How to Fix Your Skinny Fat Body Type: The 7-Step Plan

If you have a slim figure, but still your body is soft, or you have body fat despite having slender legs and arms, it means you are skinny. Many people tend to have a big belly despite looking slim. They also have flabby and soft arms and legs. These people are called skinny fat, and while they might look healthy and fit from afar, they lack obvious muscle mass. 

Skinny fat people can be fit cardiovascularly, as they might do a lot of cardio and don’t do strength training much. Even though they might have the right weight in terms of their height and score a proper BMI, they might not be properly healthy and fit after all. If their body fat percentage is checked, it might be pretty high. 

However, you shouldn’t be highly concerned if you are skinny but have a fat belly, as it can be cured with proper measures. It might not be effortless to do so, but if you invest your effort, time, and energy properly, you won’t have to remain skinny fat anymore. Instead, you can have a healthy, fit, and athletic body. You must take a long-term, holistic approach to lifestyle changes, exercise, and nutrition. This article will discuss the measures you can go for to cure skinny fatness. 

What Causes Skinny Fat

There are many possible causes of “skinny fat.” Some people may be genetically predisposed to being skinny fat, meaning that their bodies are naturally inclined to store more fat in certain areas, such as the abdomen, hips, and thighs. Other possible causes of skinny fat include an unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, and hormonal imbalances.

One theory is that skinny fat people tend to have higher levels of the hormone cortisol. Cortisol is a stress hormone that has been linked to increased abdominal fat storage. Therefore, it is possible that people who are constantly stressed or who have high levels of cortisol are more likely to be skinny fat.

How to Fix Skinny Fat for Woman

We’ve compiled 7 proven steps that will help you get rid of skinny fatness and have a fit and healthy body-

Step 1: Building Muscle with Strength Training

Going through weight-lifting will help you fix the skinny part of your body so that you won’t look skinny-fat anymore. Instead, you will have a more athletic-looking physique. You don’t necessarily have to go through powerlifting or bodybuilding, but you’d have to get to the gym and challenge your muscles to strengthen. You can go for various approaches to achieving your goals, such as.

• Combo exercises
• General Strength Training
• High-Intensity Training
• Calisthenics
• Circuit Training

You will need to train 3-4 times a week, no matter which one you choose for your muscle-building training. It won’t only increase the size, strength, and tone of your muscles but also improve nutrient partitioning. Insulin sensitivity gets turned up to the maximum after exercising, so the food you eat afterward will be more likely to be directed towards the muscles. 

Step 2: Using Cardio Exercises

Cardio exercises can help create a caloric deficit, leading to burning extra fat. But don’t do it too much; otherwise, you will lose your muscle mass too. Short and intense cardio workouts are better for most skinny-fat exercisers than long and endurance workouts. 20-30 minute cardio workouts 2 or 3 times a day are all you need. If you feel like you need to do more, it’s probably because you are overeating. Try eating less to reduce the need for cardio exercises. For cardio, you can go for-.

• Assault Bike Workouts
• EMOM Workouts
• Met-con workouts
• Tabata training
• MMA-style training

Step 3: Going for More Non-Exercise Activities

Non-exercise activities can be helpful in this regard, as they are an antidote to being sedentary. You can indulge in almost any kind of physical activity for this, whichever task gets you up and moving. Any physical activity outside exercising can be considered a non-exercise activity. It will be vital in helping you with long-term weight management. These activities can include-

• Walking
• Lawn mowing
• Snow shoveling
• Cycling 
• Raking leaves
• Taking stairs instead of elevators
• Taking out your trash
• Carrying your groceries
• Playing with your kids
• Washing the car
• Min-circuit squats and push-ups to break up long periods of rest

The simplest way to keep yourself active is through walking. You can use a pedometer app to count your steps and try to walk around 10000 steps a bday, which is equal to around five miles. You can complete this in multiple sessions of walking. 

Step 4: Eating More Protein

If you are skinny-fat, having more protein in your diet will be helpful for you. It will help you preserve the existing mass of your muscles and provide them with the nutritional building blocks they need to increase their mass. Protein will also help you enhance your metabolic rate and satisfy your hunger. The average protein intake rate is between 0.8 to 1 grams per pound of body weight. Also, around 30 to 40 percent of your daily calorie intake should come from protein. 

Step 5: Getting Exercise Snacks

An exercise snack means going through small exercises that will be added to your regular exercise program.  For instance, you can do a set of small body exercises like squats or push-ups after every 1 or 2 hours. Doing these will help you increase the daily expenditure of calories in your body, maintain insulin sensitivity, improve your posture and break up prolonged periods of sitting.

It’s better if you can go through these short exercises before you eat, as this way, some of your eaten food will preferentially be directed toward your muscles instead of your adipose tissue. 

Step 6: Creating a Small and Sustainable Deficit in Calorie

You can gradually decrease your food intake and create a deficit of calories in your body, as well as increase the expenditure of energy with cardio, exercising, etc., so that your body gets forced to burn fat as fuel. This deficit in calories should be small, as you also need to avoid hunger, low energy, and losing muscles. 

A TDEE calculator will help you count how many calories you need per day to maintain your current weight, and then you should go for 250-500 calories below that. If you combine this with regular exercise, it will result in weight loss regularly. Most of the weight loss will be due to fat due to your increased intake of protein and strength training. You can just form your diet with healthy fats, lean protein, whole grains, and fibrous veggies. 

Final Step: Doing Targeted Core Training

You should also work on your abs through specific strength training exercises. If you do so, the underlying muscles will be strengthened, the stomach will become more firm, and your abdomen will feel and look better as you lose fat. Here are some strength exercises you can go for-

• Shovel lifts
• Cable woodchop
• Cable crunches
• Rollouts
• Paloff press

Bonus Step: Getting Adequate Sleep

After going through all these tasks, you’ll need to get adequate sleep. Your body repairs and builds itself while you sleep, returning strength to your body. If you don’t get adequate sleep, it will lead to increased resistance to insulin, low energy, lack of motivation for exercise, hunger, and poor growth of muscle. Inadequate sleep will fail all your attempts to have a healthy and fit body. You will need to sleep 7 to 9 hours daily and ensure you are getting it even if you can work with less. 

Final Words

If you want to look good and have a fit and healthy physique that’s not riddled with extra fat, you will require a holistic approach, including lifestyle changes, nutrition, and exercises. Simply not eating and low-calorie diets won’t help you with that. You will need to take measures so that your fat gets burned effectively. If you go through the steps mentioned above, you will be able to do so and build your muscles and look incredible. So, follow these measures and have a fit body and healthy life.

Frequently Asked Questions