get too muscular, and you don't go to a gym so you would not even have access to heavy weights - something that is very important in gaining mass.

Also, it is very rare for someone to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. You should really focus on losing fat and maintaining your muscle.

Women should not be considered different to men when training, we have different make up to men - we are not going to get bulky like men will.

I would go with exercises that train different parts of your body at the same time. E.g. chest press, dips, pull ups, chin ups, lunges, squats, lat pull downs.
You won't need a gym for most of these, a lot you can do using your own body weight but some adjustable dumbells, squat bar or barbells are really handy.

How low calories are you thinking? Following a high protein/lower carb diet usually works well for lowering body fat - but of course as long as you are in a defecit.

The general rule is 1g of protein to each lb of lean body mass, protein will help to preserve muscle but to strengthen them you are going to need to do resistance training.

How much cardio are you doing? What are your stats? Its MUCH different for people who at a lower weight to maintain your muscle, thats why I am asking.

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Starting Weight: 62kg - Current Weight: 57.4kg - Goal Weight: 52kg

Thanks very much for your reply!

The reason I thought I would need to gain muscle is that I'm actually a little bit underweight. I thought if I gained muscle then I could lose some more of the fat without being unhealthy.

I'm not sure how many calories really... I've sort of been aiming for 1200 recently. I used to be anorexic though and I still get alot of the thoughts so sometimes eat less than that. But I also sometimes eat more, like 1600 because I want to be healthy too. I guess to gain muscle it would need to be more than 1600?

Wow, 1g protein per lb of lean body mass... I guess if I aim for that though it would raise my cals but would still feel healthy. Edit: If I got 100g of protein by drinking 5x100kcal protein shakes would I still need to eat a higher kcal total?

For cardio I run for about an hour a day. I am 5'6 and 112lb. Is it harder or easier for people at lower weight to maintain muscle?

For gaining muscle you will need to eat at a calorie surplus, I have been around your weight/height and I needed about 1650 calories to maintain my weight WITHOUT exercise. Eating probably 100-200 calories OVER your maintenance would probably be a good idea.

I would also suggest not running every day, your body needs time to rest and if you are running for an hour a day that could possibly be 70km a week, which is a lot of pressure on your joints. Also, running practically wastes away the muscle.

Maybe running say every second day and on the days inbetween do resistance training or non-impact cardio such as bike riding, rowing, tennis, or fun stuff like rock climbing, swimming, etc. Gotta keep it fun!

I know what position you are in, I suffered anorexia for seven years from age 10, and at my lowest I was 5'7" and 100lbs, when I started to recover my body fat sky rocketed because I had such low levels of lean body mass and my metabolism had slowed to a crawl. I worked with a sports dietician and a personal trainer to get my body fat levels down (after I believed I had psychologically recovered), I went from 30% body fat to 22% body fat through eating around 1700 calories a day, and doing a lot of low impact cardio like swimming and walking, and building my muscle back up doing resistance training. I have begun running again, around 30km a week, but it's not terribly great for my body. I take Glutamine to help with muscle recovery, glucosamine for my joints, and I make sure I am getting sufficient vitamins and minerals so I stay healthy.

To answer your original question, it is harder for people at a lower weight to maintain muscle. I am not sure why, but people who are heavier do not really have to worry about losing muscle. a few guidelines to follow to prevent muscle loss
* Don't run every day, keep your runs every second day and only run one loooong run once per week.
* Don't to intense exercise in the morning on an empty stomach, this CAN cause your body to use muscle for fuel.
* Do intense exercise at night
* Don't keep your calories too low, if you do you will lose fat but also muscle, which will slow your metabolism.
* Keep your protein high and it is most important to do resistance training.

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Starting Weight: 62kg - Current Weight: 57.4kg - Goal Weight: 52kg