Skinny Fat to Fit: The Ultimate Guide to TransformingYour Body

thinkinglifter.com/skinny-fat-to-fit/

Last Updated: 16.10.2016

How the hell does one go from skinny fat to fit?

You’ve seen the amazing transformations and success stories.

People starting out skinny fat or overweight and manage to change their bodies in suchprofound ways.

Some share what they’ve learned along the way. Others only show the end product.

But deep down you know what you want to achieve: lose the damn fat and build muscle.

And do you want to know a secret? It really DOES come down to this. It is that simple.

But where do you begin? How do you approach it? A thousand questions arise.

In reality, the whole process is pretty straight-forward and simple. What you need is to KNOW

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the basics and APPLY them day in and day out.

Once you get going, the whole process can actually be enjoyable.

Quick NavigationWhat exactly does skinny fat mean?So why are people skinny fat?What makes the typical weight loss approaches so bad and makes people skinny fat?How to Go From Skinny Fat to FitHow to Approach Being Skinny Fat After You've Just Lost Some WeightHow to Approach Being Skinny Fat If You've Got Some Lifting ExperienceAs far as training to failure goesProgress trackingHow long is this going to take?Should you take any supplements?

What exactly does skinny fat mean?

Before we can diagnose whether you fall into the skinny-fat category or not, we first need tolook at what it is.

A skinny fat person usually appears thin in clothes but actually has a high body fat percentageaccompanied by love handles, a pouchy gut and in some cases – man boobs.

So why are people skinny fat?

To look and be skinny-fat, you need to have a low amount of muscle mass and a high body fatpercentage. You may appear thin and in-shape while wearing clothes, but not so much whenyou’re shirtless.

The skinny-fat look should be associated with bad training and nutrition habits more thananything else.

When most people decide they want to transform their body and lose the excess weight, theyoften jump the cardio bandwagon. They combine that with a severe slash in calories andineffective ‘fat-burning’ supplements. And in a few short months, they look skinny fat.

The reason for that is simple:

Due to the caloric deficit they’ve created, they are bound to lose weight. But, because regularstrength training is not in their program and they don’t pay attention to their macronutrientintake, their body is just as likely to burn muscle for energy as it is fat.

Now, you might be wondering: “Well, I finally look thin so what’s wrong with that?”.2/21

The biggest mistake you could make with your weight loss is not trying to keep your musclemass. Having more muscle mean your BMR(Basal Metabolic Rate) and TDEE(Total DailyEnergy Expenditure) are going to be higher i.e. you can eat more calories every day. But, it alsomakes you look much better once you’ve lost some fat.

Just take a look at these 2 pictures below. On the first one, the person is your typical skinny-fatguy. He might have just come out from a massive weight loss journey but he still has aconsiderable amount of fat with little muscle underneath.

Now, take a look at the second one. He has a lower body fat percentage and he also has moremuscle mass on him. You can tell he lifts regularly and eats enough protein.

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What makes the typical weight loss approaches so bad and makespeople skinny fat?

Now, you might be wondering:

“Well, I’m eating healthy and exercising. Why can’t I get decent results for my work?” .

It’s frustrating, I know. But what your typical weight loss approach fails to do is be more exact.

Sure, you might be eating nothing but clean, whole foods all day, but are you eating enoughfood?

Are you eating enough of each macronutrient?

You could be under eating every day without even knowing it.

The best thing you can do is actually count your calories and macronutrients. You will knowexactly how much food you can eat every day. Also, if you follow flexible dieting you’ll be able tofit foods like pizza and chips into your diet and still lose fat over time.

The flexible diet or IIFYM has become quite popular in the last 5-10 years and it’s largelybecause it’s not restrictive. It’s not hard to follow and you actually get to enjoy your nutritionwhile losing fat.

And, by taking the time to count your calories and know your everyday intake, you will also beable to eat more food than you think you should and lose fat more efficiently.

You will create just enough of a caloric deficit to serve your needs. And when the time comesand your fat loss stalls, you can drop your calorie intake a bit more and resume.

This is where clean eaters usually hit a turning point. They eat healthy, exercise plenty and loseweight on a weekly basis. But, one day that weight loss stops, and that continues for weeks. So,most people either panic and slash their calories into nothingness or get angry and frustratedand just call it quits.

The other aspect of the flawed weight loss approach has to do with exercise. More importantly,not due to the lack of it. See, most people combine a severe calorie restriction with a suddenincrease in physical activity(often in the form of cardio).

I’ve stated many times that cardio is actually good for us. It provides many health benefits andeveryone should include some of it in their training program.

But, because of the nature of low intensity cardio, it doesn’t serve you best to rely on it forproper weight loss.

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And when I say ‘weight loss’ I mean fat loss. There is a difference and your goal should be thelatter one.

As I said above, LISS cardio isn’t the best way to approach fat loss. You will lose a significantamount of muscle mass as well as fat in the process (which further contributes to the wholeskinny-fat look).

Just take a look at these long distance runners:

Now.. compare them to a woman who regularly lifts weights and has a relatively low body fatpercentage:

As you can see, the difference is tremendous. The long distance runners are skinny but don’thave much in the way of muscle. But, the fitness model has a decent amount of muscle massand looks great.

So combining regular strength training with an adequate protein intake will ensure you keep themost muscle you can and lose fat instead. Not only will this help you get rid of the skinny-fatlook but you will most likely gain muscle and strength in the process if you’re a gym newbie.

How to Go From Skinny Fat to Fit

There are different stages you could be in so I decided to split them into 3 main categories.Each provides a different approach to attacking the skinny-fat look. You should follow the onewhich best describes your current situation.

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Model Alexis Paige

This is where most guys and girls start. What is great about this stage is that you have theopportunity to build muscle and lose fat at the same time .

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The 'newbie gains' phase is where your body isn’t used to the stress of lifting. You can buildmuscle, get stronger all while in a caloric deficit.

How to Train During That Period

I normally suggest focusing on heavy compound lifting, but as a gym newbie – I advise againstit. When you’re just starting out, focus on learning the movements before adding seriousweights on the bar.

Too often I see complete beginners training in a low rep-range(1-6) with a screwed uptechnique. Not only are they NOT getting the most out of the lift but they are also settingthemselves up for an injury.

Here are 8 instructional videos on how to perform the most important lifts:

The flat bench press, the incline press, the deadlift, the barbell squat, the overheadbarbell/dumbbell press and the pull up.

These will be the staple of your training program. For the first few months of training, your #1goal should be to perfect the technique and increase the weight you can lift.

During the initial newbie phase(which normally lasts between 3 and 6 months), you should starteach workout with a compound lift. After warming up and doing 2-3 warm-up sets for theexercise, load up a weight that allows you 8-10 reps with good form.

The only exception is the deadlift. I don't recommend doing more than 5-7 reps per set on it.Because the lift is quite complex, form breaking is much easier once you get fatigued.

For the rest of your workout, keep your reps in that range and feel free to take a few setsbeyond 10-15 repetitions.

As far as training volume goes, you should aim to keep your working sets between 10 and 14for large muscle groups(back, chest, legs) and 6 to 8 for small ones(shoulders, arms, calves).

Here is an example of a good chest workout for a beginner:

Set 1-4: Flat Barbell Bench Press 6-8 reps

Set 5-8: Incline Barbell/Dumbbell Bench Press 8-10 reps

Set 9-12: Flyes(with cables, dumbbells, kettlebells, etc.) 10-15 reps

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As far as programming goes, you can follow a typical bro-split (1 to 2 muscle groups perworkout), or a push-pull-legs (push: chest, triceps, shoulders) ; (pull: back, biceps).

Both options work quite well but I believe a beginner should train no more than 3 to 4 days aweek at most.

Another great way to start your lifting journey is to follow the Stronglifts 5x5 program. Itemphasizes the big three lifts in a linear fashion perfectly suited for those just starting out.

Learn Everything You Need to Know About Nutrition

Now that we’ve gone over the training basics, it’s time to get into the nutritional side of things.

First off, understand that proper training alone isn’t enough to change your body composition.Since your goal is to lose fat and get rid of the skinny-fat look, you should be in a caloric deficit.

After the initial newbie phase, you won’t be able to build much muscle and get stronger whileeating in a deficit. But, for the first few months, you can make great gains.

This is going to require you to track your calories and protein(the least).

Start off by calculating your TDEE(use the calculator here).

Next, add a moderate deficit of 300-400 calories to that number. To calculate yourmacronutrient needs, follow these basic rules:

1. Eat roughly 1 to 1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight.

2. Eat between 0.3 and 0.6 grams of fat per pound of body weight.

3. Get the rest of your calories from carbs and aim for 10 grams of fiber for every 1000calories you eat.

Here is how this would look:

Let’s say you weigh 180 pounds and your TDEE is 3000 calories. Add the 400 calorie deficitand you’re left with 2600 calories per day. Now, eat between 180 and 216 grams of protein, 54to 108 grams of fat and the rest should come from carbs.

As long as your protein and fats numbers are in this range, your carb are also going to be onpoint.

Also, keep in mind that as you get leaner over time, you will need to re-adjust your calories andmacronutrients by re-calculating your TDEE. I recommend doing so after every 10 to 12 poundsof weight you lose.

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How Long This Period Lasts

You should follow this path for as long as you can make progress with strength and musclegain. This will vary from person to person but it usually lasts anywhere from 3 to 6 months.

Once the newbie gains are gone, your lifts will most likely stall. Being in a caloric deficit won’tcut it anymore. At this point, you have 2 options:

1. Continue with your caloric deficit and get leaner.

2. Increase your calories up and go into a small surplus of to start building muscle.

I wrote about the recovery diet more in the next section and you can learn the exact processand how to apply it if you decide to increase your caloric intake.

What it comes down to is your personal decision and how you prefer to look. Sean Nalewanyjmade a great video on this exact topic/dilemma and I encourage you to check it out:

How to Approach Being Skinny Fat After You've Just Lost Some Weight

This is yet another common category of skinny-fat people. If the above describes you best andyou can answer “Yes” to each of the 3 statements below, then you fall into this category andshould read on.

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“I’ve lost quite a bit of weight recently and everyone is complimenting me on my great results.Yet, when I look at myself in the mirror shirtless, I don’t particularly like what I see.”

“I have been in the gym during my weight loss but I didn’t do a lot of lifting. My main focus hasbeen cardio.”

“I went about my weight loss in a typical manner: clean eating paired up with a lot of cardiowork.”

Now, this current state you are in is a bit trickier than the first one for one big reason:

You’ve already spent a lot of time in a caloric deficit and your metabolism has gradually adaptedto your lower calorie intake. Thus, staying in a caloric deficit is not a wise decision right now.

The next best route for you is recovery diet. Whether you want to lose more fat or start buildinga solid base of muscle, this is a mandatory step so don’t skip it.

If you haven’t been tracking your calories so far, it’s okay. Calculate your TDEE with this simplecalculator and start eating around that number. Keep your calories there for 7 to 10 days andtake a weight measurement every morning on empty stomach. Do a waist measurement nowand after 7 days. Take a progress pic now and in the same lighting (if possible) 7 days fromnow.

Your aim here is to determine whether you’re eating at maintenance. If you keep losing weightfor the first week, bump your calories by 100-200 and repeat for another 7 to 10 days.

Your goal here is to put yourself at maintenance calories:

get your hormones normalized from the deficit;

fill your muscles and liver with glycogen;

put your body in a better position for fat loss or muscle gains.

This whole process should take you 10-20 days at most. At that point, you’ll have two options:

1. Add a small calorie surplus of 200-250 and start building muscle over time.

2. Add a moderate calorie deficit of 250-400 calories and focus on further losing fat.

At this point it all comes down to personal preference. You’re in an excellent position to startbuilding muscle, but you can keep losing fat. What you decide to do is up to you.

If you haven’t watched the video I posted above where Sean talks about cutting and bulking forskinny fat people, I encourage you to check it out. Here is another link.

As far as training goes, because you’re a gym newbie, your training is going to be the same as

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for the first category. You can click the button below to read what you need to know abouttraining.

I do have one caveat with cutting when you’re skinny fat. It has to do with the fact that, at thatpoint, you don’t have much muscle mass to justify leaning out. Sure you can go that route if youfeel self-conscious about your body and just want to be leaner. But my advise would be to putyourself in a caloric surplus for a good while and build a foundation of muscle mass first.

How to Approach Being Skinny Fat If You've Got Some LiftingExperience

This category of skinny fat is different from the above 2 in a few major ways:

1. I assume you’ve been practicing the compound lifts and your technique is good. If not,check out the 8 videos I posted above.

2. I assume you’ve gained a decent amount of muscle during your newbie phase and youare adding weight on the bar.

3. I assume you keep track of your calories, macros(protein the least). And you have a goodidea of how much weight you’ve gained in the last few months.

This is a good place to start a fat loss or cutting cycle, because you’ve got some muscle mass

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to justify it. And you’ll be setting yourself up for a great next bulk cycle because you will be leanstarting out which has quite a few great benefits:

1. You get to bulk longer and build more muscle.

2. You can see progress much better because you won’t have a layer of fat covering yourmuscles.

3. You get to look like you actually lift because your muscle to fat ratio is going to be muchbetter.

Now, let’s get down and dirty into everything you need to do at this point.

Nutrition

The biggest mistake most people make when trying to lose fat is jump head first into theprocess.

They immediately add a ton of cardio, cut their calories low and set themselves up for failureright from the start. To avoid making this mistake, you need to pace yourself.

Start off by slowly decreasing your caloric intake over the course of a few weeks.

If you are currently eating in a surplus of 200-300 calories for a total of 3300 a day, you don’tjust drop it to 2500 and go from there. No, you should decrease your calories less, by roughly300-400. Keep them like that for up to a week and then decrease them by 150-200 more.

Go for another week and repeat.

By week 3 you should be eating in a caloric deficit and starting to lose fat.

After week 3, drop your calories by an extra 100-150 and start tracking progress. Take progresspictures, body measurements and morning weigh-ins (to calculate your weekly average).

At this point, you will gradually lose fat over time. But, you'll still have A LOT more room toreduce your caloric intake when your metabolism adapts and fat loss stalls.

Once your fat loss plateaus you can either:

1. Start incorporating cardio and keep your calorie intake the same.

2. Decrease calorie intake by 100 per day and see if that gets you going again.

The bottom line?

The process needs to be gradual.

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As far as macronutrients go, the same rules apply:

1. Keep your protein intake between 1 and 1.2 grams per pound of body weight.

2. Keep your fat intake between 0.4 and 0.6 grams per pound of body weight.

3. Get the rest of your calories from carbs and focus on getting 10 grams of fiber for every1000 calories you eat.

Bonus Tip #1:

As you diet down over time, your hunger is most likely going to kick in hard. A great wayto keep it down is by eating 1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight. I’m not sayingthere is any benefit added to it in regards of muscle retention. This is more of a hungercontrol trick that I’ve found to work quite well.

Bonus Tip #2

Another great way to control your hunger is to eat mostly complex, slow digesting carbslike potatoes and rice as opposed to ice cream and pop tarts. Sure, the ice cream mightfeel better coming in but due to it’s high Glycemic Index (GI), it break down fast and youare left feeling hungry much faster.

Training

There is a big misconception that when trying to lose fat, you need to start training withlow weights for high reps to ‘bring out definition’ or whatever. This is a huge mistake.

Sure, training in the higher rep ranges does have it’s benefits. But basing your entiretraining program on that biomechanical capacity WILL NOT work well for you.

Not only are you not going to bring out more muscle definition but you will most likely losemuch more muscle and strength compared to if you were to train as you normally do.

There are two big reasons why the high rep approach is bad:

1. Spot reduction is a myth. Just because you feel a better burn in your pectoralsdoing high-rep bench press doesn’t mean you’ll lose more chest fat.

2. Muscle retention during prolonged caloric deficits relies on 2 main factors:adequate protein intake and how much and how often you put your muscles underheavy loads.

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The main point I want you to take away is this:

Keep your training the same, at least at first. Same rep-ranges, same amount of sets,same workout frequency and even the same exercise selection.

This isn’t some ‘get in shape with Mike’ bullshit training program from the 80's. Don’tchange the way you train and think it will somehow deliver good results.

As far as training volume and workout frequency go:

After dieting for a long period of time, your energy levels will drop. No matter what youdo.

At that point, your 4-5 day split that you initially followed might start to overwhelm you.You will start feeling overtrained.

Aside from your regular de-load weeks, you can also slightly reduce your training volumeacross all your workouts. Or go as far as knock out 1 to 2 training days and combine moremuscle groups.

Example of training volume reduction:

Let’s say you normally do 16 sets for chest, 16 for back, 18 for legs (total), 12 forshoulders and 9 for biceps and triceps each.

You can drop 2 working sets from each body part and see how you feel after a week ortwo. This might not seem like a lot but you’d end up with 12 total sets less each week.

I recommend knocking off sets from your accessory exercises and maintain your volumeon the compound lifts, like the bench press and deadlift. Because these exercises burnmuch more calories and recruit more muscles to perform.

Example of training frequency reduction:

If you follow a typical 4-day bro-split but you are finding it hard to keep up, then knockingone day off and combining more muscle groups will help.

For example:

Let’s say your current training split looks like this:

Monday: Chest and triceps

Tuesday: Back and biceps

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Wednesday: Off

Thursday: Legs

Friday: Shoulders and traps

You can easily transition to a 3-day split for a while:

Monday: Chest, triceps, shoulders

Tuesday: Off

Wednesday: Back, biceps, traps

Thursday: Off

Friday: Legs

Notice how we added the shoulders in your chest workout and traps on back day.

If you normally follow a 5-day split, there is more flexibility to combine muscle groups anddo a 4-day split for a while. Here are 3 great examples:

#1

Monday: Shoulders and traps

Tuesday: Off

Wednesday: Back and biceps

Thursday: Off

Friday: Chest and triceps

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Saturday: Off

Sunday: Legs

#2

Monday: Chest and triceps

Tuesday: Off

Wednesday: Back and biceps

Thursday: Off

Friday: Shoulders and traps

Saturday: Legs

Sunday: Off

#3

Monday: Off

Tuesday: Chest and triceps

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: Back and biceps

Friday: Off

Saturday: Shoulders and traps

Sunday: Legs

As far as training to failure goes

I’m not going to lie: training to failure can be fun and ego-boosting. In fact, in my first year16/21

and a half in the gym I focused only on training to failure. I didn’t feel a workout wasproductive unless I took at least 90% of all my sets to failure. This was a big mistake onmy part and here is why:

Training to failure is taxing on your muscle and central nervous system. You are pushingyour body to it’s limits, every set, workout after workout.

Now imagine you drive a car that way:

Instead of switching gears once you reach the 2000-3000 RPM range, you push thepedal to the metal and drive in first gear.

What do you think happens?

The car overheats, engine and gearbox wear much faster and you’re left with a steamymess on the side of the road. And your body reacts the same.

Rather than focusing on pushing every set to failure, doing burn sets, drop sets, giantsets, super sets and so forth, focus on small, gradual improvements over time.

As author of the bestseller book Bigger, Leaner, Stronger Mike Matthews puts it:

Focus on doing just 1 more rep with the same weight. If you manage that and the rest ofyour workout stays exactly the same as the week before, that’s progress.

Focus on progressive overload, train with optimal volume and take a handful of sets tofailure at the end of your workout. You will kick your ass LESS and get BETTER resultsover time.

Progress tracking

This step is of huge importance. It never ceases to amaze me how people can spendhundreds of hours at the gym per year. Yet, they can’t take 10 minutes after a workout tofill out their log or take a progress picture.

After all, how will you know how far you’ve come if you can’t tell where you were monthsago.

Progress tracking is especially important for fat loss. It gives you a much betterunderstanding of whether you’re on the right path or need to make adjustments.

Eating just 150-200 calories more than you should every day can significantly slow downyour fat loss over time.

Without further rambling, let’s get down into some of the best ways to track your

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progress:

Progress pictures

For your fat loss phase, I recommend taking a set of 12-15 photos of yourself to have agood understanding and remember where you began. After that, you should take aprogress pic every 3-4 days. The same time, in the same mirror with the same lighting.This is the best way to keep track of how your body changes over time.

When bulking, take a weekly shot of yourself in the same lighting and see how youdevelop over time.

Weight scale

Yet another great progress tracker. Every morning, on an empty stomach, go to thebathroom, do your thing and then jump on the scale. Write down your daily weigh-in andtake the average for the week.

Over time, your weight will fluctuate and you might be 2 pounds heavier one day thenlose 4 pounds. This is why a weekly average is much more accurate. As long as yourweight goes up or down according to your current goal, you’re on the right track.

Body measurements

For your fat loss, it’s important to take body measurements in the start and see how theychange over time.

Again, I recommend doing it in the morning on an empty stomach. This way you canavoid any potential bloating that occurs later in the day.

Here is a comprehensive video by Scott Herman on how to take proper and accuratemeasurements:

As far as frequency goes I recommend taking measurements every 2 week.

Workout log or app

Tracking your workouts is important.Knowing how well (or bad) you did the week priorgives you an immediate goal:

Beat your last week’s workout or if you’re in a caloric deficit, at the least, try to match it.

You can buy the pre-designed workout log or you can just go ahead and get a regular A4format notebook. Write down your numbers on the compound lifts and write down your

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training volume done.

You can also use a great app for that but a fair warning: It’s not out yet for us Androidusers.The app is called Rep Count and from what I’ve seen, it’s easy to use, has a greatinterface and.. well.. you can write down your numbers in there.

How long is this going to take?

Changing your body composition is going to be a challenge. You WILL need to put in thework. You WILL have to spend quite a few days eating less than you desire. And youmost certainly WILL feel like you’re not making any progress, at times. This is why Iemphasize progress tracking so much – because you have hard evidence of actualprogress.

As far as the actual time it’s going to take – it’s different for everyone. It could be 12weeks and it could be 30. Depending on your current body fat percentage, you mighthave to stick with it longer. The best answer I can give you is this:

It’s going to take as long as it has to until you reach your desired look.

Should you take any supplements?

I don’t like to rely on supplements too much. I like to consider myself what youtuber andprofessional toner Omar Isuf likes to call a ‘supplement minimalist’. I take the proven andresearched supplements that support my well-being and performance.

I don’t chase the latest “fast-absorbing” protein or “new and improved pre-workoutformula” and neither should you. Let’s get into my (short) list of recommendedsupplements which I take on a daily basis.

1.Creatine monohydrate. I won’t get much into this one. If you’d like to know more aboutit, I welcome you to check out the article I wrote on it a while back: Everything You Needto Know About Creatine

Take your standard 5 grams every day. It doesn’t matter what time you choose to do so.Here is a shorter summary of this supplement in a video:

2.Standard Whey Protein powder. Now, protein powder comes in many, many forms. I’mgoing to go on a limb here when I say this:

A standard whey protein is going to work just as great as the 3 times more expensive “fastdigesting super 3000 formula” one. You should do yourself a favor and don’t fall for themarketing scams.

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If you’d like to read more about protein powder, check out this in-depth article on thematter.

The reason I like taking protein powder is because it’s convenient. Do you need it to buildmuscle over time? Heck no. But you can whip up an overnight oatmeal or a protein shakeready to go in 5 minutes.

You can also check out this list of amazing recipes to try using protein powder .

3.Omega 3 Fish oils. This is yet another great supplement that not only support yourwell-being but it has been proven to have positive muscle-building effects over time. Youcan read more about it and it’s positive health benefits in this article.

If you’re interested in learning much more about supplementation, you can check out my14,000-word guide on workout supplements .

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