Slump. Unhealthy goals or inaccurate BMI?

alysonleah
alysonleah Posts: 23 Member
edited September 25 in Health and Weight Loss
My BMI is currently a healthy 18.9 and I weight 117 pounds and I am 5'6" tall. I'm happy with that, but my butt and thighs still look...chubby compared to my small upper body. My butt is is huge compared to everything else on me and I hate it. (I think I would have to include pictures to really show this)

When I had a personal training session my trainer just said to do cardio to lose fat in those areas. But if I lose more than 4 pounds I'll be "underweight" according to BMI. I'm pretty sure it's more than 4 pounds I need to lose in that area though..

My hypothesis is that I only weigh so little because I have like no muscle. Is that possible? XD

Replies

  • RedHotRunner
    RedHotRunner Posts: 850 Member
    My hypothis is you might have an unhealthy body image. I'm 5'6 1/2 and weigh 130ish and i'm a distance runner. so pretty lean for my height.

    If I weighed 117, I wouldn't have the strength to complete my races.

    I'd talk to my doctor if I were you and get his opinion.
  • jms023
    jms023 Posts: 37 Member
    BMI is just a number. It is sometimes inaccurate. As long as you eat healthy (and enough) don't worry about it. For instance people who are really muscular (think Arnold Schwarzenegger) have BMIs that put them in the obese category because of all the muscle. If you work out and build muscle you will change your body composition and you may not even end up losing more than 4 pounds.
  • lilawolf
    lilawolf Posts: 1,690 Member
    It is possible. Use skinfold caliper test to determine your body fat percentage and that will give you a better idea if you should lose more weight or not. You can buy one yourself or have it done at a gym. BMI is only a baseline which is completely inaccurate for those with a very low or very high muscle mass.

    http://www.topendsports.com/testing/tests/skinfolds.htm
  • ladyhawk00
    ladyhawk00 Posts: 2,457 Member
    Yes, it's possible. And, not knowing the full details of your trainer, I'd say you're MUCH better off adding strength training to increase lean muscle rather than doing only cardio. Clearly, you don't need to lose more weight, but probably actually need to gain a couple of lbs of muscle WHILE losing a bit of fat in those areas - which requires weight training.

    That said, we're all different shapes and carry weight in different areas - and sometimes there isn't a reasonable way to remove the parts we don't like as much. So, work on weight training to increase your tone and strength (which also increases metabolism), but don't get too hung up on things you may not be able to change much. :flowerforyou:
  • alysonleah
    alysonleah Posts: 23 Member
    My hypothis is you might have an unhealthy body image. I'm 5'6 1/2 and weigh 130ish and i'm a distance runner. so pretty lean for my height.

    If I weighed 117, I wouldn't have the strength to complete my races.

    I'd talk to my doctor if I were you and get his opinion.

    But I think that would be 130 pounds muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat. So I think it would make sense for you to be leaner yet weigh more. I know I'm skinny, but I have a strangely large butt for my weight and I know it isn't muscle. I love my body....except my butt and thighs.

    I definitely think I'm gonna really focus on my strength training. Even if I gain muscle weight, I'll be happy. I'll try to balance my strength and cardio more so I can lose fat without losing weight.

    Thanks for all the replies! :)
  • isabelk
    isabelk Posts: 153 Member
    Try measuring yourself and seeing how that goes with targeted workouts. Also, keep in mind that the mind can and will distort our body images.
  • Caffeinewitch
    Caffeinewitch Posts: 110 Member
    Echoing others, do more strength training. It will tone your butt and thighs far better than a billion hours of cardio.
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