how to lose body fat without losing any more weight??

I need some help/advice on how to work on losing body fat.

I am about 5'4 1/2" and weigh 113.  I used a body fat calculator I found online and it said my body fat percentage is 30%!!!!???  I am pear shaped so it is all on my hips, thighs, and butt area.  I need advice on how to lose all that body fat to get to a healthier percentage.  I just started doing weights and I normally do at least 60 min of cardio anywhere from 3-6 days a week.  I have school two nights a week so I don't always get to go for the whole week.  I usually eat about 1500 cal a day and was told by a personal trainer that I should eat at least 1800 a day on the days that I lift and/or do cardio. 

 What should I be doing to get all this fat off?????  I have to have lost a bit of fat already seeing that I used to weigh 147 and wore a size 13.  My hip bones are visible so could it also be that I am just naturally wide there?? My thighs have also always been bigger (seems to run in the family) but I can fit (little tight) in a size 2 and I think the majority of this body fat is all in my butt.  It is um.... well... jiggly and when I sit down I guess it goes to the side and then I can fill my bones against the seat.  Any help for this embarrassing problem would be great.

 

perhaps getting a body fat% done with calipers by a personal trainer would be best. i am about the same height as you and weigh 160 pounds - at 30% fat... so i am not sure how that jives at all?!

if you want to get down to a low fat percentage, peruse this forum as there are loads of links to routines and fat burning routines for weightlifting. most womens skin, fat and muscle spreads out a little when you sit, so it may be totally normal, but you would be a better judge of that as i have no idea. it seems that building muscle would be a the perfect tactic as your weight should stabilize and the fat will melt away and you can work on tightening up your rear. 

moves like squats, lunges, deadlifts, lower back extensions... all helpful. make sure you are doing weights at your full potential - not just a few winky reps with feather light weights - go hard!

maybe they wrote this article for you! i thought it was great - but i also ignore all suggestions of supplements - the exercises they cite are very helpful 

I seem to be in the same boat as you. I've dropped down to my target weight, but still have another percentage or so of body fat to lose. It's been a frustrating process, but bit by bit I'm getting my body fat down while maintaining my weight.

When I initially cut down my body fat from 27% down to about 9%, I was doing a program similar to yours..a lot of cardio! (I was also eating way too few calories: 800/day) I lost a bunch of fat but lost quite a bit of muscle too. in the past month I've dropped from 9 to 7.5 by cutting back on the cardio to just 3 days a week and doing circuit training with wieghts on the days that I don't do cardio.

As far as nutrition is concerned;I've been eating about 1 gram of protein per lb of lean body weight/day.. I'm 6 ft and 170 lbs and eat about 14,700 calories each week. I've found that "calorie cycling" has been effective for me. So, I might eat 1,300 calories one day and 2,700 calories the next, 1,600 the next, etc.. so that by day 7 I've eaten 14,700 calories (2,100/day average)...I'm not sure how that would translate to your situation, but hopefully it's at least a little bit helpful.

thanks for the website.  There is a lot of info on there I will have to check out.  I am beginning to question whether that site wasn't just a load of bull.  I mean I don't doubt I have a slightly high body fat percentage and that I am "skinny fat" but it seems to calculate soley based on the measurment of the hips.  I changed the weight and the other numbers and it was still about the same.  Okay, I just played with it again and put in my real weight, wasit (24), wrist, forearm, and hips at 20 and it still said I have 27.77% body fat?????  

I just tried a different site....  (you measure your hip area across your buns area right?)  if so then I am only at 15.31% according to US Navy standards and 23.03% according to the formula developed by the YMCA.

I did have a trainer measure me but she didn't say anything to me.  She kind of said out loud to herself that we needed to work on that area (after she meausered my hips- fully clothed with spandex shorts and pants over those). 

what do you think is right?????????????????????

Mach, I seem to be in a similar situation as you were in.  I'm about 195 but my body fat is waaay too high for my tastes.  (I haven't gotten it measured)  What does your diet look like?  Excluding supplements, what do you eat for protein?  What's your target for fat grams?  How many carbs are you taking in?  Thanks. 

Sooner, I try to stay away from supplements as much as I can, but sometimes the convenience is too much of a factor...usually right after I work out and am not in the mood to cook or prepare something. When I DO have the time, I like to eat a lot of chicken and fish and on the days that I lift, I usually carb load at least one meal...something with a lot of brown rice or something like that.  A typical Cardio (low calorie) day would look something like this:

7:00 non-fat cottage cheese and low fat yogurt (approx 180 calories)

10:00 can of seasoned tuna (approx 190 calories)

1:00 grilled chicken breast w/salad (approx 300 calories)

4:00 Egg sandwich on wheat bread (approx 320 calories)

6:00 Protein shake or bar (approx 320 calories)

9:00 Halibut or salmon filet w/ veggies (approx 280-400 calories)

I forgot to mention Water...lots and lots of water

If you really want to know what your bodyfat percentage is, get a REAL test done... there is no way that a website could possibly be accurate - it can't see you or make allowances for individual differences and bone structure. You're a woman and you're SUPPOSED to have hips. At your height and 113 pounds there is no way on earth that you could have as much bodyfat as that first website says. Of course you have some - everyone does, especially women - but not 30%.

machiavelli, if you are eating that and doing cardio on the same day the reason for you not losing fat is you are not eating enough plain and simple, your body is holding onto its stored bf.  The leaner you get the closer to equilibrium have to eat to get the fat off.

I agree regarding Machiavelli, plus, why would you want to be lower than 7.5% bodyfat? Even for a guy that is very low.  I have had a couple guy friends go down to 7% or a bit lower (swimmers) and they had a ton of very bad reactions - frequent dizzy spells, nosebleeds, etc.  Basically it was like exercise bulimia in a guy.  Up the cals.

For years I used to float around 6% body fat and felt Great..That pic that I have is when I was about 8.1%, I'm a bit leaner now, but I still have some "problem areas" that I would like to tighten up. I average 2100 calories a day...

Our measurements are just about identical.  I posted about this several months back because I couldn't see how I could still be considered "overfat" when I really didn't have any problem areas left.  I wore a size 0/2 and the website I tried still said my fat %age was, I think 29%.  Of course, I've gained some weight back now as I stopped working out and now the site says I have a smaller %age of body fat than I did before, even though clearly I've got more now than I did then.  I agree that a website can't give you an accurate picture of your body composition, I'd call your trainer and ask about it.