Quote:
Originally Posted by Tealeaf
So, what does everyone think? Is the only way to lose fat during a diet is by including lifting?
Tea, skinny fat women are women at a normal weight (BMI) with high body fat percentages, sometimes even an obese level (32% or above). You run into this situation a lot with chronic dieters and older women who don't exercise.
As for your question about losing fat, the studies I've seen show that up to 40% of your weight loss can be lean body mass (LBM) if you diet without working to maintain/build muscle by weightlifting. But even with weights, no one's going to lose 100% fat, in my opinion. There's always going to be
some loss of LBM, even if it's just water (keep in mind that LBM is a lot more than muscle - it's water, bone, hair, skin, muscle etc - everything in your body that isn't fat) The goal is to minimize your loss of LBM and maximize your loss of pure fat.
Losing some LBM really isn't the end of the world for those of us who were obese or very overweight. Most of us have or had an extraordinarily large amount of muscle due to the weight bearing exercise of simply existing with an extra 50 or 100+ pounds on us. When you're obese, every step you take and every flight of stairs you climb is weight bearing exercise. Few women need or want LBMs in the 150+ pound range, which is not uncommon in very heavy women.
The only way to determine how
your unique body is losing weight is to have your body fat % checked at regular intervals. From that, you can tell how much of your weight loss is fat pounds and how muich is pounds of LBM. Have you ever had your BF % checked?