I am Skinny Fat.

You need to LIFT weights and I mean lift weights like a F-ing Barbarian then EAT to FUEL the muscle and your body.. Small people eat small amounts of Calories muscular people BURN BIG Calories. You have lost 95 lbs Great job now its time to eat more and burn more so raise your calories and watch the scale close.

What do you weigh, how tall and age please OPEN UP YOUR DIARY too. How many calories are you consuming?

Remember a calorie deficit of 250 calories is great at 2000 or 3500 calories

Keep going with your calorie deficit, making sure you get adequate protein (.85 grams per pound of bodyweight) and definitely start some sort of progressive resistance program.

Hey Caden. At this point It sounds like a recomp would be best for you. The best way to do that is to eat at a maintenance level of calories and workout with compound exercises including the squat, deadlift, bench press, pullup and row.

joburnolt wrote: »

Hey Caden. At this point It sounds like a recomp would be best for you. The best way to do that is to eat at a maintenance level of calories and workout with compound exercises including the squat, deadlift, bench press, pullup and row.

Recomping at 20% body fat is not a good idea. Recomping is for when you're already close to your weight goal but want to improve body composition.
Trying to recomp while still 20 pounds from goal weight is a recipe for remaining overweight.

jemhh wrote: »

CadenDavid wrote: »

I am 6'4 and 229lbs. BMR is 2200. 20ish% body fat. @Michael190lbs

That is not skinny fat. Even with th bmi calculation for tall people, yours is 26, putting you just into overweight territory. Skinny fat means low bmi, high bf%.

Regardless, start doing resistance exercise yesterday. Continue to eat in a deficit.

Is it actually possible to have low BMI and high BF%? I've never seen anyone with a BMI of 18-19 that had a high BF%.

Skinny fat is BMI in the healthy range but BF% not in the healthy range. That scenario usually happens when BMI in the upper range of normal.

AnvilHead wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

jemhh wrote: »

CadenDavid wrote: »

I am 6'4 and 229lbs. BMR is 2200. 20ish% body fat. @Michael190lbs

That is not skinny fat. Even with th bmi calculation for tall people, yours is 26, putting you just into overweight territory. Skinny fat means low bmi, high bf%.

Regardless, start doing resistance exercise yesterday. Continue to eat in a deficit.

Is it actually possible to have low BMI and high BF%? I've never seen anyone with a BMI of 18-19 that had a high BF%.

Not only possible, but apparently quite common:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9588440

http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/47/5/699

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/obesity/expert-answers/normal-weight-obesity/faq-20058313

http://www.nature.com/nutd/journal/v5/n4/full/nutd201446a.html

None of those mention a high BF%.

jemhh wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

AnvilHead wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

jemhh wrote: »

CadenDavid wrote: »

I am 6'4 and 229lbs. BMR is 2200. 20ish% body fat. @Michael190lbs

That is not skinny fat. Even with th bmi calculation for tall people, yours is 26, putting you just into overweight territory. Skinny fat means low bmi, high bf%.

Regardless, start doing resistance exercise yesterday. Continue to eat in a deficit.

Is it actually possible to have low BMI and high BF%? I've never seen anyone with a BMI of 18-19 that had a high BF%.

Not only possible, but apparently quite common:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9588440

http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/47/5/699

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/obesity/expert-answers/normal-weight-obesity/faq-20058313

http://www.nature.com/nutd/journal/v5/n4/full/nutd201446a.html

None of those mention a high BF%.

The third link is pretty much all about having high body fat. Are you hung up on me saying body fat percentage rather than plain old body fat?

I'm happy to be proven wrong on this (the definition of skinny fat) but even if I am, I don't think we can necessarily say that the OP is skinny fat. If we're going to say that skinny fat = MONW, you can't ignore the NW requirement. Is MONW what is commonly meant by the layperson (not scientist) who uses the term "skinny fat"? (I'm genuinely curious about this.)

ETA: I think this is veering into "hijacking a post" territory so I will post this over in the health debate section. (Not sure if that is the right section even.)

Yes, my bad. The 3rd link mentions body fat percent but does not mention low BMI, just BMI in the healthy range. I wouldn't say I'm "hung up" on anything. I've just never heard of anyone having a high BF% (outside the healthy BF% range) and a low BMI. It seems fairly impossible.

But to have metabolic problems at a low BMI is a different thing. I know people like that, but their BF% isn't high.

I did not start recomp until I hit around 15% BF, until that time I simply dropped my deficit to around 1lb a day or so and kept at it until I hit 15%. I upped my protein and kept up the compound exercises (mine are a bit modified due to some injuries, but still they are compound exercises) and did not slack off on the cardio to keep the fat burning. When I hit 15% I transitioned to maintenance as I was also at my goal weight, or slightly below it.

Right now I hover around 10% which is where I would love to stay, but I know that eventually I'll want more muscle than I've gained already and will have to eat at a surplus for a while to get it. Keep in mind, I'm eating between 2700 and 3k calories a day and that still puts me in a very slight deficit of around 100-250 calories a day during my current phase of recomp because of the mad level of exercise I'm doing each week.

So I'd listen to @Michael190lbs and drop your deficit to a manageable level and start lifting. Having a huge deficit at this point isn't going to do you any favors. Since you're still at the upper end of the BMI range for normal, or slightly overweight with a 20% body fat, do keep up the deficit, just make it smaller. Up the protein, up the exercise, and eat accordingly. I cannot lift (back and knee injuries) much so I do more body weight training. It'll be a long road, just keep at it.