How to deal with being Skinny fat?

xx1chloe5xx · May 2020

So I found something on Google known as skinny fat which describes me perfectly. I am skinny everywhere but fat and wobbly around my abdomen. It says on google the stomach is the worst place to have access fat. How do I get rid of fat around the obdomen I’ve tried eating different exercising bike rides and nothing seems to work

briscogun · May 2020

There’s nothing you can do to spot reduce fat from any one area. The body will lose fat from where it wants to no matter what you do for exercise. The only thing you can do is to continue to lose weight.

Now, “skinny fat” is usually used when someone has lost weight or is skinny but has very little muscle to show underneath. So for most people by adding a workout program they can add some definition which can alleviate the issue.

Belly fat is the hardest to lose and the last place fat usually hangs on to. We all have the same issue: it goes on there first and comes off there last. Just keep working at it, eat at a small deficit, add in a good full body workout program 3 days a week or so, and you should see results!

sijomial · May 2020

Give some context about yourself - no-one knows anything about you.
Whether you have some weight still to lose, a lot of weight to lose etc. etc.

A picture would help as "skinny fat" is a terribly over-used (and inaccurately used) currently fashionable expression being incorrectly used to label all sorts of people from over-weight to under-weight to simply under trained/under muscled and neither skinny or fat.

And you don't get to choose where to lose fat from - just like you didn't choose to add it round your middle.

sardelsa · May 2020

What are your stats? If you are at a healthy weight and are not happy with your body composition then recomping...lifting at maintenance (or a slight deficit depending on your stats) and getting adequate protein to build muscle and lose fat can help. But keep in mind this process can take time and as mentioned you cannot spot reduce fat. I am in a similar situation, I am at a healthy weight but my body composition is not where I want it to be (where it's been before at this weight) so I am recomping.

But whether or not that is right for you depends on your stats and maybe adding a photo if you are comfortable, so more info will be helpful.

AnnPT77 · May 2020

Seconding Sardelsa's question/suggestions (and she's just the woman to help you, too!

).

I'm also wondering about your self-evaluation: Sometimes we can be hyper-critical of ourselves!

True "skinny fat" is a possible thing, also known as "Normal-Weight Obesity (NWO)" - that would be a condition with concerning levels of body fat (high body fat percent) while at a normal BMI (body mass index). There's also ""metabolically obese normal weight" (MONW)", which mean levels of visceral fat that create health risks via possible metabolic issues (insulin resistance, high blood pressure, bad cholesterol/triglyceride levels, etc.) That's the kind of thing they mean when stuff on Google says "stomach is the worst place to have access fat", to use your words.

If at a healthy weight per BMI, it's far more common (like 3 to 1 more common) to be metabolically normal, and many people in that larger group are simply not happy with their aesthetic appearance. There's nothing wrong with pursuing aesthetic improvement, but it's not the same as the health risk.

One can be a little more jiggly than one prefers without being NWO or MONW, or even NWO without being MONW (i.e., the composition of the excess body fat isn't a significant health risk, so it's more of and appearance thing).

I think it's especially common among women to have unrealistic ideas about what constitutes normal "belly fat". There are a lot of sources that go out of their way to mislead us. As a useful reference about what normal women at healthy weights normally look like (including some quite-fit ones), this is a really good thread:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10689837/does-this-uterus-make-my-stomach-look-fat/p1

Best wishes!

Luciicul · May 2020

Well said @AnnPT77 !

@xx1chloe5xx if you are worried, I would suggest getting a doctor's checkup and they can let you know whether it is a health concern or nothing to stress about.

How to deal with being Skinny fat?

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