Is standard recomp for me?

meluhneekay

Hello, fine folks!

So, here’s the deal: a while back I posted a thread asking for help figuring out whether I should be working to lower my body fat percentage, or if I should be trying to gain muscle. I’m naturally thin, but I’m “squishy” if you will and I want to be…well, not squishy. I ended up bumping my calories up from the 1200 I had been eating (I know, I know…) to 1500 and doing 3 days strength training + 3 days cardio every week.

Since joining MFP two weeks ago, the scale has gone down 5 lbs. I’m 5’6 and now at 120 lbs. I realize that what I’ve lost must be water weight, as I’ve seen no change in my body physically. I understand that my BMI is normal and that I really don’t need to lose any more weight. The thing that I get myself caught up in is the idea (and I have no idea if this is accurate or not, so please correct me if I’m wrong) that if I only focus on building muscle rather than lowering my body fat percentage, I won’t see a change because I will still have fat hiding my muscles. Now that I’ve had time to think on it, I worry that I won’t be able to lower my body fat any more without becoming underweight (and unhealthy) in the process. But on the other hand, my BMI is 19.4 and I could lose another 5 lbs. before getting toward the underweight territory...I just don't know whether this would be a smart choice or not.

I’ve been using the IF calculator (www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc) to do my calculations. Here’s all of my info:
Sex: Female
Age: 23
Height: 5’6”
Weight: 120 lbs.
Body fat: 25%
BMR: 1254
TDEE: 2163
LBM: 90 lbs.
Fat Body Mass: 30 lbs.

I’ve set my macros as such (in order to meet the 1g protein per LBM; please feel free to recommend something different if you think it would serve me better):
Carbs: 156g (40%)
Protein: 98g (25%)
Fat: 61g (35%)

So, is standard recomp the answer for me? Or should I just work on losing another five pounds? If it helps for reference, here’s a current photo of myself:

vitolicious

Lifting for 3 days plus 3 days of cardio you will still be below your tdee so you will lose fat slowly. And with the weight lifting you will at least keep the muscle you have....this will slowly help you to be less "squishy." You look good and now just need to be patient and keep at it.

SunofaBeach14

Personally, I think you look great. We can always find a way to criticize ourselves so be careful with that. That said, recomp is probably the way to go if you're looking to progress from where you are. What does your lifting program look like?

meluhneekay

Personally, I think you look great. We can always find a way to criticize ourselves so be careful with that. That said, recomp is probably the way to go if you're looking to progress from where you are. What does your lifting program look like?

I'm currently only doing body weight training and lifting with dumbbells at home. I do 8 sets of 20 sec. on with 10 sec. off for each exercise I do. I don't know if it's considered working to failure, but say during my first set of lateral raises, I can bang out 12 reps, but by my 8th set I can only manage 4. I do the same style of sets for my legs. I spend 40 minutes on my arms and 40 on my legs, and maybe 15 minutes focusing only on my core, if that (because that *kitten* hurts, tbh). I use fitness blender videos as my guide (they call it "tabata"). I know that not increasing my weight = not increasing my strength, but I'm okay with that. I mean I'm not against getting stronger, that would be awesome, but I'm more interested in looking less jiggly. I'm not saying my way of thinking is right, I'm just letting you know that that's where my head is at right now (and yes, I do have some body image issues so I try really hard to keep that in mind/remind myself that maybe others see me differently than I do).

I figure I'd get better results with a true lifting plan; I've looked into strong lifts and NROLFW but the trouble is that I'm living paycheck to paycheck at the moment and genuinely cannot afford a membership to a gym or even my local YMCA (unfortunately the community college I go to doesn't have a fitness center). My hope is that once I get my financial aid refund for the fall semester I'll have enough left over to be able to afford a membership. But in the meantime, I'm working with what I've got. I figure it's better than nothing...right?

SunofaBeach14

Personally, I think you look great. We can always find a way to criticize ourselves so be careful with that. That said, recomp is probably the way to go if you're looking to progress from where you are. What does your lifting program look like?

I'm currently only doing body weight training and lifting with dumbbells at home. I do 8 sets of 20 sec. on with 10 sec. off for each exercise I do. I don't know if it's considered working to failure, but say during my first set of lateral raises, I can bang out 12 reps, but by my 8th set I can only manage 4. I do the same style of sets for my legs. I spend 40 minutes on my arms and 40 on my legs, and maybe 15 minutes focusing only on my core, if that (because that *kitten* hurts, tbh). I use fitness blender videos as my guide (they call it "tabata"). I know that not increasing my weight = not increasing my strength, but I'm okay with that. I mean I'm not against getting stronger, that would be awesome, but I'm more interested in looking less jiggly. I'm not saying my way of thinking is right, I'm just letting you know that that's where my head is at right now (and yes, I do have some body image issues so I try really hard to keep that in mind/remind myself that maybe others see me differently than I do).

I figure I'd get better results with a true lifting plan; I've looked into strong lifts and NROLFW but the trouble is that I'm living paycheck to paycheck at the moment and genuinely cannot afford a membership to a gym or even my local YMCA (unfortunately the community college I go to doesn't have a fitness center). My hope is that once I get my financial aid refund for the fall semester I'll have enough left over to be able to afford a membership. But in the meantime, I'm working with what I've got. I figure it's better than nothing...right?

When you can, get on a barbell program, but in the meantime change your mental approach slightly and work on getting stronger with what you have. If you get stronger then you will change your body comp and will get less jiggly.

meluhneekay

When you can, get on a barbell program, but in the meantime change your mental approach slightly and work on getting stronger with what you have. If you get stronger then you will change your body comp and will get less jiggly.

Thanks. I'm gonna work on this. I think that my biggest problem is that I KNOW what it is I need to be doing, but I get myself all anxious over whether or not it will work, fearing that I'll do the wrong thing and end up back at square one. I definitely need to work on my mentality. Perhaps stay away from the scale for a little while, focus more on how I feel physically vs. how I look, etc. Thanks for taking the time to help.

SunofaBeach14

When you can, get on a barbell program, but in the meantime change your mental approach slightly and work on getting stronger with what you have. If you get stronger then you will change your body comp and will get less jiggly.

Thanks. I'm gonna work on this. I think that my biggest problem is that I KNOW what it is I need to be doing, but I get myself all anxious over whether or not it will work, fearing that I'll do the wrong thing and end up back at square one. I definitely need to work on my mentality. Perhaps stay away from the scale for a little while, focus more on how I feel physically vs. how I look, etc. Thanks for taking the time to help.

No worries at all. The mental game is the hardest for many of us. Just make sure to keep your internal monologue positive. Work towards your goals and challenge yourself, but don't forget to pay yourself in the back. Good luck!

PapaverSomniferum

I don't have anything to add except that my body looks a LOT like yours, OP, and I'm struggling with the same questions.

Starting last week, I'm using weight machines in the gym (mostly because my starting strength is still too low to really work with the bar....yet) 4 times a week, lifting "high" weights on low reps, with VERY light cardio 1-3 times a week on my "rest days". I also increased calories from 1200 to 1500, net and am having anxiety that i'm going to put on weight in fat, since I'm short and 1500 is well above my TDEE.

but i'm determined to stick with it. this "skinny fat" iv'e hit now that i'm close to my previous "goal weight" was/is really disappointing.

We can do this! It just takes consistency, patience, and determination.

meluhneekay

I don't have anything to add except that my body looks a LOT like yours, OP, and I'm struggling with the same questions.

Starting last week, I'm using weight machines in the gym (mostly because my starting strength is still too low to really work with the bar....yet) 4 times a week, lifting "high" weights on low reps, with VERY light cardio 1-3 times a week on my "rest days". I also increased calories from 1200 to 1500, net and am having anxiety that i'm going to put on weight in fat, since I'm short and 1500 is well above my TDEE.

but i'm determined to stick with it. this "skinny fat" iv'e hit now that i'm close to my previous "goal weight" was/is really disappointing.

We can do this! It just takes consistency, patience, and determination.

Hey! Nice to hear from someone else in the same boat. Yes, bumping the calories up so much is pretty anxiety-inducing for me too, but I'm keeping the faith. From what I've read, this is going to be a pretty long process, so patience is the key. We can do it, though. Go us!

gemmamummy

Is there anyway you could get a barbell and weights on ebay? You could start doing a programme at home perhaps. I defo defo don't think you need to lose anymore weight, if you can start lifting heavy you will see a change in your body through muscle definition.

Linnaea27

Sounds a lot like what I've been thinking about! You even look very much like how I look, at 5'1" 103-104 lbs. I similarly have a bit more "squish" in places than I would ideally prefer, but I got down to 102 in the first 3 weeks of trying to maintain, as my maintenance calories are higher than MFP's estimate. At that size, my body fat was visibly less and I liked how I looked, but my hormones started doing some weird things and I decided that was too light for me. I imagine I could have slowly adjusted to that low of a body fat percentage hormone-wise, but I didn't really want to deal with the hormonal issues I started having. So I gained a little--I think the 1-2 lbs is mostly fat, which is not ideal but certainly helped my hormones get back to normal.

What I'm planning to do is start strength training more. Even with that slight layer of body fat, like you and I both have, increased muscle is going to show. If you don't lose any more body fat, you won't have visible 6-pack abs certainly, but I think everything will look more defined and muscly if you increase your strength work. I know that when I was doing more weight training, I had more defined muscles even when I was still a little heavier than I am now. I got terribly bored of the weight training and stopped, and I think I looked nicer with more muscle so I'm going to start again!

I don't think you need to lose 5 more pounds. You might also find yourself liking how you looked (maybe; maybe you would just look too thin) but having hormone problems like I did. It's time for us both to start building muscle!

I don't know how you feel about heavy lifting in a gym, but I'm not planning to do that (mostly because I don't live near a gym and I much prefer being outdoors, so I would have trouble sticking to gym training even if I had easy access to one), and will be either getting an adjustable kettlebell or starting some bodyweight strength programs. . . barbell work in a gym is not the only way to build strength and muscle, though it does seem to be the best way to get very very strong and build large amounts of muscle.