Skinny fat, am I on the right track?

AmrOnTop

Okay so basically this is my background:
Height: 5'10
Weight: 175 pounds, mostly of fat with a diminished muscle mass, skinny arms with a belly/chest fat (aka: skinny fat).
Age: 20, male.

My diet is at around 1600-1700 calories daily: 150 carbs, 103 protein and 63 sugar. I know I'm supposed to be getting in 1 gm of protein per lean body mass so I'm quite sure that 103 grams would cover any lean muscle mass I have.
The diet is considered to be healthy: Fava Beans, boiled eggs, olive oil, sweet potatoes, lentils and chicken breasts or tuna. I drink over 3 liters of water a day and green tea w/cinammon and ginger 3 times/day (no added sweetners)... As for dinner, I'll have a cabbage soup or something.

The rest of my calories goes into a post workout protein shake consisting of: 1 banana, 2 tbsp of PB, 100 gms of cottage cheese, 10 almonds, 1 glass of milk and 3 tbsp of oatmeal.

I time the shake and the lentils, sweet potato and chicken meal immedietly after my workout. (no added salt of course).

As for my workouts, I just started resistance training, gonna be going for 4-5 times/week and 2 HIIT 20 mins sessions/week. I try to lift heavy with 8-12 reps and utilize compound movements.

I've done my research and I'm following this type of plan because of that but, I need validation so I could know that I'm on the right direction and not missing something here .. If I stay consistent for let's say, a 2 months period .. Would I see an improvement in my muscle tone and some definition in my arm? Would I still be losing some of that fat at the same time but not muscle due to my protein intake w/ a caloric restruction? Would I see muscle gains as I improve my lifts every week?

Btw, I'm not really sure what my BMR and maintance level is ... Wouldn't it be different for me since I don't carry much muscle? All I know is that I'm on a deficit but idk if it's too much or just enough, I'm perfectly fine with the diet and don't feel hungry at all.

Sorry if the thread's too long, any help is much appreciated!

AmrOnTop

Up

sjaplo

If you keep up the resistance training, you will get stronger. But you won't gain any muscle as your eating at a defecit. I'm 5'9" 178lbs eating 2300 cal per day. Resistance 2-3 times per week for 1 hr, 1 20 min run - cycling to and from work as well as walking the dog. And I'm losing about a lb every 10 days.

AmrOnTop

But I read that being on a caloric surplus is not a "must" for muscle gains. On youtube, scooby said that having a high protein diet is enough to promote muscle growth. This is where it gets confusing though:
We both have pretty similar bodies (height/weight) but still, your BMR is much higher probably cause of the muscle mass you carry. So I wouldn't know how much of a deficit I'm truly at ..
And even the scale is confusing me cause my weight has been the same for like a week and a half now ..

sjaplo

If you do a search on this website you will learn otherwise. Also - I have been doing NROL since February-ish and have noticed appreciable gains in strength, but no growth in size - to the contrary measurements are shrinking as the fat goes.

I'm currently using the TDEE less 20% method, which means I don't have to log my exercises and I work on the average for the week. You can search an excel spreadsheet on this site also "Weight loss Calculators - Public"

Basic theory is you can't make something out of nothing.

lisalsd1

I'm going with eating more food and protein. I'm 5'3 34 year old female at 124lbs. I eat more than 1600-1700 cals and over 100 grams of protein a day (closer to 150 grams on lifting days).

You can gain strength while eating at a deficit without gaining substantial muscle size (this has been my experience over the last year +). If you want to gain strength and size, you are most likely going to have to eat more.

Walter__

Read this in regards to gaining muscle while losing fat: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/adding-muscle-while-losing-fat-qa/

It's very doubtful that you will see any muscle gains seeing as you're not overly fat to begin with, and most importantly seeing as you're in a 1000+ calorie deficit and, IMO, overexercising on the calories you're eating.


With your current routine I'd say you're on the right track to either lean out very quickly... or burn yourself out very quickly and quit. I'm going with the latter. I say that because you're a beginner, in a huge deficit, AND working out 7x a week. Oh and your diet seems extremely boring (nothing wrong with that, as my diet is very boring too, but it's just that beginners don't normally do so well going from their normal eating habits to extremely "clean" overnight). From personal experience, what I've observed in myself and countless other, I just don't see you sticking to this for long. The amount of mental and physical fortitude it takes for a complete beginner to stick to such a strict regimen is incredible.

Now if you do manage to stick to it you'll be pretty lean by Thanksgiving or early December. Then you can start eating a lot to bulk up.



But yea man honestly I think you are doing too much by eating so little and working out so much. I am 5'9 175 and I am losing on 1800 calories a day. But I only lift 3x a week and, besides that, am very sedentary. I literally just sit in front of the computer all day. Yet I'm still losing on 1800.

I believe you could up your calories a bit, work out less, and still lean out. This way you won't get burned out but you'll still see progress you want.

TiberiusClaudis

The good new is...you will find many of us were in similar situations and came out of it...well..smelling like a rose.

I was severly overweight 2.5 years ago. Spent 4 months losing 60 lbs and was then skinny fat. Then over the next year I went thru the goldie locks period...gained muscle and lost fat. Since then, I've been going back and forth with traditional bulk/cutting cycles.

Here is a good read that may be of use:http://www.muscleforlife.com/the-best-way-to-gain-muscle-not-fat/

AmrOnTop

Thanks a lot! I guess my last Q would be: how could I know exactly what my BMR is? (regardless of excercise and thermic effect of food) .. Because for my height and weight, I'm pretty sure that the calculating method online assumes that I'm your typical muscular 20 yrs old which I'm not obviously, and they're gonna be burning more than me in a resting state. So idk how to find my exact number! And the scale is pretty confusing cause some weeks I am losing like 4 pounds and the other I gain 0.1 pound so dafua? O.o

AmrOnTop

Read this in regards to gaining muscle while losing fat: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/adding-muscle-while-losing-fat-qa/

It's very doubtful that you will see any muscle gains seeing as you're not overly fat to begin with, and most importantly seeing as you're in a 1000+ calorie deficit and, IMO, overexercising on the calories you're eating.


With your current routine I'd say you're on the right track to either lean out very quickly... or burn yourself out very quickly and quit. I'm going with the latter. I say that because you're a beginner, in a huge deficit, AND working out 7x a week. Oh and your diet seems extremely boring (nothing wrong with that, as my diet is very boring too, but it's just that beginners don't normally do so well going from their normal eating habits to extremely "clean" overnight). From personal experience, what I've observed in myself and countless other, I just don't see you sticking to this for long. The amount of mental and physical fortitude it takes for a complete beginner to stick to such a strict regimen is incredible.

Now if you do manage to stick to it you'll be pretty lean by Thanksgiving or early December. Then you can start eating a lot to bulk up.



But yea man honestly I think you are doing too much by eating so little and working out so much. I am 5'9 175 and I am losing on 1800 calories a day. But I only lift 3x a week and, besides that, am very sedentary. I literally just sit in front of the computer all day. Yet I'm still losing on 1800.

I believe you could up your calories a bit, work out less, and still lean out. This way you won't get burned out but you'll still see progress you want.

The reason my weight lifting is on a 5 days split is that I get burned out pretty quickly, so I went with that split to be able to train all my body parts efficiently. I am not the strongest dude out there.