Ladies, if you’re currently following the keto diet for weight loss, you have probably wondered how to still keep your curves while getting rid of the excess fat from the places where you don’t want it to be.
Unfortunately, when losing fat with diet and exercise, we cannot choose which parts of our bodies we lose weight from and which places we keep it.
With your excess body fat, your breasts might get a bit smaller together with your hips and butt. Pretty frustrating, right?
The good news is, you don’t need to sacrifice your curves. You might be able to achieve a beautiful hourglass figure regardless of losing some booty and your breasts while going a size lower.
Here are some tips to lose weight (especially belly fat) without losing booty and boobs significantly:
Losing Fat While Preserving Muscle
We all talk about losing weight. However, what we usually mean by that is losing fat in particular, and not just any kind of weight.
The ketogenic diet is already a great weight-loss tool that you can use to lose fat. Once you enter ketosis, you’ll constantly be in fat-burning mode as your body switches off its glucose switch.
However, you will need to add the proper exercise regimen to your routine to make sure you’re preserving muscle. Adopting a ketogenic diet alone without exercise won’t cut it!
First of all, you need to make sure that you’re losing fat while preserving muscle. Losing muscle can definitely happen when dieting, if you don’t plan well.
A drop in your lean body mass will leave you with less to work with in your booty area, and will leave you flatter than you might like.
In order to preserve muscle while losing fat, there are two strategies that have proven to be successful, and they will give you the best results if you combine them:
- Eating sufficient protein for your body and your level of activity
- Doing some kind of resistance training.
Let’s look into the details.
#1. Eating The Right Amount of Protein
While doing keto, protein and fat will be your two main sources of energy, and protein is definitely not to be overlooked.
In fact, protein allows your body to repair its tissues, including muscle, and is essential for preserving it. For detailed guidelines on how much to consume while on keto, check out our article on protein.
As a general rule of thumb, you should aim for anywhere between 1.5 to 2.5 g per kg of your lean body mass (or between 0.68 to 1 g per pound of LBM), depending on your activity level and your specific preferences.
Your lean body mass is defined as your body weight minus your fat. For example, if you weigh 70 kg and have 30% body fat, your LBM is 49 kg.
#2. Resistance Training
Resistance training, such as weight lifting, is wonderful if you’re trying to preserve your muscle mass and want to improve your body composition.
Starting a good resistance training routine (and sticking to it for at least a couple of months) will help you lean out while keeping your curves and improving your general appearance. Because, after all, the ultimate goal is not to reach a certain number on the scale, but to look good in a swimming suit and to feel more confident, right?
Your weight is just one of the many ways to measure progress, and gives you a somewhat defined target. However, you shouldn’t fixate on it too much, as it is just a number, and it will also greatly depend on your body composition.
Once you start reaching your target appearance, you might even gain some weight, while actually looking better than before. This is mostly because muscle is denser than fat and will look better on you.
A lot of women are intimidated by weight lifting and think they’ll get too muscular if they start doing it.
Do not worry, though. Getting very muscular is very difficult for women (because of their different hormonal profile, compared to men, and mainly because of the lack of testosterone in particular). It’s only possible after years of efforts and dedication.
Related: Ketogenic Diet and Exercise
The Best Exercises For Shaping An Amazing Bubble Butt and Beautiful Legs
These are the exercise you can try:
- Squats (especially with weights)
- Deadlifts
- Lunges
- Bulgarian split squats.
With these exercises, instead of a large, shapeless booty, you’ll get a smaller but much sexier and muscular one. If you do them regularly, the muscles of your booty will grow stronger and bigger, while your legs become more defined and generally better-looking.
Cellulite, which is a condition present in 80% to 90% of adult women, according to recent studies (so don’t be too self-conscious about it!), can also greatly improve with weight loss, although it might not disappear completely. All in all, you’ll love the transformation (1)!
As for your breast size, breasts mainly consist of fat tissue, so with losing weight (especially if the loss is significant) they will become smaller, to an extent. This is not necessarily a bad thing, though, as they will generally remain proportional to your frame and body size. You might go from D to C. However, the rest of your body will also be smaller, so it might actually look and feel more natural.
There are still things you can do about it. For example, do exercises that target your pectoral muscles. While this will not have the same effect as having breasts that are 1 or 2 sizes bigger, it will improve their general appearance and shape.
Exercises To Improve Breast Shape
Try these exercises to give your breasts a boost:
- Flat bench press – either with a barbell or dumbbells
- Incline bench press – again, with a barbell or dumbbells
- Close-grip push-up – if push-ups are difficult for you, you can do them on your knees.
If you have a lot of weight to lose (20-30 lbs or more), by the end of your weight loss journey, your breasts will likely be smaller and you need to accept that. However, you will generally look and feel much better than before, and your breasts will remain proportional to your body, so do not overthink it.
Getting a Flat Stomach and Strong Abs
One of the first things anyone wants to do when they start their weight loss journey is to get rid of the belly fat and get a flat, sexy stomach – and that’s natural, we all know the appeal of having strong abs that show.
Is it possible to not lose your curves while having a flat stomach, though?
Yes, somewhat, and you achieve that by training hard to preserve and grow your muscles in your booty, back, shoulders and chest, while losing fat.
Getting rid of excess fat, which is absolutely necessary if you want a flat stomach, will mean that your curves will also become somewhat smaller. However, with adequate training, you could still get that hourglass figure that many women strive to achieve.
For most women to have visible abs with good muscle definition, it will likely be extremely difficult to achieve, and might even be unhealthy. Getting to that level of leanness usually means making huge sacrifices. Genetics also determines how defined your abs will be, to an extent.
Do you need chiselled abs to look good? Not at all. Most female fitness models who have visible abs get that only for the purposes of a photo-shoot – they don’t stay so lean year-round. Lighting, posing and Photoshop also contribute (a lot).
Developing a strong core through different compound exercises (and especially squats and deadlifts), plus adding some abs exercises to the mix, will improve the appearance of your stomach and whole midsection area.
Keep in mind that exercises that target the external obliques in particular will make them grow and contribute to a boxier look – although some ladies love it, others don’t like it as much. If you’d like to avoid that, aim to target your upper and lower abs instead.
Our conclusion
Keep in mind that genetics also play a big role in how and where your body stores fat. Avoid comparing yourself to fitness models, or to anyone else, for that matter.
The only person you should compare yourself to is yourself, and by tracking your own progress (in a few different ways – with body measurements, photos, scale weight, or how your clothes fit), you’ll be able to appreciate your own journey and how far you’ve come. Cherish the positive transformations and accept that you’ll never look exactly like someone else – and that’s the beauty of it.
As a last piece of advice, regardless of whether you want a beautiful booty, nicely shaped breasts, or both, it’s always good to have a well-rounded exercise routine that does not only develop certain muscles, but that makes your whole body work.
Compound exercises (where more than 1 joint or pair of joints is working) are the best for improving your physique, such as, for example, squats, deadlifts and bench presses.
Do not do only 1 type of exercise for months, as it might create a muscular disproportion. Instead, combine a few exercises into a routine (there are plenty of good routines online), and switch them up every 5-6 weeks, to keep your body adapting to new challenges. You’ll love the transformation!
We hope these tips will help you lose body fat and get a flat stomach without losing your curves. Let us know what other tips you have in the comment below.
Related: How Fast Can I Lose Weight With Keto
