Weird Body fat problem

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Replies

  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    edited December 2018
    pinuplove wrote: »
    Monogirl279 wrote: »
    collectingblues wrote: »
    Monogirl279 wrote: »
    I mean like I’m worried about being pregnant (If ever) it doesn’t mean I can’t be healthy even if I’m worried about future issues

    Then you need to take care of your health *now*.

    If you want to increase your fat percentage, you need to eat in a surplus. That's the only way it works. (OK, I take that back. You could also have muscle wasting, but you're going to hate how you look if you're less muscular than you are now.)

    Why are you averse to gaining to a normal weight?

    It’s just I like my weight. I’ve always been on the low range. It’s not like I have an eating disorder or something. Plus I have a lot of clothes and they all fit me at this size. I just don’t understand, I was never an athlete or an athletic person. It seems like people have trouble getting to my body weight as an athlete. It just seems funny to my that I have the opposite problem.

    At your height and weight, you don't have a lot of existing muscle mass to work with. That's why you have trouble seeing definition. The fact that you said you felt more like 20% bf when it is apparently quite a bit lower than that is concerning from a body image/possible dysmorphia standpoint (not diagnosing or saying you have an eating disorder; simply saying sometimes we aren't the best impartial judge of ourself). Eating more while you also work on strength training will give you the chance to add muscle as well as a little more fat. You could wind up healthier and looking better, all while eating more! Seems like a win win win to me :smile:

    That's also a really good point. Eating at a surplus, while lifting, could actually preserve measurements and size -- while moving to a healthy weight.
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  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    Monogirl279 wrote: »
    collectingblues wrote: »
    Monogirl279 wrote: »
    collectingblues wrote: »
    Monogirl279 wrote: »
    I mean like I’m worried about being pregnant (If ever) it doesn’t mean I can’t be healthy even if I’m worried about future issues

    Then you need to take care of your health *now*.

    If you want to increase your fat percentage, you need to eat in a surplus. That's the only way it works. (OK, I take that back. You could also have muscle wasting, but you're going to hate how you look if you're less muscular than you are now.)

    Why are you averse to gaining to a normal weight?

    It’s just I like my weight. I’ve always been on the low range. It’s not like I have an eating disorder or something. Plus I have a lot of clothes and they all fit me at this size. I just don’t understand, I was never an athlete or an athletic person. It seems like people have trouble getting to my body weight as an athlete. It just seems funny to my that I have the opposite problem.

    I'll say to you what someone else said to me: What's more important: Your clothes or your health/fertility?

    If you want to increase your fat percentage, you need to eat more and gain weight. That means you might need to buy new clothes. You can still be slender and thin. You just won't be underweight anymore.

    Guess what? They still make cute clothes in a slightly larger size.

    Only you can decide what is more important to you.


    Thank you for your answers. I guess I naively thought that I could increase body fat if I eat high fat without having to gain anything

    Body fat has weight to it. If your weight stays the same, but body fat increases, that weight has to come from somewhere. Whether it comes from muscle, bone, or your organs, it has to come from somewhere. None of those sound like a good goal health wise.
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  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    Just going to leave this here

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/42966103#Comment_42966103

    Well, that answers the questions I'd asked, then.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Monogirl279 wrote: »
    collectingblues wrote: »
    Monogirl279 wrote: »
    I mean like I’m worried about being pregnant (If ever) it doesn’t mean I can’t be healthy even if I’m worried about future issues

    Then you need to take care of your health *now*.

    If you want to increase your fat percentage, you need to eat in a surplus. That's the only way it works. (OK, I take that back. You could also have muscle wasting, but you're going to hate how you look if you're less muscular than you are now.)

    Why are you averse to gaining to a normal weight?

    It’s just I like my weight. I’ve always been on the low range. It’s not like I have an eating disorder or something. Plus I have a lot of clothes and they all fit me at this size. I just don’t understand, I was never an athlete or an athletic person. It seems like people have trouble getting to my body weight as an athlete. It just seems funny to my that I have the opposite problem.

    Athletic people have a healthy amount of muscle, which is why they can't get to as low a weight as you. But that doesn't mean they can't be the same dress size, and look lean and toned.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,622 Member
    Monogirl279 wrote: »
    Really? So I can’t like keep my weight and increase body fat?

    The only theoretically possible way to keep your weight and increase body fat is to lose muscle. Think about it. It's a zero sum game, if you set the terms as "gain no weight". If you want to gain some kind of tissue, you have to lose some other kind of tissue. Bodies are made out of substances that have weight, fat and lean tissue **.

    Not only would that be very, very bad for your current and future health, it would be quite difficult to do intentionally.

    You need to gain weight. The number that appears on the scale is completely meaningless, considered by itself. Let it increase, in order to achieve your body composition and appearance goals. I agree that talking with a counselor is a good idea, too.

    ** Bodies also include a good bit of weight as water, and that water fluctuates. That fluctuation is how healthy bodies operate, and it's unhealthy to try to manipulate it (unless you have a medically-diagnosed health problem that requires it, and are under close doctor supervision). The water weight is therefore irrelevant in this context.
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