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Deary me...this may be a rant or a PSA so up to you if you’d like to read or nI wish someone would remove “tone” and all its variants from the working out dictionary. Sorry to break it to ya’ll but there’s no such thing as “toning”. You can’t tone muscle or any other part of your body. You can put on muscle and lose fat. That’s it. You need a good combo of surplus calories, set macros (including a good amount of protein such a 1g to 1.6g per lb of body weight), progressive overload (and actual rest in between) and really good + enough sleep in order to GROW your muscles. This would be a bulking cycle, there’s dirty bulking and lean bulking. Most people will bulk until they have gone up around 5% body fat, it can take 3-4 months depending on if you’re dirty or lean bulking. After this, you start cutting which is eating at a deficit, set macros again, and everything else (training, sleep and now also cardio). Lowering your body fat will reveal your new muscle mass.
Having a high muscle mass means you burn more calories even at rest because your body needs extra energy to carry you around and keep your organs working and all that.
I feel like what a lot of people fail to realise is that undereating lowers their BMR and they don’t lose as much fat as they would like. They don’t lift (the heavier the better) because they don’t want to look bulky (btw body fat makes you look bulky, not muscle) and don’t realise that muscle helps you lose weight easier.
Soooo much misinformation out there. There’s nothing like being strong and full of energy. Lifting weights for women is also very beneficial considering it improves your bone density and prevents things such as diabetes, heart disease, back pain, arthritis, falls in older age, etc.
Done ranting.
edit: yogi.who on IG is a friend yogi who practices yoga and lifts heavy...and eats whatever she wants, no restricting and can still be strong, fit and sexy at the same time. I also follow a few others like her and they’re so much more inspiring than bland Niomi.