The fat isn't coming off the right places, ugh!

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BrittneyT2
BrittneyT2 Posts: 30 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm 5'4" small frame and currently weigh 111 lbs. I'm down a total of 29lbs from my highest weight, so I'm very excited about that! However, now I only have 3 lbs left that I could lose, any more and I'll be in the underweight category. My upper body is now super lean & small, but I still have a LOT of fat on my thighs and I don't know what to do to get rid of it. I don't want to be unhealthy and I'm getting concerned about losing any more weight because my ribs are already showing above my chest and a little below, and it seems like my body wants to drop fat from everywhere except my thighs. Anyone have any suggestions?

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  • Hexahedra
    Hexahedra Posts: 894 Member
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    Are you on ultra low-calorie diet? What kind of exercises do you do and how often?
  • tatd_820
    tatd_820 Posts: 573 Member
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    I think a lot of responses to this would be that you cannot target where you want the fat to come off of. Your body decides that. My ribs are showing at my chest and I could still really lose another 20lbs, yet I still have fat to lose on my legs and arms. Maybe doing some weights would help your thighs? Can't imagine someone weighing 111 would need to lose anymore though! That's pretty tiny.
  • Hexahedra
    Hexahedra Posts: 894 Member
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    I think a lot of responses to this would be that you cannot target where you want the fat to come off of. Your body decides that. My ribs are showing at my chest and I could still really lose another 20lbs, yet I still have fat to lose on my legs and arms. Maybe doing some weights would help your thighs? Can't imagine someone weighing 111 would need to lose anymore though! That's pretty tiny.
    I ask because if you do weight loss using calorie restriction alone and go starvation mode, your body will reduce both muscle and fat, instead of getting rid of the fat first.
  • BrittneyT2
    BrittneyT2 Posts: 30 Member
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    I was eating lower in the beginning, but lately have been eating 1500-1600 a day and usually have a "cheat" meal once or twice a week so my calories are higher on those days.

    I do some sort of exercise 5-6 days a week: Some upper body work with 10lb weights, lower body work with just body weight resistance(squats, leg lifts, etc), crunches, planks, walking, & stationary bike.

    I agree at 111 I shouldn't have fat to lose, but I definitely do! Crazy body type I guess!
  • Hexahedra
    Hexahedra Posts: 894 Member
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    What's your BMR and TDEE?
  • BrittneyT2
    BrittneyT2 Posts: 30 Member
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    BMR= 1280
    TDEE= 1980
  • Querian
    Querian Posts: 419 Member
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    Do you know what your body fat percentage is?
  • Candacecooler
    Candacecooler Posts: 5
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    I still have a ways to go but nothing is coming off by breast. I hope that eventually I lose some in this area. I know, I know most women want ot keep that area but I'm a G cup and would love to drop down to a "D". If anyone has any ideas I'm all ears!
  • Hexahedra
    Hexahedra Posts: 894 Member
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    BMR= 1280
    TDEE= 1980

    At 1600 cals a day you should be good. One more thing to try: supposedly your body burns fat directly when you exercise at 50%-70% heart rate. Figure out what your 70% heart rate is, then try doing cardio at that level to maximize fat loss.
  • Hexahedra
    Hexahedra Posts: 894 Member
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    I still have a ways to go but nothing is coming off by breast. I hope that eventually I lose some in this area. I know, I know most women want ot keep that area but I'm a G cup and would love to drop down to a "D". If anyone has any ideas I'm all ears!

    I didn't think that spot training matters, but ever since my wife avoided intensive chest muscle exercises her breast size has stabilized (as in stopped shrinking). She's a B or C cup depending on bra size. Since you want to go the other way around, perhaps you can try heavy chest exercises.
  • BrittneyT2
    BrittneyT2 Posts: 30 Member
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    I'm not sure how accurate it is, but my scale at home says 23%bf. I'm not sure exactly what it was at the start of this round of losing, but I know at some point in the past it showed over 30%.

    Thanks for the cardio hr tip!
  • Hexahedra
    Hexahedra Posts: 894 Member
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    I'm not sure how accurate it is, but my scale at home says 23%bf. I'm not sure exactly what it was at the start of this round of losing, but I know at some point in the past it showed over 30%.

    Thanks for the cardio hr tip!
    You're welcome.

    The steady 70% cardio can be mind-numbingly boring, but it's easy to do with a HR watch or a machine with integrated HR monitor. If you want to go to the next level, you might want to learn about HIIT (high intensity interval training), also known as Tabata for the professor who first researched it. True to its name, it can be quite intense and tough to do in the beginning. It's supposed to burn even more fat.
  • fuzzymop55
    fuzzymop55 Posts: 70 Member
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    BMR= 1280
    TDEE= 1980

    At 1600 cals a day you should be good. One more thing to try: supposedly your body burns fat directly when you exercise at 50%-70% heart rate. Figure out what your 70% heart rate is, then try doing cardio at that level to maximize fat loss.

    What do you mean about exercising at 50%-70% heart rate ? I have trouble with running because it hurts my knees but I often do high incline fast paced walking on the treadmill and it's rare i get my heart rate above 160.
  • haymancm
    haymancm Posts: 280 Member
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    BMR= 1280
    TDEE= 1980

    At 1600 cals a day you should be good. One more thing to try: supposedly your body burns fat directly when you exercise at 50%-70% heart rate. Figure out what your 70% heart rate is, then try doing cardio at that level to maximize fat loss.

    What do you mean about exercising at 50%-70% heart rate ? I have trouble with running because it hurts my knees but I often do high incline fast paced walking on the treadmill and it's rare i get my heart rate above 160.

    Have you tried one of those low-impact bikes w/ handles to move back and forth...don't know the name of it. It'll give you the heart rate %, but not sure how accurate it would be.
  • RumpusP
    RumpusP Posts: 163 Member
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    BMR= 1280
    TDEE= 1980

    At 1600 cals a day you should be good. One more thing to try: supposedly your body burns fat directly when you exercise at 50%-70% heart rate. Figure out what your 70% heart rate is, then try doing cardio at that level to maximize fat loss.

    What do you mean about exercising at 50%-70% heart rate ? I have trouble with running because it hurts my knees but I often do high incline fast paced walking on the treadmill and it's rare i get my heart rate above 160.

    Simply put, you take your max heart rate and try to keep within that percentage range of it. For someone 26 that range is about 105-145. This of course varies depending on your level of fitness, but at 160 you're quite a ways about the 50-70% zone.

    Not that personally I believe in being too focused on that, but there ya go! :)
  • Hexahedra
    Hexahedra Posts: 894 Member
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    At 1600 cals a day you should be good. One more thing to try: supposedly your body burns fat directly when you exercise at 50%-70% heart rate. Figure out what your 70% heart rate is, then try doing cardio at that level to maximize fat loss.

    What do you mean about exercising at 50%-70% heart rate ? I have trouble with running because it hurts my knees but I often do high incline fast paced walking on the treadmill and it's rare i get my heart rate above 160.

    I'm 38 years old, so my maximum (100%) heart rate is 182 while my 70% is 127. To maximize the percentage of fat burned, I should keep my heart rate around 127 during my exercise.

    Decent cardio machines typically has a HR monitor built in. Unless there's something wrong with the machine, the HR reading should be close enough for this purpose.
  • RumpusP
    RumpusP Posts: 163 Member
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    I'm 5'4" small frame and currently weigh 111 lbs. I'm down a total of 29lbs from my highest weight, so I'm very excited about that! However, now I only have 3 lbs left that I could lose, any more and I'll be in the underweight category. My upper body is now super lean & small, but I still have a LOT of fat on my thighs and I don't know what to do to get rid of it. I don't want to be unhealthy and I'm getting concerned about losing any more weight because my ribs are already showing above my chest and a little below, and it seems like my body wants to drop fat from everywhere except my thighs. Anyone have any suggestions?

    While I get rather sick of the "LIFT HEAVY! LIFT MORE!" chant that seems to be the answer for almost everything here (to include someone the other day being concerned because their body fat was getting worryingly *low*), it's possible that the issue with your thighs is more a muscle tone problem. Try changing up your lower body exercises and adding weights to increase resistance as body weight my no longer be enough of a push now that you've lost 30lbs.
  • Querian
    Querian Posts: 419 Member
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    There are ways of reducing your body fat percentage while maintaining your current weight. You should research how to do that and it will involve more lifting. As you become more muscular your legs should become more pleasing to you.

    Here is a visual of body fat that I posted in y blog recently:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Querian/view/great-visual-from-fit-to-fat-website-508081

    While 23% is a healthy range you can try to reduce maybe to 20% and see if that is making a difference for you.

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