Will Lifting Weights Help Me Lose Arm Fat?

One thing lots of women ask me about is their arms! I totally understand the desire to have toned arms without much excess fat because I’ve been there too.

Having lean, toned arms helps me feel more confident in dresses and clothes that show my arms, and having arm strength helps me to do other exercises correctly (such as planking!)

Creating toned but lean arms is very possible with the right types of exercises and diet. In this blog post, I’ll answer some of your questions about the upper body, how to work out to get slim arms, how to avoid creating bulky biceps or shoulders, and the truth about losing arm flab and fat.

WILL LIFTING WEIGHTS HELP ME LOSE ARM FAT?

Lifting weights won’t make you lose arm fat. Doing tricep exercises won’t make you lose fat here – it will just build muscle and strength in your triceps. Lifting weights will build muscle in your upper body, which can help with overall weight loss.

But, one problem I have found is that heavy weights can cause your upper body to bulk up.

If you build muscle really easily in your upper body, I would avoid heavy lifting and stick to body weight exercises and boxing for a slim and toned upper body.

Overhead pushing and pulling exercises seem to cause the most bulkiness in your upper body and shoulders, so it might be best to avoid these. Overhead pushing exercises include any shoulder pressing. And overhead pulling exercises include chin-ups and lat pull downs.

HOW DO I START TRAINING MY ARMS? 

It can be tricky to know how to get started with upper body workouts. I encourage you to try to this simple upper body workout. It’s a great way to tone up your arms without adding bulk.

YOU CAN’T SPOT REDUCE

You can’t spot reduce. But women seem to lose weight from the top down, meaning arms are the first place we seem to see weight loss (yay!).

The most important thing is to focus on overall fat loss – this will help your arms slim down.

For overall fat loss, you need to focus on eating at a calorie deficit and exercising regularly. I’ll give you some extra tips on diet and exercise below.

DO CARDIO EXERCISES 

High intensity cardio exercises like running and swimming, are great ways to burn a lot of calories. These will help with overall weight loss, and getting results quickly in your upper body.

Aim to do them 2-3 times per week.

RELATED POST: HOW TO GET SKINNY LEGS – WHY YOU NEED CARDIO FOR LEAN LEGS

BOXING IS GREAT 

I absolutely love boxing because it tones up your arms really quickly and doesn’t add bulk.

It’s also a great full body workout, it burns lots of calories and helps tone up your abs too (what’s not to love!?).

Just be careful of boxing sessions that have lots of other exercises such as burpees and squats, as these can bulk up your legs.

EAT HEALTHY MEALS AND AT A CALORIE DEFICIT

Make sure you aren’t eating more calories than you need. This is the key to weight loss. You won’t be able to lose weight if you’re eating more food than you’re burning, even if it’s healthy. So it’s really important to make sure you’re eating the right amount.

Read this blog post to find out how many calories your body needs.

Try to fill your diet with fresh and healthy foods, and keep sugary and processed treats to a minimum. I try to follow an 80/20 mindset. I eat healthy 80% of the time, and I indulge the rest of the time. Allowing yourself to indulge 20% of the time helps you stay sane and actually helps you stick to healthy eating.

If you need a bit of help with your nutrition, I have a 7 Day Meal Plan yo can download for free :)

It’s gluten, dairy and processed sugar free and it’s going to help you slim down in a healthy way!

I hope you found this blog post helpful!

And if you feel like guidelines are a bit confusing to follow and you want to get an already complete workout and nutrition plan, you can check out my Lean Legs Program 1 which can help you get lean and toned without the bulkiness :)

Love Rachael Xx