How do you know when you should stop losing weight?

breannaboyer4896

I believe I am what they call a skinny-fat. Which means that I'm a healthy weight but my ratio of muscle to fat is off. I plan to address this by going to the gym when I am accepted into a grad school. In the meantime I'm not sure if I should keep dropping or start maintaining. I'm 5'8 and 125.9. I could go as low as 122 before I end up underweight but should I is the question

siobhanaoife

Time to recomp. Start maintenance, and make a plan for how to build muscle and eat in such a way as to support that without going bonkers. Then lift heavy things and get strong

jemhh

breannaboyer4896 wrote: »

I believe I am what they call a skinny-fat. Which means that I'm a healthy weight but my ratio of muscle to fat is off. I plan to address this by going to the gym when I am accepted into a grad school. In the meantime I'm not sure if I should keep dropping or start maintaining. I'm 5'8 and 125.9. I could go as low as 122 before I end up underweight but should I is the question

I would suggest maintaining while starting resistance exercise at this time. If you don't have access to a gym or to any kind of equipment, a bodyweight program would be a good start. This is a program that you can do at home:

http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/start-bodyweight-basic-routine.html

mulecanter

Take some pictures and then build some muscle. I think your pants size should remain the same as you tone up.

apullum

Agreed that if you are in an optimal BMI range for your height, then you should be looking into recomp rather than trying to lose more weight.

AlessandroD3426

What’s with the “when I am accepted into grad school” restriction?

Start now.

PAV8888

The time is now.

You're well into diminishing returns with weight loss.

The normal weight zone for your height does not describe a zone such that it is equally beneficial for you, as an individual, to be at the top, middle, or bottom of that zone.

What it says is that most people of your height who weight in that range have less health problems than most people who weigh above or below that range.

Logically then, it is unlikely that the optimal weight for the majority of individuals of your height is the rock bottom of the zone.

Now it *is* possible you're one of them, but *chances are* that you'll see better results if you move beyond a weight loss only mentality.

PRINCESSROJA

I'm guessing you mean you're waiting for the gym because it'll be included on your tuition, right, and don't have the money to join one now? That's no problem; there are a ton of free resources on YT especially (Fitness Blender, Daily Burn, Yoga with Adriene, and tons of others). Definitely recommend checking those out!

breannaboyer4896

because I see this coming up in the comments the answer is yes, I am waiting for school because the gym will be included in the tuition. I don't have the money for a gym at this time

breannaboyer4896

breannaboyer4896 wrote: »

because I see this coming up in the comments the answer is yes, I am waiting for school because the gym will be included in the tuition. I don't have the money for a gym at this time

thank you everybody who replied, it sounds like I need to start switching into maintenance mode