Losing Hip and Ab Fat as Skinny Fat

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

Hello guys.I was doing a workout called Fierce 5 which is very acclaimed on the BB forums as one of the best beginner programs. It focuses on the compounds with some small isolation work and a good pull:push ratio.

I’ve been doing it for 9 months until I quit 2 weeks ago. I lost motivation to workout for several reasons. What happened was I first did 4 months of semi dirty bulking where I got pretty fat. Then I went on a caloric deficit for 5 months (and still on it), losing alot of strength in the process - and I was weak to begin with. I also added the PLP 60 day challenge about a month ago cause my pullup strength is atrocious… this was probably a bad idea and contributed to my feelings of weakness overall - I even got sick 2 weeks into the challenge which made me skip 2 gym workouts.

I’ve also have some lower back pain from deadlifting and squatting. I want to start some good stretching routines, the mobility might help me get the necessary flare to start doing those 2 exercises. I have to admit I don’t enjoy doing htem so much precisely because of the fear of injury or fucking up somehow, but I need them to achieve my goals.

These are my lifting stats, on the left were my PRs that I achieved during my bulk and on the right are the numbers I achieved last time i was in the gym:

Deadlift 5 x 125kg → 5 x 100 kg (maybe I could’ve done 105kg, but I was progressing slowly after a deload)
Squat 4 x 105kg → 5 x 85kg
Bench P 5 x 77.5kg → 5 x 67.5kg
Overhead P 4 x 52.5kg → 5 x 45kg
Pendlay Row 7 x 60kg → 7 x 57.5kg (couldn’t reach 8 reps)

Even with all this, I actually don’t look so bad except for my body type: as you will see in the pics, even after all this cutting (went from 95 kg to 83.5kg @ 185 cm height) I still have a fuckton of fat on my hips and lower abs.

If only I could lose that and preferrably reveal my abs, I’d be satisfied with how I look. More than satisfied I think. Then I could go on a long clean bulk. Thing is, I 've been eating about 1800 cals for the past month, but these last 2 weeks my weight seems to be stalling at 83.5kg. This coincides with me stopping with training. I still do the PLP challenge every day and do a certain sport on weekends, but that’s about it as far as physical activity.

Pics from 3 days ago:
Side: http://i.imgur.com/uy0e4tn.jpg?1
Front: http://i.imgur.com/vIyMfUb.jpg?1
Back: http://i.imgur.com/BwU7SBk.jpg?1

I want to reveal my abs, but if I cut down to 1600 calories, I’m gonna be starving. It is true my macronutrient composition isn’t the most ideal cause it’s mostly my mom that cooks (and I’m out of college and unemployed atm), but I always aim for high protein content in my diet. What do you guys suggest if I want to reveal my abs right now, preferrably without weight lifting? Is it doable?

2

Why do you think its a good idea to stop lifting as you lose more weight?

3

It’s bad from the point of maintaining strength, but I burned out

4

And I wanted to recover my lower back a bit

5

How many calories were you eating when you started your diet?

You can get away with not barbell squatting and deadlifting, but not training at all is a bad idea if you care about how you look and feel.

6

I believe I started at 2300 calories.

I mentioned I still do the PLP challenge which is basically sets of pull ups, lunges and push ups. But that’s not so much compared to proper weight lifting I guess

7

When I started my bulk I ate like 3300 calories, bumped it to 3500 (too much yeah). I was hoping that could skyrocket my strength gains but I was mainly getting fat. Shitty genetics ftl

P.S.

SOrry I need mod approval before any posts. And the forum rules thread apparently disappeared… how long does this last?

8

If you stop strength training (for most people, push ups and lunges do not constitute strength training) and starve yourself, you will lose muscle. This is evident from the massive strength loss you’ve experienced. Basically, unless you want to lose more muscle and keep most of the fat:

  • start lifting again, primarily to build and maintain strength. This will preserve the muscles.
  • eat a caloric deficit. bodyweight x12 is a good starting point.
  • try to lose weight gradually. we’re talking about 2-4 pounds per months. Crash dieting, which is what you’re doing right not, doesn’t make you look good.
9

I was losing at that rate, and now my weight is stalling again. HOw is that crash dieting?

How good is bodyweight training to replace weight lifting for a while?

10

How the fuck did “skinny fat” become a fucking body type?

  1. You don’t dirty bulk or clean bulk or whatever dumb term the wannabe fitness writers come up with next. You eat in a caloric excess in accordance to your rate of muscle gain, while getting adequate protein and nutrients from non-stupid food choices.

  2. You don’t have shitty genetics. You just lack common sense.

11

IDk man, I’ve followed the fundamentals and never did I achieve decent strength or leanness. With better genetics I could reach both much easier

12

And “skinny fat” is a body type. Check out how I look, I lost a fuckton of weight and I still have a ton of fat on lower abs and hips. How many skinny guys get that kinda look? They usually even have some ab definition

13

[quote]Narciss wrote:
And “skinny fat” is a body type. Check out how I look, I lost a fuckton of weight and I still have a ton of fat on lower abs and hips. How many skinny guys get that kinda look? They usually even have some ab definition[/quote]

Oh I don’t know. Maybe you have an Asian body type. Have you had a recent unexplainable urge to increase your tuppleware collection?

Try olympic lifting.

14

in your first post you learned what was to many calories
and what was to few calories
so somewhere in the middle should be right
maybe
fat loss is different than weight loss
weight loss is easy stop eating u will lose weight
you would be unhealthy
fat loss while looking good is hard takes time real work
keep lifting keep reading watch videos of the big names in bodybuilding or any strenght sport find what works for your goals

15

[quote]Narciss wrote:
IDk man, I’ve followed the fundamentals and never did I achieve decent strength or leanness.
[/quote]
What do you feel are the fundamentals?

[quote]
With better genetics I could reach both much easier[/quote]
Yep. With better genetics we could all be better. Fantastic, now lets all just sit back and wait for our genetics to change shall we?

16

I love how name is narciss and you refuse to take any amount a criticism and deny it was your fault. Your workouts were probably half assed and you nutrition was terrible. You were weak when you started the cut and got weaker. Everything you did was terrible.
Dont know anything about Fierce 5 but I do know 5/3/1 and if you ever failed on something you could ask a Wendler a question right on this website. Its idiot proof

17

[quote]
Oh I don’t know. Maybe you have an Asian body type. Have you had a recent unexplainable urge to increase your tuppleware collection?

Try olympic lifting.[/quote]

Olympic lifting might be fun actually, though i’m not sure i have the coordination to perform those exercises. Know a good routine?

[quote]
in your first post you learned what was to many calories
and what was to few calories
so somewhere in the middle should be right
maybe
fat loss is different than weight loss
weight loss is easy stop eating u will lose weight
you would be unhealthy
fat loss while looking good is hard takes time real work
keep lifting keep reading watch videos of the big names in bodybuilding or any strenght sport find what works for your goals [/quote]

THing is when i started ‘dirty’ bulking 9 months ago, I intentionally overdid the calories because I thought I’ll experience some nice muscle gain. I expected to get somewhat fat, but it would be offset by the strength gains. Sadly that wasn’t true… my strength was still mediocre.

Focus on increasing/maintaining weight on the compound lifts with good technique, count calories in accordance with your goal (muscle gain/fat loss)

It is kinda stupid to whine about that true. But it’s so frustrating to see people that never hit the gym, didn’t train properly or just did bodyweight stuff in much LESS time than me and look better lol.

[quote]I love how name is narciss and you refuse to take any amount a criticism and deny it was your fault. Your workouts were probably half assed and you nutrition was terrible. You were weak when you started the cut and got weaker. Everything you did was terrible.
Dont know anything about Fierce 5 but I do know 5/3/1 and if you ever failed on something you could ask a Wendler a question right on this website. Its idiot proof [/quote]

I’ll say this, my workouts were NOT half assed. It grinds my gears when people say this. Lack of effort is not my problem, at least not in the gym.

NUtrition isn’t optimal that’s for sure, but I should still have better results. The thing is I live with parents so the main meals are cooked by my mom. I still influence her as to get a high amount of protein in etc. I mean there’s definitely room for improvement there but it’s gonna be a while until I’m earning my own paycheck to make up for the deficiencies in my diet

18

I think you’ll find that if nutrition, training and recovery (i.e. sleep) are correct then a beginner will see results. Yes they will be faster in some than others, but you can’t just say you have shitty genetics and that’s why you haven’t got any results. Please don’t cut down your calories any lower, 1,800 is pretty damn low for a 185cm guy, especially if you actually start training again (which seriously you should do, as others have said you don’t need to deadlift and squat if your lower back needs time off, but where is the logic in stopping everything?)

dt79: I’m hoping what the OP means by skinnyfat being a ‘bodytype’ is that he is a bit fat without muscle to go with it due to poor dietary and exercise routines. Although I fear (due to his genetics comment) that he thinks it a predetermined thing that just can’t be helped like the whole ecto/endo/meso shit, which just doesn’t help anyone and gives people all manner of excuses and reasons for failing.

OP, this sentence of yours kind of sums up your problems: ‘NUtrition isn’t optimal that’s for sure, but I should still have better results.’ So firstly you’ve admitted nutrition isn’t optimal, and I get your circumstances are hard, but I’m sure there is a way around it if you care enough. Secondly, why should you have better results? Lose the sense of entitlement, read a bunch of articles on here that relate to your goals, hit the gym hard, get your nutrition sorted and you will get results. People get the results they work for…

And just to reiterate, don’t do stupid things like cutting calories even more or stopping weight training altogether.

19

Narcissist always blame other people or there circumstances for not achieving what they think they are capable of. Thats all you are doing. Any program if you workout hard enough, consistenly and have good nutrition then you should have gotten some results. But you got weaker and fatter. It is you fault. You messed up. Now own up to it and fix it.

FYI I guarantee that your workouts were half assed and you probably have an excuse on why you couldn’t always train up to your potential.

20

I feel you are missing increasing food quality from this list, along with any kind of recovery tools like sleep. I’m perfectly happy to believe you know this already, and it was just an oversight. I’m not happy to believe that you’ve been doing them consistently for years.

There’s an element of truth here, however harshly it’s framed. Bad genetics do not account for losing strength on a cut, you have to admit that you somewhere lost sight of the fundamentals that you’ve listed above and refocus.

EDIT: edited to fix quote tags