The Skinny Fat Problem​

The Skinny Fat Problem​
Most skinny fat people are doing excessive amounts of cardio or something along the lines of p90x style programs when trying to lose fat.

We won’t dive into why those typical programs (which are designed for your average person looking to lose weight) are ineffective in this post. But what ends up happening to the innocent skinny fat guy is that they lose some fat, along with some muscle. Yep, “weight” loss is exactly what they got.

If you follow these 3 things listed below, chances are, you’ll wind up among the frustrated skinny fat people:

Minimal weightlifting but high rep training focus
Severe calorie deficits
Extreme amounts of cardio
See this is really what gets to me when it comes to weight loss and the media.

Instead of properly teaching people the fundamentals of weight loss, they come up with a new fad or crash diets that restrict types or amounts of foods you can eat.

This typically results in severe calorie deficits, which not only contributes to becoming skinny fat, but many other problems like hormonal imbalances, excessive fat storage, and much more.

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SKINNY FAT PEOPLE​
Well first, let’s dive into what it actually means to be skinny fat.

Essentially, you’re not overweight and typically have very low body fat levels, but lack muscle definition:

Here’s the real skinny fat solution – you must improve your body fat composition. Meaning, you must increase your lean mass ratio to your fat mass ratio.

Which brings me to my next point. Usually, an improvement in body composition results in an increase in body weight. Many skinny fat people obsess about scale weight and fear their weight going up.

You Will Probably Weigh More At Your Goal​
If we are talking about visuals here, it does not matter how much you weigh versus how many pounds of fat are on your body.

An effective skinny fat workout should have you building muscle and strength. This is going to give your body the definition you’re after.

Nutrition Also Plays A Crucial Role Here​
Most likely due to the workout routine you’re currently following that resulted in you being skinny fat, your fat cells have become more insulin sensitive than your muscle cells. So if you try to bulk up, it’s much easier to gain fat instead of muscle.

You may indeed be gaining some muscle, but you wouldn’t know because it’s hidden by fat gain.

And if you try to diet down, you’re losing both muscle and fat, so you never seem to get leaner, just smaller. Since our stomachs are the last place men lose fat from, this leaves you with a belly instead of a shredded six pack.

THE SKINNY FAT SOLUTION​

As I briefly mentioned above, the proper skinny fat workout should be honed in on building muscle and strength as much as possible.

The picture above clearly shows that an increase in muscle mass (even though the scale weight most likely increased) looks a million times better.

The proper skinny fat diet should be a moderate calorie deficit (we’ll get to why severe calorie deficits are bad in a moment).

A moderate calorie deficit and a well-designed muscle building program will work very well for you. In fact, skinny fat guys are very likely to build muscle and lose fat at the same time.

Why Severe Calorie Deficits For Skinny Fat People Are Bad​
If your calories are very restricted, not only will you lose fat but you will also lose muscle. You can also do a lot of damage to your metabolism with very low calorie diets.

You then may fall down a dark dark path of thinking you need to work harder and diet harder. This also results in more muscle loss. You may see results on the scale, but when you gaze in the mirror, you are devastated in how you look.

Why Too Much Cardio Is Bad​
What I explained above also ties in with excessive amounts of cardio.

Research shows that endurance training can interfere with your ability to gain strength and muscle. When you are dieting, it is very easy to lose muscle as well. Doing hours of cardio will only accelerate muscle loss. You NEED to add more muscle and strength!

Why High Reps Are Bad​
Normally, people think high reps will “tone” your muscles. This is wrong. Bringing out muscle definition requires you lowering your body fat percentage.

Not to mention, high reps tend to contribute to sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (increase in fluid around the muscle fibers) and deplete glycogen stores in the muscles. If you mix high reps while in a calorie deficit, this is a perfect storm for muscle loss. Your body simply does not have the energy to recover from that kind of volume.

Your goal with fat loss should be to hold onto the muscle you have and possibly build some more. This is accomplished by lower reps and lower overall volume (while making consistent strength gains).