View Full Version : Weird squishiness
I've read Lyle's article a dozen times already but my situation doesn't make sense when I compare the article to it. I've been cutting for a few months and in the last 2 weeks I've felt a weird softness in my lower stomach, lower back and sides. It's alright when I wake up in the morning but within an hour or two it becomes squishy and it's even more squishy after I workout. Is this squishy fat or something else? I'm down to my last 1.5 months of cutting which would correlate with Lyle's article, but I'm not sure. I have forearm and upper arm definition, upper ab can be felt easily and pec definition. Am I missing something here?What remaining fat there is feels like oval balls and tendon like material when I run my fingers through looser sections. My side are just so soft it's disgusting.
Macros as follows: 175+ p/ 60+ f/ 90-175 c
Lifting 5-6 days with long hard core cardio on 3x a week with light cardio on other days. Water intake is anywhere from 1 to 1.5 gallons of water, sodium and potassium intake are within relative levels. I'd managed to lose about 10 lb a month until last month without losing any lbm but backed it to 8 lb last month for muscle preservation. So is this squishy fat or something else? It does feel like water is in there but I just can't be certain. Like I can press in a little and feel my hips or muscle, it wasn't like this a month ago or before.
Dantesjoe
09-28-2011, 02:34 PM
I've read Lyle's article a dozen times already but my situation doesn't make sense when I compare the article to it. I've been cutting for a few months and in the last 2 weeks I've felt a weird softness in my lower stomach, lower back and sides. It's alright when I wake up in the morning but within an hour or two it becomes squishy and it's even more squishy after I workout. Is this squishy fat or something else? I'm down to my last 1.5 months of cutting which would correlate with Lyle's article, but I'm not sure. I have forearm and upper arm definition, upper ab can be felt easily and pec definition. Am I missing something here?What remaining fat there is feels like oval balls and tendon like material when I run my fingers through looser sections. My side are just so soft it's disgusting.
Interesting; I just posted something about this on Reddit last night. Didn't get much of a response. See what you think though. *Apparently I am not allowed to post links yet. So you'll have to reconstruct this; just remove spaces.
www .reddit.com/r/keto/comments/ktsh1/anybody_else_notice_this_mostly_for_men/
I admit it wasn't the most well written piece. Though I think because you are loosing fat behind your abs around your organs this loosens the skin in yours abdomen and just kind of allows the remaining fat more room to feel bouncy. Which makes you feel like you are now more fat on your belly despite seeing an overall shrink in the area.
My thoughts are that the skin is going to tighten up eventually but that you'll just have to deal in the meantime.
Don't take my word for it; I don't back this by anything other than simple applied logic. Looser skin + slightly broken down fat = softer looser feeling fat.
tjwoody
10-11-2011, 11:35 AM
I just commented how my fat was feeling different too. More mushy is the best way I can describe it.
Visceral fat is gone, the fat I'm describing is sitting on my ab, but at the bottom with at most an eighth inch at the top. It'll feel normal but will then go super squishy later at night, I don't get it. I understand the mechanics of weight loss in this regard, but shouldn't fat cells mobilize after I'm done working out while blood flow is at prime levels? I haven't experienced any loose skin, which comes to no surprise because I didn't back when I did this in hs. Would potassium/sodium levels also contribute to this in ADDITION to cell mobilization?
tjwoody
10-11-2011, 05:26 PM
well im talking about my everywhere fat. :P
In that case I can't comment. What remaining fat is the area I described. I don't want to plan out a carb day (see: http://www.leangains.com/2010/01/how-to-deal-with-water-retention-part.html) so I'll just wait until it drops on its own. It comes and goes. I know for a fact I dropped weight since last week because I can see massive changes in my face and the increasing vascularity in my hands and lower legs, but the scale remains the same. Weight loss isn't "linear", but in a way it is. Cell depletion and the incoming water storage will cause the individual to retroactively assume they're not losing weight.
SebLean
10-21-2011, 05:28 PM
I just commented how my fat was feeling different too. More mushy is the best way I can describe it.
I have the same feeling, starting a couple weeks ago. I'm "mushier". Don't have a clue....
pattdogg
10-26-2011, 12:27 AM
I found this the other day, I was actually heaps pissed thinking that I put on fat even though I was easily in a deficit all week, but this makes some sense now.
I found this the other day, I was actually heaps pissed thinking that I put on fat even though I was easily in a deficit all week, but this makes some sense now.
I'm currently experiencing it. Just keep doing what you're doing and one day you'll wake up to find yourself many kilos lighter. My biggest whoosh was 3.7 kg in one night.
falldown09
10-27-2011, 05:58 AM
I've read Lyle's article a dozen times already but my situation doesn't make sense when I compare the article to it. I've been cutting for a few months and in the last 2 weeks I've felt a weird softness in my lower stomach, lower back and sides. It's alright when I wake up in the morning but within an hour or two it becomes squishy and it's even more squishy after I workout. Is this squishy fat or something else? I'm down to my last 1.5 months of cutting which would correlate with Lyle's article, but I'm not sure. I have forearm and upper arm definition, upper ab can be felt easily and pec definition. Am I missing something here?What remaining fat there is feels like oval balls and tendon like material when I run my fingers through looser sections. My side are just so soft it's disgusting.
Macros as follows: 175+ p/ 60+ f/ 90-175 c
Lifting 5-6 days with long hard core cardio on 3x a week with light cardio on other days. Water intake is anywhere from 1 to 1.5 gallons of water, sodium and potassium intake are within relative levels. I'd managed to lose about 10 lb a month until last month without losing any lbm but backed it to 8 lb last month for muscle preservation. So is this squishy fat or something else? It does feel like water is in there but I just can't be certain. Like I can press in a little and feel my hips or muscle, it wasn't like this a month ago or before.
OP do you know your current bodyfat % by any chance. They say you really shouldn't have to stress too much about squishy loose adipose tissue or loose skin till you're well within the single digits of body fat. If you're already sub 9-10% then I don't know what to tell you. But if you're any higher I wouldn't worry much about it yet. I have a lot of squishy goo fat that I'm working on now. Just keep training hard and be patient.
OP do you know your current bodyfat % by any chance. They say you really shouldn't have to stress too much about squishy loose adipose tissue or loose skin till you're well within the single digits of body fat. If you're already sub 9-10% then I don't know what to tell you. But if you're any higher I wouldn't worry much about it yet. I have a lot of squishy goo fat that I'm working on now. Just keep training hard and be patient.
It happens at any range. I'm in the mid teens, but I haven't lost more than 1 lb in the last 2 weeks which isn't true. I've notice changes in my extremities, but I've also noticed I'm retaining water. There are a lot of reasons this happens, you just need to wait it out. I don't believe in plateaus, they're easily explained with the science provided, such as the link I posted earlier in the thread. They're the lazy person's excuse.
Besides, I already came to the realization it was squishy fat if you read all the way through. :p I dropped about 4 lb in one night a week after making that post.