Help! Am losing weight getting smaller but still see the body fat

[jogym]

Guys I desperately need your help!

Have lost around half a stone in about two weeks after getting into my fitness routine again (5'1 118lbs). I am around a UK size 8 (US 4) but after trying on some clothes on my lunch break I am so gutted as nothing would fit me. Cannot wear hipsters as I go straight up and down and they look ridiculous. Tops Gap XS size but I can still see fat at the top and bottom of bra area on my back. I know it's only been two weeks training and eating properly and I know it will take a hell of a lot longer but the question is to get my body fat to where I want it (haven't got a clue what it is probably about the 20 mark) do I have to get to like a size 2 or something.

I do not want to get any smaller it's not nice!! I just like the size I am but would like to lose the body fat and look as if I do weight training!! Currently do (Sunday - 40 mins spin class, Monday - weights, Wednesday weights (morn) cardio (evening HIIT), Friday - weights.

Can anyone give any suggestions. Am feeling quite despondent at the minute because this has happened to me before. Must be doing something wrong.....

[CJNY]

First, half a stone (7 lbs) in two weeks is a rather agressive rate of loss. Half that would be very good results for someone your size. "What's wrong with fast progress?" you ask. Well, maybe nothing if what you are losing is all fat, but losing 7 lbs of fat in 2 weeks is something most people cannot expect to accomplish, certainly most women under 120 lbs. Some people find how they look in a mirror or how their clothes fit is adequate feedback on how well their plan is working. I tend to favor body fat measurements, such as with calipers or tape measure. You'll need to figure out what works for you.

Second, it has been only two weeks. You would benefit from a change in expectations. This may not be what you want to hear right now, but the real challenge to improving fitness is not losing the fat but keeping it off in the longer term. When you make slow progress it takes longer to get where you want to be but that also means that you will have spent longer developing the kind of habits that will become permanent changes to your lifestyle. It takes most people months (sometimes many months) to deeply embed these habits. Most who fail to do this eventually revert back to old behavior patterns and undo everything they have accomplished.

Rate of progress is far less important than a steady pattern of progress, no matter how slow.

[jogym]

Originally Posted by CJNY

First, half a stone (7 lbs) in two weeks is a rather agressive rate of loss. Half that would be very good results for someone your size. "What's wrong with fast progress?" you ask. Well, maybe nothing if what you are losing is all fat, but losing 7 lbs of fat in 2 weeks is something most people cannot expect to accomplish, certainly most women under 120 lbs. Some people find how they look in a mirror or how their clothes fit is adequate feedback on how well their plan is working. I tend to favor body fat measurements, such as with calipers or tape measure. You'll need to figure out what works for you.

Second, it has been only two weeks. You would benefit from a change in expectations. This may not be what you want to hear right now, but the real challenge to improving fitness is not losing the fat but keeping it off in the longer term. When you make slow progress it takes longer to get where you want to be but that also means that you will have spent longer developing the kind of habits that will become permanent changes to your lifestyle. It takes most people months (sometimes many months) to deeply embed these habits. Most who fail to do this eventually revert back to old behavior patterns and undo everything they have accomplished.

Rate of progress is far less important than a steady pattern of progress, no matter how slow.

Thanks for your feedback. What I am saying is I lose the weight (about 5lb I thought was steady enough for two weeks) and get smaller but the body fat only diminishes slightly. It's like a smaller body but the same body fat...?? I had this problem before - I have trained on and off for about 5 years now - I just put on this half a stone over a seven week period (the Christmas period) it just carried on for me!! as I just thought I'd relax my eating habits for a change and look what happened. My nutrition habits are improving. Trying to eat every 2 1/2 hours or so.

I don't mean to sound rude but I did not need advice about changing my habits I already know this but anyways...

[aggiecasi]

Originally Posted by jogym

What I am saying is I lose the weight (about 5lb I thought was steady enough for two weeks) and get smaller but the body fat only diminishes slightly. It's like a smaller body but the same body fat...?? I had this problem before - I have trained on and off for about 5 years now - I just put on this half a stone over a seven week period (the Christmas period) it just carried on for me!! as I just thought I'd relax my eating habits for a change and look what happened. My nutrition habits are improving. Trying to eat every 2 1/2 hours or so.

I don't mean to sound rude but I did not need advice about changing my habits I already know this but anyways...

I have to chime in and say that I share(d) your story. At 5'6 1/2" (yes, I want that 1/2!!) 120lb, I've always been involved in sports, weights and working out in general. I've never thought I was "overweight", and am quite happy with my physique in general, but never had that "cut" look I wondered how some girls and women got. :confused:

Only when I started REALLY taking note of what I was eating (not just counting the p/c/f grams, but where they came from, working on the %, etc.) did I notice gains. My bf% has gone down and I can see abs.

So, I guess my long story is asking... are you really watching your diet, since (as you will see in the forum) most people believe diet is 75-90% of the way your body looks. So, if you would like to see more about the diets and training logs, look in the diet and the daily journal/log sections to find out the details.

Good luck! :

[CJNY]

Originally Posted by jogym

Thanks for your feedback. What I am saying is I lose the weight (about 5lb I thought was steady enough for two weeks) and get smaller but the body fat only diminishes slightly. It's like a smaller body but the same body fat...??

It sounds like you are losing lean weight and not fat. This often is related trying to lose weight too quickly. 1 lb of fat loss per week is very good progress in my experience, especially for a small woman. It's difficult to see changes this small.

Originally Posted by jogym

I don't mean to sound rude but I did not need advice about changing my habits I already know this but anyways...

No problem - I'm not that sensitive. :

[jogym]

Originally Posted by aggiecasi

I have to chime in and say that I share(d) your story. At 5'6 1/2" (yes, I want that 1/2!!) 120lb, I've always been involved in sports, weights and working out in general. I've never thought I was "overweight", and am quite happy with my physique in general, but never had that "cut" look I wondered how some girls and women got. :confused:

Only when I started REALLY taking note of what I was eating (not just counting the p/c/f grams, but where they came from, working on the %, etc.) did I notice gains. My bf% has gone down and I can see abs.

So, I guess my long story is asking... are you really watching your diet, since (as you will see in the forum) most people believe diet is 75-90% of the way your body looks. So, if you would like to see more about the diets and training logs, look in the diet and the daily journal/log sections to find out the details.

Good luck! :

I do not work out my diet to carbs/fat/protein but I know that my diet has not consisted of anything high fat (or sugar) at all for the past two weeks and I'm trying to keep it that way. I would say that fat would be maybe 20-25grams per day, my carbs might be my problem! I have oatmeal/weetabix and fruit for breakfast, sushi or chicken roll for lunch, yogurt or cottage cheese and fruit for snack, healthy dinner or tea mainly prawn,turkey stir fry, meat and veg and protein MRP (low carb Lean Body for Her) so I would say that you could do way better than that in terms of how much carbs and protein you should consume etc but I don't think taking in that should be detrimental to results I get with training. How do I work on the % of what I am getting of everything.

[jogym]

Originally Posted by CJNY

It sounds like you are losing lean weight and not fat. This often is related trying to lose weight too quickly. 1 lb of fat loss per week is very good progress in my experience, especially for a small woman. It's difficult to see changes this small.



No problem - I'm not that sensitive. :

Thanks for your time and comments.

How do I not lose any more lean weight and start losing the body fat instead then. Am I doing something wrong (not eating enough or too much or too much or not enough training)? What I was just doing was cutting out all and I mean all the nonsense in my diet and getting back to my training which I don't really think is that much (not cardio anyways).

[Lady C]

I sounds to me like you are not eating enough food. If you metabolism is high enough to drop 5-7 lbs in two weeks then you need to eat more.

[CJNY]

I've looked at your previous posts. The one that as the most interesting was one of the first, where you described getting thinner without losing weight.

Originally Posted by jogym

I am 5'1 very petite but weigh 118 lbs, when I tell people this they think I'm only about 110lbs (which seems to be quite heavy actually but I am only a size 8 (size 4 US). I do not seem to be able to lose weight but I can definetly see that I have trimmed down. Why is this?

That's really your goal, if you can manage it. It means you are losing fat and adding muscle. What was different then in terms of your workouts and diet versus what you are doing now and why did you change?

Losing 5-7 lbs in 2 weeks, as Lady C says, most likely means you are not eating enough. Training volume and diet must be considered together, What seems like a reasonable amount of training becomes unreasonable if you don't eat enough. Make sure you are getting enough quality protein, some with every meal. Someone your size and level of activity probably needs around 75 grams per day.

To lose the fat and not drop in clothing size there is only one option: add muscle. No one will be able to tell you whether it's possible for you to add as much as you want, i.e. get lean and still be a size 8. You'll have to figure it out by trial.

[jogym]

Originally Posted by CJNY

I've looked at your previous posts. The one that as the most interesting was one of the first, where you described getting thinner without losing weight.




That's really your goal, if you can manage it. It means you are losing fat and adding muscle. What was different then in terms of your workouts and diet versus what you are doing now and why did you change?

Losing 5-7 lbs in 2 weeks, as Lady C says, most likely means you are not eating enough. Training volume and diet must be considered together, What seems like a reasonable amount of training becomes unreasonable if you don't eat enough. Make sure you are getting enough quality protein, some with every meal. Someone your size and level of activity probably needs around 75 grams per day.

To lose the fat and not drop in clothing size there is only one option: add muscle. No one will be able to tell you whether it's possible for you to add as much as you want, i.e. get lean and still be a size 8. You'll have to figure it out by trial.

I can't remember this post but it must have been at the middle of last year before I put on this darned 1/2 stone or more. I used to do two to three spin classes a week. I would do weights for different body parts (free weights more) and then half an hour of cardio right afterwards if I did not do a spin class. I did not have any routine as such. My frame got so small I was nearly a UK 6, people commented on how tiny I was getting, my upper body had good definition though and I got nice comments about my arms but when I got my body fat tested I was told it was about 23% with calipers yet at an old gym on the body fat scales it measured 18% so I was quite disappointed.

I think I should be keeping some kind of record of training etc and see what my results are like with what I'm doing.

I would say I need to build a bit of mass but drop the body fat too. Seems a hard task.

I know I would have been doing more free weights before but in this new gym there are only four benches, two for bar work and I can never get near them.

I think I had about 1,800 calories today.

Thanks for reading all this by the way...

[ncgirl]

It's not really your size that matters when your talking about body fat percentages. You can be a size 2 and have a body fat of 10% and you can be a size 10 and have a body fat of 10%. The more muscle you have the smaller you will look and the less your body fat will be. It sounds like you've had good results so far though- Good Luck!!

[CJNY]

Originally Posted by jogym

I think I should be keeping some kind of record of training etc and see what my results are like with what I'm doing.

Yes, this will likely prove very worthwhile. Keep track of what you do, make changes and note the results.

Originally Posted by jogym

I would say I need to build a bit of mass but drop the body fat too. Seems a hard task.

Not so hard, really, unless you take it to extremes. You are limiting yourself a bit by only working out 3 days per week but if you keep your diet under control that won't amount to much of a limitation.

Originally Posted by jogym

I know I would have been doing more free weights before but in this new gym there are only four benches, two for bar work and I can never get near them.

That's not a good sign. While you could conceivably get away without doing cardio, you REALLY need to do strength training to meet your goals.

[jogym]

Thank you all for the advice. I am looking through all the threads esp. in the diet and nutrition and will see what I can come up with and at the end of the day try not be too hard on myself... and just keep going...