losing stubborn weight/muscular body type?
akorbel859
Posts: 2 Member
I am 5'4'' and fluctuate around 130-135 pounds depending on many factors, but I would love to dip into the 120's. I have always been super active and muscular as a gymnast, but now am starting to hate that I can look skinny and fit but the scale doesn't show it. I used to have very disordered eating so hearing other people my age and height talk about how much less they weigh is very triggering. so, any tips to lose muscle mass while still eating around 1200cals a day??
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Replies
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Wait is that a typo? You want to lose muscle mass?2
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I do want to lose muscle mass, I have a fairly bulky/athlete body type currently and want to be leaner6
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Okay, the part where you said you had disordered eating? This is an example of that. Please don't try to lose healthy muscle mass for the sake of an arbitrary number.
What you need to do is throw out your scale, and contact a professional for counseling.12 -
akorbel859 wrote: »I am 5'4'' and fluctuate around 130-135 pounds depending on many factors, but I would love to dip into the 120's. I have always been super active and muscular as a gymnast, but now am starting to hate that I can look skinny and fit but the scale doesn't show it. I used to have very disordered eating so hearing other people my age and height talk about how much less they weigh is very triggering. so, any tips to lose muscle mass while still eating around 1200cals a day??
Stop being obsessed with a stupid number on a piece of metal, plastic and wires. Do you like the way you look? That should be what you're basing it on. Those other people probably don't have anywhere near your muscle mass, and probably don't actually look as good as you (especially naked). Do you really want to sacrifice how you look, along with your strength (including bone density), for the sake of a number?
You may not have the disordered eating anymore, but you clearly still have the disordered thinking around weight. Have you thought about talking to a professional about this? I say this as someone with an ED history who also had to overcome caring about what the scale said. Fit, healthy, 134 lb, 5'6" woman who couldn't care less if someone else my height weighs 10 lbs lighter.5 -
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Former gymnast and dancer here, checking in. Not "bulky", can get lean because being muscular is what makes women look awesome and lean and really frigging happy that I can be heavier than other women at the same size because I get to eat more and have so many lower risk factors low muscle and bone mass can bring the older I get.
Your life as an athlete/former athlete is an awesome thing to be embraced and celebrated. Being lean AND heavy is also to be celebrated. If you are unable to do that then yes, you need to seek some help to address that. Losing muscle is a terrible, terrible idea from both an aesthetic and health perspective.8 -
akorbel859 wrote: »I am 5'4'' and fluctuate around 130-135 pounds depending on many factors, but I would love to dip into the 120's. I have always been super active and muscular as a gymnast, but now am starting to hate that I can look skinny and fit but the scale doesn't show it. I used to have very disordered eating so hearing other people my age and height talk about how much less they weigh is very triggering. so, any tips to lose muscle mass while still eating around 1200cals a day??
as others said, this is super disordered. do you have a treatment team from the past you can talk to about this?2 -
After you weigh yourself in the morning do you write the number on your forehead with a sharpie? If not, no one knows or cares what the number on the scale actually says. They see you. If you look fit and healthy (which is a better goal than "skinny"), they really won't care about the number on the scale and neither should you.5
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akorbel859 wrote: »I used to have very disordered eating so hearing other people my age and height talk about how much less they weigh is very triggering. so, any tips to lose muscle mass while still eating around 1200cals a day??
Cut those people out of your life. Get off of the forums where people talk about this.
You do not need to constantly trigger yourself.
Muscle weight is good weight. I get that it's hard to see that higher number -- I'm struggling with that right now, too. (I'm atypical anorexic... I really get it.) But it's better to at least *look* smaller than to weigh less and look like you weigh more. There's another forum I read where someone posted, absolutely upset and baffled -- she was at a higher weight/BMI, but looked *tiny* because she was so muscular. And she hated that scale number -- but people were envious of her figure, and were baffled at how she weighed that much. Because she looked tiny.
As much as you're going to have to convince your brain otherwise, it's better to look small than to have a lower weight with less muscle.
Focus on your other goals instead -- measurements, performance, body fat percentage, etc. But do not be dumb and intentionally try to lose muscle mass just to get that lower number on the scale.
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akorbel859 wrote: »I am 5'4'' and fluctuate around 130-135 pounds depending on many factors, but I would love to dip into the 120's. I have always been super active and muscular as a gymnast, but now am starting to hate that I can look skinny and fit but the scale doesn't show it. I used to have very disordered eating so hearing other people my age and height talk about how much less they weigh is very triggering. so, any tips to lose muscle mass while still eating around 1200cals a day??
Who cares what the scale says. Unless you are writing your weight on your forehead what matters is how you look and how healthy you are. Neither of those is really indicated by weight, but have much more to do with activity levels and body fat percent.
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i want to see photos of the "super muscular" body frame.6
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akorbel859 wrote: »I am 5'4'' and fluctuate around 130-135 pounds depending on many factors, but I would love to dip into the 120's. I have always been super active and muscular as a gymnast, but now am starting to hate that I can look skinny and fit but the scale doesn't show it. I used to have very disordered eating so hearing other people my age and height talk about how much less they weigh is very triggering. so, any tips to lose muscle mass while still eating around 1200cals a day??
I think you should print out what you wrote and take it with you to show to your doctor.
They can then ask you clarifying questions about your thinking, and discuss with you appropriate goals and how to best accomplish them!
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VintageFeline wrote: »Former gymnast and dancer here, checking in. Not "bulky", can get lean because being muscular is what makes women look awesome and lean and really frigging happy that I can be heavier than other women at the same size because I get to eat more and have so many lower risk factors low muscle and bone mass can bring the older I get.
Your life as an athlete/former athlete is an awesome thing to be embraced and celebrated. Being lean AND heavy is also to be celebrated. If you are unable to do that then yes, you need to seek some help to address that. Losing muscle is a terrible, terrible idea from both an aesthetic and health perspective.
Every word of this is true, righteous, even holy. Muscle is health, vitality, thriving in older age. To me, at age 62, the connection between muscle and quality of life is stark truth.
Other women want to be like you; they work and struggle to achieve it. Truly, I hear how this is difficult for you to internalize, and encourage you to consider the experiences and advice of those suggesting conversation with someone empathetic who has expertise in body image issues.4 -
akorbel859 wrote: »I am 5'4'' and fluctuate around 130-135 pounds depending on many factors, but I would love to dip into the 120's. I have always been super active and muscular as a gymnast, but now am starting to hate that I can look skinny and fit but the scale doesn't show it. I used to have very disordered eating so hearing other people my age and height talk about how much less they weigh is very triggering. so, any tips to lose muscle mass while still eating around 1200cals a day??
If you look skinny and fit.. who cares about the scale. Don't talk to people about your weight. Believe me, muscle mass is precious and hard to get back.. don't try to lose it on purpose2
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