Skinny Fat: Caloric Surplus OR Caloric Deficit?

bindras9365 · August 2019

New to bodybuilding & fitness goals .
I am text book definition “Skinny fat.” I have heard both approaches for “Skinny fat” body type & getting exhausted & overwhelmed with conflicting approaches .

I’m 5’4, about 110-113lbs & I’d guess about 20-25% body fat that’s on stomach & hips.. I’m scrawny everywhere else.. I found my maintenance calories . Should I go for slight surplus or start with maintenance or do slight deficit to burn the fat I got ? (Doing my maintenance is HUGE change for me . I went from eating just once or twice with junk food ) I’ve started to work out 3x/week focusing on compound movements with isolated too. Be kind! Appreciate any input .

hrod215 · August 2019

I know nothing about this as I struggle to figure out how to recomp without losing too much weight myself. Wishing you the best of luck and I'll help bump this post.

bindras9365 · August 2019

I should also clarify I’m a male. Trying to bulk up . Thank you.

MikePTY · August 2019

At your current weight and height, you are almost underweight. You should not aim for a calorie deficit or try to lose anymore weight.

20-25% body fat ( it may be useful for you to get it professionally measured as opposed to estimating) is not what anyone would consider "fat", although it may be a bit more than what one would expect given your low weight.

Going by your comment of previously only eating once or twice a week, it seems like you are in recovery from an eating disorder? That may have caused muscle loss, which is why you do not have as much muscle as you should at your weight. Given that, I would focus on building muscle and getting to a healthier weight first (it is generally not good the hang at the low end of normal BMI, especially if you have had an ED. EDIT: this is even more true with your second post about being male). Then once you are recovered, you can look at maybe going into a slight deficit to burn fat if that would be healthy for you and not trigger a relapse. But I would certainly focus on a surplus for now.

wiigelec · August 2019

Get strong

mmapags · August 2019

Eat in a calorie surplus and consistently follow a weight training program. You are bordering on a unhealthy low weight. I find it hard to image at your height and weight you are at 25% body fat.

a7faour · August 2019

My friend, you need to gain good weight by increasing your protein and carb intake (don't go crazy with the carbs). Heavy Weight training plus calorie surplus would help shape your body and it will help with the definition. Also try having BCAAs during your training days. It will help isolate your muscles from burning and instead direct the body to burn fat for energy.

Hope that helps.

Good luck.

mmapags · August 2019

a7faour wrote: »

My friend, you need to gain good weight by increasing your protein and carb intake (don't go crazy with the carbs). Heavy Weight training plus calorie surplus would help shape your body and it will help with the definition. Also try having BCAAs during your training days. It will help isolate your muscles from burning and instead direct the body to burn fat for energy.

Hope that helps.

Good luck.

For me, your post is a mix of a little accurate and useful info and some not so accurate stuff. As long as one gets enough protein and a basic level of fats, there is no reason to monitor carb intake.

Also, almost all current research on BCAAs show that, beyond placebo effect, there are effectively useless as an incomplete protein. Just expensive water. they don't isolate your muscles from anything. They way to spare muscles is actually adequate carbs to fuel workout. Carbs are protein sparing.

Our bodies burn fat as our primary fuel substrate during rest or low intensity activities. As intensity increases, the amount of glycogen in the mix increases. It takes an either extremely low calorie intake or glycogen depletion for out bodies to turn to muscle as a fuel source once we have maximized lipolysis in a given time frame.

richardgavel · August 2019

mmapags wrote: »

a7faour wrote: »

My friend, you need to gain good weight by increasing your protein and carb intake (don't go crazy with the carbs). Heavy Weight training plus calorie surplus would help shape your body and it will help with the definition. Also try having BCAAs during your training days. It will help isolate your muscles from burning and instead direct the body to burn fat for energy.

Hope that helps.

Good luck.

For me, your post is a mix of a little accurate and useful info and some not so accurate stuff. As long as one gets enough protein and a basic level of fats, there is no reason to monitor carb intake.

Also, almost all current research on BCAAs show that, beyond placebo effect, there are effectively useless as an incomplete protein. Just expensive water. they don't isolate your muscles from anything. They way to spare muscles is actually adequate carbs to fuel workout. Carbs are protein sparing.

Our bodies burn fat as our primary fuel substrate during rest or low intensity activities. As intensity increases, the amount of glycogen in the mix increases. It takes an either extremely low calorie intake or glycogen depletion for out bodies to turn to muscle as a fuel source once we have maximized lipolysis in a given time frame.

I'm not going to weigh in on the BCAA question, more so to just say at this point to just focus on the basics, getting enough calories first, lifting second, macro distribution third. Keep it simple in the beginning, a lot of progress can happen with that.

Skinny Fat: Caloric Surplus OR Caloric Deficit?

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