Why am i losing weight but still have fat on me?

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hi I’m 18, female and currently 165cm/ 50.5kg. Ive been losing weight for a while now but i still have high body fat. When i look at people the same weight/height as me they look much more leaner than me. I dont know what to do. I walk 5-10k steps a day and get my proteins in, yet im still fat

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  • age_is_just_a_number
    age_is_just_a_number Posts: 1,108 Member

    Your BMI is 18.5, which is the very bottom of normal.

    I don't believe you have excessive fat on you. What you might be seeing is skin.

    You might also not be seeing yourself in the same light as you see others. By this I mean, you are more critical of your own body than you are other people’s bodies. To this I say “stop comparing yourself to others”. I know it is very easy got me to say and very difficult for you to actually do it.

    In terms of you wanting to appear leaner, my recommendation is to gain muscle by incorporating strength/weight/resistance exercise at least three times a week. Your weight will increase, but the muscle will give your body more shape. This will take many months.

  • briscogun
    briscogun Posts: 1,208 Member

    What Ann said 😉

    But seriously, sometimes when people lose weight, if they don't have any muscles underneath or haven't toned up, you can have the "skinny fat" look. Your weight is good, but there's not much to look at in the mirror, just a soft flabby kind of look.

    As Ann said, without a pic we are all just guessing. A strength training program might be an option to help with how you see yourself?

  • jillybeansalad
    jillybeansalad Posts: 241 Member

    You're in a perfect place to encorporate some weight training. Not only will it help shape your body, it will help with bone density in the long term.

    But, I agree with those above. It's likely you have some distorted view of your own body. Sadly, this is common and only seems to be more common with social media.

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 9,826 Member

    knowing what I know now, 45 years later, I would go back in time and tell my underweight self to do some weight and core training, for many reasons.

    The confidence it’s given me, taking it up as a senior, well, imagine the confidence it would have given my younger self. Confidence, versus looking good would have been more important at that age than the looking good.

    The looking good part, too. That never hurts.

    The health benefits to my future self. Staying in motion might have staved off joint pain, would certainly have helped with pre-osteoporosis. (Lifting as a senior has taken me out of the pre category. What if I’d done it younger?!!!)

    The very real possibility of paying more attention to myself younger would have probably have prevented me from the slow slide into overweight (and the much faster skid into obesity)

    I would have been able to do more with my kids, have had more pride my appearance after having them. I see now I devolved into something of a rebellious slob, because I was so ashamed of my appearance.

    I would have also been more invested in nutrition and feeding my family well. Now, I’m horrified at what I “did” to them.

    Nothing elaborate, maybe, but incorporating weights and core of any kind at the time would have been life pre-changing.

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 9,826 Member
    edited July 22

    short version, losing weight does not equate to building muscle.

    At 18, my ribs showed from being underweight, and I could span my waist with my fingertips touching. I ate like a horse. I was thin as a rail, and about as un-muscular as you could ever visualize, other than maybe back muscles from carrying a 45 pound harness of metal bells in marching band lol.