Skinny, or Skinny-Fat?

[kerwinray]

Hi guys!

 

Not sure where to post this, but I need some help. I'm a bit confused as to what my body type is, and what I should do moving forward.

 

 

Am I skinny? Skinny-fat? Fat? 

 

Some statistics to help you guys analyze me:

 

Age: 28 yrs old

Height: 5' 4.5''

Current weight: 130 lbs

Body fat %: between 12% - 16% (suprailliac reading gives me 10 mm of fat)

 

Neck: 15.4 in

Shoulder: 18.9 in

Bicep: 11.8 in

Chest: 33.5 in

Waist: 29.9 in

Hips: 34.6 in

Thigh: 20.5 in

Calf: 14.6 in

 

I'm currently doing strength training, using Barbell Batallion 2 Cycle B, I believe. And eating Paleo + HGOMAD (half-gallon of milk a day). I'm not sure if this is the right thing for me, though.

 

Any help will surely be appreciated.

[whittierrenegade]

If by "skinny-fat" you mean normal, than yes that is what you look like to me. I am almost completely clueless when it comes to strength training but what you are already doing seems like a good plan, but i'll leave that for the warriors to determine!

[Timmy M]

it's hard to tell really, just keep eating and lifting and your body composition should show itself after a while, if you're really struggling to gain any appreciable muscle (especially if you're not making noob gains) but gaining fat then you may well be skinny fat and will have to approach diet differently, i've followed this guy for a while and he knows what's what, one thing i will say STICK TO THE PLAN i was fairly skinny fat and i spent over a year bouncing between programs with zero gain

[kerwinray]

If by "skinny-fat" you mean normal, than yes that is what you look like to me. I am almost completely clueless when it comes to strength training but what you are already doing seems like a good plan, but i'll leave that for the warriors to determine!

 

Thanks so much for the comment, whittierrenegade. I mean I know I'm not that skinny, and I know I'm not that fat. I think by definition "skinny fat" is when you have thin arms but also have a gut. 

 

it's hard to tell really, just keep eating and lifting and your body composition should show itself after a while, if you're really struggling to gain any appreciable muscle (especially if you're not making noob gains) but gaining fat then you may well be skinny fat and will have to approach diet differently, i've followed this guy for a while and he knows what's what, one thing i will say STICK TO THE PLAN i was fairly skinny fat and i spent over a year bouncing between programs with zero gain

 

Hi Timmy. So are you out of the "skinny fat" problem now? What did you do?

[UltraPoweR]

Skinny fat-little muscle mass,soft.Yes,you are skinny fat.

[Morrigainz]

Well, you're not fat

 

Just keep eating and lifting HEAVY. The body comp changes will come

[kerwinray]

Skinny fat-little muscle mass,soft.Yes,you are skinny fat.

 

Thought as much.

 

Well, you're not fat

 

Just keep eating and lifting HEAVY. The body comp changes will come

 

Haha, yeah. Okay, will do that. KEEP EATING. LIFT HEAVY. That will be my mantra. I'm just freaking out a bit because I've read Steve's Strength Training Guide about bulking and cutting and I don't know if that's necessarily applicable to me. But I went Paleo+GOMAD, anyway. All this milk is driving my stomach crazy, and I'm not even sure if this is producing intended effects.

 

Note to self: patience, my young Padawan, patience.

[Morrigainz]

Yes! Patience is key. Although, being a man, you should have an easier time than someone like, say, me. How long have you been at this?

 

Re: GOMAD, you might actually have a slight lactose intolerance. If you notice lots of bloating, gas, cramping, and diarrhea, that's usually a good sign. You might want to scale back on the milk a bit. Or maybe not - maybe your body just needs time to adjust to drinking that much milk. It's hard for me to say, since I'm hardly an expert. I find I can do about 1c a day (MAYBE 2) without any adverse effects. Other dairy products (cheese, yogurt, ice cream) seem fine.

[I-Jo]

skinny fat means that while you appear to be thin/lean/trim and there fore are not by definition "fat"... you wouldn't have any muscle definition- you aren't strong or have any clear cut shape.

 

It's a term used to describe the people who are clearly thin but are "Squishy"

 

And yes- I would describe you as skinny fat. 

 

 

great link Timmy,  love some of his articles- thank you for sharing!

[kerwinray]

Yes! Patience is key. Although, being a man, you should have an easier time than someone like, say, me. How long have you been at this?

 

Re: GOMAD, you might actually have a slight lactose intolerance. If you notice lots of bloating, gas, cramping, and diarrhea, that's usually a good sign. You might want to scale back on the milk a bit. Or maybe not - maybe your body just needs time to adjust to drinking that much milk. It's hard for me to say, since I'm hardly an expert. I find I can do about 1c a day (MAYBE 2) without any adverse effects. Other dairy products (cheese, yogurt, ice cream) seem fine.

 

I've put my mind into working out and getting fit around April this year, that's when I decided to apply for a gym membership. But there wasn't any real focus, so I just did basically machines + cardio. I dropped maybe 5 lbs, from 138 to 133. Then around May, a friend kept insisting I did 5x5, so I started to hesitantly do bench press, but on the Smith machine. Then I came across Steve's blog around June, half-heartedly started Paleo, and pushed a little more on strength training (now with squats!). Then I decided to put focus on this entire thing once and for all, so around a week ago I set out a plan to follow the barbell training guide, tracked my calorie intake, created a workout log, bought a body tape measure and body fat caliper and finally measured myself. And then signed up in this forums to hear your thoughts.

[kerwinray]

skinny fat means that while you appear to be thin/lean/trim and there fore are not by definition "fat"... you wouldn't have any muscle definition- you aren't strong or have any clear cut shape.

 

It's a term used to describe the people who are clearly thin but are "Squishy"

 

And yes- I would describe you as skinny fat. 

 

 

great link Timmy,  love some of his articles- thank you for sharing!

 

Thanks, I-Jo. I'm definitely going to read some of that guy's articles. I came across it once, and it did intrigue me. Some of it seems different, even contradictory, to what I've been reading elsewhere. 

 

And now I'm off to the gym!

[I-Jo]

Ah- I"m seriously behind on the coffee dosing- I realized I didn't say anything helpful at all.  Grumble. my apologies. 

 

Yes you can do something about it- there are plenty of plans- but they are like shopping for jeans- you have to try a few on till you find the one you are happy with... but unlike jeans where you can tell right away- you have to give it a shot- like at LEAST month or two and see if you are getting any results. 

 

First suggestion is always- eat and lift all the things.    start from there and work upwards.

 

Have fun at the gym- I'm jealous- morning workouts are GREAT.  

[kerwinray]

Ah- I"m seriously behind on the coffee dosing- I realized I didn't say anything helpful at all.  Grumble. my apologies. 

 

Yes you can do something about it- there are plenty of plans- but they are like shopping for jeans- you have to try a few on till you find the one you are happy with... but unlike jeans where you can tell right away- you have to give it a shot- like at LEAST month or two and see if you are getting any results. 

 

First suggestion is always- eat and lift all the things.    start from there and work upwards.

 

Have fun at the gym- I'm jealous- morning workouts are GREAT.  

 

Hahaha, I like that: "eat and lift all the things". Yep, I know I won't be seeing results instantaneously. Better stick to one then.

 

I wish it was morning here, with the gym having just opened and no other people in sight, but alas, I'm on the other side of the world, where it's evening and people have driven in flocks to the gym after work.

[PaulG]

Hahaha, I like that: "eat and lift all the things". Yep, I know I won't be seeing results instantaneously. Better stick to one then.

I wish it was morning here, with the gym having just opened and no other people in sight, but alas, I'm on the other side of the world, where it's evening and people have driven in flocks to the gym after work.

Sounds like you're doing everything perfectly. A year and a half ago I was you (plus 20 pounds, same bodyfat %). Things didn't really start shifting until I started strength training and eating lots of protein. After that, I was seeing visible results on a pretty much monthly basis, sometimes even better.

I'm not sure about this whole skinny-fat thing. Yeah, you're skinny, but your bodyfat level is healthy and (most importantly) you don't actually need to lose any fat at all. If you're "skinny-fat", then by that definition, so is every 130lb. guy out there.

I always thought of "skinny-fat" as a term for people who, though they look fine in clothes, actually have high bodyfat percentages and need to lose fat using the same methods that more obviously overweight people do. You're not that -- sounds like all you want/need to do is gain muscle. Between strength training and eating plenty, you'll gain plenty of muscle weight.

[Timmy M]

some of his articles are contradictory to the norm because of the fact that 'skinny fat' peeps aren't the norm, well kinda, we try to do what successful people do and it takes a lot of work for skinny guys to get to that level so we don't get the information out. 

If the milk is giving you grief try to swap it for something that won't (though on paleo you tend to struggle with gaining weight unless you go all boss on the carbs after training, white rice is pretty benign so don't be scared of it AFTER training), if you notice yourself getting fatter without much appreciable muscle mass you're probably eating too much or possibly not doing enough, though for a beginner it's hard to judge how much you should be doing due to lack of experience but also as a beginner you get those lovely beginner gains (which i fucked up due to lack of knowledge) hopefully you're still noobish enough to make use of them considering you're lifting properly

 

tbh i'm not totally out of being 'skinny fat' i'm focusing a bit on getting down to 6-pack level of bf by kinda following Anthony Mychals diet stuff, it's getting there and then i'll be able to use my pack to judge how much i should be eating and ensure i stay at a reasonable bf% (easier to keep muscle mass than to bulk and cut all the time and loose all your gains from cutting for too long) and over all, mainly due to spending a lot of time not knowing what i'm doing and then fucking about a lot i've only gained about 8kg since i started training around 5 1/2 years ago and in clothes i don't really look all that big (though my family think i do but they're all small lol) but i'm fairly strong for my size (see the NF powerlifting meets for examples)

 

that may or may not of made sense, so if you don't get anything ask away

[kerwinray]

Sounds like you're doing everything perfectly. A year and a half ago I was you (plus 20 pounds, same bodyfat %). Things didn't really start shifting until I started strength training and eating lots of protein. After that, I was seeing visible results on a pretty much monthly basis, sometimes even better.

I'm not sure about this whole skinny-fat thing. Yeah, you're skinny, but your bodyfat level is healthy and (most importantly) you don't actually need to lose any fat at all. If you're "skinny-fat", then by that definition, so is every 130lb. guy out there.

I always thought of "skinny-fat" as a term for people who, though they look fine in clothes, actually have high bodyfat percentages and need to lose fat using the same methods that more obviously overweight people do. You're not that -- sounds like all you want/need to do is gain muscle. Between strength training and eating plenty, you'll gain plenty of muscle weight.

 

Thanks, Paul. That's why sometimes I get confused by my body. I feel good, and when I look at myself in the mirror, I think I look good enough. But when I take pictures of myself, it almost always doesn't comes out as satisfying. And they say the camera does not lie... so I like to work on the "half-empty" assumption so I'd be motivated to work out harder, and even the camera won't be able to deny the change.

[kerwinray]

some of his articles are contradictory to the norm because of the fact that 'skinny fat' peeps aren't the norm, well kinda, we try to do what successful people do and it takes a lot of work for skinny guys to get to that level so we don't get the information out. 

If the milk is giving you grief try to swap it for something that won't (though on paleo you tend to struggle with gaining weight unless you go all boss on the carbs after training, white rice is pretty benign so don't be scared of it AFTER training), if you notice yourself getting fatter without much appreciable muscle mass you're probably eating too much or possibly not doing enough, though for a beginner it's hard to judge how much you should be doing due to lack of experience but also as a beginner you get those lovely beginner gains (which i fucked up due to lack of knowledge) hopefully you're still noobish enough to make use of them considering you're lifting properly

 

tbh i'm not totally out of being 'skinny fat' i'm focusing a bit on getting down to 6-pack level of bf by kinda following Anthony Mychals diet stuff, it's getting there and then i'll be able to use my pack to judge how much i should be eating and ensure i stay at a reasonable bf% (easier to keep muscle mass than to bulk and cut all the time and loose all your gains from cutting for too long) and over all, mainly due to spending a lot of time not knowing what i'm doing and then fucking about a lot i've only gained about 8kg since i started training around 5 1/2 years ago and in clothes i don't really look all that big (though my family think i do but they're all small lol) but i'm fairly strong for my size (see the NF powerlifting meets for examples)

 

that may or may not of made sense, so if you don't get anything ask away

 

I started reading Anthony Mychal, and I realized that his and Steve Kamb's advice don't really contradict each other, so that's good. I'm kinda thinking these two might be friends in real life, LOL. Did you purchase his products-- Chaos Bulk, X-Physique, etc?

 

Also, what are "beginner gains"?

 

One thing that's been drilled to me by these two is to STICK TO THE PLAN, so I might do just that. I'll stick with lifting all things and doing this Paleo+milk diet for the next 6 weeks, probably 2 months, and see where it takes me.

 

Thanks for the comment, Timmy.

[Timmy M]

no i've not bought anything yet but that's more due to laziness with getting paypal sorted than anything, but i've gone through most of his free stuff.

beginner gains are when you first start training and your body goes all asfagrgdsgfsfasdfs DAFUQ ARE YOU DOING!?!!?!? and 'overcompensates' a bit so you make gains faster for a few months then it slows down, it's one of the reasons starting strength etc  work so well for beginners, because at that level linear improvement is easily done

yeah STICK TO THE PLAN you won't know what affects your body until you put in concerted effort, you're doing more things right than i did for my first couple of years so you shouldn't be too bad if this isn't perfect for you but you should have a solid base

[kerwinray]

Beginner/newbie gains are where you get new PRs every session. Your muscles gain mass more quickly, and even if they're not, your body is adapting, and becoming more optimal at doing the lifts you're practising. Every session you can walk in and add 5-10lb to your lifts, sometimes more. But that won't last forever. Eventually that rapid progress starts slowing down more and more, and you have to fight for weeks or even months for every 5lb gain. Strength *does* have an upper limit!

 

Don't forget, the bulking diet of GOMAD (or even half!) plus paleo means you've gotta keep lifting. Calorie surplus diet plus no lifting = fat gain. Add in lifting 3/week, and you get muscle gain instead (plus a little bit of fat gain that you'll probably want to work at losing later). If you think there might be circumstances where you may have to skip the gym, but you don't want to give up, I strongly recommend you have a bodyweight routine in mind as a plan B (or just go to the gym the *next* day, of course).

 

Yes, alongside the Paleo+HGOMAD diet I'm doing, I'm also doing Barbell Battalion Cycle B, so that's 4 days out of 7 that I'm doing deadlifts, squats, bent over rows, lunges, push presses, the works. The schedule's pretty much work out on M-Tue-Thu-Fri and then rest the other days. I'm actually excited for next week's session since they'll be a repeat of this week, but with additional weights. I have a feeling I could add around 5 lbs-10 lbs more on some of the exercises.

 

But boy, did I underestimate that barbell lunge exercise yesterday.

[I-Jo]

 But when I take pictures of myself, it almost always doesn't comes out as satisfying. And they say the camera does not lie..

 

god that must be nice.

 

I think I look fricking awesome and then I take progress pictures and I want to cry. LOL

 

There is always more work to do though- I am rarely satisfied with my performance. 

[kerwinray]

god that must be nice.

 

I think I look fricking awesome and then I take progress pictures and I want to cry. LOL

 

There is always more work to do though- I am rarely satisfied with my performance. 

 

LOL. I just want to reach that point where those two say the same thing. Hahaha. Or maybe I just need new glasses or a new camera, dunno.

 

And yes, more work to do. Today's my rest day, tomorrow it's gonna be gym time once again.

[Timmy M]

But boy, did I underestimate that barbell lunge exercise yesterday.

 

i know that feel bro, weighted walking lunges fuck me up (got a bit of a dodgy hip anyway) not helped by doing a couple of sets of 16 per leg (the greatest distance i can get at my gym, there and back) first time i did them :S