I am skinny fat!!!

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I have a scale that can read the % body fat. I was sure that part of my scale was not working because as I lost 15 pounds, I just lost 1% body fat.

This morning I got the realisation that in fact, I lost almost the same proportion of fat then I did muscles!!!! Oh my god I am getting skinny fat!!!!! Thank god I ordered ''the new rules of lifting for women'' and I will hopefully undo the damage I did. That is the proof that only cardio does not work.

Did it happen to you and how long did it take to change course?

Replies

  • mildrenia
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    Yes I feel that is what was happening with me before I payed attention to body fat vs muscle percentage. I had always crash dieted before though, without strength training, due to my belief about women bulking up if they say lifted weights or strength trained (silly, I know). After about 8yrs I am doing weight loss the right way(strength training included), and let me tell you it is taking its toll, after starting over again about 2 months ago. Much effort and persistence and positive attitude it has taken to train my muscles in order to lose fat % but at the same time I have never felt more alive and aware of my body =), will continue to go this path.
  • zoombie_bear
    zoombie_bear Posts: 963 Member
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    my scale the body fat is not working right either, I think the right way is to get measure and pinched. I looked it up on a site and the way to calculate it was depending on your wrist, waist belly and hits, did not sound right to me.

    do tell me how you like your book and if it's worth buying it
  • cervenec
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    I'm going to have to get one of those scales! I fear becoming even more skinny-fat than I already am :(
  • JohnnyStorm
    JohnnyStorm Posts: 43 Member
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    IMHO, If you lost a proportional amount of fat to muscle that is not bad. To me it says that it was 'typical' healthful weight loss. It's very very hard to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. Some people still argue that it is not possible. If you are one of those then you will want to cycle. That is, go heavy on the weights with mild cardio for 4 weeks then switch to higher cardio and less weight training for 4 weeks. If you do this you would expect to see small weight gainsduring your 4 week of heavy lifting which you will then shed again on your weeks of heavier cardio and less lifting. There are a lot of different variations of this and you will be sure to find a variation that fits you best. All the while, you will be concentrating on your diet and how you feel. There may be some fine tuning you will want to do once you get started.
  • cervenec
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    IMHO, If you lost a proportional amount of fat to muscle that is not bad. To me it says that it was 'typical' healthful weight loss. It's very very hard to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. Some people still argue that it is not possible. If you are one of those then you will want to cycle. That is, go heavy on the weights with mild cardio for 4 weeks then switch to higher cardio and less weight training for 4 weeks. If you do this you would expect to see small weight gainsduring your 4 week of heavy lifting which you will then shed again on your weeks of heavier cardio and less lifting. There are a lot of different variations of this and you will be sure to find a variation that fits you best. All the while, you will be concentrating on your diet and how you feel. There may be some fine tuning you will want to do once you get started.

    From what I've seen it's quite easy, and no need for cycling. I tend to do more cardio, but my boyfriend who does 0 cardio and pure lifting was losing ~10 lbs/month while gaining strength and increasing muscle mass at an insane rate. It all depends on your diet.
  • chasidieason
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    I'm actually just getting started so it has not happened to me but I was literally just reading about this in a book that I was recommended by a good friend. It was pretty fascinating and informative, so I thought you might like to check it out:

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1605295493

    It's really cool and has a lot of exercise plans to target specific goals. FYI: The "4 weeks to a leaner, sexier you" is just one chapter and completely not the focus of the book, the way it's worded in the link is misleading. This book is a very good resource!
  • JohnnyStorm
    JohnnyStorm Posts: 43 Member
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    I appreciate that as being true. However, us guys have something called testicles which produce something called testosterone. Women have testosterone as well however they generally do not have testicles and as such they have much less testosterone which is what allows us guys the ablility to grow larger muscles much faster than most ladies. And I'm not saying that it is necessary to cycle. However, cycling your workouts to build muscle is a time proven strategy when done correctly, My main point is that heavy weight training is important to build muscle and you need to have a consistent plan to do that.
  • JohnnyStorm
    JohnnyStorm Posts: 43 Member
    Options
    IMHO, If you lost a proportional amount of fat to muscle that is not bad. To me it says that it was 'typical' healthful weight loss. It's very very hard to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. Some people still argue that it is not possible. If you are one of those then you will want to cycle. That is, go heavy on the weights with mild cardio for 4 weeks then switch to higher cardio and less weight training for 4 weeks. If you do this you would expect to see small weight gainsduring your 4 week of heavy lifting which you will then shed again on your weeks of heavier cardio and less lifting. There are a lot of different variations of this and you will be sure to find a variation that fits you best. All the while, you will be concentrating on your diet and how you feel. There may be some fine tuning you will want to do once you get started.

    From what I've seen it's quite easy, and no need for cycling. I tend to do more cardio, but my boyfriend who does 0 cardio and pure lifting was losing ~10 lbs/month while gaining strength and increasing muscle mass at an insane rate. It all depends on your diet.

    I appreciate that as being true. However, us guys have something called testicles which produce something called testosterone. Women have testosterone as well however they generally do not have testicles and as such they have much less testosterone which is what allows us guys the ablility to grow larger muscles much faster than most ladies. And I'm not saying that it is necessary to cycle. However, cycling your workouts to build muscle is a time proven strategy when done correctly, My main point is that heavy weight training is important to build muscle and you need to have a consistent plan to do that.
  • Thetera
    Thetera Posts: 49 Member
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    yeah i had that problem actually, i was 26% body fat or something like that, but if you just start doing some calisthenics on days when you dont run, and before your runs, you should start seeing that shift towards lower numbers im 19% body fat, i measure it with a handheld bio electric alayser i think its called OMRON HBF something something body fat analyser, they sell it on amazon for 20 to 30 bucks and its very accurate if you use it before eating and drinking, just like the scale it gets thrown off by water weight.
    i started running less too, maybe ten to 20 minutes, just so i can eat more calories. lots of sprints interspersed. remember that if youre too weak to do heavy weight training now, you should try adding medicine balls to regular calisthenic excercises like ab work and leg work.i use Bodyrock.tv, it has a great program and you can do it at home for free or with the stuff at your gym. i dont really lift heavy yet, but im happy with my body fat and weight and the way i look now so i might just stick with moderatley weighted high intensity interval training and half mile runs with sprints. just remember that there are lots of ways to build muscle, heavy weights, body weight, and body weight with explosive movements like jump squats and jump pushups, adding big or medium sized medicine balls to things, so you know that if one thing dosen't work for you for whatever reason, you can still build muscle on your terms.