Will losing a stone make a big difference visually?

noobletmcnugget

I'm 18, 5'6" and 9 stone and wanna ideally get down to 8 stone. At the moment I feel really flabby and bleh and just don't feel good. Will losing a stone make much of a noticeable difference do you think?

TwinkieDong

lets see before pictures for reference!

geebusuk

Everyone's different, but I very much much expect so - certainly if you 'do it right', by going fairly slow, eating high protein and ideally doing some resistance (weights) - so you just lose fat.

The noticable change comes from a big relative difference in body fat.
Losing a stone at 20 stone wouldn't be that massive, especially if you lose muscle too.
Losing a stone at 9 stone is over 10% of your weight.
Losing a stone of fat could be 50% of your fat.

So, it's also possible losing a stone might be too much - don't focus on the figure on the scales TOO much.

skinnyinnotime

Yes 14lbs at your size will make a noticeable difference.

If you feel flabby, working out will help alot to make your body look better, instead of weight loss on its own.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

You're 5'6" and 126 lbs-- if you lose a stone you'll be seriously underweight.

Do you know your body fat percentage?

noobletmcnugget

lets see before pictures for reference!

I know it's not very helpful but I'd rather not post pics haha

Everyone's different, but I very much much expect so - certainly if you 'do it right', by going fairly slow, eating high protein and ideally doing some resistance (weights) - so you just lose fat.

The noticable change comes from a big relative difference in body fat.
Losing a stone at 20 stone wouldn't be that massive, especially if you lose muscle too.
Losing a stone at 9 stone is over 10% of your weight.
Losing a stone of fat could be 50% of your fat.

So, it's also possible losing a stone might be too much - don't focus on the figure on the scales TOO much.

Thanks for the reply - that's really helpful!! So would I not get the same results if I just cut calories and didn't weight train or work out? I'm pretty weak at the moment anyway.. I'm not sure there's much muscle to lose

And thanks - I won't get too caught up on the scales. I'll just stop once I feel comfortable.

noobletmcnugget

You're 5'6" and 126 lbs-- if you lose a stone you'll be seriously underweight.

Do you know your body fat percentage?

I mean reaching 8 stone isn't a set-in-stone goal, I just know that I feel flabby and unhappy at the moment. If I feel comfortable at 8.5 stone I'll stop.

Nope, not sure how to calculate it. I don't really exercise though so I'm guessing I don't have much lean muscle mass or whatever.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

You're 5'6" and 126 lbs-- if you lose a stone you'll be seriously underweight.

Do you know your body fat percentage?

I mean reaching 8 stone isn't a set-in-stone goal, I just know that I feel flabby and unhappy at the moment. If I feel comfortable at 8.5 stone I'll stop.

Nope, not sure how to calculate it. I don't really exercise though so I'm guessing I don't have much lean muscle mass or whatever.

Then my recommendation is to eat at maintenance, get .8 grams of protein per pound of weight, and weight train. Either do a beginner barbell routine like Starting Strength or a beginning bodyweight program that has progressive loading built in, like You Are Your Own Gym or Convict Conditioning.

What that will do is make you less "flabby" and give you muscle tone, while slowly lowering your body fat percentage. But without going into scary underweight territory.

cwolfman13

8 stone is underweight for your height even if you have a small frame...

You would be better served to just work on body re-composition. The reason you feel flabby is because of your lack of exercise and in particular resistance training.

skinnyinnotime

lets see before pictures for reference!

I know it's not very helpful but I'd rather not post pics haha

Everyone's different, but I very much much expect so - certainly if you 'do it right', by going fairly slow, eating high protein and ideally doing some resistance (weights) - so you just lose fat.

The noticable change comes from a big relative difference in body fat.
Losing a stone at 20 stone wouldn't be that massive, especially if you lose muscle too.
Losing a stone at 9 stone is over 10% of your weight.
Losing a stone of fat could be 50% of your fat.

So, it's also possible losing a stone might be too much - don't focus on the figure on the scales TOO much.

Thanks for the reply - that's really helpful!! So would I not get the same results if I just cut calories and didn't weight train or work out? I'm pretty weak at the moment anyway.. I'm not sure there's much muscle to lose

And thanks - I won't get too caught up on the scales. I'll just stop once I feel comfortable.

No you won't get the same results. You will be losing muscle along with fat so will just look very thin and probably rather unhealthy.

geebusuk

I would tend to agree with the above - I don't know your frame and so on, but 8 stone is starting to push it a bit.
Am friends with other people that at not far off your age and similar height were getting down near that sort of weight and it certainly wasn't healthy... hell that's hardly more than my dog weighs!
So I would certainly consider going the 'recomposition' route - making sure you get plenty of protein (do this if you're trying to lose weight to) and look to a routine like starting strength or new rules of lifting for women. This will get you going to the sort of 'fitness model' body that can be both heavier AND slimmer thanks to having more muscle to give some 'tone'.

The problem with just eating lower calories is that at a lowish weight already, it can lead to a fair bit of muscle loss (despite saying you haven't got much) - meaning you still haven't lost all the flab, but you find your body overall is even less healthy.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

I would tend to agree with the above - I don't know your frame and so on, but 8 stone is starting to push it a bit.
Am friends with other people that at not far off your age and similar height were getting down near that sort of weight and it certainly wasn't healthy... hell that's hardly more than my dog weighs!
So I would certainly consider going the 'recomposition' route - making sure you get plenty of protein (do this if you're trying to lose weight to) and look to a routine like starting strength or new rules of lifting for women. This will get you going to the sort of 'fitness model' body that can be both heavier AND slimmer thanks to having more muscle to give some 'tone'.

The problem with just eating lower calories is that at a lowish weight already, it can lead to a fair bit of muscle loss (despite saying you haven't got much) - meaning you still haven't lost all the flab, but you find your body overall is even less healthy.

Not that I'm in "fitness model" territory but you can see what he's talking about here, OP. The pic on the left was me at goal weight a couple of months after I started lifting. The one on the right is me on Saturday, 5 lbs heavier and a pants size smaller.

noobletmcnugget

Hey guys, thanks so much for the responses and advice.

I completely see that resistance training seems like the way to go to conserve muscle and burn fat. Over the next few months I have major exams though so won't really be able to commit to anything like that. I know it's lazy, but it feels like just going down the 'cutting calories' route is so much easier and requires so much less time and effort.

noobletmcnugget

I would tend to agree with the above - I don't know your frame and so on, but 8 stone is starting to push it a bit.
Am friends with other people that at not far off your age and similar height were getting down near that sort of weight and it certainly wasn't healthy... hell that's hardly more than my dog weighs!
So I would certainly consider going the 'recomposition' route - making sure you get plenty of protein (do this if you're trying to lose weight to) and look to a routine like starting strength or new rules of lifting for women. This will get you going to the sort of 'fitness model' body that can be both heavier AND slimmer thanks to having more muscle to give some 'tone'.

The problem with just eating lower calories is that at a lowish weight already, it can lead to a fair bit of muscle loss (despite saying you haven't got much) - meaning you still haven't lost all the flab, but you find your body overall is even less healthy.

Not that I'm in "fitness model" territory but you can see what he's talking about here, OP. The pic on the left was me at goal weight a couple of months after I started lifting. The one on the right is me on Saturday, 5 lbs heavier and a pants size smaller.

Ah wow, that's awesome! I definitely see what you mean - body composition is more important than a number on the scales. You look fab

KariOrtiz2014

YES!

geebusuk

I can easily do my 'starnging strength' based regime in around 30 minutes.
I often take longer rests and it takes about an hour BUT, I've got my own weights, so I can be doing other things at the time. Total time actually lifting weights, moving stuff around and so on for me is 10 minutes or less. I wear the normal clothes I wear everyday - though those do include Army Boots, but if I was wearing flat bottoomed trainers I also wouldn't change them (ie Converse etc).

If you've got a UNI gym, could look to go in there at a quiet time and be doing some revision inbetween sets. Sure you're not the first person that would have done that!

Harrisonsauntie2005

I would tend to agree with the above - I don't know your frame and so on, but 8 stone is starting to push it a bit.
Am friends with other people that at not far off your age and similar height were getting down near that sort of weight and it certainly wasn't healthy... hell that's hardly more than my dog weighs!
So I would certainly consider going the 'recomposition' route - making sure you get plenty of protein (do this if you're trying to lose weight to) and look to a routine like starting strength or new rules of lifting for women. This will get you going to the sort of 'fitness model' body that can be both heavier AND slimmer thanks to having more muscle to give some 'tone'.

The problem with just eating lower calories is that at a lowish weight already, it can lead to a fair bit of muscle loss (despite saying you haven't got much) - meaning you still haven't lost all the flab, but you find your body overall is even less healthy.

Not that I'm in "fitness model" territory but you can see what he's talking about here, OP. The pic on the left was me at goal weight a couple of months after I started lifting. The one on the right is me on Saturday, 5 lbs heavier and a pants size smaller.

:flowerforyou: