How to decrease body fat percentage but stay the same weight?
Okay, I'm 5'0 and 94 lbs, and we did this body fat percentage measure in school and it said I'm 22%! That's awful, I wanted to be closer to 18% or so. How do I increase it without losing or gaining A LOT of weight? I want to look SLIMMER. How many calories should I eat, how many should I burn off, what exercise should I do, toning, etc? I eat healthy, eat a lot of protein, eat around 1200 calories, and go on my elliptical every day for about 45 minutes. Why am I 22%? Ugh.
Public Comments
- Muscle is heavier than fat. If you want to stay the same weight and lose fat, I would recommend weightlifting. You will lose fat, build muscle, and stay close to the same weight.
- Do muscle building exercise, and aerobic exercise, and include more vegetables and wholegrains in your diet. Don't worry about looking 'slim'. Everybody has different bodies, and it doesn't matter how thin or large you are as long as it is healthy for your height and age.
- Weight lifting is great for building muscle and the more muscle you have on your body the more calories you will burn so this will turn into lower body fat and keeping the same weight. I use the machines at the gym leg extensions, leg curls, chest press, lats, rows. Swimming, treadmill, exercise bike. I do all of these. My reason for doing all of this is because of a back injury but the result has been less body fat and more muscle.
- First lets get one thing straight; having 22% body fat is not awful, it's optimal for a female. Secondly, to reduce the body fat percentage and not lose weight you need to replace fat with muscle. This means less cardio, more strength training and weight lifting as well as eating lots of protein and more calories.
- You're at 22% because you probably need to lift weights. Remember, muscle weighs more than fat, so you may even gain weight, but lose body fat. So, instead of 94lbs and 22% body fat, you'll become 102 and 17% body fat, for example. Being 94lbs, you really don't need to worry about calories in and calories out as much; that isn't your problem. Just begin to do some simple weight training and watch the body fat melt away. And no, you won't look like a female bodybuilder, that is not a place you can probably get too. Good Luck!
