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

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
Best Answer
-
So you are 18F, 165cm and 50.5kg. For other USA-ians like me, that's about 5'5" and 111 pounds, a BMI right on the border of underweight, technically - BMI 18.5. BMI isn't gospel, but it gives us a hint where things probably stand.
I have a hard time believing you have high body fat, honestly, and I'm saying that as a woman of almost exactly your height myself. I can understand that you may not be fully satisfied with how your body looks. Many women aren't.
There are several possibilities here, and it's hard to evaluate what's most likely without a photo.
For one, we're supposed to have some body fat. It's unhealthy to have too little, especially for women.
It's possible that your body hasn't reached full maturity yet, at age 18. That may be relevant, because our bodies change shape as we mature . . . even after we reach full adult height.
I'd also say that the image put out by online influencers about what women should look like is seriously distorted.
My best advice to you to put yourself on a path toward lifelong thriving would be not to lose weight, but to eat nutritiously and do progressive strength training to add some shapely muscle to your body. As you do that, you might even need to add a bit of weight to get the look that's generally considered most attractive these days, because a pound of muscle is more compact than a pound of fat, so a person with more muscle looks leaner.
If you stay at steady or even slightly increased weight, and strength train faithfully, you will gradually use some of your existing body fat to build muscle, and will therefore look leaner. You won't get "bulky": That requires illegal performance enhancing drugs and years of work, typically - not a thing that happens overnight by accident.
Strength training and nutrition is how any of the fit, lean online influencers have built the body they're showing online now, even if they lie and tell you they did it with the special program they're selling. On top of that, many/most of them have used professional photographers and editing tricks to look the way they do in photos and videos. Don't fall for their high-priced nonsense. They only profit if you don't succeed in your body goals, but instead keep desperately paying for their unproductive advice over and over.
Get on a better path. It will take time and patience, but at your age and stage strength training is a more productive route to a fit attractive body and attractive, thriving good health.
Best wishes!
11
Answers
-
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.
2 -
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?
2 -
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.
3 -
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.
0 -
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.
0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 396.7K Introduce Yourself
- 44.2K Getting Started
- 260.8K Health and Weight Loss
- 176.3K Food and Nutrition
- 47.6K Recipes
- 232.8K Fitness and Exercise
- 450 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.7K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153.3K Motivation and Support
- 8.3K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.5K Chit-Chat
- 2.6K Fun and Games
- 4.5K MyFitnessPal Information
- 16 News and Announcements
- 18 MyFitnessPal Academy
- 1.4K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 3.1K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions