I work out, yet I'm "skinny fat?"
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_Clarana_
Posts: 73 Member
I burn about 300-400 a day, my BMI's 20-ish, I'm a UK size 6-8 (female), and yet I have a lot of stomach fat and love handles? Do I just need a greater calorie deficit?
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Replies
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Could be what you're eating and goes back to the whole 'you can't out exercise a bad diet', you can be within your calorie goal and workout everyday but still have high visceral fat because of what types of food you're eating.
Could be you're not eating enough (think of the pictures of famine victims and protruding bellies).
Could be that you need to add weights/core into your routine to tighten the underlying muscles, purely cardio workouts don't build muscle (my lean body muscle dropped a bit when I was training for the marathon as I had dropped a weights session so I could fit in my 4 runs a week, back to weights twice/three times a week and running threes times a week so it's building up again).0 -
Greater calorie deficit is only going to make it worse.
Eat at a moderate deficit and lift heavy things.0 -
What kind of exercise are you doing? Do you know your body fat percentage?0
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I burn about 300-400 a day, my BMI's 20-ish, I'm a UK size 6-8 (female), and yet I have a lot of stomach fat and love handles?
Not much information here, so what type of training do you do, what's your forecast rate of weight loss and how long have you been trying to lose?
Skinny fat is a pretty meaningless term, but your results are going to depend on how your diet, CV and resistance training play into one another.0 -
I'm certainly no expert on the matter but if it were me and I was still having issues in my stomach and love handles area I would add exercises that work the stomach and core muscles. Situps, crunches, ab rollers, stuff like that. If you type "Abdominal Exercises" into google, the first link that comes up should be bodybuilding.com and they have a list of about 90 exercises that are designed to focus on the abdominal muscles.0
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It sounds like you have fallen into the same trap that a lot of women fall into. They think, "I want to be smaller so I'll eat less and do more cardio" but they never stop to think that once they lose their fat, there needs to be some muscle mass to uncover or else you'll look terrible and be in a worse state metabolically than you were in to begin with! Luckily, there is an easy solution to this problem. Eat at a slight deficit, lift weights 3 days a week and do cardio on 3 of your off days (I would recommend HIIT for cardio. Walking/jogging burns muscle and fat without prejudice).
If you don't know where to start in the weight room, go to stronglifts.com and run the stronglifts 5x5 program outlined on the website.0 -
You need to add strength training into your routine to see some positive change! Trust me, it makes a huge difference!0
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Lift heavy, create a reasonable calorie deficit, and be patient! It will not happen overnight.0
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I'm certainly no expert on the matter but if it were me and I was still having issues in my stomach and love handles area I would add exercises that work the stomach and core muscles.
You can't spot reduce, so targetting specific exercises at specific areas of mass aren't effective.
Essentially what one has to do is find a way to balance the loss of fat and lean mass, optimising towards retention of lean mass. That means a balance of CV work to burn calories, drive the deficit and improve stamina, with resistance training to help the retention of lean mass. Some CV exercises are better than others around supporting the lean mass component of that.
That said, burning 300 calories in a session isn't a great deal, but personally I'd also advise against ellipticals and recumbents in the gym as far as CV is concerned. I'd genrally advocate running, cycling, swimming and rowing alongside some form of resistance training, whether bodyweight or free weights.0 -
It sounds like you need to add strength training to your life. Strong lifts and New Rules of Lifting are both good programs to look into.0
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Not sure what you do for your workouts but definitely make sure you add strength training. If you lift heavy while eating at a slight deficit, you'll burn fat and maintain muscle. Or if you're already at your goal weight then eat at maintenance.0
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Has anyone looked at the OP's pictures? I would say that you have a case of body dysmorphia and is not eating enough. I see no love handles or belly pouch. Only skin and bones.0
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It sounds like you have fallen into the same trap that a lot of women fall into. They think, "I want to be smaller so I'll eat less and do more cardio" but they never stop to think that once they lose their fat, there needs to be some muscle mass to uncover or else you'll look terrible and be in a worse state metabolically than you were in to begin with! Luckily, there is an easy solution to this problem. Eat at a slight deficit, lift weights 3 days a week and do cardio on 3 of your off days (I would recommend HIIT for cardio. Walking/jogging burns muscle and fat without prejudice).
If you don't know where to start in the weight room, go to stronglifts.com and run the stronglifts 5x5 program outlined on the website.
^ That.0 -
There are also some body types that are going to retain fat in those areas. I recommend a balanced program of strength and cardio, and a sensible calorie deficit. You also need to have your body fat measured. If it turns out your bf% is under 20% and you still have extra fat in those areas, then that just might be your body type.0
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LIFT!
It doesn't matter that you're burning 300-400 calories per day. If it's cardio, you're not doing a whole lot for your lean muscle mass. Lift heavy and your body will thank you.0 -
Has anyone looked at the OP's pictures? I would say that you have a case of body dysmorphia and is not eating enough. I see no love handles or belly pouch. Only skin and bones.
This ^0 -
Please have a look at this girl's photo's. She is too thin. OP please seek some help to deal with your body issues. All the best.0
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Has anyone looked at the OP's pictures? I would say that you have a case of body dysmorphia and is not eating enough. I see no love handles or belly pouch. Only skin and bones.
After your comment I did look, and I would agree. Please be healthy...there are NO love handles and only skin/bones. Muscle tone can't be seen as much as you would think of a BMI of 20. P.S. BMI charts are not accurate for muscular people. Most muscular people will be in the overweight category even if they look absolutely awesome! Please be healthy.0 -
Has anyone looked at the OP's pictures? I would say that you have a case of body dysmorphia and is not eating enough. I see no love handles or belly pouch. Only skin and bones.
In her profile she idetifies a history of disordered eating, which doesn't invalidate the advice; balanced programme of CV and resistance training is going to deliver effective results.0 -
Greater calorie deficit is only going to make it worse.
Eat at a moderate deficit and lift heavy things.
This. Doing exactly this has made all the difference. The difference between what I look like now compared to how I looked at the same weight last year is significant. I wish I had done this from the very beginning. You live and you learn, I guess.0
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