Weight gain has resulted in big increase in waist size!

comptonelizabeth
comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
edited November 15 in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
I started here in September. I'm 5'3 and weighed just under 51 kgs which was ok on the bmi scale but I wasn't happy with how I looked - I felt too thin.
My goal was to reach 60 kgs - I'm now at 57.5. I don't think that's been too fast. Generally I look better but my waist size has gone up by about 2-3 inches and is now beyond what's considered "healthy" for women.
I realise it's probably down to genetics- my older siblings and my mother all have a tendency to gain weight around the middle. I'm also on long term prednisolone which apparently can cause weight gain around the middle.
I'm doing a bodyweight programme and guess it may be time to switch to a lifting programme but my question is,will I have to lose weight and be skinny everywhere else in order to get my stomach back to what it was,or will things eventually redistribute.? I need to make a decision about whether or not to switch to maintenance. Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • 30kgin2017
    30kgin2017 Posts: 228 Member
    As a woman its hard to put on muscle so I am guessing that most of that 6-7kgs is fat, I think if your lucky and follow a good diet and strength program you can put on up to 0.5kg a month so in 4-5 months you have at most gained 2.5kg of muscle but its probably less than that.

    I see a lot of people comment on getting to goal weight and then seeing improvements over time in appearance at the same weight (also know as re composition). Usually they have lost weight but I imagine it would be the same for gainers. If your happy with the rest of your body I would maintain and reevaluate after incorporating lifting for a few months.
  • comptonelizabeth
    comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
    Thank you. Yes I'm sure you're right about it being mostly fat -it's what my mirror tells me and I'm 61 so probably even harder to gain muscle. I'll have a look at the recomp thread
  • jenmek
    jenmek Posts: 61 Member
    You can't target weight loss, but you can target muscle gain. Focus on strength training. You'll be amazed how "cut" you can get. Planks and other ab-focused weight training exercises will help, but don't forget about your upper and lower body. After I lost all my weight, I began weight training and while I did gain muscle, I was well formed in the right places.

    You don't have to settle for a thicker middle. Just rethink your training.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    comptonelizabeth wrote: »
    Thank you. Yes I'm sure you're right about it being mostly fat -it's what my mirror tells me and I'm 61 so probably even harder to gain muscle. I'll have a look at the recomp thread

    I recomp might be a beneficial think. Other than that, you would want to cycle between bulks/cuts.
  • comptonelizabeth
    comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
    psuLemon wrote: »
    comptonelizabeth wrote: »
    Thank you. Yes I'm sure you're right about it being mostly fat -it's what my mirror tells me and I'm 61 so probably even harder to gain muscle. I'll have a look at the recomp thread

    I recomp might be a beneficial think. Other than that, you would want to cycle between bulks/cuts.

    I don't think I have the self discipline for that and hate the way I look when I lose weight! I try for recomp I think. Thank you
  • comptonelizabeth
    comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
    jenmek wrote: »
    You can't target weight loss, but you can target muscle gain. Focus on strength training. You'll be amazed how "cut" you can get. Planks and other ab-focused weight training exercises will help, but don't forget about your upper and lower body. After I lost all my weight, I began weight training and while I did gain muscle, I was well formed in the right places.

    You don't have to settle for a thicker middle. Just rethink your training.

    Thank you, glad there is hope !
  • robininfl
    robininfl Posts: 1,137 Member
    My money is on the prednisone. Cortisone can make it hard to lose weight and easier to gain fat, also can make you retain water, so you may be "puffy" and not as fat as you think. Definitely try to build some muscle, I think you will like the way you look better.
  • comptonelizabeth
    comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
    robininfl wrote: »
    My money is on the prednisone. Cortisone can make it hard to lose weight and easier to gain fat, also can make you retain water, so you may be "puffy" and not as fat as you think. Definitely try to build some muscle, I think you will like the way you look better.

    Yup,it's on the list of side effects.
    I'm going to work on it - looking at starting strong lifts !
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    do you know what body fat % you were when you started bulking?
  • comptonelizabeth
    comptonelizabeth Posts: 1,701 Member
    edited February 2017
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    do you know what body fat % you were when you started bulking?

    Sadly,no. Looking at those comparison pictures I've seen on here,probably around 20%. Now it looks much higher,at least around the middle.

    Edit: hard to tell as there was very little fat around my arms and legs but even then I didn't have a flat stomach
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