Ok so i need some help with my Skinny fat problem. I look heaps skinny but i’m quite chubby underneath with a muffin top stomach
I’m 24 yrs old
I’m currently 143lbs with a height of 5"6. With a body fat 23%
There is conflicting information on whether i should cut first till i get to a lower body fat percentage or bulk first. I look to skinny if i cut, i gain fat to easily when i tried to bulk.
At the momment i’m eating my 6 meals and heaps of water
Post workout
Horleys Ripped factors
Morn
Cereal
Mid morn
2 Peices of fruit
Lunch
Whole meal Sandwich with grilled chicken
or
Sushi
Mid afternoon
Protein shake or Low fat yoghurt and fruit or nuts
Dinner
Grilled chicken and salad
I’m going to the gym 4 days (working on lower and upper body on consecutive days) doing alot of interval training with my cardio and weights (high reps). But more cardio at the momment.
I feel like im not seeing any results.
So i be doing low intensity cardio my heart rate is usally 150-160 for the 20mins when i do cardio for a full session.
I think my maintaining cal is around 1600. So to lose weight i should be eating around 1100-1300 but that seems so little, will my body go into starvation mode?
How do i know im eating 40/40/20?
Does doing lots of squats help with getting rid of my muffin top?
If anyone can give me a good calorie counted diet to help me that would be great also.
[quote]CesarCorpus wrote:
There is conflicting information on whether i should cut first till i get to a lower body fat percentage or bulk first. I look to skinny if i cut, i gain fat to easily when i tried to bulk.
[/quote]
Stop thinking about bulking and cutting. You’re a beginner, focus on learning proper nutrition and lifting form, and focus on getting stronger. The rest will follow once you’ve built up a good foundation.
As far as your diet, it could really be a whole lot better. Do a search for Berardi’s Seven Habits article, and follow his rules. Several of your meals are lacking protein, there aren’t many healthy fats in your diet, and your intake is much to low.
[quote]I’m going to the gym 4 days (working on lower and upper body on consecutive days) doing alot of interval training with my cardio and weights (high reps). But more cardio at the momment.
I feel like im not seeing any results.
[/quote]
Do starting strength, and add intervals or in on the off days. Seriously.
That’s way to low. You’ll burn that much just laying in bed all day. If you actually do a decent amount of training, you’ll need significantly more then that to keep your metabolism from slowing down and killing your fat loss. Start off with 2500 cals, and spend two weeks lifting as heavy as you can. If you haven’t lost fat (not weight, but fat) take it down to 2250. Repeat as needed. If you really need to know your exact nutrient split (protip: you don’t, at least not for now), go to fitday and use their food log tool, its free.
Doing heavy squats helps with just about everything, doing lots of light squats probably won’t, unless you plan on doing Tabata front squats for your intervals.
No. Use the search function. You have to learn how to maintain your diet yourself if you want to make lasting progress. Good luck, and feel free to ask more questions if you need any help.
We aren’t going to do the research for you. Please read articles in the Training, Diet/Mass programs categories on the homepage. Read everything written by Berardi regarding nutrition as well as Coach CT articles for muscle gain/fat loss, these are my personal favorite.
In my opinion, I would focus on gaining some muscle. I have no way to validate your bf%, but 143 lbs is not exactly “overweight” for your height. I’m not saying there isn’t fat to be dropped, but put some muscle on first.
Diet is going to be key here. You mention gaining fat easily so go start a daily food intake log right now. Monitor your progress versus your calorie consumption. Figure out exactly what you are consuming now, and adjust accordingly based on your results - don’t just chase some arbitrary number.
Don’t be afraid of heavy weights/low reps to build some strength/muscle. With more muscle on your frame, the body fat you are carrying will be much less noticeable.
And no, squats will not get rid of your “muffin top”. Squats are not a fat-burning cardio exercise. That said, you should be doing plenty of heavy squats.
Weight training & eating a good amount of healthy food will change your body composition (less fat, more muscle) fairly quickly.
So don’t worry about bulking or cutting. Just train hard & eat well. Don’t over complicate anything.
I dont exactly have a physique to be proud of right now, I’m only a lean 150lb at 5’8", but i’ve read this site for a long time & you’ll be better off taking this advice & what the above posters have said.
you are the epitome of a beginner, no pun intended.
you’re gonna hear a lot of new terminology here on this site, but they wont apply to you until you actually do a deadlift correctly.
as a matter of fact, until you are able to perform a single exercise correctly.
your diet is garbage, and your workout is probably just as bad.
seriously, best way to start, is to read the stickies and read as much T-Nation articles as you can.
if you cant do that, you are destined to fail.
you’ll be one of those kids who goto the gym allllll the time, but never get shit done over the next 20 years.