Losing weight but still fat

Lt_Starbuck

Youre definitely lessening your gravitational pull, but that doesnt have anything to do with getting the body you want. Just high intensity cardio and light weights will help you lose weight, but if you want to look good in a swimsuit too - youre going to have to lift heavy. Heavy for YOU not like - go squat 200# tomorrow.

Slowly and smartly beat your personal records by adding a little weigh each week for three weeks and then have a light week and go back to progressing.

THIS is how you make your body. With deadlifts, bench press, overhead press and squats and adding little accessory moves at the end of each one. One Day each. It worked for me.

I lost 80 pounds and got to my original goal weight and I didnt look anything like I thought I would.

Then I started lifting heavy consistently for three months and now Im like HOLY SH-- IS THAT MY BODY??????

-throws scale upon the mountainside-

bcattoes

I don't trust those scales. Go to your local gym and have them measure your body fat %. Or you can purchase a cheap set of calipers from your local sporting goods department and figure it yourself.

But, I agree with the rest. Start lifting weights. What are your measurements from before and after?

Unless you have been trained in how to use calipers, don't waste money buying your own. It's unlikely the reading would be any more accurate than your scale. If you have a gym membership, they may have someone trained in them. If not, your doctor should be able to measure your BF.

jonnythan

Weight training is a beautiful thing.

I wouldn't trust the scales for the body fat reading. I can step on mine 3 different times in a row and get different readings each time.

As inaccurate as they might be, they show progress. If you've lost that much weight and your body fat on the scale hasn't changed much then your body fat hasn't changed much.

If the OP was losing weight without strength training, that's exactly what I'd expect as wel.

now_or_never13

As others have mentioned, start strength training. As you lose weight by eating at a deficit you will lose muscle along the way if you have a deficit too large and are not doing proper weight lifting. You need to start lifting heavy with a smaller deficit so you can retain your muscle.

Depending on how close to your goal you are, you should switch to muscle building mode. Eat at a slight surplus and lift heavy weights. More muscle will burn more fat. More muscle will mean a lower body fat % and therefore a smaller body even if the scale doesn't show losses.

deanadimples

It's not all about the scale on this journey

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/10/07/3-reasons-to-reconsider-stepping-on-the-scale-this-morning/

Francl27

Have you tried Slim in 6 from beachbody? It's mostly strength training. It could help you build up more muscles.

karenhray7

i believe what shes trying to say pertains to her fat % and health wise not loosing pounds... mabey her BMI.... shes lost tons of weight but health wise it still says shes fat.. how can she get her BMI lowered?

BMI is height and weight, period. That's it. Since our height doesn't change much our BMI is a product of our weight and nothing else.

Exactly. This is why BMI is not a great indicator for all people. Those of us who are muscular still end up with a high BMI regardless of how healthy we are.

cedarghost

Incorporate a good progressive loading strength training routine.

^^^
Good advice. Especially if you are new to lifting or have been out of it for a while. Don't just try to jump in and start lifting heavy until you learn good form. A progressive loading program will give you time to do that. But everyone else is right. If you want to change your body composition for the better (and I think that is what you were asking rather than "how do I lose the last 10 pounds), then start lifting.
You don't have to totally forget about the scale, but it shouldn't be your main source of progress. You should measure and track your body fat%.
Hell, your idea weight may be 10 pounds heavier than what you are right now. You will just have to see as you start getting closer to your desired bf%.
How much you weigh really doesn't matter in the big picture as much as how healthy you feel and how you look. Don't get hung up on a scale number.

Boogage

Thanks for your responses, I’ve been reading with interest and will try to answer thoughts and queries )
My weight and BMI are ok for my height now and it is my body fat % that I’m interested in losing as from what I gather it’s more of an indicator of health than BMI and I don’t want to be skinny fat. I haven’t used callipers or anything but I’ve used online calculators where you input measurements and they tend to agree with my scales.

I wouldn’t say it’s impossible that I’ve lost a lot of muscle as well as fat but I find it quite difficult to believe I’ve lost a huge amounts of muscle as I went from sitting on my bum all day doing nothing to exercising and eating good food so I probably didn’t have much muscle to begin with but, who knows? I can definitely feel muscles now that I never knew existed lol

Protein could be part of the issue as I’m a veggie and getting enough is something I’ve recently realised I need to address through further improving my diet.

I’m losing an average of 1.3lbs per week and at the beginning of the year I increased my calories to 1400 a day, carbs - 150, fat - 40, protein - as much as I can get!

I do pretty well with everything apart from protein and fat usually ends up more around 30g a day.

It’s taken me a little while to respond to you all because to be honest I feel a little bit deflated by the news that I need to lift, lift, lift! As although I would love to weight train as I did when I was younger but I’m now not mean’t to lift anything heavier than a kettle full of water due to health problems (

I think for now I will keep on with Jillian Michaels as I do think it is helping build some muscle which hopefully will help burn some of the fat but maybe I need to see some sort of medical professional/physio who can advise me as to what strength training I am able to do safely these days.

I now have a plan so thank you again!

jonnythan

I wouldn’t say it’s impossible that I’ve lost a lot of muscle as well as fat but I find it quite difficult to believe

The only alternative is that the body fat reading you're getting now is reading way, way too high.

It's one or the other.

I lost ~40 pounds one summer. Something like 15 lbs of that was lean mass. It was extremely stupid. My "strength training" consisted of occasional pushups, lunges, and situps to failure and that's it.

I still haven't regained all that lean mass. It's ridiculous.

If you lost >20 lbs without serious weight training, I would expect that half or more of that loss was lean mass.