Let's get right into it, your goal of "toning" or having a "tone look" will consist of building muscle mass while remaining relatively lean and you will appear tighter, firmer, and more "toned".
I'm going to break down the 3 most important factors that will need to be adhered to.
1) Nutrition
2) Training
3) Simplicity and Consistency
What you eat matters
In order to gain muscle or any kind of weight, you must be in a calorie surplus. As you are literally building tissue under your skin, it is impossible to gain muscle and make it grow bigger without the proper nutrients, so a surplus is needed.
An adequate amount of protein intake is important for your goal, whether or not you are trying to build muscle or lose fat.
Far too often people way underestimate how much protein is optimal.
Protein is of the utmost importance, especially when trying to put on muscle. However, I would also like you to keep in mind that protein in itself will not make you magically put on muscle.
So how much protein should you be eating?
My recommendation is to eat at least 1g/ lb of lean body mass per day.
Here is the formula you can follow, for someone who is relatively lean.
(120 lbs X 1 = 120g of protein per day)
So this means approximately 25% of calories will be from protein.
Quick note, you can eat more than 1g per pound of lean body mass, however, there is no need to drastically increase your protein intake by more than 1.5g per pound of lean body mass. More isn't inherently better and some people can't eat that many calories from protein. However, you don't want to underestimate the actual amount of protein you are taking in and short-change your results by not supplying your body with the proper nutrients needed.
Now let's take a look at the other calories that will be made up of fats and carbs.
So, how much should you be eating?
Well, first you'll need to know what your maintenance calorie intake is.
(Maintenance caloric intake: How many calories you must eat to remain the same weight.)
Here is a simple and quick formula you can use to figure out what your calorie maintenance is.
(It's important to note that this is an estimate that factors in a genetic body type, age, and gender to help you calculate your maintenance level. It's also important to note that this is just a starting point, not an ending point. Even with all of this information, no calculator can determine YOUR exact needs.)
With that in mind, you will likely have to make a few adjustments.
{Your weight in lbs X 12-14 = maintenance calories}
{Your weight in lbs X 16-18 = surplus calories}
Let's use the example from above, let's say we have a 120 lbs female.
This is what the formula will look like: 120 lbs X 12 = 1,440 (the number of calories consumed daily to maintain her weight at 120 lbs).
Now in order to be in a surplus, she will need to eat above maintenance.
This is what the formula will look like: 120 lbs X 16 = 1,920 (the number of calories consumed daily to be in a surplus).
So in order to eat enough to promote muscle growth, she will need to be in a surplus of about 500 calories per day.
(It's worth noting that it takes roughly 2,800 calories to build 1 pound of muscle.)
You might be concerned with gaining fat while putting on muscle because you will be in a calorie surplus.
So first I want to pause, and let you know that it's going to be ok and totally normal for you to see the scale go up when you are trying to put on muscle.
So first I need you to be ok with this.
Ok now let's look at some of the options you have here.
Calorie Cycling
It's not absolutely necessary to be in a caloric surplus every single day.
There is a method you can use that is called Calorie Cycling.
With Calorie Cycling, you eat in a calorie surplus on training days while eating at maintenance or a slight deficit on rest days (non-training days) and you can continue to gain lean muscle mass. By following this method of calorie cycling, you can still create and benefit from the anabolic response on your training days by eating in a calorie surplus while reducing your calories back to maintenance on your rest days thereby limiting excess fat gain. Now you will need to be following a well-designed training program for optimal results. (We'll get to that in a bit.)
A quick side by side example of what calorie cycling looks like.
Option A: (not calorie cycling, eating in a surplus)
Training Days (4X/week): 1,920 calories/ day
Rest Days (3X/ week): 1,920 calories/ day
Weekly Calorie Total: 13,440
Option B: (Calorie Cycling)
Training Days (4X/week): 1,920 calories/ day
Rest Days (3X/ week): 1,440 calories/ day
Weekly Calorie Total: 12,000
As you see, with Option A you will be eating about 1,440 calories more per week than with Option B. As 1 pound of fat equals to 3,500 calories, in approximately 2.5 weeks with Option A you would be gaining about 1 pound of fat, with Option B you could avoid that.
Carb Cycling
To keep this simple Carb Cycling is simply when some days you eat higher carbs/lower fats and other days you eat lower carbs/higher fats.
Typically you will workout on the days you choose to eat higher carbs/lower fats. The carbs will normally give you more energy to fuel your workouts.
Here is an example of how this would look:
Training Days (4X/week): High Carb/ Low Fat
Rest Days (3X/ week): Low Carb/ High Fat
Regardless if you choose to calorie or carb cycle, your protein intake should stay the same.
Now even though these are some options to avoid gaining excess fat. I also want you to realize that while being in a calorie surplus you might still put on some fat along with muscle.
I'm telling you this because I want to be completely honest with you and mostly because I don't want you to get discouraged. If you just put on 1 pound of fat in 2.5 weeks along with muscle that is not bad at all. Let me break it down to you like this if you commit to a 12-week muscle-building phase than overall you might gain 5 lbs of fat along with muscle.
Now one thing I want you to keep in mind is how much muscle you're able to gain will be determined by many factors, one of them being and perhaps one of the most important factors to stress here is how many years you have been training "properly".
How you train matters
Your body will respond to any demand you put on it. When you lift a heavy load your muscle response will be, "ok I need to get bigger".
When you are training intensely like lifting heavyweight, you are damaging your muscle (this is a good thing, this is what you want), because in turn the muscles repair and come back better and stronger.
Now to increase the size (muscle mass), you will need to follow a strength training program that is designed to do so. You should be progressively overloading the muscles with enough weight, which means you will gradually be adding heavier weight to your lifts.
Let's dive into what your program should look like.
First, you should be mentally prepared and committed to consistently sticking to the program for at least 8-12 weeks.
Frequency
You'll have to take a look at your total training frequency. How often you'll be training per week, how many exercises will be performed on your training days, and how many reps you will perform per muscle group.
For the goal of gaining muscle, you will want to train a minimum of 3 X week. If you are a complete beginner to weight lifting (someone who's been lifting for less than six months consistently) you might be able to get away with just 2 X week and still see progress. However, for optimal results, you'd want to commit to 4-5 X week.
Your workout should start with a compound lift (examples: Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift, Overhead Press, Chin-up). Followed by your accessory work (lunges, rows, tricep extensions, hip thrusters, core work, etc). You should be performing 2-4 sets and your rep range should be between 6-12.
Training Schedule Examples:
5 X week: 2 Lower Body/ 2 Upper Body/ 1 Full Body (Lagging Body Parts)
4 X week: 2 Lower Body/ 2 Upper Body
3 X week: 1 Lower Body/ 1 Upper Body/ 1 Full Body
2 X week: 2 Full Body (Eventually will have to be increased to at least 3 X week)
Simple Is Better
And most importantly you want to keep everything as simple as possible.
Too many times I get someone that wants to commit to 5-6 workouts a week and expecting to be 100% on their nutrition game. Just to fall short after the first week and realize that realistically they can only get 2-3 training sessions per week. Being upfront with yourself and allowing yourself some leeway, is a smart approach.
Don't get me wrong, you will have to work hard and be smart with your food choices. If you can commit to being consistent with your plan 80% of the time, there should be no reason why you can't see results.
It's going to come down to being able to adhere to a plan to achieve long-term success.
One more thing to add
If you are properly training it is possible to grow your muscles while on a calorie deficit, however, you will need to prioritize protein and carbs. This is easier to do if you are new to training, the results should come faster for you. If you have years of training then putting on muscle will take longer and it will take eating more as you will need to be in a surplus.
The ability to gain muscle is dependent on a lot of things that might not be in your control. However, if you stay focused on the things you do have control of like being consistent with your food intake, along with sticking with a proper workout program, with the right intensity, frequency, style, volume, and more, you will definitely see progress.
In summary
If you want to put on lean muscle mass you'll need to be in some form of a calorie surplus. It doesn't matter what protein powder you bought or who says what supplements are best.
Daily Calorie Surplus
Calorie Cycle (eat more on the days you train, eat at maintenance or at a slight deficit on days you don't train)
Carb Cycle (eat high carb/ low carbs on days you train, low carbs/ high fats on days you don't train)
Whatever option you choose is totally fine and will work just as well.
There isn't one option that is inherently "right", "wrong" or a "better" way to do this.
The key is to find what YOU enjoy most so you can stick with it long-term.
Regardless if you choose to calorie cycle, carb cycle or not, do your absolute best to hit your protein and calorie requirements.
- Be sure to get about 1-1.5g of protein per pound of lean body mass every single day.
And last but not least stay consistent. Stick to the program at least 80% of the time for 8-12 weeks straight.
Do your best to train 4-5 X week or at least a minimum of 3 X week. (2 X week will work at the beginning but only for so long.)
Keep it simple, work hard, stay focus, and dedicated, but also have some fun.
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