Why did my body change from hourglass to skinny fat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a very similar built and weight, and am having similar issues 110 lbs at 5’3”, a runner (albeit a slow one), seem to have lost my butt over the years. Yes, it’s the loss of muscle due to aging. You’re staying slim due to the cardio but it’s not helping you maintain muscle mass. You have to get serious about weight training (and I need to take my own advice too).

I am a runner too and same thing happened to me. But I don't think its necessarily muscle loss due to age (I'm 40) because I am very fit and active otherwise. I think its just that running eats away at at the glutes and hams. Add a sedentary office job sitting on your butt all day and even worse. I recently started lifting weights and really going heavy on lower body and its already made a huge difference in just a few months. Not just aesthetically but I feel more powerful during my runs as well. I am kicking myself that I waited this long to start lifting.

are you a woman? Did you need a trainer to get started lifting?

Yes I am a woman. I am not completely new to lifting - I have worked with a couple trainers in the past. Plus I used to take strength training group classes at my gym pre-pandemic. So I didn’t really feel I needed a trainer going into it this time - I mostly use resources online - YouTube, FB and also follow a lot of female body builders on IG. So far, so good. But at some point I probably will do a couple sessions with a trainer for a form check and to maybe add some more structure/variation to my program.

^PP - realized I kind of contradicted myself from my previous comment about waiting this long to start lifting. I should have added that while I was not completely inexperienced with lifting, I just never focused on it or prioritized it because I was all about running. But now I’ve decided to scale back the running a bit (although I still run 15 miles/week - old habits die hard) and focus more on weight lifting and I’m really enjoying seeing & feeling the changes in my body.

[Anonymous]

For those women who lift at home, what amount of weight is considered heavy enough to give the health and strength benefits? I only have dumbbells (heaviest is 12 lb set) and kettlebells (heaviest is 35 lb). My heaviest weights are very challenging for me and I follow a YouTube trainer, no interest in returning to a gym, and i don’t have the space for bigger pieces of equipment or a real weight room setup. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those women who lift at home, what amount of weight is considered heavy enough to give the health and strength benefits? I only have dumbbells (heaviest is 12 lb set) and kettlebells (heaviest is 35 lb). My heaviest weights are very challenging for me and I follow a YouTube trainer, no interest in returning to a gym, and i don’t have the space for bigger pieces of equipment or a real weight room setup. Thanks!

I’m curious too. At home, the heaviest set I have is 15 pounds. I have a single 18 pound dumbbell. When I was going to the gym, I used 20 and 25 pound dumbbells for some of the lower body work. But I’m pretty small (5’3”l, 120) and just handling, holding that weight is challenging for me. Even though I feel like I could be using heavier weights for my legs, I don’t think my hands and arms can handle much more! I guess the answer would be to use machines for lower body, but I’m sticking with home exercise for now.

[Anonymous]

Mom butt is real (because of the "tucking your tail" that happens with pregnancy). Do strength training with weights -- exercises that target your glutes. I have the same problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those women who lift at home, what amount of weight is considered heavy enough to give the health and strength benefits? I only have dumbbells (heaviest is 12 lb set) and kettlebells (heaviest is 35 lb). My heaviest weights are very challenging for me and I follow a YouTube trainer, no interest in returning to a gym, and i don’t have the space for bigger pieces of equipment or a real weight room setup. Thanks!

What you have is good enough for building strength up to a certain point. Because eventually, if you keep with it, the amount of weight you're using will no longer be a challenge. To see real gains, you need to be able to lift to failure through progressive overload. Thats what causes muscles to grow.

Can you lift to failure with lighter weights - sure, but its takes a lot longer to get there and hence not as effective/efficient as lifting heavy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those women who lift at home, what amount of weight is considered heavy enough to give the health and strength benefits? I only have dumbbells (heaviest is 12 lb set) and kettlebells (heaviest is 35 lb). My heaviest weights are very challenging for me and I follow a YouTube trainer, no interest in returning to a gym, and i don’t have the space for bigger pieces of equipment or a real weight room setup. Thanks!

What you have is good enough for building strength up to a certain point. Because eventually, if you keep with it, the amount of weight you're using will no longer be a challenge. To see real gains, you need to be able to lift to failure through progressive overload. Thats what causes muscles to grow.

Can you lift to failure with lighter weights - sure, but its takes a lot longer to get there and hence not as effective/efficient as lifting heavy.

Thank you so much for the response! I follow Heather Robertson’s routines and imagine these weights will continue to challenge me for several more months, if not for much longer.

[Anonymous]

Running too much caused me to lose a lot of my butt and leg muscle. Now I alternate running with elliptical and have seen almost immediate improvement! You need “slow” cardio to maintain muscle mass.

[Anonymous]

Stupid question…..how do you use heavy weights at home for lower body and legs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stupid question…..how do you use heavy weights at home for lower body and legs?

You likely can’t, unless you have an extensive set up. Ideally, you should be using heavy enough weight that 10 squats is a real struggle to the point of muscle failure. But with a small rest you can mange 2 more sets of 10, just barley. But at home, it is really hard to get in a good heavy weighted leg workout without various pieces of equipment and weight plates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stupid question…..how do you use heavy weights at home for lower body and legs?

So many exercises you can do.

Squats - all variations
Lunges - all variations
Deadlifts/single leg deadlifts
Romanian split squat

Lying down you can do weighted glute bridges & single leg glute bridge. With a booty band can also do donkey kicks, fire hydrant leg lifts, clamshells, etc. Just google lower body home workouts with weights.

[Anonymous]

I’m the stupid question pp. Thanks for the advice.