I'm sorry to break it to you - but getting "toned" is a big MYTH!
Updated: May 12, 2022
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Muscle is metabolically active. This means that muscle burns calories while at rest to maintain itself. Therefore, having more muscle on your body overall increases your metabolism, which can speed up your fat loss progress during your weight loss journey.
Most women want to look toned after losing weight, but you can't actually tone a muscle. To become more "toned" you need to lose fat and grow your muscles to appear defined and toned.
You can do this by eating a moderate calorie deficit and lifting weights.
"The firming-up or "toning" is due to an increase in muscle tissue as well as a low enough body fat percentage to see the definition and shape of the muscles and get rid of the "jiggle". Muscles do not go from soft to hard or hard to soft—they either shrink or grow in size. Muscles themselves do not "firm-up" or "tone".
There are no two ways about it—in order to achieve the look of muscle tone or a toned body you need to engage in strength training as well as shed the layer of fat covering your muscles.¹
The term "toning" was introduced purely as a marketing technique for women to buy work out routines and diets by preying on their insecurities to be accepted by "societal appearances standards".
We are also sold the concept that being "toned" and being fit are the same thing, and they certainly are NOT. The fit and happy people we see in advertisements and gym posters have low body fat percentage, which isn't a natural state of living for everybody. Humans need fat to survive.
"Among its many functions, fat surrounds and cushions vital organs like the kidneys and insulates us against the cold. Body fat also signifies health, conferring beauty when distributed in the right amounts and locations. But critically, fat is our fuel tank—a strategic calorie reserve to protect against starvation.
...Compared to other species our size, humans have an exceptionally large brain that requires an enormous amount of calories. The metabolic demands of the brain are so great that, under resting conditions, it uses about one of every three calories we consume." ²
In recent years, women lifting weights