Is it possible to go from thick to thinner??????

[thicknproud]

Ok so reading the threads on here I think i'm one of the unlucky ones. I was always told that when you have fat it is easier to build muscle because I am able to sculpt my body by shedding layers. Opposed to someone skinny who has a harder time in gaining weight. I already have the foundation (meaning I have a great shape to work with) however the past 3 months i've been working out I've lost only 10 lbs. Previously 185 and now 175. Get this guys. I've lost massive inches mostly off my waist. When people see me they say "wow you lost like a ton of weight. You look like you lost 20 lbs". But that's not it. I'm losing inches. Is this normal. I have not seen a difference with respects to definition and I may be jumping the gun but i've never seen a chick go from fat or thick to fit. I always see skinny chicks tryna bulk up or tone which I find more easier cause they have less fat. Is it possible to go from thick to slim????My issue is not losing the weight because I can lose weight. I want to lose weight and at the same time build muscle (is this possible?) because my body type is for body building anyway not model or figurine. and if I lose too much too fast imma get flabbier or imma loose my assets. My ass. LOL no but seriously I dont look 175 and i'm 5'5 people are amazed and ask me where I store it and when I do get small they tell me it doesn't suit me. I guess my question is how do I sculpt and transform. I know a part of it may be my diet. I eat clean but from reading the threads I noticed lingo like macro and calarie ratio's I do not understand these terms. My diet is as follows:

breakfast (pre-workout meal)
oatmeal with a scoop of protien

workout

protien shake with glutamine and peanut butter

meal 2
5 eggs, 2 full eggs, 3 egg whites
1 cup of green vegetables steamed
Activia Yogurt or half a cup of cottage cheese

meal 3
peanut butter (all natural) protien shake

meal 4
raw spinach salad with green bell peppers, onion/garlic and parsley
chicken or steak or sardines

cardio

meal 5
Peanut butter (all natural) protien shake w/ glutamine

meal 6
raw spinach salad with onion/garlic and parsley
salmon

I also have sweet potatoe or rice incorporated into 1 mean everyother day.
I drink 1 1/2 litre of water and working on drinking 2-3 per day.
I also take a multi-vitamin and greens plus.

I do not count my calories, i'm not sure how is there something i am doing wrong please let me know I am encouraging all kinds of feedback.

[eglionz]

I wouldn't be worried, if you are losing inches then you are making progress. The number on the scale may be misleading because you are gaining muscle while also losing fat. I'd focus on measurements, how clothing fits etc rather than the number on the scale.

I don't like to count calories either, just watch your consumption of calorie dense foods like the peanut butter since it can add up very quickly.

There are some good female transformations in the main bb.com areas btw if you want to see larger women who were successful at weight loss, I really like that area because you can see what they were eating and how they were training.

Edit: Oh and don't get discouraged or give up, if you look at people's profiles many of the women here with bangin' bods have been working at it for years.

[thicknproud]

Thanks a lot for your feedback

[freebirdmac]

What you are doing is gaining/retaining muscle while losing body fat. Exactly what you want to be doing. It ain't broke so don't fix it! You don't need to count cals or worry about macros since your diet already has enough protein and seems balanced. You may need to later on when you're trying to shed those last few pounds, but don't worry about it now. What you have learned is that scale weight means nothing! Losing weight should only be about losing body fat. Not muscle or water. That's why the inches come off and the scale barely moves.

As for body type, it's far more than skinny versus thick. In general an overweight person will have more muscle mass than a skinny person. That gives the overweight person an advantage as one can lose fat faster than one can gain muscle. Plus it's muscle mass that determines your metabolic rate. More muscle = faster metabolic rate = more food is required. So an overweight person can actually make a transformation much faster than a skinny person. Beyond that, some people can gain muscle easier than others and some people lose muscle mass faster than others. Size isn't a determining factor. Genetics is. One thing to eliminate is the idea that one is gaining muscle quickly when it's just muscle pump. You'll see people who say "I gain muscle so easily" while the rest of us sit back and roll our eyes. They get a a good pump going but that is not the same as adding on dry muscle.

As someone who has worked to get into shape from both sides of the "ideal weight" fence, doing it from the overweight side is far easier as there was more muscle present to start off with.

[thicknproud]

Thanks much for your feedback. I guess I was getting a little discouraged. I'm not sure if i'm genetically inclined to gaining or holding on to muscle. I do know I have a lot of fat especially on my thighs and genetically that's the way it is. You see these "body for life" transformations and they are so unrealistic the results they get in 3 months. I mean they go from one extreme to another. They must be on juice. My trainer told me "you can get to where you want in 6 months" (he was on juice) But I know it takes years. My schools business office has a receptionist that told me everytime she had a baby it took her 3 years to get her body back in shape to competition standards. I guess i'm afraid I won't reach my goal and everything will be in vain. "Patience is a virtue seldom found in most women"


One more question:

What do you do to stay motivated when you feel like giving up?????

[Jrzimmer]

I have the same problem. My weight has always been pretty high even though I would be really skinny. The guy at the gym that takes my measurements now said something about having dense bones....don't know how accurate that is, but it sounds probable. I still weight myself often but I'm getting to know my body better so I take the number into consideration but don't base everything on it. I have my weight goal and my measurement goal. Best of luck!

[freebirdmac]

Thanks much for your feedback. I guess I was getting a little discouraged. I'm not sure if i'm genetically inclined to gaining or holding on to muscle. I do know I have a lot of fat especially on my thighs and genetically that's the way it is. You see these "body for life" transformations and they are so unrealistic the results they get in 3 months. I mean they go from one extreme to another. They must be on juice. My trainer told me "you can get to where you want in 6 months" (he was on juice) But I know it takes years. My schools business office has a receptionist that told me everytime she had a baby it took her 3 years to get her body back in shape to competition standards. I guess i'm afraid I won't reach my goal and everything will be in vain. "Patience is a virtue seldom found in most women"


One more question:

What do you do to stay motivated when you feel like giving up?????

"I've lost massive inches mostly off my waist." That should stop you from even thinking of giving up. Your body is losing fat! Exactly what you want. The legs are too but it's slower to see the progress as that's where you hold more fat and also because it's where you keep looking. You're not alone there The deep end of the pool doesn't look much different until the shallow end is pretty empty. That's how it is with our upper and lower bodies. But you are losing lower body fat just like you're losing upper body fat. The smaller but looks the same will changeover. Keep at it!

And you're right about some of the staged transformations. They use experienced bodybuilders going from a bulk to a cut.

Have you taken any progress picts?

[thicknproud]

Yes I have taken progress pics. I think I took them too soon. Have not really seen much change but thats ok Imma still do what i'm doing because I am determined to reach my goal. I think I need to increase my cardio to 45 minutes 3 or 4 days a week. Is it true that too much cardio burns muscle????

[freebirdmac]

Too much cardio can mess you up in many ways. A better approach would be to pick one of the free calorie tracking sites and see how your cals and macros fall out for a week. Whenever something isn't working, it's almost always diet related. This doesn't mean you're doomed to forever track your diet. A week of typical eating should point out where you need to make changes. A tweak here and there, and then you can ignore tracking again. Some can do this instinctively. Others like me need the tracking to plan meals out better and not under/over eat. I'd definitely do this before adding more cardio.

[thicknproud]

Ok, thanks could you give me the website, I would really appreciate it.

[freebirdmac]

I use http://www.fitday.com, others prefer http://www.nutridiary.com/ or http://www.thedailyplate.com/ or http://www.sparkpeople.com/.

Keep taking progress picts and try to use the same clothes, poses, lighting, distance from the camera, etc. You'd like everything to be the same especially the scale so you can make a direct comparison. You can even look at the picts upside down for a more objective view. A lot of times we look the same, but we're smaller! It's a psychological hurdle at times, but smaller is the right direction.

[thicknproud]

thank you so much for the sights and your knowledge. Imma start taking pics again. I upload them on my computer every month but I didnt do any recently. Imma also start taking measurments. I havent taken any yet and maybe that will be a bit more accurate.

[TinaBee]

Ok so reading the threads on here I think i'm one of the unlucky ones. I was always told that when you have fat it is easier to build muscle because I am able to sculpt my body by shedding layers. Opposed to someone skinny who has a harder time in gaining weight. I already have the foundation (meaning I have a great shape to work with) however the past 3 months i've been working out I've lost only 10 lbs. Previously 185 and now 175. Get this guys. I've lost massive inches mostly off my waist. When people see me they say "wow you lost like a ton of weight. You look like you lost 20 lbs". But that's not it. I'm losing inches. Is this normal. I have not seen a difference with respects to definition and I may be jumping the gun but i've never seen a chick go from fat or thick to fit. I always see skinny chicks tryna bulk up or tone which I find more easier cause they have less fat. Is it possible to go from thick to slim????My issue is not losing the weight because I can lose weight. I want to lose weight and at the same time build muscle (is this possible?) because my body type is for body building anyway not model or figurine. and if I lose too much too fast imma get flabbier or imma loose my assets. My ass. LOL no but seriously I dont look 175 and i'm 5'5 people are amazed and ask me where I store it and when I do get small they tell me it doesn't suit me. I guess my question is how do I sculpt and transform. I know a part of it may be my diet. I eat clean but from reading the threads I noticed lingo like macro and calarie ratio's I do not understand these terms. My diet is as follows:

It sounds like you are doing exactly what you want to be doing, you are loosing fat and gaining muscle

muscle weighs more then fat by volume so in 3 months you could have in theory lost 20lbs of fat, and gained 10lbs of muscle= 10lbs of weight lost BUT looking a lot smaller because the 10lbs of muscles takes up a lot less space then the fat.

You might want to try tracking your body fat %

[hmotb555]

Hey I am just like you! I am coming from the thicker side...I have never been obese but I am not petite either. I feel what you say when you see the inches dropping and you look fantastic but the pounds seem to fall off slowly. Just keep doing what you're doing...we're not going to get petite but we can still look fit with our body type

[eglionz]

One more question:

What do you do to stay motivated when you feel like giving up?????

For every two weeks that I stick to eating clean and going to the gym (only exception are my once a week cheat meals) I buy a cute dress. :P Lame but it works for me. ^^

[zombieang]

One more question:

What do you do to stay motivated when you feel like giving up?????

I keep a couple editions of Muscle Development in my spare room with my weights and equipment. I hang up pictures of women bodybuilders I admire and I use those as motivation when I walk into the room. Looking at the pictures and seeing that I am growing keeps me motivated.