Photos
- (4) DEXA scans + Physique: https://imgur.com/FQu0lj5
- Detailed DEXA results from most recent scan @ 19.9% BF:
- Physique when sedentary:
Intro
32 / 5'4" / 127 lbs. Skinny my entire life; fast metabolism. No sports background until adulthood (other than lifting weights, I play in a recreational flag football league).
I used to scour other womens' DEXA's to give myself some sort of indication of, "maybe I'll look this way if I bulk / cut to xx%". Of course, everyone's bodies are different, even those with a similar stature. I wanted to show what various body fat percentages looks like on the same person for some consistency, and thought to compare them all after my last scan. It was nice to see some tangible results with data attached.
Data
Date
Weight
Body Fat
Lean Body Mass
Notes
Link to Reddit post
Sep 2016
137 lbs
27.2%
94.4 lbs
Prioritized training for strength. Deliberately dirty bulked as an experiment, because YOLO.
Physique + DEXA scan results: 5'4"/137 lbs weightlifter; clocked in at 27% body fat. Jun 2018
122.8 lbs
21.4%
91.0 lbs
Strength-focused program while intuitively eating.
New DEXA scan - 29, 5'4", 122 lbs @ 21.4% bf; down from 137 lbs @ 27.2% bf Sep 2018
120.8 lbs
16.1%
95.1 lbs
Kept the same lifting program, but went on a cut from Renaissance Periodization (RP)
DEXA scans: 27% bf --> 21% --> 16% (my first cut) Jul 2021
127.9 lbs
19.9%
96.6
Ran RP's Female Physique Template (more bodybuilding-focused) + intuitive eating
Background
Began lifting at around 16-years-old and spun my wheels back when proper lifting and dieting information was scarce. I've taken multiple extended breaks throughout the years, often stopping altogether when life obligations came along. So, obviously, without these breaks, my current results would be very different today.
Summer 2018 was when I wanted to see what it was like to be truly shredded, and I stumbled on Renaissance Periodization's diet templates. It was the first time I've ever taken dieting seriously. The daily meal-prepping and weighing of foods made me adept at eyeballing portions and macros to the point of accurately estimating calories on any given plate of food. New striations and veins were becoming increasingly visible by the week, pants were looser, there was a deep separation between my delts and upper arms, I actually had abs unflexed, and friends took notice. What was intended as a 12-week cut came to a halt at 9 weeks when extreme fatigue and brain fog set in, so I decided it was time to wrap it up and get another DEXA reading. In two months, I went from 21% body fat to 16% with only 2 lbs. in weight loss. I continued to lift (mostly) consistently afterward and ate like normal again the following year.
More recently
Last year's COVID lockdowns allowed me to use time previously spent at the office (and commuting) to carve out time to lift. I decided to try out RP's Female Physique Template this time to prioritize aesthetics and putting on quality lean muscle vs. purely overeating or being overly concerned with staying lean. I lived in a tiny apartment at the time, lifting in the kitchen / dining room area with nothing more than a pull-up bar and a set of adjustable dumbbells purchased pre-COVID (remember how impossible it was to find ANY workout equipment?) + a janky bench that I managed to snag online. It forced me to be creative with exercises, but I managed to complete the entire program (which I believe is roughly 6 months).
While there were certain times of the year where I definitely overate, diet was mostly consistent as I continued intuitively eating. I'm used to being roughly the same weight most of the time (~120 lbs) and was actually [pleasantly] surprised I'm sitting at 127 lbs.
It's been almost 1.5 years now of consistent lifting on the same hypertrophy-focused program. This is the longest I've ever gone without taking any significant breaks, which again, drove my curiosity to see what simply not stopping meant in terms of muscle gain. I've been seeing results in the mirror and through the occasional progress pics, but needed to see the numbers. Although it's been three years since the scan before my most recent, I'm happy with my body, even if it was only a 0.6-lb gain in lean body mass. I certainly feel bigger and stronger, and I don't give a single shit about fat gains... because it's paired with more muscle.
I've since moved into a bigger place that can now accommodate a squat stand. With a home gym now in use, I fully expect to ride the gain train off into the sunset. My long-term goal is to break 100 lbs. of lean body mass.
Takeaways
- Gaining muscle, especially as a woman, can be painfully slow. Trust the process, and enjoy the journey.
- Your approach to lifting / dieting doesn't have to be perfect all of the time. We are a product of our habits; consistency should be the focus. Look up the 80 / 20 rule.
- It's so easy to get suckered into wanting to stay lean (even ripped) year-round, but it isn't realistic. Personally, I like this low-and-slow approach of aiming to eat just a bit above maintenance calories most of the time, and doing mini / short-and-easy cuts in between (if even necessary).
- Gaining even just a little bit more muscle can make a noticeable difference. Your body not only becomes more efficient at burning [stored] fat, but your relative body fat % may even decrease. I rarely weigh myself but know that I tend to sit within +/- 5 of 120 lbs most of my adult life; had I known I was 127 before my scan last week, I probably would've assumed my BF % to come in higher.
- The cut down to 16% in 2018 was ROUGH -- even more so as a naturally skinny person. I'd only recommend doing something that drastic if you plan to compete. I doubt I will ever do that again, and would only entertain it several years from now when I expect to have several lbs of more muscle on my frame. Even then, that muscle gained would offset inevitable fat gain, assuming I don't seriously overeat.
- The switch from training purely for strength (and subscribing to the dogma of "ONLY LIFT BIG TO GET BIG") to a pure hypertrophy program was a welcome adjustment. It required me to leave my ego at the door (primarily working with 10RM weights), but yielded fantastic results that I either haven't seen on my body before or enhanced previous weak areas (much wider shoulders, I actually have pecs now, thighs and ass grew thicc, wider V-shaped back).
Conclusion
Looking forward to the discussion. Happy to answer questions while opening it up to other experienced lifters in this community!
