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Skinny fat - cut first?

How to build muscles as a skinny fat person?

ctm_nyc
ctm_nyc g Christian Mayer
2 Post(s)
2 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: November 11, 2017
Posted

Thanks for all your great videos Scott, especially the one about skinnyfat people that made me realize I am one of them ;)

I have been going to the gym for several years, unfortunately with poor gains. After seeing the skinnyfat video, I recently decided I need to change something and started tracking my calories, macros and bodyfat % using the Skulpt scanner. I was shocked how high my body fat% is (20-22% with 169lbs) ðŸ˜®. People tell me I look skinny.

My BMR at rest is 1809, BMR in motion 2802. I started eating 2800kcal as the recommended starting point by fitnessgenes.com for about 3 weeks (goal 135g Protein, 93g Fat, 349g Carbs; which really seemed a lot to me, so I guess I have been eating less or more crappy foods before). I think my chest, arms and shoulders slightly improved and look stronger. However, body weight and body fat % remained both constant, although doing 3 HIIT sessions per week after the regular workouts. Last week, I increased to 3000kcal, however now both weight and body fat% both slightly increased. 

Am I on the right or on the wrong track? Should I first reduce the calories to lower the body fat%? But won't the muscles that I have then get wasted also? 

Thanks for any advice ðŸ˜Ž 

jmboiardi
jmboiardi p John M Boiardi
2.6K Post(s)
2.6K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: October 10, 2013
Posted
Posted By: ctm_nyc

Thanks for all your great videos Scott, especially the one about skinnyfat people that made me realize I am one of them ;)

I have been going to the gym for several years, unfortunately with poor gains. After seeing the skinnyfat video, I recently decided I need to change something and started tracking my calories, macros and bodyfat % using the Skulpt scanner. I was shocked how high my body fat% is (20-22% with 169lbs) ðŸ˜®. People tell me I look skinny.

My BMR at rest is 1809, BMR in motion 2802. I started eating 2800kcal as the recommended starting point by fitnessgenes.com for about 3 weeks (goal 135g Protein, 93g Fat, 349g Carbs; which really seemed a lot to me, so I guess I have been eating less or more crappy foods before). I think my chest, arms and shoulders slightly improved and look stronger. However, body weight and body fat % remained both constant, although doing 3 HIIT sessions per week after the regular workouts. Last week, I increased to 3000kcal, however now both weight and body fat% both slightly increased. 

Am I on the right or on the wrong track? Should I first reduce the calories to lower the body fat%? But won't the muscles that I have then get wasted also? 

Thanks for any advice ðŸ˜Ž 

Skinny fat is caused by one major underlining issue - you don't have enough muscle mass to burn thru your BMR/TDEE calories. You have an efficient enough metabolism such that what you eat doesn't make you overtly fat but you still convert most of what you eat to fat.

 

The only fix for this is to increase your muscle mass which causes your BMR to increase and you burn more calories both at rest and when lifting. The WORST thing to do when skinny-fat is try to do a cut. You will exacerbate the problem and actually lose lots of muscle and look just plain skinny. You need to build a solid base of muscle first. If you eat a nutritious, clean, and balanced diet and track your macros, you will gain mass and cut some body fat. You won't get down to 10%-13% initially but more likely 15%-16%. This is still a huge improvement over 20%-22%. Over time once you get down to 12%-13%, you can start thinking about cutting.

 

One note of caution, sub-10% body fat is not healthy or sustainable for 98% of the population. When your bodyfat is below 10%, your testosterone levels plummet, you feel mentally and physically fatigued, and you lose strength. Only about 2% of the population is genetically pre-disposed to sub-10% body fat with no ill effects. I bring this up because 10-13% body fat is very lean and you will look very muscular especially if you have built a solid base of muscle. 99% of the population is 20% and higher in bodyfat - especially in the U.S. These ranges are more attainable and sustainable and don't require the use of drugs. Most people who are sub-10% body fat on a regular basis are using some combination of drugs to get there and stay there.

 

 

John

34 years of lifting and nutritional experience and resident "old man" :-) MS Athlete and past Super Hermanite since 2013.
Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: ctm_nyc

Thanks for all your great videos Scott, especially the one about skinnyfat people that made me realize I am one of them ;)

I have been going to the gym for several years, unfortunately with poor gains. After seeing the skinnyfat video, I recently decided I need to change something and started tracking my calories, macros and bodyfat % using the Skulpt scanner. I was shocked how high my body fat% is (20-22% with 169lbs) ðŸ˜®. People tell me I look skinny.

My BMR at rest is 1809, BMR in motion 2802. I started eating 2800kcal as the recommended starting point by fitnessgenes.com for about 3 weeks (goal 135g Protein, 93g Fat, 349g Carbs; which really seemed a lot to me, so I guess I have been eating less or more crappy foods before). I think my chest, arms and shoulders slightly improved and look stronger. However, body weight and body fat % remained both constant, although doing 3 HIIT sessions per week after the regular workouts. Last week, I increased to 3000kcal, however now both weight and body fat% both slightly increased. 

Am I on the right or on the wrong track? Should I first reduce the calories to lower the body fat%? But won't the muscles that I have then get wasted also? 

Thanks for any advice ðŸ˜Ž 

You likely need to change your macros. I would increase your protein and lower your carbs as the main changes. You want at least 1.2g-1.5g protein per pound of lean body weight when cutting. Now you don't absolutely need this much when lean bulking, HOWEVER, if you have a hard time with carbs and fat retention/gain, then it's a good idea to still keep protein high. This way you can stay in a surplus without overloading on carbs.

 

You might be better with numbers more like this...

 

Protein: 200g (1.5g per pound of lean body weight)

Carbs: 250g

Fat: 110g

 

Total Calories: 2790

 

You said you were eating 2800 calories before.. were you gaining weight with that number? Because if you were, then we can stay there and gain slowly while the bodyfat % reduces.. if you need the 3000 calories then I would simply increase the fat intake further, and maybe even take protein up to 210g-220g.

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ctm_nyc
ctm_nyc g Christian Mayer
2 Post(s)
2 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: November 11, 2017
Posted

Thanks John and Scott for your ideas!

 

That sounds great and I will try it out. I had a hard time hitting +300g carbs while the fat rapidly reached its goal, so I'm happy to increase fat and lower carbs 😀

 

When I was eating 2800 my weight stayed pretty constant over 3 weeks. Only after I increased to 3000 last week I gained a little weight. So I will stay with 3000 and see what happens. Will report again

nyyanks937
nyyanks937 g Yevgeniy Kruchenetskiy
86 Post(s)
86 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: October 10, 2017
Posted
Posted By: jmboiardi

Skinny fat is caused by one major underlining issue - you don't have enough muscle mass to burn thru your BMR/TDEE calories. You have an efficient enough metabolism such that what you eat doesn't make you overtly fat but you still convert most of what you eat to fat.

 

The only fix for this is to increase your muscle mass which causes your BMR to increase and you burn more calories both at rest and when lifting. The WORST thing to do when skinny-fat is try to do a cut. You will exacerbate the problem and actually lose lots of muscle and look just plain skinny. You need to build a solid base of muscle first. If you eat a nutritious, clean, and balanced diet and track your macros, you will gain mass and cut some body fat. You won't get down to 10%-13% initially but more likely 15%-16%. This is still a huge improvement over 20%-22%. Over time once you get down to 12%-13%, you can start thinking about cutting.

 

One note of caution, sub-10% body fat is not healthy or sustainable for 98% of the population. When your bodyfat is below 10%, your testosterone levels plummet, you feel mentally and physically fatigued, and you lose strength. Only about 2% of the population is genetically pre-disposed to sub-10% body fat with no ill effects. I bring this up because 10-13% body fat is very lean and you will look very muscular especially if you have built a solid base of muscle. 99% of the population is 20% and higher in bodyfat - especially in the U.S. These ranges are more attainable and sustainable and don't require the use of drugs. Most people who are sub-10% body fat on a regular basis are using some combination of drugs to get there and stay there.

 

 

John

I understand most of what you said except for "you don't have enough muscle mass to burn thru your BMR/TDEE calories." Can you explain that please?

jmboiardi
jmboiardi p John M Boiardi
2.6K Post(s)
2.6K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: October 10, 2013
Posted
Posted By: nyyanks937

I understand most of what you said except for "you don't have enough muscle mass to burn thru your BMR/TDEE calories." Can you explain that please?

Muscle is active tissue. It burns calories even at rest. The more muscle mass you have the higher your BMR the more calories you burn. When you add in weight training, this allows one to eat more calories without gaining body fat.

 

John

34 years of lifting and nutritional experience and resident "old man" :-) MS Athlete and past Super Hermanite since 2013.
Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: ctm_nyc

Thanks John and Scott for your ideas!

 

That sounds great and I will try it out. I had a hard time hitting +300g carbs while the fat rapidly reached its goal, so I'm happy to increase fat and lower carbs 😀

 

When I was eating 2800 my weight stayed pretty constant over 3 weeks. Only after I increased to 3000 last week I gained a little weight. So I will stay with 3000 and see what happens. Will report again

Sounds good man! Just increase your fat and protein intake to hit 3000 calories so you can keep carbs low 😁 ðŸ’ª 

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