Tired of being skinny fat.

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  • anemoneprose
    anemoneprose Posts: 1,805 Member
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    Found this, on a search for terms in this thread (not the stuff in the middle of it). Interested in the discussion on page 6 & 7, totally summarizes my personal frustration, which is:

    If you're at the low/middle-low BMI, options are

    - bulk - difficult psychologically for many women [incl me], especially in June

    - recomp - long and difficult for women

    - cut - risk underweight & hormonal probs; can only cut calories by so much, vs men

    Another frustration: wasting mental energy on this!
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    When I joined mfp I tried to eat at maintenance, but was apparently on a very slow cut because I continued to lose fat (a pound a month). After 6 months I started increasing my calories, slowly. But, as I continued to increase them I ended up increasing them very high and ended up going on a bulk (for the next 6 months). So, I understand that going on a bulk can be difficult psychologically. It's not really. I did it by accident. It's just increasing calories a little bit at a time and keeping an eye on your weight and your fitness (you don't even need to increase as much as I did), so that you do not take it further than you are comfortable with. I have now decreased my calories down to a conservative maintenance. It is more than I ate during the first 6 months (when I was cutting), and less than I ate when I was "bulking". Although that word is misleading because I definitely did not "bulk" up by any stretch of the meaning of that word. And I did want to gain a few pounds back. It's fun as well, to get to eat more food.
  • anemoneprose
    anemoneprose Posts: 1,805 Member
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    When I joined mfp I tried to eat at maintenance, but was apparently on a very slow cut because I continued to lose fat (a pound a month). After 6 months I started increasing my calories, slowly. But, as I continued to increase them I ended up increasing them very high and ended up going on a bulk (for the next 6 months). So, I understand that going on a bulk can be difficult psychologically. It's not really. I did it by accident. It's just increasing calories a little bit at a time and keeping an eye on your weight and your fitness (you don't even need to increase as much as I did), so that you do not take it further than you are comfortable with. I have now decreased my calories down to a conservative maintenance. It is more than I ate during the first 6 months (when I was cutting), and less than I ate when I was "bulking". Although that word is misleading because I definitely did not "bulk" up by any stretch of the meaning of that word. And I did want to gain a few pounds back. It's fun as well, to get to eat more food.

    Thanks, binarypulsar - I really appreciate you sharing your experience :) I imagine that doing things slowly might minimize the worst of any option, for sure.

    In my case, I've been maintaining my *weight*, +/- 5 lbs, for 2 years at a comfortable 2000-2400 cals/day, even during periods of (injury-related) inactivity. I'm lucky in that I already get to eat a fair bit, without worrying too much about pounds on the scale going up - in fact it's difficult for me to go too low, in terms of calories.

    My body composition's fluctuated a lot though, in relation to my activity. I've had sometimes months-long interruptions, during which I've not been able to do as much strength training as I'd like. Right now, I'm really uncomfortable with my bf%, which I reckon has got to be in the high 20s, maybe low 30s. Since I last worked out regularly, my measurements have gone up an inch (no change on the scale).

    I've recently gotten back into things, though, so, hoping to see changes, between that and taking out maybe 200 calories (if I can stand it!).

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