Hello all. I am a 24 year old mother of two, and I am for the most part, way too skinny! I am 5'3" and about 103 LBS. I have worked out at home for the past two years, and just joined a gym 2 weeks ago. They did a free body fat test (using measurments and that hand thing that you hold out in front of you) and it said I was only 16% body fat! I think that is too low. I havent had a period since April, and I am on the pill. My DR says its a "silent period" from the pills, but I think it might be because of my weight. Anyhow, I am in the process of trying to gain some muscle and am doing a full body workout 3X week. I also do some cardio on the treadmill and the elliptical for a total of 20-25 minutes 5X week. Most of that cardio is spent on the treadmill doing some jogging and fast walking. I am trying to 'learn' how to run so hopefully by spring I can head outdoors. :D I am a healthy eater and I started to increase my protein by having a shake after my workouts. I have two questions, though. First, I don't really have any 'curves' and being that I have a short torso and my ribs come down to my belly button (just about) I will never have a really small waist, but I would like to make my hips bigger to get more so called curve. Is it possible? The last question then I am done, I promise, is my strech marks around my belly button and below from having two kids are pretty bad. I mean, I could really care lesss about any other strech marks that I have, but these really ripple my skin and actually make my belly button droop, they are so deep. I also have what I believe is loose skin in my lower ab area from my kids and the strech marks. Will it ever tighten up?? I really do not believe it is fat, but it sticks out. My youngest was born in July 2003, so it's been long enough... :d_rolleye well, TIA.

It sounds to me like weight training will be a great help to you. Take a look in the nutrition section for some tips. You'll probably want to find your BMR and then do what is called a "bulking" phase- that is, put on weight in the form of muscle (and some body fat). The muscle will help you gain definition and the fat should bring you up to healthy levels.

Best of luck to you!

thank you!!! :D

Please, I know only one person has posted, so I want to make something clear. I am serious about my question as far as gaining weight. I am NOT anorexic -never have been- have always been small and so is my mother and sister. I eat at least 2000 calories a day, and I know that is about correct because I have checked in the past to make sure I was getting enough protein and such. My goal is to gain muscle and weigh around 110-115, something healthy for my size. I am sure that I could gain weight from eating crap all day, but that's not how I want to do it. I have read numerous articles and different message boards, but I figured it was worth a shot to ask here as well. I eat probably 5-6 small meals a day, and I am for the most part healthy in my foods (except chocolate :p ) I guess I was just looking for someone else in a similar situation to share their thoughts or what they did to gain, thats all. I hope I am not coming off to desperate or anything, I just wanted to let you girls (or guys) know that this is a serious question. :d_smile:

Please, I know only one person has posted, so I want to make something clear. I am serious about my question as far as gaining weight. . My goal is to gain muscle and weigh around 110-115, something healthy for my size.

Drop cardio to two days, not on weight days. Use heavy weights, the most you can. Do muti-joint exercises - Squats, BB rows, deadlifts, and etc. For abs try crunches in slow motion - 10 sec up movement 5 sec down for as many reps as you can.

I don't think anyone thought you were joking, but I'm sure you must realize that not many people have experience with trying to gain weight, so it's a little unfamiliar territory. You must have an extremely fast metabolism to burn 2000 calories at a weight of 103 pounds. Reducing your cardio seems to be a good idea, but it seems that the more cardio you do, the better it is for your heart, and your current schedule does not sound excessive.

If you're having trouble eating enough, usually it helps to eat calorie dense foods. It doesn't take many nuts, dried fruits, or beef jerky to make up 200 calories. Protein powder is a good idea too.

Your waist will look smaller if you broaden your shoulders. I really love doing back and shoulder work. As for the hips, I don't know if you can really add curves there or not. Squats would be really good for you to try.

As for the stretch marks, I have nasty ones too, and I haven't heard of anything that works. I don't care for the winter, but I'm thinking about next summer. I bought a cream from Avon that I'll cross my fingers for, but I don't have high hopes. I may even start a stretch mark journal in the spring to track the changes, if any. I found that a tan really camoflaged them quite well, even a fake tan.

thank you, thank you, thank you :)

When I started lifting in HS, I got pretty bad stretch marks on my biceps and chest, they were red and nasty looking. I started putting cocoa butter with vitamin E on them and it lightened them up after a couple months, theyre still there to this day though, except theyre just light now :( Iwas also told that retinol A is supposed to work wonders for stretch marks, but unfortunately is only available with prescription.