feeling discouraged - fat still 31% - skinny fat to the max

workingToBeFit

workingToBeFit

Cathlete
Hi everyone,

I know I should not beat myself up, and focus on the positive. In the past year I have lost nearly 30 pounds, gained strength and cardio health, and gone from 38% body fat to 31%. So that's the great part, and I am VERY happy about that.

But I am feeling discouraged. I seem to be stuck, for many months now, at 31% fat. It is all around my belly and I have read that puts me at higher risk for all kinds of health problems.

So I am a poster child for "skinny fat." I look skinny in clothes (I am 51, 5'3" and 118 lb), but underneath there's a lot of blob around my core. When I look at size charts for pants I am like a size 2 hips but a size 10 waist! It's crazy! It's nearly impossible to buy pants that fit.

I don't want to lose more weight overall. I want to gain more muscle and also to get my fat percentage down to a healthy level. I am not sure how to go about this. I read some earlier posts and was thinking of doing something Cathe recommended in years past, doing a slow/heavy rotation with a bit less cardio, to try to build lean muscle mass.

If anyone has any advice, or words about what worked for them, please let me know.

I know when you are hard at work trying to lose weightm reading about this "skinny fat" problem can just seem annoying - I apologize in advance for that!

~ Ann ~
Aim for nothing and you'll hit it everytime --- anonymous
 
Hi Ann,

Sorry that you're feeling blue! :-( You really should be proud that you've lost so much weight this past year and that you've dropped your body fat so low, too!

Based on your measurements and weight, it sounds like the BF percent you have could be off. How are you measuring it? If you're holding more weight around your belly (which happens to all of us as we age), using calipers might be giving you an inaccurate reading. I'm certainly no expert on this, but it might be good to have it professionally checked just to be sure.

Also, you might want to experiment a bit to see if doing more weights and less cardio will shake things up a bit. I did that starting in the fall (3 days of lifting with something like GS, S&H, or PS and 2 days of cardio) and it really worked. It's been a really slow process, but I can feel that I'm putting on more muscle slowly but surely.

As another suggestion, Prevention magazine has been promoting their Flat Belly Diet the last few months. I'm not sure how great it is, but it might be something to look into. They give specific food recommendations that are designed to help with the belly bulge.

Hope this helps a bit, and I'm sure you'll get more good advice! Sending you {{{HUGS}}}!:)
 
Ann - you might also want to evaluate how and what you eat. I imagine that with how much you've already lost, you're probably eating pretty healthy. But maybe a change in your carb/fat/protein ratios might shake things up a bit. I'm no dietician, but I do know some women on this forum have seen really remarkable improvements just by shifting things around a bit.

And yes, I think your idea to increase weight work is a good one. Even if your actual amount of body fat stays the same, if you add more muscle mass, the percentage will drop!
 
Like the ladies said: Serious weight training builds muscle, the more muscle you have, the more fat you burn - EVERYWHERE, regardless of which body parts you work the most. If time constraints are an issue, make serious weight training a priority but try not to totally forgo cardio. I did that and raved about the results... until I realized I was often out of breath at the mildest exertion. With all your success (congratulations, by the way!) I think you just need a little fine tuning to get things moving again. That's where cleaning up your diet makes all the difference.

Finally, ditch the scale and stop measuring your body fat. It's just bringing you down. Make the changes and when your clothes start fitting differently and it becomes obvious you're making real progress then, if you absolutely have to, do the weights and measures thing. I don't have a problem with the scale because it's helped me figure out my natural weight fluctuations and figure out what effects the numbers - and I never let the numbers affect my mood or feelings about myself. But most people have a problem with it so either hide the scale and the calipers or toss them both.

Good Luck.
 
I understand about the whole skinny fat thing. I'm 5' 5" and about 118 pounds, with all of my fat in my belly area. My arms and legs look great (I think!), but my belly... yikes. My mom is the same way. I'm 46, and have noticed that it's now incredibly difficult to lose it in this area. Last Fall, I removed sugar from my diet, except for one cheat day a week, and managed to lose my belly. But I felt that my chest and neck looked awful... just too thin. Now my belly is back, and I've been enjoying my favorite treats from the local bakery. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, try removing sugar from your diet if you really want to lose that belly. But you may not like how other areas of your body look! ;-)
 
Thank you to everyone who has sent advice and thoughts!

Re the neck/chest etc - I have been wondering about that too. At one point not too long ago I had gotten down to about 6 pounds less than my current weight - and my neck started to go way south.

I am going to try the sugar avoidance - anyway to eat "cleaner" - :) And a heavier weight routine rotation, S&H etc.

Marilyn Monroe - I heard somewhere - said once that at a certain age a woman has to choose between her face looking good and her butt looking good - LOL - sounds like a similar problem!

~ Ann ~
Aim for nothing and you'll hit it everytime --- anonymous
 
>
>Marilyn Monroe - I heard somewhere - said once that at a
>certain age a woman has to choose between her face looking
>good and her butt looking good - LOL - sounds like a similar
>problem!
>
>~ Ann ~
>Aim for nothing and you'll hit it everytime --- anonymous


Hmmm . . . tough choice!;-)
 
Ann,

Congrats on your weight loss. You should be proud of yourself. Regarding the "fat" percentage, did you ever consider it may be loose skin that is just hanging around the belly area? The reason why I ask this is that I have extremely loose skin around the belly area (I lost 40 pounds). Do you see any loose skin hanging while doing a plank? If so, your fat percentage was read incorrectly and most likely much less than the 31%.

I don't know how to properly measure body fat percentage when one has loose skin. If anyone knows, I would love to hear it!

Please don't beat yourself up. You should really be proud of your accomplishments!
Lorrayne
 
Ann,

I am an apple. I tend to store fat on my belly, upper arms and face. My dad was this way.

My attempts to get in shape and stay in shape make me fit everywhere else pretty quick, but the belly is last to see improvement and extremely stubborn.

My sis says my belly looks like I borrowed it from a slob since it looks completely out of place on my body.

In my experience what works, ordered by impact:
a. Eating right (Too much fat and processed carbs are the worst offenders, so is eating large meals all at once or skipping meals. Eating at a regular scheduled time for each meal really helps me.)
b. Weight training like it is my religion - Cathe style (lifting heavy enough so the last few reps are really difficult, but you can still do them in good form) for 3 to 4 days per week. From S&H to any other one hour weight routine - anything Cathe works. Even her endurance style DVDs.
c. Cardio

I do cardio mainly for the general fitness benefits rather than for fat loss. If I am tight in time, as long as I am keeping up on a and b I can skip c and still progress.

But I agree that people should do cardio 3 times per week at least, nevertheless. Like discussed on another thread, if your cardiovascular fitness is good, there is a spillover at energy you have while weight training and it keeps you healthy. In fact I think flexibility training is very important too to ensure you stay supple and avoid injury.

~* Vrinda *~
 
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