32% Body Fat I Feel Discouraged

Sunrain2018

November 2017: 38% body fat 180 lbs

October 2018: 32% body fat 146 lbs

Female 5’9

According to the Inbody test I need to gain 13 lbs of muscle but somehow also lose 13 lbs of body fat.. It’s really discouraging that after almost a year my body fat has barely gone down even though my scale weight did go down averaging a 3 pound loss every month for the past year... I mean my starting weight at the beginning of 2016 was 230 lbs so I can’t really complain that I’ve averaged a total of 84 lbs lost... I guess I’m disappointed in myself mostly for not reaching the ideal 19% body fat goal I set for myself almost a year ago. Looks wise I do look slimmer now but maybe this explains why I don’t feel dramatically skinny. I’ve had to stop myself serval times from binge eating..

Does anyone have any advice or words of wisdom.. Where do I go from here? How do I somehow manage to gain the muscle while also losing the body fat?

Fflpnari

Weight lifting!!!!!!!!

lorrpb

That's a very impressive loss! Congrats!! I am a bit confused, What do you mean that you lost 84 lbs but your BF% hasnt changed? That doesn't make sense.

maureenkhilde

So if I understand correctly, your plan was to go from 38% body fat to 19% body fat roughly in one year? At your height and weight I could be wrong but I would think you are in healthy weight range? But want to be lower for body fat? What exercise plan separate from weight loss plan have you followed in the last year? And losing 84 pounds in less than two years that is great!

smantha32

I feel yah. I lost 23 pounds and my bodyfat went from 40 to 35. 10 more pounds to go and I'm probably still going to be skinnyfat. I am lifting, but not to gain muscle yet. boo.

RunForPizza88

19% body fat is fairly low for a woman i thought and i suspect you have to be very slim and also lifting in order to reach that?
Im only 115lbs and id say im like 25% body fat so i suspect you are being very hard on yourself.

TavistockToad

Recomp is your friend!

88olds

You’ve done really well. If I crunch the numbers right, you’ve lost 84 lbs but only lost 2 lbs of lean mass. Very good.

Research weight training. Start experimenting and figure out how deep you want to get into it. Weight training can be an entire lifestyle. You count macros? Think you want to try to count macros? High level weight training needs spot on nutrition.

Keep your expectations in check. Recomp is a rather slow process. While you can control what you eat and how you train, you don’t control your body chemistry. There’s a lot of debate as to how much you can influence it. Beware the supplement sales. Lots of people trying to sell stuff.

Your post points out the problem with time driven goals. Despite your excellent work, and progress, you are still kicking yourself. Body builders work for years to get the results they want.

Focus on the specifics of your training and see what you can do in a year. It’s an experiment. You won’t know unless you try.

Edit: One more thought. The Mayo Clinic website notes that a problem area in weight loss is coping when discouraged.
Repeating myself, you’ve achieved impressive results. Just my opinion, but I think your expectations have been out of whack. Regardless, don’t let your brain wreck you. Press ahead to stage 2.

Have hope. Weight training has been extensively studied. Try to find research aimed at women in your age group. Weight training works. You will build muscle and get stronger. Weight training also helps with bone mass. Keep going.

sardelsa

First off, congrats on your loss! Second, those scales you step on are typically not very accurate so your bodyfat % might actually be lower. Third, if you weren't doing any lifting while you were losing, yes, you lost more muscle than you would have otherwise. Don't worry though, you can still get to where you want to be, it might just take a while longer.

As mentioned above, due to your stats, recomp is a great option.

This thread explains it well
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

And definitely start lifting, here is a list of great programs, even if you don't have access to a gym there are bodyweight ones to get you started

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

Sunrain2018

lorrpb wrote: »

That's a very impressive loss! Congrats!! I am a bit confused, What do you mean that you lost 84 lbs but your BF% hasnt changed? That doesn't make sense.

I mean I’m sure that at my starting weight of 230 lbs that my body fat was pretty high probably in the 40% range... I didn’t start going to the gym until November of 2017...

However I’m just pointing out that my body fat has barely gone done.. 38% to 32% resulting in a loss of 0.5% of body fat each month. I’m a healthy weight but I had excepted a lower body fat percentage.

Sunrain2018

maureenkhilde wrote: »

So if I understand correctly, your plan was to go from 38% body fat to 19% body fat roughly in one year? At your height and weight I could be wrong but I would think you are in healthy weight range? But want to be lower for body fat? What exercise plan separate from weight loss plan have you followed in the last year? And losing 84 pounds in less than two years that is great!

Thank you! Honestly I don’t do any exercise outside of the gym. I mean I did take a three month break from the gym during summer. During the summer I did a lot of walking and exploring but nothing too exerting.

And yes I’m definitely at a healthy weight for my height.. But in terms of how I want to look then I need to aim lower..

Sunrain2018

sardelsa wrote: »

First off, congrats on your loss! Second, those scales you step on are typically not very accurate so your bodyfat % might actually be lower. Third, if you weren't doing any lifting while you were losing, yes, you lost more muscle than you would have otherwise. Don't worry though, you can still get to where you want to be, it might just take a while longer.

As mentioned above, due to your stats, recomp is a great option.

This thread explains it well
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

And definitely start lifting, here is a list of great programs, even if you don't have access to a gym there are bodyweight ones to get you started

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

I wondered the same thing I mean I can see the outline of my ribs for goodness sake. And I can somewhat feel my bones when I lay down.

sardelsa

Sunrain2018 wrote: »

sardelsa wrote: »

First off, congrats on your loss! Second, those scales you step on are typically not very accurate so your bodyfat % might actually be lower. Third, if you weren't doing any lifting while you were losing, yes, you lost more muscle than you would have otherwise. Don't worry though, you can still get to where you want to be, it might just take a while longer.

As mentioned above, due to your stats, recomp is a great option.

This thread explains it well
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

And definitely start lifting, here is a list of great programs, even if you don't have access to a gym there are bodyweight ones to get you started

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

I wondered the same thing I mean I can see the outline of my ribs for goodness sake. And I can somewhat feel my bones when I lay down.

How do you feel about your body composition? If you weren't doing any exercise while you were losing, your body will lose fat and some muscle as well, so bodyfat % will go down but not as much as if you were doing exercise in particular progressive lifting which can help retain the muscle you have while you lose the fat.

pinuplove

You've lost 6% bf (on the assumption these numbers are something approaching accurate). That's far from barely anything.

Sunrain2018

Update: So it turns outs that my body fat percentage wasn’t right at all... I did a retest and it turns out I’m 25%. There were several factors that made my body fat percentage incorrect to begin with.

I’m happy I’ve got the right numbers now but I don’t think I will ever test my body fat again for awhile.

crissting

Don't feel discouraged. We all got to start somewhere. A positive attitude is a must on this journey. No success is completed without it. Write down points that will help motivate you. Like things you see yourself doing or wearing once you meet your weight loss goal.

MikePTY

Sunrain2018 wrote: »

Update: So it turns outs that my body fat percentage wasn’t right at all... I did a retest and it turns out I’m 25%. There were several factors that made my body fat percentage incorrect to begin with.

I’m happy I’ve got the right numbers now but I don’t think I will ever test my body fat again for awhile.

This sounds much more reasonable. I was going to ask you if your numbers were right, because your original numbers would have meant you lost about half muscle and half fat, which is a very high percentage of muscle. Now it sounds like your loss was really 75% fat and 25% muscle. That is better.

You are at both a healthy body weight and healthy body fat percentage for your health. I would not try to lose much more of either, unless you are going to focus on heavy athletic training. 19% body fat is very low for women who are not athletes.

Feel very proud of what you have accomplished.