Dealing with “Skinny fat” gaining muscle and body recomposition.

Skinny fat, the result of having too little muscle and too much fat. You’re not necessarily obese and although you might have some muscle tone you are far from where you want to be. So where do you start?

To fix this, It’s important to know where you are before you can set any goals. I will make this short and sweet for anyone over 19% body fat. You will need to cut weight and you’ll need to read this cutting guide. https://modernman.data.blog/2021/06/30/5-summer-shredding-tips-to-be-your-best-self/

Let’s say you’re at 19% body fat or below. What’s the first step you need to take?

1. Calculate your lean mass: We’re going to be bulking. Weigh yourself and find out how much lean mass you have. If you’re at 19% body fat and weigh 150 pounds that means 28.5 pounds of your body is fat leaving you with 121.5 pounds of your body is lean mass.

2. Eat 1.5 pounds of protein per pound of lean mass: If you weigh 150 pounds you’ll need at least 182.25 grams of protein AND a caloric surplus. If you’re not familiar with how to estimate the proper amount of calories you can search anywhere online for a maintenance calorie calculator. See this article on building muscle for more information https://modernman.data.blog/2021/06/30/5-things-you-need-to-be-doing-if-youre-looking-to-build-muscle-beginners/

3. Train hard and I mean HARD: If you’re familiar with lifting weights you’ll see that most people do 3 sets of 12 reps. That’s an appropriate amount of volume for a beginner in their first few months of lifting but shortly after you’ll plateau. Try completing at least 4 sets and focus on progressive overload. Gradually increasing the weights each time. Your first set should feel comfortable, get the blood to the muscle, and warm-up. Each set after should get progressively harder until your last set. Bring it to failure.

If you’re consistent with these 3 things you will be successful in recomposing your skinny fat body but how does it work?

During a bulk (provided you’re getting enough protein) you’ll be able to gain muscle. The muscle will spread out the fat making you appear leaner as well as increasing your lean mass. Let’s say you’ve gained 10 pounds of muscle from your starting point of 150. This would now drop your body fat percentage from 19% to 13%. An extra 10 pounds will completely change the way you look and feel!