I can now fit in my goal size pants. I bought two pairs of 6's yesterday, and they're a bit tight, but I'd go in public in them. I do not want to go lower or higher than a size 6. I'm using jeans as my maintenance tool. I'll have one pair of size 6 jeans that I'm comfortable in and love how I look, if they start to get tight, it'll be my alarm to lose a few. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be very satisfied at my goal weight.

Anyways, I say that because now that I'm in my size, I'm less focused on LOSING and more focused on STRENGTHENING and toning. That's my new goal. I've conquered the weight loss goal (allllmost, lol) now I just need to finish the job of my body transformation with toning :)

mkendrick that's exactly where I'm at. I'm more or less a size 6. I'd probably like to drop down another 5-8 lbs just to have a comfortable weight "zone" to be in, but I'm really more concerned about how I feel about my body/losing a lot of this jiggle right now. Who cares if I'm 140 lbs if I am not flabby and feel good about myself, you know?

I estimate my body fat % around 30% and I'd like to drop it down to 24%.

Yep, Fat Pants, we're definitely in the same boat. We both have 8lbs to lose to get to our goal weights, both in 6's, and both need to tone. Be my skinny fat partner! Hahaha.

I have the same estimates on fat % also. I have NO concept of how long it takes to lower the fat %. I know healthy weight loss is 1-2lbs/week, but I know surprisingly little about lowering fat percentage.

I've always been skinny fat most of my life. Always lost the weight thru diet rather than exercise. I am hoping this time that I can add exercise this time and get skinny toned skinny.

I'm another one. I have a very low body fat. They tried doing liposuction on my stomach when i had my tummy tuck and there was not any abdominal fat to lipo. I have permenate stitches in my stomach where they sow the muscles together) and you can feel them becasue there is no fat on them. However, I'm a size 12 and a large top. I still have to get more work done but I think even after I get my lower body lift I'm still going to look heavy.

This is a great thread if you want to track your exercise, and add it to the group's cumulative minutes for the month! I'll be posting there from now on. I hope to see some of you! :D

I made up a great full body strength training plan using just body weight and dumbbells. For now, I'm doing it every other day and slowly upping the reps. I started day before yesterday, and I'm still sore! I swear, I can lift weights one day and my arms can be jiggle-free cut and toned. Why can't my abs, back, and butt be the same way!?

But here's my skinny fat thought of the day. I was taking...*ahem*...pictures for my boyfriend in Iraq for Valentines day. And at one point, I was laying on my back and took a picture with the camera above my head angled down my body. When I uploaded the pictures to my computer, for the first time in my life, I looked at a picture of myself and thought "Ew, I look gross skinny!" I guess just because I was on my back, everything was sunken in. My tummy had sunk so low so it looked like my rib cage was protruding way out, and my hip bones were jutting out. There was a gap of air where my undies strap went over my hip bone across to my pubic area. I was not smooth and soft looking, I looked boney and icky.

And I know this is because I'm mostly jiggle, and that's just lack of muscle. I still have a layer of fat over me, lol. But still, it was quite a shock to see. Definitely incentive to get some muscle!

Another one here!

mkendrick, when I lay on my back, my stomach is the same way, I look really really skinny, but as soon as I stand up or sit up, it's all back again. And I have a huge bum (a lot of junk in my trunk!), but I have waist, just a little jiggle in a lot of areas (like my butt, thighs and my stomach).

Alright, according to an online calculator and my measurements, I'm 31.6% body fat. Congratulations, self, one third of you is lard.

I'm aiming for around 25%. For those of you that have tracked your body fat percentage, about how long does it take to change? I just have no concept of it. I know healthy weight loss is 1-2lbs/week, but I have no idea what I should expect as far as lowering body fat percentage.

I tried doing some online calculators, and then I actually went out and bought some body fat calipers. I wasn't getting the same results between the two, and it felt like I wasn't getting the same results when using the calipers repeatedly. I'm not sure how to get an accurate result.

How's it going, you guys? I have really been stepping up the exercise this week. For the record, I started running at the height of my weight and have been running this entire time, but ONLY doing cardio made the scale go down sure... but now I have jiggle. ;) Wish I had done weight lifting, too.

I keep measurements, always have from the beginning. Mkendrick I think measurements are a good way to track body fat % loss. Before I took a break over the holidays, I was weight lifting 3x a week and maybe only lost 4-5 lbs but I lost several inches on my body, especially my hips and waist. So now that I feel like I'm finally back into a good routine, I'm planning on weight lifting twice a week and running 3x a week (training for a half marathon so I kind of have to keep that up!)

I also look gross skinny when I lay on my back. My hip bones stick out.

It's difficult to gauge body fat percentage without spending a lot of money, IMO. At my old gym, they used this: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/prod...1&SKU=16051160 and it seemed pretty accurate, so I'm kind of thinking about getting that and seeing where I'm at.. at least it would be a consistent tool for monitoring fat loss percentage. I bought a body fat % scale and it said I had 19% body fat... HAHAHAHA. Oh how I wish.

I truly don't exercise much. I know I should, and it's embarrassing to admit, but my whole weight loss has been diet-based. So I'm working on it. My job is fairly active, and it gives me about 20 hours/week of walking (lots of uphill) and lifting heavy stuff. And for the last two weeks I've been doing weight training just using my dumbbells and body weight. I don't see or measure a difference yet, but I can definitely feel it. I'm much firmer than I was.

I really wish I enjoyed running. I've tried doing it, and I've stuck with it for weeks, but I just can't get myself to enjoy it. Either on the treadmill or road. I bought a jump rope at Walmart yesterday and found that I could jump rope endlessly while watching CSI, haha. So I'll probably make a point to do that a few times a week, and my strength training.

Fat Pants, I LOVE the new av pic!

I think I'm turing the corner. This is week 3 back to a regular workout routine and already my clothes are fitting better and the little space where my thighs touched is no more. I think I'm going to try to get some measurements and BF charts going to track my progress. I'm not weighing in yet because I always go UP 2-4 lbs when I start working out again.

MKendrick, I think it's great you've accomplished so much with diet alone (I fought that for years trying to lose with exercise only. Didn't work!) I think you're on the right path with strength training, too. I have lost the love for running since we moved out of the city. It's funny that I'm not motivated to run in the slightest now that I live in the suburbs with endless quiet roads to run on!

Thanks, junebug! It's nice not to shy away from the camera for once... lol! Good idea on the body fat percentage/measurements charts to track your progress... think I'll do something similar. I'm an Excel nerd.

I also think it's awesome you have done so much with just diet alone, mkendrick. I soooo wish I could have done that, but for some reason my scale just does not budge without exercise. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I'm an endomorph... I just store body fat so easily. Sucks!!! One thing I have learned about exercise is just to find something you enjoy doing and it makes exercising easier. That has definitely been running for me. If I had to spend an hour on the elliptical I think I might go bonkers. But it is also the same for lifting weights. I found that going to a challenging strength training class is very motivating for me rather than trying to do it on my own. Given the choice I'd still rather sit at home on the couch than go work out but being accountable to something/someone REALLY helps!

So I went ahead and ordered that body fat calculator that I posted above. I'll let you ladies know how accurate it seems.

I just got my Oxygen mag and it has several articles about body fat. One success story is called "I went from skinny fat to strong and fit"!