Getting rid of skinny fat syndrome

I would consider the following:

--starting point (always been an athlete, started heavier took up running and lost weight to current range, have been maintaining weight and running for years but weight was gained and performance fallen during past few years). Is there appreciable fat available to be lost or are are you starting with low fat availability? how much strength training has been done before? --what is the starting point?
--my goals (desire to perform well re: long distance running, desire to avoid injury, desire to strengthen, desire to change my looks? What are your goals and are you willing to lose on some to gain on the others? How are you willing to balance them?
--in some of the situations above... what has been your dieting experience? Have you lost and gained weight often? Ever? how often in past few years etc.
--do you have a progressive strength training program dialed in and know how to perform the moves, or have arranged for training? Do I have the time slots allocated and am pretty sure I will be following through? Beyond that, is this a program optimized for muscle growth (which would be supported by higher eating goals) or is it mostly a general strength development program which will also result in some muscle growth but not, necessarily, be optimized?

Based on above options could go with an at maintenance eating recomp if long distance running performance is paramount, a small surplus of ~250 or so Cal a day for long term slight surplus support, or a larger surplus of ~500 Cal a day if everything is dialed in and optimal.

A small request

Skinny fat has a meaning that it not random.

It means someone who is over-fat (as in someone who would be considered overweight or obese by fat percentage) while at a normal or low weight. So BMI of 18.5 to 25 while fat % is such that would be more commonly found in a person with BMI >25

Skinny fat does not mean "I don't have muscles that are as large and as defined as I would like them to be". It also does not mean "I don't have the body shape and aesthetics that I would like".

Why does it matter?

Because if you ARE actually skinny fat, this means that you have fat available to lose .

It means you CAN EFFECTIVELY recomp, especially if new to strength training, because you have a built in source of energy that can power your new lean mass creation. And not only that, but a bulk would probably not be optimal in terms of how the excess energy you will take in during your bulk will get partitioned between lean and fat tissue.

But if you are under-muscled and lean that's another story. And in this position if you want to build muscle fast(er) you probably need to take in additional energy.

However if you are an established competitive runner and your weight increases this could have implications for your performance.

So the answer is not the same for everyone and bulk and cut cycles may or may not be the best idea...

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Are you going to continue running at that level? It's going to be very difficult to build muscle if you're running 40+ miles per week. The problem is recovery. Trying to do both resistance training and running, at that level, is going to be very taxing on your body's ability to recover. If you're young, have your nutrition totally dialed in, have great genetics, get a ton of sleep and aren't under any stress then maybe you can do both, but at best it's sub-optimal and at worst one or both of your running and lifting will suffer and won't progress.

If you decide to cut back on the running and focus on resistance training for a while, then make sure you get sufficient protein, generally somewhere in the range of 0.8-1 gram per pound of body weight per day, and that you choose a good progressive lifting program and follow it consistently. Here's a thread with a nice selection of lifting programs to choose from:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

I notice a lot of calories on the table.
Are you losing weight? Gaining? How long have you maintained your weight loss? How much does your weight vary?
What fat % do you think is appropriate or shredded for a guy?
Is your goal abs and you're currently not seeing them? Are you seeing them but not as defined as you would like?
Is your goal upper body development? Lower? Run faster? Run marathons? All of the above? Have you run any marathons before?

In general your weight seems on the lower end of the normal weight range.
The amount of calories you're leaving on the table seems large and your intake (if accurate) given your activity level seems a little bit on the low side. This would compromise recovery etc.

I am also wondering if after your weight loss you've ever eaten at actual maintenance for any length of time or if you've been training hard and at a deficit throughout. How do you measure your food intake?

jhawkins16 wrote: »

Anyway, I probably need to give some background. I think this all started when I



lost 60 pounds within a 2 month time span a couple years age (I weighed 220 pounds) by cutting my intake down to 1,200 cal a day. Ever since then I think the constant going in and out of being in a deficit can just completely destroyed my body composition. Got really lean at 10.6% body fat according to in-body and 142 pounds in July of this year, and marathon training has caused me to get up to 150 pounds on average in the mornings due to train gain. I’ve definitely developed a better attitude towards food as I used to treat it as a reward. I now view it as fuel for running and IF has helped since I just have periods where I don’t have to worry about eating for the majority of the day. I’ve just never been shredded before and I’d like to feel comfortable taking my shift off at the beach again or when going on long runs.

Here’s my training log the last week.

I think you want to take a good hard look at the state of your thinking. Above in another post, you compare yourself to someone else who you say eats junk food and lifts weights and runs a sub 25 minute 5k. Honestly, you would have no idea what that person eats for an overall diet because you aren't following them around everyday. You are comparing yourself to someone without really knowing what the truly do and for how long they've done it.

Your OP was about being skinny fat but in the info in your post above, you are very lean and, without a picture, I would guess you have a distance runners body. Distance runners are light and lean because that is what that sport favors for performance. Yet, you want a better physique. You activities and your goals are at odds with each other.

If you want muscle mass and a better physique, then you may need to cut back on your running and training volume and focus on eating and training to accomplish that objective. You know that guy with the physique you compared yourself to? He is running 5ks in 25 minutes, not marathons. Decide what is most important to you or what compromises you are willing to live with.

When you lost weight so rapidly, you did not do yourself any favors. You sacrificed lots of muscle mass by severely under eating. In your evaluations of yourself, your self acknowledged thinking about food, you calling yourself skinny fat and your comparison to others, you are displaying what looks to me like lots of disordered thinking.

Take some time, sort somethings out as to what is most important to you. Possibly get some counseling to help with your relationship with food and body image. Then put together a plan and stick with it. Changing your physique, if that's what you decide to do, is going to take some time. That's one of the sad facts of losing weight too fast. Losing muscle mass by taking too aggressive an approach, then trying to rebuild it is always the longer harder way to do it rather than preserving as much as you can by losing at a more realistic rate. And remember, comparison is the thief of joy.

jhawkins16 wrote: »

I think when I started distance running I had a wrong idea of what a distance runners body looked like. You’re right mamapegs. I just need to focus on improving my race times and try to eat for my health and not really worry about my body as I’m at a healthy weight already anyway. I think my pre running days of being obese have damaged my outlook on things and I probably will never have a body I’m happy with because of unrealistic expectations. I just gotta work on that mindset.

I can't help but think that this sounds like you're giving up. You can accomplish anything you want to, but different objectives require different steps. I lost a lot of weight (fat and muscle) by long distance running and I wasn't happy with how I looked. I know what I want and I've changed things up accordingly. I think you need to think about what you want .

Speaking from my own experience, after running 4 marathons, I found that running that much wasn't particularly healthy, for me. My knees were sore constantly, my hip flexors always felt worn out, my feet had some weird callouses in places there shouldn't be callouses, lost toenails a couple of times, my feet were in pain all the time and my sex drive was low. Some of that was just because I'm terrible about listening to my body. I always hear that movie line "Pain is just weakness leaving the body" running through my head and so I didn't recover sufficiently, especially given my age, but some of it is just par for the course when you run that much.

I've felt much better since shifting my focus to resistance training with a couple of interval/HIIT classes a week and more moderate cardio. And, like @mmapags, probably even more so, I'm vain, I look much better.

Did I lose weight running that much? Absolutely. When I ran that much I found it almost impossible to eat back all the calories I burned during my peak training weeks. On long run days my Garmin would estimate my calorie burn at 2,800 calories. I wasn't "skinny fat" I was just effing skinny! I do miss the long runs. When you get in a zone running for 3ish hours it's very meditative, but I don't miss the grind of running every day that's required to get to a point where you can do 3+ hour runs. I also miss getting that foot-long Subway steak sandwich smothered in mayo after my long runs and having ZERO worries about the calories! lol. But overall I feel, and look, better.