Skinny fat? Do this

Let’s define ‘skinny fat’

We can define skinny fat as a lack of muscle mass, while also holding a substantial amount of bodyfat.

Typically people who fit into this criteria are not conscious about choices of food or counting calories and usually live sedentary lifestyle with little to no physical activity.

All of a sudden an individual will become aware of their physical appearance. Whether the catalyst is wanting to improve their dating prospects, become healthier or get into better shape – these are all justifiable reasons for wanting to improve one’s physical appearance.

Are you skinny fat?

You have to be honest with yourself and determine whether or not you are actually ‘skinny fat’.

It’s important to be honest with yourself as honesty is a vital first step to change.

Living in denial only kicks the can down the road, and with time you will just get yourself into a deeper hole which will become harder and harder to get out from.

Here’s some examples of what I would consider ‘skinny fat’

Male examples

This is what I would consider to be ‘skinny fat’ for a male.

The hallmark features of these physiques are little to no substantial amounts of muscle while also considerable amounts of bodyfat.

Female examples

Similarly to men, the key features are a lack of muscle mass and higher amounts of bodyfat.

Solution

The solution is actually incredibly easy… or should I say simple, but hard to execute.

Let’s break it down and address each part of the problem.

Skinny refers to a lack of skeletal muscle mass, so quite obviously the solution is to build and develop muscle mass.

The best way to do this is to sign up to a local gym and start lifting weights, while also increasing protein intake.

I would define fat as being over 20% bodyfat for a male and 30% for a female.

In order to lose weight, you need to do one thing – consume less calories than your body needs to maintain its current weight. This means a calorie deficit.

Calculate your maintenance using this calculator – https://www.musclehacking.com/calorie-calculator/

Once you’ve calculated how many calories your body needs to maintain its current weight, deduct 10%. This is more than enough to get started.

For more a more in-depth look at losing bodyfat check out this post

The process

What you will be trying to achieve is building muscle mass by lifting weights and consciously eating more protein. While at the same time, losing bodyfat by eating in a calorie deficit.

This is known as a recomp, which basically means changing the composition of your body into one that is more muscular and holds less bodyfat.

Can you build muscle and lose fat at the same time?

Usually the answer is no, you’ll have to pick one or the other. This is known as bulking and cutting.

However, there are some exceptions:

• Someone using high amounts of anabolic steroids can build muscle and burn fat at the same time.
• Someone who is new to weight training can build muscle and burn fat at the same time.

Because your body is holding an excess of energy (in the form of adipose tissue/fat) it will use that for its energy needs while the nutrients that you intake can be funnelled into building muscle – this is why an increased protein intake is important. You can think of protein as the building blocks required for muscle.

Action steps

Sign up to a local gym, if you’re scared check this post out – How to overcome the fear of going to the gym

Start tracking your calories. You can use an app like Myfitnesspal or download the free tracker below.

This will help hold you to account and let you track progress.

Finally, while fitness is certainly a marathon and not a sprint – your greatest changes in regards to body composition will happen quickly, and within 90 days of being consistent you can look drastically different.

The only person holding you back is YOU, so get going!