Being fat is already bad enough for some people, and being skinny isn’t preferable for most either.
But both? You can already tell this would be worse because two unpreferable physical appearances are merged.
If you want to combat this and transform your body, you need to know what it means to be skinny and fat.
What is the “skinny fat” body type?
It’s in the name; so it’s when you’re “skinny” and “fat”.
You would often see people like this with jumpers as skinny, but their bodies contain mostly fat instead of muscle, therefore when their physique is more visible, for example when they’re wearing a T-shirt, they’ll appear fat.
Often the fat accumulates on your belly, which isn’t nice for most people.
Although genetics can influence this, such that you may have proportionally less muscle or more fat, it’s generally more extreme by a diet high in ultra-processed and sugary foods, like crisps, biscuits or fast food.
Endomorphs (people with soft, round builds of body and a high proportion of fat tissue) won’t appear as skinny fat because their structure is larger, and because they naturally carry more muscle mass, they may only appear as “big” or “fat” if they gain fat.
However, ectomorphs (people with lean and delicate builds of body) will look fat and skinny simultaneously because they have smaller structures and don’t naturally carry more muscle mass, so the proportions of fat will cover greater proportions of the body, especially the muscles, which makes them appear as fat.
What causes this body type?
It’s caused by consuming more ultra-processed and sugary foods, which cause fat gain.
Fast foods are often greasy and drenched in refined oil, which causes inflammation and can slow down your metabolic rate and your ability to burn fat at rest.
Sugary foods spike the fat-storing hormone insulin, and since this hormone in large amounts stores more glucose in you for later use, these foods result in you gaining more fat.
You should avoid high GI foods that get broken down quickly in the blood, so they get stored on you too rapidly.
This is how the process works:
- You eat a carbohydrate.
- It directly raises your blood sugar.
- Insulin is released in the blood to deal with the glucose and decide the quantity to store or use immediately.
- The more carbs you eat, the more energy will be stored in you as fat. It has nothing to do with calories, but it’s because glucose is toxic in the blood in large quantities, and the threshold is low depending on how insulin-sensitive you are.
- But if carb has a higher GI (a figure used to measure how quickly foods that contain carbohydrates raise blood glucose levels), it will be broken down quickly, which will release energy quickly, which causes a sugar spike and crash.
- This causes most of the glucose molecules to be stored on you for later use, as they can’t remain in the blood for long.
- So when most people trying to lose fat consume high gi foods, it just makes it harder for them to access their fat stores and use them.
Healthy fats, like avocados, do NOT cause fat gain. These foods take the longest to digest, satiate you and provide you with the most energy out of all three macronutrients.
Consuming healthy fats teaches your body how to use its fat stores solely as energy when you cut out junk food, and I’ll explain this later in the article.
Tips for preventing the “skinny fat” body
Here are the main ways you can transform from this body type:
#1: Reduce your intake of ultra-processed and sugary foods
As mentioned earlier, these foods mess up your hormones, like your hunger hormone (ghrelin) and other hormones like dopamine, which can increase your cravings for these foods, making it even harder for you to give them up.
These foods can alter your emotions, and increase your risk of anxiety and depression, which can result in you emotionally binging on those foods.
Here’s how to reduce your cravings for those foods:
- Consume satiating meals (meals high in animal protein & healthy fats)
- Get enough sleep (get at least 8 hours of quality sleep, and I mean the time you’re in a deep sleep not when you’re just in bed, so you should be in bed for over 8 hours)
- So getting in bed by 10 pm for example and waking up at 7 am will be good for you
- Set a clear daily routine so you don’t have time to think about junk food and crave it.
- For example, do work for 50 minutes, do house chores for 15 minutes, do 20 pushups after you do the previous two things then repeat this whole cycle
- Hide junk food from your site
- If biscuits or sweets are lying on your table or in your bag, hide them at the back of your cupboard and avoid being able to look at them
- And when you’re in the shops, avoid going to the confectionery or treats aisle to prevent yourself from being tempted to buy them
- Control your stress
- Do things you enjoy doing, whether it’s playing more sports or going out with your friends
- Consume enough calories
- You don’t necessarily have to calorie count, but instead of solely eating salad, eat more animal protein, healthy fats, and healthy carbs which will provide you with the energy you need throughout the day
#2: Be more active
Move around, go for walks and play sports you like.
These all increase your metabolism, the calories you burn at rest. Avoid sitting down for too long; a good time would be a maximum of 50 minutes of sitting down time, or an hour.
Also playing sports will increase your metabolism, help you burn energy and can prevent stress, which means your chance of getting cravings will be reduced, and you will be able to follow your routine better.
For example, after eating a meal, walk for ten minutes before you sit down.
Next, if you want to get bigger and not be skinny, you must build muscle, and here’s a summary of how to do that:
- Leave 1-3 reps in reserve (leave 1-3 reps until you get to failure) to maximise performance throughout your workout and maximise muscle growth
- Consume enough animal protein. Take your body weight in kg, and consume that number in grams of protein. Be gradually increasing it if you can
- Have enough rest in between sets (2 minutes) and enough recovery for your next workout (48 hours including 8 hours of quality sleep)
- Prioritise compound lifts and do more sets with them (like squats, bench presses etc.) than isolation ones
- Learn how to do exercises properly and safely
- Warmup before your workout
- Stretch after your workout
- Don’t use weights that are too heavy or too light
<< Read this beginner guide on how to build a workout plan for muscle-building >>
Diet for fat loss and muscle gain
This is how your diet should look like for building muscle and losing fat.
- High healthy fats (mainly for fat loss)
- High protein (mainly for muscle building)
- Low to medium carbs (which should be low GI carbs, like brown rice, and this is for preventing fat gain)
High healthy fats
They’ll provide you with energy to last throughout your day, and keep you satiated, preventing cravings, especially for junk food.
This will provide you with energy to have an effective workout too, therefore you’ll make the most micro-tears in your muscles resulting in muscle growth.
They also enable your body to get fat adapted, which enables your body to solely use its fat stores as energy, hence you losing fat.
High protein
Protein is needed to build muscle, and having more muscle mass increases your metabolism, which results in you burning more energy, even at rest.
Protein also keeps you satiated and takes longer to digest, so you’ll burn more calories, hence resulting in weight loss.
Low carbs
Carbs spike your insulin, which is fine, but a large spike won’t benefit you.
Not only does it cause a sugar spike and crash, but it also results in you storing more fat from those foods.
Reducing the number of sugar spikes you have can keep you more energized for your workouts, which means they’ll be better overall.
But this is only the case if you consume refined carbs, which often have high GIs.
They will raise your blood sugar quicker, more insulin will be in your blood, and more will be stored as energy on you.
Virtually all the carbs you consume should be low GI, like sweet potatoes, or fruit like berries to prevent fat gain.
Conclusion
To get out of the “skinny fat” body type, you must lose fat and gain muscle. Because you carry less muscle mass, have a smaller structure and have a higher body fat percentage, following the routine of fat loss and muscle building will combat these problems in your case.
Be sure to read other articles related to these topics in my blog, like muscle building and fat loss to assist you in achieving your goals.
And if you’re looking for a worthwhile workout plan, consider this one that my client built muscle with and I use for my workouts.
Always remember to be disciplined and follow what you learnt in this article because nothing will happen if you don’t take action.
So even if you don’t feel like doing it, don’t look for motivation and pick up those crisps, but get up, work out, and achieve your goals!
