Another Stupid Newbie Question on Fighting Mild Flab

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty new to the diet/exercise scene and am trying to figure out better eating and fitness routines. I'm 41 and have been really quite thin my whole life and am very small framed. My body started changing a bit around 35 and now, in the last 6 months of last year, I put on an additional 8-ish pounds for seemingly no reason other than being a woman getting older. I'm 5'7" and right now about 138. I know that sounds tiny, but given my super small frame its ended up being a bit of softness/flab in the stomach, hips, thighs. I honestly do not generally have a problem with the weight I'm at and don't really mind the overall size I'm at, but I hate that its flabby. I also don't want to keep trending in this direction.

I guess my question is what to do when you are less concerned with losing a lot of weight and more concerned with the composition of the weight? Is this purely a strength training situation? Or do I need to more carefully watch food intake to get rid of the bit of flab? Or both? I guess I'm just wanting to have reasonable expectations about strength training and if that will eventually firm up the soft parts or if I need to be more intentional about intake and loose a few pounds to take the soft edge off. I've never really had to watch what I'm eating before so its a big adjustment that I'm also working on. I've also recently started with a personal trainer and am working on figuring out a fitness routine.

[Anonymous]

This is diet. Everyone's carries their fat differently. Yours seems to have settled into your midsection, which is common. You need to get a better handle on your diet.

[Anonymous]

move more eat less

[Anonymous]

Can we stop calling questions "stupid"? You don't need to start out on the defensive just because there are nasty people on this forum - don't let them scare you into apologizing for your "dumb question".

No question is "dumb". At some point every single person alive didn't know the answer to a particular question, until they knew the answer.

[Anonymous]

You need to change your exercise, do strength training 3-4 x a week. And you need to change WHAT you eat, more protein, less carbs/sugar/refined flour etc

[Anonymous]

I have similar height/weight and age as you. I work out daily though, so I have a lot of muscle and no flab. I'd recommend weightlifting and some cardio. You need to give your body form and structure and you can do that by building muscle.

Also drink 1 gallon of water per day. Plain water. You'll need to make a plan to accomplish this bc most people do not drink that much.

[Anonymous]

Same thing happened to me. It took serious diet changes to lose the flab, then serious exercise to keep it off. I am now in the best shape of my life (43) but it takes A LOT OF WORK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can we stop calling questions "stupid"? You don't need to start out on the defensive just because there are nasty people on this forum - don't let them scare you into apologizing for your "dumb question".

No question is "dumb". At some point every single person alive didn't know the answer to a particular question, until they knew the answer.

This is OP. Thanks for this reminder. The crap people on here can really get to you.

Thanks everyone. Its just a weird place to be to not really want to lose weight but to want the weight you have to be different. I've started with a trainer and am now strength training twice a week....hoping to build up to maybe 3x but am starting from nothing so have to go slow. And working on eating habits...but changing 41 years of being able to not really think about it is also a slow process. I also don't want to be an absolute slave to diet. But I'm starting to be a lot of more thoughtful about things and feeling pretty good about incorporating some more salads/veggies/cleaner foods on a more regular basis. Getting higher levels of protein is a consistent challenge. Sounds like I'm generally on the right track though.