I'm not real familiar with the program at curves, but I understand it is circuit training. If they are having you increase the weights each time, see if you can just keep at the same weight for a bit and just do more reps. So if you are doing curls with 5 lbs, then don't increase it to 6 or whatever their next level is. Try just doing that for a week or 2 to see if that helps.

If you still need to build muscle mass, then do it slowly if you also want to see the scale weight go down. Most gyms think you want to build it quickly...

Here's where I found a great link for this recommendation. On the Q&A page at that BFL site, I found the following:

Q I am 5'6" and weigh 193 lbs. Since beginning BFL I have gone from 41%BF to 30%BF. When the figures were broken down I ended up at 135lb lean and 58lbs fat. I am small boned. I am very proud of that muscle. At 57 years of age I never had any muscle before. However, I really think I need to lose the extra body fat and I don't believe I need to gain more muscle. What modifications should I make to my program to reach my goal? I am diabetic, now controlled by diet and exercise most of the time. I have doctors approval for this program. My doctor is supportive but not knowledgeable about the program. He is just delighted that after 2 years of working hard with me to change my body things are finally happening again. Before that I would get someone to drive me to the Y and they would lower me into the pool with a sling. Now I can do the BFL program. So what do I do? How can I dump the fat without increasing the muscle? Thanks, this old lady appreciates your input.

A Here's my take. First of all, it's GREAT that you've been doing this program. I have another section in my Q&A page on diabetes & BFL too. Now, as far as the muscle gain is concerned, I think it's still essential that you get part of your intensity from weight training, as it will accelerate the fat loss even if you think of it purely as an exercise (not to mention the metabolic requirements of the muscle). But since you don't want to add significantly more mass, we want to shift your training toward higher repetition and lower weight, so you're training your "aerobic" slow-twitch muscle fibers, rather than causing hypertrophy (excessive growth) in the "fast-twitch" ones. So when you weight train, I want you to change those sets of 8 and 6 into sets of 10 repetitions. And rather than focusing on maximal contraction and "burn", I want you just to focus on breathing deeply and aerobically while you do those sets. That will emphasize the fat loss more than the fiber growth. Finally, remember that pound-for-pound, muscle is about 5 times more compact than fat, and rather than being a weight that your body has to carry around, muscle helps to support and strengthen your posture and bone density. So don't be scared of muscle growth, but we can attenuate it by focusing on higher repetitions and lower weights. Hope that helps! Good luck - John [Back to Q&A Index]