I hate my hips. I am more dysphoric about that area than anything else on my body. I despise how disproportionate they make my body look. And it seems that every ounce of weight I gained went directly to that region, serving only to emphasize it. So a couple months ago, I decided to take action to alleviate this. I figured the more weight I lost, the less fat would be gathered there. I began cutting back on calories as much as I could, and eating only fruits, veggies, grains, etc, and a minimum amount of meat and junk food. I also began exercising daily, in hopes to burn more fat and build muscle around my shoulders, to make them broader. And it's been good in that I feel healthier now. But I stepped on a scale today, and I'm around 120 lbs. At 5"8, this puts me practically underweight. I also noticed my last menstration was not only extremely late, but also lighter than it's ever been. I'm not sure if my strict diet and exercise regime is causing it, but it's the only factor that makes sense. And I know the dangers of being underweight and not having enough body fat, but I look in the mirror and I want to lose even more. There's still too much fat on my hips and I want it gone. It's too feminine. I want to lose more weight. But I'm afraid of the consequences of doing so. But losing the weight I've lost so far has helped cure a little dysphoria, and I feel compelled to continue. I don't know what to do, or if I should be concerned.
Don't lose any more. Try doing more exercises that effect that specific area like squats and lunges. Also, if you don't want to eat meat, make sure to include Plant protein in your diet. And please.... Please.. don't try to lose more weight. It sounds like you might be developing an eating disorder, and those are not fun. Be careful and stay safe dude.
Like Vince said, don't lose any more weight. Make sure you eat more protein, it'll help build muscle, which actually will help to make your hips appear less wide.
^ I've actually been taking daily protein powder since I knew I wasn't getting enough, but it doesn't appear to be affecting anything, even complimenting it with my workouts.
What kind of exercises do you do? Make sure not to over due it on the cardio. As much as it is good for you, cardio won't necessarily target the muscles in your abdomen or anything. Make sure to do certain exercises to target the inner thighs and obliques.
I do about an hour and a half of cardio - 10 min jog, about 300 jumping jacks (spread out, not all at once), around 25 push ups - mixed with weight lifting and around 120 sit ups and 120 curl ups (also spread out). I don't have a gym membership and I'm too poor to afford good equipment so most of it is used with at home resources, whatever I can get. Whatever will burn calories and help build muscle. I also have a physically strenuous job of helping unload trucks at work, so I'm lifting and walking around at least a couple hours a day. I am pleased because my muscle endurance has improved drastically from daily exercise. Just this week my boss allowed me to throw the truck at work (meaning I was the person in the truck tossing boxes onto the belt, the most physically demanding job on the team and one they generally only allow the young men of the team to do). I threw half of a 2400 piece truck and did as well as any of the other guys, to my surprise. I wouldn't have been able to do that 5 months ago. But gaining muscle mass as a biological female is an extreme challenge, which is frustrating to me because after my hips, my lack of muscle mass is something I'm very dysphoric about.
That's great your boss let you do that. Yeah, building muscle is tough, I know the struggle since I have the same problem. It looks like your not doing enough for the hip area, which is what your motivation was for in the first place. Try to include squats, lunges, leg lifts, ect.. You could even look up specific exercises as well. You need to do more that can actually target your hips, and targeting the obliques will help as well. If you build enough muscle around that area,it could possibly help as well even though technically the obliques are more near the core of the body.
I thought I read on several websites, though, that you can't lose weight in one specific area of the body by trying to do exercises in that area? That weight can only be lost in general... which is why I've been dong general stuff. I may be mistaken. I'm most interested in building muscle in my upper body, hence the weight lifting, because I figured the more I gained there, the more bulk I'll have, which is what a masculine shape tends to look like (broad shoulders, bigger biceps, narrow hips).
It's both right and wrong. It's tough to lose weight on a certain area, but it's not completely impossible. Plus, it is at least very possible to gain muscle in a desired area if you target it well, and muscle is leaner than fat; it can form a more desirable shape in many areas as well.
Alright, I'll keep that in mind when I'm doing my regular exercises. And try to add in at least some lunges and squats. Thanks for the advice, mate!
np dude. I have been targeting specific areas for years: mostly at the pectorals since I was 11, and it has kept me from getting breasts, so if you ever feel you're not doing enough of a certain exercise or anything else, just talk to me - I'll probably be able to give advice on other things.
You're doing FAR too much cardio, that's your problem. They say anymore than 20 minutes per day is bad if your goal is to build muscle and bulk up. If you're trying to cut, like I am, 45 minutes to an hour is good.