male, 20, 171 pounds, 5 foot 9

2 months ago I started jumping rope 6 days a week. I started out at 5 minutes then I would add a few minutes each week. Now I'm up to 25 minutes. I also changed my diet(lean meats, fruits&veggies, whole grains)

I lost over 20 pounds so far but I'm noticing I lost some strength and I look kind of soft and girlish.

I don't own any weights but I plan to join a gym this weekend. I still have a lot of fat but I'm not bulgy anymore. I'm "skinny fat" which seems kind of worse. I tried so hard getting back in shape but I'm not happy with the way I look now.

So my question, should I stop doing cardio altogether and focus on weights for a while until I get some muscle back?

There is no reason you can't do both. The important factor is your diet.

If you want to hit the weights and build some muscle it is important that you are eating a calorie surplus so that your body has something to build muscle with. If you want to also include some cardio then make sure you account for this when establishing your calorie intake.

Don't go too crazy with upping the calories though. Since you have just come from losing a whole heap of weight your body may be prone to stacking it back on. Take it nice and slow and dont be scared when the scales jump up as soon as you start eating more. Just make sure it doesn't keep going up at a rapid rate. I believe a gain of about 1-1.5 pounds each week is generally a manageable rate.

First, congrats on the weight loss and cardio buildup. Skipping rope for 25 minutes is quite impressive.

Second, you imply that the cardio caused you to lose muscle, which is now giving you the skinny fat look, right? No, I don't think the cardio caused you to lose muscle because I don't think that muscle was there to begin with. You can continue to lose a little more fat with the skipping but the only way you're gonna get the muscles outside of the legs is by using them, generally by lifting weights.

Combine weights with cardio and you'll be where you want in no time.

You should always incorporate weight training into any fitness plan, especially if your goal is fat loss. It's very easy to lose muscle when trying to lose fat and at the end of the day, your weight training and diet are going to be the 2 most important factors when trying to maintain muscle.

What does your current diet approach look like?