Getting rid of skinny fat syndrome

2

Replies

  • jhawkins16
    jhawkins16 Posts: 29 Member
    Did you severely cut your calories to drop weight like I did? I think that’s the cause.
  • giancarlov1191
    giancarlov1191 Posts: 493 Member
    Low calories, low carb, long distance running. This picture is me in January 2018, I was 100% below 150, cant remember if it was 146 or 148.
  • giancarlov1191
    giancarlov1191 Posts: 493 Member
    Sorry, here it ist4oiy09nox5m.jpg
  • Sorry, here it ist4oiy09nox5m.jpg

    You look lean but with not much muscle mass. I’m not sure we all share the same definition of skinny fat. Perhaps it would help if OP posted a picture of himself, if he wants to.
  • jhawkins16
    jhawkins16 Posts: 29 Member
    I will later on today. I’ll get someone to take a photo of me.
  • giancarlov1191
    giancarlov1191 Posts: 493 Member
    Sorry, here it ist4oiy09nox5m.jpg

    You look lean but with not much muscle mass. I’m not sure we all share the same definition of skinny fat. Perhaps it would help if OP posted a picture of himself, if he wants to.

    That about sums it up. Over a year of low calories and high cardio, and I had no muscle left
  • tcunbeliever
    tcunbeliever Posts: 8,219 Member
    10.6% body fat for a man falls under "lean" or "ideal" depending on your age...so that's not fat or skinny fat by definition...however, I'm totally a fan of more muscle, so if you want a more muscular look then good on you for adding some lifting.

    I don't run, but my son is a runner (long and short distances), and he lifts about an hour 2x/week in addition to his running (6-10 miles per day, 6x/week) to build muscle, he also does core work 3x/week (15 min, but intense)...so, it seems to me, that it is possible to run and lift and balance them that so it's doesn't degrade your running performance...but he does eat an insane amount of food, so probably need to increase intake to offset any lifting you add.

    He's also still a student and might have more free time than you do as an real grown up.
  • giancarlov1191
    giancarlov1191 Posts: 493 Member
    I think it's really difficult to draw comparisons here.

    Was your son overweight to start with?
  • jseams1234
    jseams1234 Posts: 1,219 Member

    You look lean but with not much muscle mass. I’m not sure we all share the same definition of skinny fat. Perhaps it would help if OP posted a picture of himself, if he wants to.

    He looks thin with not much muscle mass. I wouldn't call that lean at all. When I was in the military and had a BMI of 20 but looked like an anatomical model of skeletal muscle with all the fat and skin ripped off... that is thin and lean... lean = "ripped". ;)

    He looks like his bf % in that photo is at least 20% and I wouldn't be surprised if it's higher. He may not meet the medical definition of medically obese normal-weight (25% or greater) but it's really hard to tell as you wear that weight much differently when you are MONW. A number of years ago before I got fed up and started lifting seriously, I was "skinny fat" and did meet the definition of MONW as I had a normal BMI but was probably 30% body fat.

  • jseams1234
    jseams1234 Posts: 1,219 Member
    jhawkins16 wrote: »
    I will later on today. I’ll get someone to take a photo of me.

    Yeah, I'm very curious as to what you think 10% body fat looks like. That's really ripped and a level that most men cannot maintain for very long. You would have very defined abs, be very vascular and have clear separation/definition of almost every muscle in your body. You may not look very muscular in clothes but in a tank top or shirtless you would look more ripped than Bruce Lee.
  • giancarlov1191
    giancarlov1191 Posts: 493 Member
    jseams1234 wrote: »

    You look lean but with not much muscle mass. I’m not sure we all share the same definition of skinny fat. Perhaps it would help if OP posted a picture of himself, if he wants to.

    He looks thin with not much muscle mass. I wouldn't call that lean at all. When I was in the military and had a BMI of 20 but looked like an anatomical model of skeletal muscle with all the fat and skin ripped off... that is thin and lean... lean = "ripped". ;)

    He looks like his bf % in that photo is at least 20% and I wouldn't be surprised if it's higher. He may not meet the medical definition of medically obese normal-weight (25% or greater) but it's really hard to tell as you wear that weight much differently when you are MONW. A number of years ago before I got fed up and started lifting seriously, I was "skinny fat" and did meet the definition of MONW as I had a normal BMI but was probably 30% body fat.

    Thanks for the response. I posted that old picture to try and show that's its possible to be at a quite low weight and still have a quite high bf%
  • giancarlov1191
    giancarlov1191 Posts: 493 Member
    In July this year I was only a few pounds less but I wager a much lower bf%. I wouldn't call myself skinny fat here, but I did in the first picture emicucek0qvd.jpg
  • jseams1234
    jseams1234 Posts: 1,219 Member
    edited December 2019
    jseams1234 wrote: »

    You look lean but with not much muscle mass. I’m not sure we all share the same definition of skinny fat. Perhaps it would help if OP posted a picture of himself, if he wants to.

    He looks thin with not much muscle mass. I wouldn't call that lean at all. When I was in the military and had a BMI of 20 but looked like an anatomical model of skeletal muscle with all the fat and skin ripped off... that is thin and lean... lean = "ripped". ;)

    He looks like his bf % in that photo is at least 20% and I wouldn't be surprised if it's higher. He may not meet the medical definition of medically obese normal-weight (25% or greater) but it's really hard to tell as you wear that weight much differently when you are MONW. A number of years ago before I got fed up and started lifting seriously, I was "skinny fat" and did meet the definition of MONW as I had a normal BMI but was probably 30% body fat.

    Thanks for the response. I posted that old picture to try and show that's its possible to be at a quite low weight and still have a quite high bf%

    It was a perfect illustration (and kept me from having to post mine ;) ). You look much leaner/muscular in the pic above... it's a very noticeable difference.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    edited December 2019
    jseams1234 wrote: »
    jseams1234 wrote: »

    You look lean but with not much muscle mass. I’m not sure we all share the same definition of skinny fat. Perhaps it would help if OP posted a picture of himself, if he wants to.

    He looks thin with not much muscle mass. I wouldn't call that lean at all. When I was in the military and had a BMI of 20 but looked like an anatomical model of skeletal muscle with all the fat and skin ripped off... that is thin and lean... lean = "ripped". ;)

    He looks like his bf % in that photo is at least 20% and I wouldn't be surprised if it's higher. He may not meet the medical definition of medically obese normal-weight (25% or greater) but it's really hard to tell as you wear that weight much differently when you are MONW. A number of years ago before I got fed up and started lifting seriously, I was "skinny fat" and did meet the definition of MONW as I had a normal BMI but was probably 30% body fat.

    Thanks for the response. I posted that old picture to try and show that's its possible to be at a quite low weight and still have a quite high bf%

    It was a perfect illustration (and kept me from having to post mine ;) ). You look much leaner/muscular in the pic above... it's a very noticeable difference.

    Agreed.

    Photo #1 is skinny fat and #2 is not. I look like photo #2, just not that thin/skinny.

  • jhawkins16
    jhawkins16 Posts: 29 Member
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  • jhawkins16
    jhawkins16 Posts: 29 Member
    These were my 142 days...I’ll have to get a more recent. I’m around 150 now. Excuse the serious face I know I liked dorky I had just got for a run before that photo
  • jhawkins16
    jhawkins16 Posts: 29 Member
    I used the in-body machine at a local cross fit place. I know it isn’t as accurate as a DEXA.
  • jhawkins16
    jhawkins16 Posts: 29 Member
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  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,522 Member
    Sure-fire cure for being "skinny fat:"
    Put on 50 pounds!
  • jhawkins16
    jhawkins16 Posts: 29 Member
    That was back during the summer. Add 8 pounds. I’ll post a recent one tomorrow after my run.
  • giancarlov1191
    giancarlov1191 Posts: 493 Member
    sgt1372 wrote: »
    jseams1234 wrote: »
    jseams1234 wrote: »

    You look lean but with not much muscle mass. I’m not sure we all share the same definition of skinny fat. Perhaps it would help if OP posted a picture of himself, if he wants to.

    He looks thin with not much muscle mass. I wouldn't call that lean at all. When I was in the military and had a BMI of 20 but looked like an anatomical model of skeletal muscle with all the fat and skin ripped off... that is thin and lean... lean = "ripped". ;)

    He looks like his bf % in that photo is at least 20% and I wouldn't be surprised if it's higher. He may not meet the medical definition of medically obese normal-weight (25% or greater) but it's really hard to tell as you wear that weight much differently when you are MONW. A number of years ago before I got fed up and started lifting seriously, I was "skinny fat" and did meet the definition of MONW as I had a normal BMI but was probably 30% body fat.

    Thanks for the response. I posted that old picture to try and show that's its possible to be at a quite low weight and still have a quite high bf%

    It was a perfect illustration (and kept me from having to post mine ;) ). You look much leaner/muscular in the pic above... it's a very noticeable difference.

    Agreed.

    Photo #1 is skinny fat and #2 is not. I look like photo #2, just not that thin/skinny.

    Yeah I was 139lbs here (5'8), at the end of a 6 month cut. I'm deep into a clean bulk now, up about 15lbs.
  • giancarlov1191
    giancarlov1191 Posts: 493 Member
    jhawkins16 wrote: »
    That was back during the summer. Add 8 pounds. I’ll post a recent one tomorrow after my run.

    Well here, your bf% looks a lot less than mine was, and you clearly have muscle in your back, chest, and arms, so if you decided to focus on putting on mass, you wouldn't be starting from zero.
  • jhawkins16
    jhawkins16 Posts: 29 Member
    I think I have experienced what is known as body recomp since then in a bad way. Looking back I was eating a low amount of calories (2,000 a day) so my carbs were very low. Once I added carbs back into my diet I bounced up to 155. I’m at 150 (148 fasted after a run) now. I was 137 pounds fasted at the time. Then again I think I may suffer from a form of body dysphoria from constantly gaining and losing weight again. Once I post tomorrow be honest, as I really can’t trust my own opinion on what’s lean. I’m good with “ok” for now as I know I can get back to that as my race times improve. I didn’t mean for this thread to blow up I was just venting at the time. I’ll be training for some half marathons in March and April after my 5k training plan so more mileage means more calories burned and more room to eat without consequences.
  • jhawkins16
    jhawkins16 Posts: 29 Member
    Thank you all for the response and advice!!!! I appreciate this community.
  • giancarlov1191
    giancarlov1191 Posts: 493 Member
    jhawkins16 wrote: »
    I think I have experienced what is known as body recomp since then in a bad way. Looking back I was eating a low amount of calories (2,000 a day) so my carbs were very low. Once I added carbs back into my diet I bounced up to 155. I’m at 150 (148 fasted after a run) now. I was 137 pounds fasted at the time. Then again I think I may suffer from a form of body dysphoria from constantly gaining and losing weight again. Once I post tomorrow be honest, as I really can’t trust my own opinion on what’s lean. I’m good with “ok” for now as I know I can get back to that as my race times improve. I didn’t mean for this thread to blow up I was just venting at the time. I’ll be training for some half marathons in March and April after my 5k training plan so more mileage means more calories burned and more room to eat without consequences.

    It's brought up some great discussion that I can actually relate to, so thanks for posting!
  • OP this thread has been really useful for me. I am not always sure when people say ‘skinny fat’ what that actually looks like. I know it means normal bmi with a higher body fat percentage but one sees the term bandied about a lot here and without visuals I was not clear what people were talking about.
  • jhawkins16 wrote: »
    I think I have experienced what is known as body recomp since then in a bad way. Looking back I was eating a low amount of calories (2,000 a day) so my carbs were very low. Once I added carbs back into my diet I bounced up to 155. I’m at 150 (148 fasted after a run) now. I was 137 pounds fasted at the time. Then again I think I may suffer from a form of body dysphoria from constantly gaining and losing weight again. Once I post tomorrow be honest, as I really can’t trust my own opinion on what’s lean. I’m good with “ok” for now as I know I can get back to that as my race times improve. I didn’t mean for this thread to blow up I was just venting at the time. I’ll be training for some half marathons in March and April after my 5k training plan so more mileage means more calories burned and more room to eat without consequences.

    Your comments about body dysmorphia and ‘more mileage meaning more calories burned and more room to eat more without consequences’ worry me a bit. It doesn’t suggest a healthy balanced relationship with eating to me. It may be worth exploring this issue further with a professional. Just a suggestion.
  • staticsplit
    staticsplit Posts: 538 Member
    I wouldn't say you're skinny fat at all. You might find that adding some weight training gives you more of what you're looking for.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    I wouldn't say you're skinny fat at all. You might find that adding some weight training gives you more of what you're looking for.

    Agreed. Based on your picture, you look lean and fit. If you wanted to lift and eat a little more, you would see some gains in muscle mass. You look fine.

    My bigger concern is your mentality and outlook. It seems like you've got a couple of things going on that are not the most healthy. First, based on how you describe yourself vs. your picture, It seems like there is some body dysmorphia happening. You are not seeing yourself accurately. Second, your relationship with food seems troublesome.

    You may want to consider some counseling to address these things. You are fit and healthy. You should feel some satisfaction about that instead of constant dissatisfaction about some element of your body and eating.