Lost weight but gained body FAT! HELP!

[nopainyessgain]

This is my situation: I'm a 165cm 59.7kg east Asian female (BMI 21.6) who is currently in the process of losing weight/fat. I was 65kg around 3 months ago and I have been eating clean and going to the gym almost every day. I mostly do cardio - treadmill, crosstrainer, bike, but I tried to preserve muscle mass so I did intense cardio in short bursts rather than for a long time.

I measured my body fat percentage using my gym's specialised body composition machine and when I was 63kg, I had 31% body fat and 38% muscle. (Not sure what % I was at my highest weight but probably higher) However after losing 3-5kg in about 2 months, I found today that by body fat percentage INCREASED to 32%, and down to 37% muscle! I'm not too bothered about what the numbers are, but just the fact that it increased when I lost weight and should be losing fat worried me a lot, about my health and the aesthetic side of things. I think I look and feel slimmer after losing weight, and my clothes are looser, but my body fat % is almost in the obese category!

I'm happy with my weight now but I would prefer to be slimmer because personal aesthetic preference and also I gained a lot of weight in the past 2 years (I was very skinny 2 years ago - 49kg). I prefer to be the athletic body type with lots of lean muscle because I enjoy track sports like sprinting but I think my genetics predisposes me to the skinny fat body type. My plan now is to do more bodyweight exercises and add more protein to my diet in order to maintain the weight I've lost and reshape my body to have less fat and more muscle, but I feel like I already made an effort to do this so I'm very concerned.

My goal weight is 56/57kg. I'm not bothered about losing more weight until I sort these numbers out though. Please give me any tips and advice to help get the body fat down!!!

[gbullock32]

Those body comp devices are garbage and very inaccurate. Ignore it.

[Clara2105]

I tried to preserve muscle mass so I did intense cardio in short bursts rather than for a long time.

My goal weight is 56/57kg. I'm not bothered about losing more weight until I sort these numbers out though. Please give me any tips and advice to help get the body fat down!!!

As far as I am aware, losing fat is achieved by having a caloric intake lower than your daily expenditure. If you can manage to figure out what your TDEE is, just substract 200 calories or so daily (depends on the rate you'd like your weight loss to be).

As far as preserving muscle mass/creating new muscle mass, I doubt that doing intense cardio in short bursts (HIIT I'm assuming) will build THAT much muscle. Probably some, but I guess not enough to achieve your aesthetic preference. Moreover, it will only work your lower body for the most part (your arms too, but not that much, at least that is what I experienced personally), you would benefit from doing a total body workout .
My advice is to follow a lifting program and start doing weights. Whilst cardio is great and very beneficial for a number of reasons, it isn't what will build you muscles.

[mustafayacoob]

Here are some basic guidelines to start your journey:

1-Eat in a caloric deficit.

2-Do cardio 2–3 per week.

3-Do resistance training 3–5 times per week.

[xsquid99]

Cardio and a calorie deficit is just a recipe for skinny-fat, and as already mentioned you can't get a lean body with muscle without frequent resistance training. You MUST LIFT WEIGHTS (bodyweight isn't going to cut it).

[CommitmentRulz]

I would recommend this guide on weight loss/

Go away SPAMMER.