Help: I am skinny fat

I'm sure lots of folks on here will be willing to help. It's not that horrible of a problem to have. I did the same thing in my twenties, lost a bunch of weight but still had a bit of fat around my belly that I could never get rid of.

For me, the answer was just adding more protein to my diet and lifting some weights. I was vegan at the time I was tiny before so I had next to no protein in my diet. Just google what the right amount is for you. You might gain a little weight but you will look great doing it if there are some muscles under it.

Lots of people will go on about the advantages of lifting weights but if that isn't your cup of tea (not everyone loves the gym) you can do a ton of stuff with just your body. Push ups, pull ups and sit ups have been building bodies for a long time.

Last but not least try not to hate on yourself too much. You're young, it's an easy problem to fix.

I would purchase some weights for at home use and maybe even look on ebay or craigs list for used equipment to have at home.

I would go out and purchase some weights and get ahold of P90X, if I were you. I would say that's about the easiest, cheapest way to do what you're looking for (guidelines, mostly). There are different programs that use the P90X DVD's, some are to lose weight, some are to gain mass. If you follow the entire program for gaining muscle mass, I imagine you'd see results. But like others have said, you have to KEEP DOING IT, muscle mass, definition, and strength disappear very quickly if you stop lifting. Good luck!

You're going to have to get to a gym to start lifting then! Dumbbells are great, but they can't be used to everything that you need, and you'll also need a wide range of weights. Gaining muscle (or 'toning' as some call it) requires constant resistance, so you'll have to keep upping your weights (which can get expensive if you're trying to do this at home).

This is my transformation from skinny-fat to fit:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1281688-from-skinny-fat-to-fit-and-muscular

And this are the exercises that you should be focusing on:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1308750-so-you-want-to-start-lifting-great

Find your TDEE at iifym.com. Your maintenance is probably around this number. Eat at a surplus to gain muscle, or at least at maintenance. If you're intimidated, ask one of the trainers at your gym.

Ababy- good for you for realizing those unhealthy habits aren't working. Skinny fat isn't a healthy state of being, and I'm glad you realize you shouldn't starve yourself.

Firstly, listen to the advice Fujiberry is giving, she knows her stuff. If you want a body like hers (I assume something like that is your target?) then she'll put you on the right path.

You shouldn't be doing any cardio, not only is it wasted effort it won't get you away from a skinny fat body. You just need to eat right, lift weights and get enough rest. Ditch all thoughts of cardio, and get in the mindset of eating enough food.

http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

Your TDEE is 1769 according to the calculator. That's the amount of calories per day you should be eating to maintain your weight. Bulking would be anywhere from 18-1900ish, this is something you'll have to play with. Fuji is right in that you'll want to be somewhere between your maintenence and bulking, you have to play with the numbers a bit (could be very slightly less or slightly more). I'd just pick a number like 1900 and start there, try it for a couple of weeks, then make adjustments. Then adjust again and again until you're getting results that work.

You don't need to lift weights more than 3x a week for 45 minutes to get an effective workout.. You can do more if you want but I wouldn't push that too far. I do 3x a week for 60 minutes each personally. There's no benefit to excessively training and overtraining can set you back, just like undertraining (sitting on a couch all day) would also set you back. Like diet, you have to feel this one out. What can you handle, what gives you results. It's a little different for each person.

Get good rest. Sleep at least 8 hours and take naps if you can. Your body is going to need it. Muscles grow during recovery, not during workouts. Lack of sleep will stall your progress. Don't be discouraged for not getting the balance right at the start. Expect and plan that it will take months to really institute all these changes. If you do all this right it will take time, I always found that realistic expectations about how slow the progress rate can be helped me to keep my sanity.

The weight training routine you pick won't matter too much, any of them would be effective for you to start. It needs to be actual resistance training, so if you're doing an exercise for 8 reps, that last rep needs to be pretty hard to do. If its too easy, then its too light. But here as well, don't be discouraged if you can't lift a lot of weight to start, it's not the amount that counts, it's a question of is it heavy enough for you to get in the right amount of resistance.

And just so you really understand this, there is no weight lifting for men or women. There is only weight lifting for humans. Men and women respond differently to resistance work (there's gender dimorphism, and men have more testosterone), but there is no different way for us to train. So it's not possible with weights for you to "look like a man' any more than it's possible for me to "look like a woman". These things are just myths and stereotypes perpetuated by an uneducated public.

Wow, great advice! Thank you so much for taking the time to help me out with his. I really appreciate it.
I would LOVE to look like Fujiberry. Looking at her pictures she looks stunning! Congratulations BTW! I'm very impressed Fuji!
I'm just ready for a change and I figure, what better place or people to help, than here!

I'm going to start making a plan for myself for weight lifting and some other exercises just training with my body.(push ups, sit ups, pull ups, lunges and squats) only 3 days a week. I'm going to maintain my calorie intake between 1,800 and 1,900 and try to keep foods relatively healthy. No fried foods, nothing high in sugars. I'm not going to change my whole pantry, but some more fruits and vegetables with leaner meats shouldn't hurt.

I need to make sure I get enough sleep and just maintain this until I see the results I want. I mean, I do have lots going on such as graduation, moving out of my apartment, visiting my family out of town and taking a two month backpacking trip to Europe all in the next two moths so if I stray a little from the workouts how poorly should that affect me? I'll just start lunging my way to my breakfast table and everywhere I go if I have to!

And I know this is a rookie question, but how long until I start seeing results? Any changes in my body at all?

Thank you RRCowgill! And thanks everyone else!

I'd just add one thing to the advice you are getting and that is this. Your current TDEE doesn't include the exercises you will be adding to start building muscle. If you do more exercise your TDEE goes up and you have to eat more as a result. Therefore if you end up doing a lot of exercise you will need to eat more than 1900. How much more can be hard to figure out but basically you estimate your burn, eat that back and adjust as needed over the months where you start seeing changes to your body.

1900 is a good place to start though probably.

Ababy- good for you for realizing those unhealthy habits aren't working. Skinny fat isn't a healthy state of being, and I'm glad you realize you shouldn't starve yourself.

Firstly, listen to the advice Fujiberry is giving, she knows her stuff. If you want a body like hers (I assume something like that is your target?) then she'll put you on the right path.

You shouldn't be doing any cardio, not only is it wasted effort it won't get you away from a skinny fat body. You just need to eat right, lift weights and get enough rest. Ditch all thoughts of cardio, and get in the mindset of eating enough food.

http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

Your TDEE is 1769 according to the calculator. That's the amount of calories per day you should be eating to maintain your weight. Bulking would be anywhere from 18-1900ish, this is something you'll have to play with. Fuji is right in that you'll want to be somewhere between your maintenence and bulking, you have to play with the numbers a bit (could be very slightly less or slightly more). I'd just pick a number like 1900 and start there, try it for a couple of weeks, then make adjustments. Then adjust again and again until you're getting results that work.

You don't need to lift weights more than 3x a week for 45 minutes to get an effective workout.. You can do more if you want but I wouldn't push that too far. I do 3x a week for 60 minutes each personally. There's no benefit to excessively training and overtraining can set you back, just like undertraining (sitting on a couch all day) would also set you back. Like diet, you have to feel this one out. What can you handle, what gives you results. It's a little different for each person.

Get good rest. Sleep at least 8 hours and take naps if you can. Your body is going to need it. Muscles grow during recovery, not during workouts. Lack of sleep will stall your progress. Don't be discouraged for not getting the balance right at the start. Expect and plan that it will take months to really institute all these changes. If you do all this right it will take time, I always found that realistic expectations about how slow the progress rate can be helped me to keep my sanity.

The weight training routine you pick won't matter too much, any of them would be effective for you to start. It needs to be actual resistance training, so if you're doing an exercise for 8 reps, that last rep needs to be pretty hard to do. If its too easy, then its too light. But here as well, don't be discouraged if you can't lift a lot of weight to start, it's not the amount that counts, it's a question of is it heavy enough for you to get in the right amount of resistance.

And just so you really understand this, there is no weight lifting for men or women. There is only weight lifting for humans. Men and women respond differently to resistance work (there's gender dimorphism, and men have more testosterone), but there is no different way for us to train. So it's not possible with weights for you to "look like a man' any more than it's possible for me to "look like a woman". These things are just myths and stereotypes perpetuated by an uneducated public.

THIS.

Btw, I love how you elaborate my posts. I don't always remember that some people might not be familiar with fitness facts and terminologies.

I would go out and purchase some weights and get ahold of P90X, if I were you. I would say that's about the easiest, cheapest way to do what you're looking for (guidelines, mostly). There are different programs that use the P90X DVD's, some are to lose weight, some are to gain mass. If you follow the entire program for gaining muscle mass, I imagine you'd see results. But like others have said, you have to KEEP DOING IT, muscle mass, definition, and strength disappear very quickly if you stop lifting. Good luck!

Honestly P90X is much more of a weight loss program than a muscle building program. Their lifting routines are mostly bodyweight stuff that is rapid-fire in circuit training style that makes it more cardio than heavy lifting. Then the other half of the routines are just straight cardio.

If you want to put on muscle eat lots of food and grab a barbell or some heavy dumbells and do multiple sets with low rep and plenty of rest between sets.

true, but not quite...

P90x could be a very good start for beginners. And you can use heavier weight if you want.

I liked P90x when I was on it but now thinking back, time is the big turnoff for me to go back to the routine. and Tony...you can only take this much of him or he will get really annoying. LOL