Being at a low weight but not having much definition around midsection...what do?

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mayamilitia
mayamilitia Posts: 5 Member
in Motivation and Support
I am a 5'5", 26 year old female for reference. I just weighed myself this morning and I hit 119 lbs. Although I've definitely gotten leaner than I was before, I feel like I'm not...lean enough for my weight, if that makes sense? I've always thought my waist in particular would be more defined as I lost more weight, but seeing as how 119 lbs is a pretty low weight already, I'm kinda at a loss of what to do next...don't know if I wanna lose more weight at this point. I think I'm what they call 'skinny fat', and I know weight training is the answer to that problem, and I've been doing youtube exercises with a kettlebell as I have no access to a gym at the moment, dont know if that is as effective as the equipment at the gym but that's all I've got 🤣

Has anyone been in this situation? What exercises or changes will help in my case?

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  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    Oh and here is list of programs. There are bodyweight ones in there.

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

    If you can maybe picking up some resistance bands can help in the meantime especially I find them helpful in addition to any weight that you have (kettlebells, dumbbells etc)
  • mayamilitia
    mayamilitia Posts: 5 Member
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    Thank you so much for the insight! Yeah, I look almost exactly like you in the before pic. Should I reduce the amount of cardio I do and do more resistance training then? How many times a week should I do resistance? And how long did it take for you to recomp to the after pic? I did forget to mention that I do have some mini resistance bands haha
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    There's nothing wrong with some cardio but that won't really help you in terms of muscle building. You really want to put your focus on resistance or lifting. And make sure you can keep up with eating enough calories to maintain.

    I would follow a program it will tell you how many times to train. Usually it's 3x per week if you are doing full body. For example Strong Curves had a bodyweight program that follows that and the bands and kettlebells can be incorporated into that program for sure.

    Well there is about 4 years between those photos and I actually didn't recomp but gained then cut, and repeated. But I did see significant changes after about 4-6 months of lifting.

    I recently ran a very short term recomp (6 months) I lost an inch on my waist, grew a bit in the legs and glutes. The results weren't as striking but I definitely made progress.

    It definitely take time so patience is key.

  • Manga23
    Manga23 Posts: 47 Member
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    Here the same........make sure you eat enough and lift like @sardelsa said. Cardio isn't the answer.....although I take spinning class for condition and training my legs as I like to go on my racebike once in awhile for long distances 😁
  • BIG_FN_R0B
    BIG_FN_R0B Posts: 1,748 Member
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    Kettlebell swing and power yoga builds a strong core in my opinion.

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