Controlled loss of muscle

[Anonymous]

I understand it's not entirely "acceptable" to be a guy and want to lose muscle, but I want to do it. A few years ago, I did weightlifting and my arms ballooned up to like these big, monstrous appendages that look awful when I see them in the mirror. The reason I did it to begin with was in the hope that it would impress girls, but I'm not even that attracted to girls anymore, and I think they look very ugly on me in retrospect.

So, with that out of the way, is there a way to reduce the amount of muscle I built up so I can have a thinner frame back? Diet or otherwise, a form of exercise, something?

[Anonymous]

Don't Exercise except for stretch exercises, and watch what you eat, eventually muscle mass will go away on its own. you could take female hormones too, but I wouldn't recommend that unless you want to become a girl.

[Sunsetting]

you probably look better than you think man, try not to focus so much on the physical (as much as it's shoved down our throats by every form of media. the key is to keep eating healthy fruits and veggies/grains/proteins in that order and any kind of consistent cardio. that'll likely keep you on the thinner side. check out runners that win marathons, they are usually pretty slight people. stretching is also a great suggestion. they have pilates and yoga classes that keep muscle tone and keep you flexible and thin

[Ridiculous]

Muscle will atrophy through disuse naturally, so as long as you don't lift weights then you should slowly see them reduce. The less you use them, the faster they will atrophy, although obviously you shouldn't limit your usage too much; i.e. don't just spend all day in bed. Your body is very reluctant to break down muscle though. Unless you are starving after a couple of days without eating, you will not be able to speed this process up.

Where you did you build muscle? It sounds like you only focussed on your arms, which if you ignore everything else will make you look out of proportion. If this is the case, it may sound counter-intuitive but I'd suggest building some mass in the other areas of your body - chest, back, legs - while simultaneously ignoring your arms to put everything back into proportion. If these other areas are larger, then it will make your arms look smaller by comparison and they won't stand out.

[AloneOutHere]

Keep working out but don't do a lot of weight. If you do less weight and less reps, your arms will still look good and your mass will decrease.

[Anonymous]

well how bad can muscle be? lol i like muscle on my man O3o XD

[robclem21]

I agree with above. How unattractive can muscle be. Haha. My best suggestion, again with everyone else is to increase your cardio and decrease the amount you are eating. Try to focus on fruits and vegetables more (a lot of insoluble fiber will help keep you fuller without over eating on unhealthy food). If you want to keep doing weights, do lower weights. Lower weights at a high rep even will keep your muscles toned by burning the fat surrounding the muscle but will not necessarily build muscle tone much. If it is out of proportion as mentioned as well, I agree that building other muscles (via the same low weight high rep mechanism) to try to balance out your body. This will allow you to look more balanced but without adding the extra bulk that you find attractive.

I know you may think it sounds awkward what your asking us, but I know how important it is to be happy with your own body before you can be comfortable doing almost anything else. I lost 50 lbs a few years ago with the above method (mostly fat) but it was successful in becoming toned as well and controlling muscle mass.

[jargon]

I can understand finding lots of muscle unattractive (no offense!) - personally I can't decide whether I prefer lean muscle or just plain scrawniness, and bulky muscle doen't do it for me at all. That said, it seems like a slight majority of gay or bi guys do like some muscleon a man.

Anyhow, if you still want to do it less protein and less weightlifting excercise sound like the obvious choices. Try to focus on decreasing activity/foods that directly affect bulk muscle only - don't just eat junk and get lazy. Fruit and vegetables don't usually have a direct effect on muscle mass as much as things with lots of protein like peanuts butter and meats. You're in a good place already having motivated yourself to work-out, which is awesome! Instead of stopping entirely, maybe switch to running, biking, stretching excercises to keep you healthy without contributing to bulk muscle on your arms.