Trying to lose weight when you're already at a "normal" weight

noelleferrer

I want to start a discussion for people who, like me, are told they are at a "normal" weight, but is still trying to slim down a bit. I've encountered a lot of opposition from friends and family when they see how seriously I'm taking my diet/lifestyle change because apparently my body is "just fine", nevertheless I know that I have more fat than muscle and that my body could be stronger. I'm 125 lbs and my goal weight is 110. Anyone else in the same boat?

noelleferrer

Please post what methods you are trying/are working for you. The hard part is that being at a healthy weight, my diet is generally pretty healthy already. I feel like I've reached a plateau before even really starting...

Gamliela

How tall are you? Its more difficult to drop weight the lower weight you start at. Sometimes it means doing a lot of excersize plus eating less than you'd like and seeing slow results.

Patience would be important, and a nutritious diet. A lot of people here wil probably advise you to lift weights instead of reduce calories.
If you want a more built up body free from fat then maybe weight work is for you.

rosebette

I agree with Gamliela. I'm between 118 and 120 most of the time and to get any lower, I'd have to starve myself because it doesn't take that many calories to maintain my already fairly low weight. So, I work out and eat at maintenance.

noelleferrer

I'm 5'3" and yah I heard weight training is key. Do you think just body weight exercises would suffice?

sawaguespack

I am 5'3 started out at 134 and now I am at 123 after about a month of paleo diet and running. I even had a few cheat days

ObsidianMist

eating at a deficit has allowed me to lose some extra weight that I had put on, and I'm also lifting heavy to recomp once I hit maintenance (6 pounds to go!)

clarkcompanero

Hi,

What you refer to is Vanity pounds. You have to tackle these lbs differently because they are considered essential fat. The top things i've found that work are HIIT, Intermittent Fasting, Carb cycling and 90% of 1RM.

HIIT: there is am 8 week program that will really tell your body to burn fat. you need only 15 mintutes 3 times a week and every 2 weeks you increase intensity.

Intermittent fasting: careful on this, many people completely starve themselves before working out thinking the body will target only fat for energy. ultimately this will hapen but with a few tweaks. Be sure to take BCAAs before and during. with no carbs in your system and bcaas telling you not to go catabolic, you will be in an anabolic state and burn more fat. do not go too intense, TBH I like to do IF before cardio, eat an apple and some protein, and continue on with the heavy lifts.

Carb Cycling: simply put we lower our calories through carbs on our inactive days.

If I lift M,W,F and my maintenance is 2,500 calories, then on those days I eat 2,300 but exercise like heck. say cardio and lifting I burn 500 calories.

2500 bmr + 500 exercise - 2300 food = 700 cal deficit.

To many people go too low without realizing that your deficit should largely come from exercise. less than 30% of the deficit in this example came from reduction in calories. on off days you aren't exercising and therefore should drop your calories from 2300 down and adittional 200.

2500 mbr - 2100 food = 400 deficit.

700 x 3 days a week = 2100
400 x 4 days a week = 1600
total cal deficit = 3700 or 1.05lb of fat.

if you want to lose more, subtract 50 calories.

This reduction needs to come from carbs not protein or fat.

200 cal reduction = 200/4 - 50 grams of carbs

clarkcompanero

I failed to mention one i like the most. 90% of 1rm. when you work in this range, muscle recovery takes a ton of energy for up to a week. that's why 1RM and HIIT cannot be pinpointed as far as caloric burn. the after burn of recovery is just too hard to calculate without spending money on specialized equipment

Maxematics

I'm 5'3.5" and currently 110.7 pounds; I'm almost at the end of my final cut to 108 pounds. I would say that my most useful tool is my food scale. When you don't have a huge margin of error calorie wise, a food scale is extremely useful for being as accurate as possible regarding your calorie intake. I workout every day, mostly resistance training, and I walk anywhere between 15,000 to 20,000 steps per day. I also do Intermittent Fasting since it fits my lifestyle.

mariatsk

Same here! Just trying to lose those last few "vanity pounds" by doing more exercise (mostly cardio), walking even more and eating a bit less - but still a sensible amount. It's a slow process for sure!

nancybuss

Yup - my whole life and that's what goes into the head, I don't "need to" until my cholestorol was bad and 'skinny fat' was truly an issue. I did well, but then an injury kept me from working out and pre-menopause is messing with me and I'm back up 10 pounds.

Currently doing 22Minute Hard Corp.
I'm under 4' 11"

BlueberryWatermelon

Yep. I just restarted MFP two weeks ago to lose 15 lbs of vanity weight. I think the key is patience. I can't realistically lose 1-2 lbs per week unless I absolutely starve myself, and if I did that, I know I'd just get frustrated and quit. So I'm going for 0.5-1 lbs per week, being very careful to track every calorie, and getting some form of exercise most days.

I'm 5'5, 137 lbs. I aim for 1300 calories a day, and I eat back most of my exercise calories. I run 3x per week, and do Jillian Michael's DVDs 3x per week. Hoping to start biking to work too.

Theresa_1973

I am now considered to be at a healthy weight, but I still want to lose another 10lb to get to my personal goal weight, but I get so many comments about me looking fine, or "Ooh don't lose any more weight, you'll look ill" but I know that I have got a lot of loose skin from the weight I have already lost, so my weight loss is more about shaping up and losing those last few pounds, I mean whats 10lb when you consider what I've already lost - people won't even see those pounds, but they still insist that it'll make me look ill, or gaunt...

I also find it frustrating that when I was 321lb people said little or nothing about my weight, activity levels or food choices, but now that I'm 164lb they are all suddenly experts on what is good for me and my body.

xXx

hayleyb25

Yep - 126lbs and want to get to 110. 5'2" so 126 is at the higher end of normal for me. Have increased my exercise (running 2 or 3 times a week and Boxfit) in the last few months but have gained about 5lbs since Jan so need to look closely at my food intake. Hoping that MFP can help me make better choices!

noelleferrer

hayleyb25 wrote: »

Yep - 126lbs and want to get to 110. 5'2" so 126 is at the higher end of normal for me. Have increased my exercise (running 2 or 3 times a week and Boxfit) in the last few months but have gained about 5lbs since Jan so need to look closely at my food intake. Hoping that MFP can help me make better choices!

Wow we're in such a similar situation. I run 3mi 4x a week (it's hard for me to workout more since I'm a college student with a full work/class load). I noticed the weight I've lost so far is coming from my face which isn't bad but my thighs and hips are the problem area. As far as eating healthy...you got to start slow and let your body adjust. I started by adjusting to drinking just black coffee. Then, I cut out red meat and fried foods, which are both used a lot in my culture so it took a while getting used to. I also eat a lot of chocolate while studying so I had to cut that out also. I'm now in the process of cutting out refined carbs which is the hardest yet because they are literally everywhere. It's about finding out where your weaknesses are, and slowly targeting each one.

Noelani1503

I hear you! I've never been considered "overweight" by BMI standards. But I'm over my ideal weight. I'm 5'7" and 148 lbs right now, having just lost 7 lbs. I think 140 would be a good number for me, maybe a little lower. But I really want muscle.

I have my calories set low, in the 1200s, to make sure I don't eat when I'm not hungry. But I regularly go over if I'm hungry or if I worked out. I was doing calisthenics and elliptical cardio several days a week, now I'm doing Strong Curves 4x/week with 3+ cardio sessions added in if I have time.

arditarose

I'm a bit heavier at the moment because I ran a bulk to try to gain muscle over the winter, but yes. At certain points people have told me I look slim already and should stop losing. But you know what? I was 5'4" and 133 lbs. There is nothing wrong with trying to lose a few vanity pounds or get down to 18% body fat. If you're happy at 25-27%, great...but I'm not. Sometimes so many people around us are large, I think the idea of "slim" is skewed a bit.

Anyway, I have a decent amount of muscle so even in the 130s I struggle very much with losing weight. It can take me months to lose a couple pounds. Yes, weightloss is about CICO, but at some point-once you're pretty lean, other factors start playing a role or at least mask losses.

This is a great podcast with Lyle McDonald explaining some of the difficulties with relatively lean women trying to lose fat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6846ZTBu08k

BeautyPi

Yeah according to my stats I'm "normal weight" but it doesn't feel right. I m 5" and been between 95-100 pounds until recently when I got sick and gained, first gradual and then a ton of weight and now weighing 129-131. But don't feel fit or healthy at all. So I'm aiming to get down to 105-110 and build some muscle once fat mass is lost. Add me

miladymarathoner

Yup. 5'2" and starting at 123. My initial goal is 115. Then we will see where I'm happiest.

NewMEEE2016

One of the issues you're going to encounter is that muscle weighs more than fat. A person could be flabby and soft looking at a lower weight- and look much better and smaller w/more muscle- but actually *weigh* more. I would not let the scale dictate where you "should" be.

rachelwilliams355

Yes I'm same situation. I'm at the high range for BMI (im at 24 and i believe 24.9 is the highest BMI considered normal) im 5 foot 4 at 140 lbs. I just finished my first week tracking I set to 1 lb a week at lightly active. I lift twice a week and work as a nursing assistant... So I eat back my calories from tracked steps at work 4 days a week, avg shift is 13000 steps, and I stay pretty close to the goal those days, but the other days I tried to keep at the calorie restriction given to me but I was STARVING every day and just had to go over because I was too hungry and over ate 500 calories. I somehow lost 1.1 lbs and I believe it because I VERY rarely have seen under 140 in the last year... Only a handful of times.. It was ususly Andre between 140 to 146. Finding the right balance when you're already fairly healthy is difficult and I don't think I can lower my calories any lower than 1700 without feeling constantly hungry. I think when you get to a certain point it's better to focus on other measurements such as waist line.... I my gw is 125 and I think for my first 5 to 10 ish pounds it's going to be more about cutting down snacking and making healthier food choices... I think the last 5 to 10 will take much much longer... But by exercising more ill see changes in appearance and not the scale. It'll probably be similar for you too.. And realistically feeling and lo

rachelwilliams355

Looking good are more important than a number

RoxieDawn

5'4" went from 125 to 112. I was actually really chubby at 125, and do not really consider this for me as vanity pounds. I was lugging around quite a bit of fat on my small body and I needed to be stronger and replacing that fat with muscle was key for me. I weigh less, look bigger and feel better.

I lift weight 6 days a week. I do cut and bulk cycles (no recomp for me again, this took way too long to gain muscle and fat at the same time.

So you can call it vanity pounds, or pounds that you just hate carrying around because you want to build muscle to be stronger fitter and leaner, I personally do not see one thing wrong what that.

mkakids

Meticulous logging is necessary! Since you are working with a smaller deficit, loose logging (even being off by 100cals a day), can really hinder your weight loss.