Should I listen to myself or to everyone around me?

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Replies

  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member

    well, what are your stats now?

    Height: 5'7
    Weight: 129
    Bust: 35
    Waist: 27
    Hips: 37

    My tummy is wider than my hips so I am wanting to get rid of that last bit of love handles

    You're getting close to 'underweight' BMI now (assuming you're an adult). From your ticker, it looks like you want to lose about 10 lbs. more? That will put you at underweight. Your friends might know something we don't. I think you should listen to them, regardless of what you see in the mirror.

    Idk honestly. Lol. I'm quite disturbed by the belly fat. Not sure if it's necessary to lose 10lbs or what. My goal is to just get rid of the last bit of belly roll.
    None of us see our own bodies objectively. That's why it's good to use BMI as a rough guide. Google 'bmi calculator' and put your height and weight in and see where you fall in the under/normal/overweight categories.

    If your "belly roll" is anything like the other belly rolls I've seen on young, thin girls, it's called skin and the normal subcutaneous fat needed to cover your organs in your abdomen. When you sit, it folds up. You can't diet it away.
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member

    The word jiggle is funny :laugh: anyway, I'm scared of adding weights. I might bulk up or something. I only use 5lbs dumbells. Not that I'm saying I'm not open to it, it's just that I dont know if I should do it or not. Personally, I enjoy strength training than cardio so if you'd say that I should decrease the cardio and be more into lifting then that would make me REALLY happy :))

    You should decrease cardio and lift more. Better? You won't bulk up. I lift 3-4 times a week....do I look like a body builder? For what you want to achieve, heavy lifting is your best friend right now. You're already thin, you'll probably get results fairly quickly. Ditch the barbie dumbbells and pick up a barbell. :bigsmile:

    And as far as the original question.....as long as you don't have major body image issues or history of an eating disorder, listen to yourself. (as long as you aren't tell yourself something stupid like eat 600 calories a day)

    +1
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    I think gaining some muscles would improve your physique more than continued fat loss.
  • j6o4
    j6o4 Posts: 871 Member

    The word jiggle is funny :laugh: anyway, I'm scared of adding weights. I might bulk up or something. I only use 5lbs dumbells. Not that I'm saying I'm not open to it, it's just that I dont know if I should do it or not. Personally, I enjoy strength training than cardio so if you'd say that I should decrease the cardio and be more into lifting then that would make me REALLY happy :))

    You should decrease cardio and lift more. Better? You won't bulk up. I lift 3-4 times a week....do I look like a body builder? For what you want to achieve, heavy lifting is your best friend right now. You're already thin, you'll probably get results fairly quickly. Ditch the barbie dumbbells and pick up a barbell. :bigsmile:

    And as far as the original question.....as long as you don't have major body image issues or history of an eating disorder, listen to yourself. (as long as you aren't tell yourself something stupid like eat 600 calories a day)

    +1

    Great Advice!! Lift Heavy and get Results!!! You wont bulk up unless you eat a surplus, heavy lifting is a great way to retain muscle while losing weight, thus lowering your bodyfat percentange which is what you need to concentrate on to lose the belly.
  • lauraspberry
    lauraspberry Posts: 655 Member
    I value every single one of your inputs, thank you so much. Clearly I should ditch the barbie weights lol :)) Anyway, I'll start to incorporate heavier weights to my exercise routine. Would it be necessary though to decrease the cardio along with it? Much as I hate doing cardio, I love the effects that it brings.
  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
    I value every single one of your inputs, thank you so much. Clearly I should ditch the barbie weights lol :)) Anyway, I'll start to incorporate heavier weights to my exercise routine. Would it be necessary though to decrease the cardio along with it? Much as I hate doing cardio, I love the effects that it brings.

    If you're doing cardio 6 times a week, it might be a bit much to do weights, too. My suggestion would be 3 days of heavy weights, and 2 days of cardio. You need rest days when you're lifting.
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
    you seem like a healthy young lady i wouldnt worry
  • gk03ub
    gk03ub Posts: 99 Member
    I was gonna say you should eat more, but then I saw that you eat back your workout calories so you're totally fine.

    Its a nasty disease called JEALOUSY and your friends have it. You're not underweight, you're lean and healthy.
  • dmpizza
    dmpizza Posts: 3,321 Member
    Friends suck at encouragement.
    Do what you want.
  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
    I lift heavy weights, and I'm not bulked up. You will love the results! And don't let your friends get you down. They are comparing you to what you used to look like (how they are used to seeing you). Of course you are smaller all over since you lost weight. You aren't underweight. And as long as you like the way you look, that's what matters. Lifting weights would be good for your physique. I also agree that young women tend to think they have a belly pooch, even when they have a flat tummy (when their belly just pushes out against their tight jeans a tiny bit when relaxing in a chair).
  • lauraspberry
    lauraspberry Posts: 655 Member
    I lift heavy weights, and I'm not bulked up. You will love the results! And don't let your friends get you down. They are comparing you to what you used to look like (how they are used to seeing you). Of course you are smaller all over since you lost weight. You aren't underweight. And as long as you like the way you look, that's what matters. Lifting weights would be good for your physique. I also agree that young women tend to think they have a belly pooch, even when they have a flat tummy (when their belly just pushes out against their tight jeans a tiny bit when relaxing in a chair).

    THANK YOU SO MUCH :flowerforyou: unfortunately my belly is definitely a pooch LOL without pants it looks even bigger :)) but i'm happy it decreased significantly.
  • kelly_e_montana
    kelly_e_montana Posts: 1,999 Member
    Your diary does not say you eat 1200 plus your exercise calories. I only saw you net 1200+ once in the several days that I saw.

    Re heavy lifting: Some women do bulk up more than others. I do, more than other people I work out with, no matter what my weight or bodyfat. I don't mind though. I like it. It's fine. I am not one to break down my body into miniscule bits and try to change things about myself that I can't. For example, I am 5'5" and currently I have about 125 pounds just in lean body mass and then add the fat on top. There are a lot of girls my height in my Crossfit box that weight 125. I can't weight 125 without losing lean mass, too.
  • Sreneesa
    Sreneesa Posts: 1,170 Member
    Weights aren't going to make you bulky - you'll see some great pic examples of that if you browse through the success stories! I heartily recommend lifting and believe you'll be very happy with the changes it brings.

    All the comments about jealousy are certainly possibilities. However, we don't know your friends. They may very well be sounding an alarm you *do* need to hear. Especially if you're hearing concern from different folks at different times. And kudos to you for reaching out for more opinions in case your perspective is beginning to skew - knowing that can happen shows great awareness on your part!

    Your pic doesn't look as if you're skeletal, yet I can't jump on the "how you feel" bandwagon. I've seen friends with vertebrae sticking out from under their skin b/c they "felt great" being thinner (and thinner and thinner and thinner). It's scary, and hard to know what to say when you genuinely fear for someone, yet aren't trying to suggest they be your size.

    Another commenter mentioned your BMI and where 10 lbs will put you, so I won't belabor that point. However, may I also recommend (assuming you have medical insurance) asking a doc for a strictly medical evaluation? Not because anything's wrong, just to get some unbiased perspective on where you are, and where you want to go, now that you're in the fine-tuning phase.

    Regardless, super job on your loss - congratulations! You've put in a lot of hard work, and I sincerely wish you continued good health and success :-)

    +1
  • Lloyd2302
    Lloyd2302 Posts: 1
    Hi, being a man I'm more into weight training than most women, but a lot of women now are finding that weight training is beneficial for getting the look they want.

    I saw someone say 'try and tone up without losing any weight'..

    Well the only way to do this from a weight training point of view would be, bring your calories back to a maintenance level. i.e. you are not lowing your calories to lose weight.

    Start a weight training program and try to build some muscle. for maybe 8 weeks?

    Then lower your calories again to lose the fat.

    The more muscle you have (i.e. lean body mass) the higher your metabolism will be (i.e. the amount of calories you burn)

    Bjt in answer to your question, no you arent getting too skinny in my opinion, but if you follow what I said, it will take that 'skinny' look away
  • whitebalance
    whitebalance Posts: 1,654 Member
    IMHO you aren't eating enough to fuel real strength training. In the past two weeks, you were hundreds of calories under your net target almost every day - and one of the days when you weren't, it was only because of a Coke & rum. If you're going to lift heavy (and that would certainly help you with your ultimate goal), you'll need to have a lot more days like Friday 12/20, with higher intake and especially higher protein. I would recommend joining the "Eat, Train, Progress" group, reading the sticky threads there, and getting some advice from Sara and SideSteel.

    ETA: And on Friday, you were still 363 calories under net. Your net already includes a deficit - probably a rather substantial one in your case. You should make that "remaining" number as close to zero as you can, unless you're grossly overestimating your exercise calories.
  • lauraspberry
    lauraspberry Posts: 655 Member
    IMHO you aren't eating enough to fuel real strength training. In the past two weeks, you were hundreds of calories under your net target almost every day - and one of the days when you weren't, it was only because of a Coke & rum. If you're going to lift heavy (and that would certainly help you with your ultimate goal), you'll need to have a lot more days like Friday 12/20, with higher intake and especially higher protein. I would recommend joining the "Eat, Train, Progress" group, reading the sticky threads there, and getting some advice from Sara and SideSteel.

    ETA: And on Friday, you were still 363 calories under net. Your net already includes a deficit - probably a rather substantial one in your case. You should make that "remaining" number as close to zero as you can, unless you're grossly overestimating your exercise calories.

    The reason for this is because sometimes I just eyeball my food when I dont have time to measure, which is most of the time recently. LOL. I keep a high "remaining" number because I know in myself that I didnt measure and you're right, i'm not so sure about the burn i get from walking because i dont have my HRM with me so yeah, i was thinking that the "walking" log on MFP might be overestimating my burned cals, so I dont eat much of the exercise cals since I might end up doing a surplus rather than a deficit :) and I rarely drink just once or twice a year btw. So I havent exercised the past few days other than walking around the mall for half a day to do Christmas Shopping because I still feel weak from the other night lol

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