Being skinny and fat at the same time would seem like a paradox, right? How can you be two things that are opposite of one another at the same time? Well unfortunately, in the case of being skinny and being fat, you can be both at the same time! When this happens the term ‘skinny fat’ is used to describe someone with this condition. When skinny fat has set in, a person will have relatively low body fat levels hence the term skinny, but will also have little to no muscle tone, giving them a fat, flabby, wobbly look. If you are unsure of whether this applies to you, read our article on how to find out if you are skinny fat or not.
This means that a person can look in average shape while fully clothed, but can actually be hiding a multitude of sins! On the scales their weight might not ring any alarm bells, but someone who is skinny and fat will have both the negative characteristics of someone who is skinny and fat. In order to put a stop to skinny fat syndrome, let’s start by taking a look at how someone could end up with this problem.
How Do You Become Skinny and Fat?
There two most common ways someone becomes skinny fat are as follows:
- Was previously overweight and lost a lot of fat
- Was previously skinny and then started gaining fat
When I was skinny fat, you can read about how I beat this condition it here, it happened because I was previously skinny and thin, and then slowly started putting on weight. I did no exercise or weight training so I didn’t have any muscle tone to help burn off the extra calories I was slowly starting to consume. Having been naturally skinny for years, my diet was pretty poor, which was ok in the past as I never put on fat, but as I got older and out of my teens, my metabolism started to slow down. I still looked in relatively good shape with my clothes on but I was starting to develop pockets of fat around my lower stomach and chest areas. Skinny fat syndrome had crept up on me with my noticing!
My story is not unique and as a lot of naturally thin people get older their metabolism begins to slow down and they can no longer eat the type of foods they once did without paying the consequences. At this point, it is either time to clean up your diet or start regular exercise, preferably both!
The second common way that people end up being skinny fat is if they were once overweight and then dieted or did lots of cardio exercise to lose the fat. For this group of people, becoming skinny fat can be a real kick in teeth as they did all that hard work of cleaning up their diet and exercising but still didn’t end up looking how they wanted to. By taking this approach to get in shape (diet and cardio) the weight can be dropped but it often ends up with the person being a smaller version of themselves, with all the flabby and wobbly areas resolutely intact.
Why is there still fat on my belly? The reason why certain people hold fat in certain areas is down to genetics. We have fat cells all over our bodies. As we consume fat, the fat cells fill up. Where you have the most fat cells is where you will get fat first and lose fat last. Some people have lots of fat cells on their chest, belly or upper arms, others on their thighs and lower back, it could be anywhere. Skinny fat people tend to have a lot of fat cells around their waist giving them the love handle muffin top look. This means the last place they will lose fat is around these areas, making it very hard for them to get a flat stomach and visible abs.
How to Avoid Becoming Skinny and Fat
If you are going from skinny to skinny fat or from fat to skinny fat, one of the best ways to avoid this happening is to include weight training or resistance training as it is also known, into your exercise routine. By building muscle you will develop a toned and firm body. This applies to men and women. Women often avoid weight training as they are afraid of bulking up and developing too much muscle. This is not the case! As women don’t have as much of the muscle building male hormone, testosterone, as men in their bodies, their propensity to building muscle is much, much lower than men.
By weight training, women will develop a toned, athletic looking physique that will help them eliminate the common areas they have complaint with such as bingo wings, flabby stomachs and saggy upper legs. By weight training, these areas can become firm, toned and uplifted. Without it, the opposite is the case.
For men, weight training with the aim of building muscle can result in better posture, a more athletic looking physique and less wobbly bits. For both men and women, one of the biggest benefits of weight training is the amount of calories it burns as well as the fact that is speeds up your metabolism, causing your body to burn more calories on a daily basis. For more information on this, read out article covering why toned is the new skinny.
How to Stop Being Skinny and Fat
If you have already fallen victim to skinny fat syndrome, do not despair! It can be beaten. By starting to do weight training exercises you help turn your body around. There are many benefits to weight training that apply to both men and women:
- Burns more calories than cardio exercise
- Increases your metabolism
- Tones and firms your body
- Increased your strength
Some people worry about becoming bulky or too big from weight training but this is rarely the case. For women, muscle growth is very difficult and takes many years if it happens at all. For men it is easier but still requires a specific diet and dedicated training. If you start to notice you are becoming too muscular, when that is not your intention, simply change your diet and stop training as hard. People with a lot of muscle work hard for years to get in that kind of shape so that chances of it happening to you by accident are very low!
Although weight training might be something new to you, it can be started at home with only a couple of pieces of equipment such as a kettlebell or some dumbbells. You don’t need to rush out and join a gym, by following a simple home kettlebell workout routine, both men and women can start toning up and becoming more athletic looking at home and say goodbye to being skinny fat forever!
Skinny fat is a relatively new term that is quickly gaining popularity. It was coined to describe people who appeared to be skinny when wearing clothes but in reality are carrying quite a bit of body fat in certain areas. Common areas for fat to be stored on people who are skinny fat would be the upper arms, chest and stomach, though it can strike anywhere!
There is no one size fits all definition of being skinny fat. It is up to you to decide whether this label applies to you or not. If you decide that it does, then you can move forward and start taking steps to remedy the issue. Admitting you aren’t happy with your current situation is one of 
Another area that both men and women who suffer from skinny fat syndrome have trouble with is the stomach or abdomen area. While there is a chance you might have some abdominal muscles or abs down there, but you won’t ever be able to see them while you remain in skinny fat zone. If you are in the advanced stages of skinny fat syndrome then it is likely you will have a pronounced muffin top going on. This name refers to the extra bulge of fat that hangs or pops out over your waist band. While more common in women, the number of men who have this feature is growing all the time. People say you are what you eat and when it comes to muffins and muffin tops, never a truer word has been spoken!
By following these two approaches you can join the road to recovery and put a stop to being skinny fat today. It could take a few months or it could take longer. It depends how far down the skinny fat slope you’ve fallen and how much work you want to put in.
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If you want to lose weight I have to be honest with you for a second. The most important aspect to shedding fat is to have your diet sorted. You don’t need to go crazy and do a stupid fad diet like the cabbage soup diet or whatever your favourite celebrity magazine is peddling this month. You just have to cut the cr@p. A good body is made in the kitchen, not the gym, and no matter how hard you exercise, you cannot out train a bad diet. Sure, working out and exercising at home or the gym will allow you to eat more of what you like without suffering the negative consequences but it doesn’t give you a license to overdo it. Eating rubbish with the intention of working it off later in the gym is a road to nowhere but fatsville.
Push ups: 1 set of as many reps as you can (
If you want to do a cardio workout at home and don’t have the space or the spare cash to invest in a treadmill or elliptical trainer don’t worry! You can still get all the benefits (and more) from a traditional cardio workout by doing a home workout with a kettlebell.
If your fitness or strength levels aren’t up to a full on 30 minute kettlebell circuit workout, you can still do cardio with kettlebells. To do this, simply alternate between a kettlebell exercise and a body weight exercise. This reduces the level of difficulty a bit, allowing you to go on for longer. This is common in Crossfit routines and is a great way to diversify your workout to stop it becoming boring or your body getting too used to it that it no longer benefits. An example workout for how to do cardio with kettlebells would be:
This is a great question and one that has many answers!The short answer is yes, kettlebell training can get you big. But it would be equally correct to say kettlebell training won’t get you big. If you want to get big with kettlebell training you can. If you don’t want to get big and muscular and still workout with kettlebells that is possible too.
When you say ‘big’, I’m assuming you mean more muscular rather than fatter! If you want to get more muscular from kettlebell training, then you need to follow a good hypertrophy kettlebell routine and eat a suitable diet that is high in protein and consists of more calories than you expend each day. You will also need plenty of rest to ensure your muscles have time to recover, repair and grow in between sessions. Check out this article on 
For lots of people, the end result of working out and exercising is not to get bigger and more muscles. There are many reasons why people workout and all of them can be achieved by working out with kettlebells at home:
When it comes to working out at home, getting your hands on a kettlebell can be one of the easiest and most cost effective ways to get started. Most people would love a home gym, but they cost a lot and take up valuable space. With a set of kettlebells you can perform a multitude of exercises and different routines to suit most fitness goals and levels of experience. However, some people are still questioning how effective kettlebells workouts are to meet certain goals so this article will attempt to clear up any misunderstanding and remove any doubts you might have as to whether kettlebell training is for you.
In the past muscle bound action stars where all the rage in Hollywood. Megastars like Arnie, Sylvester Stallone and 
Kettlebell training is perfect for people who want to do one or more of the following:
If you don’t want to increase the size of your muscles so that they are visible through your clothes then a lighter weight will be good to help you get started on your kettlebell journey.
If you are an experienced weight trainer with good levels of strength and conditioning then you may need to get more than one kettlebell to allow you to train to your full potential. As you begin to perform more complicated kettlebell exercises, for instance when 
This is a tricky question to answer! How long your workout should be all depends on what type of kettlebell training you are doing and what your goals are. In general, if you are doing a kettlebell-only workout with the goal of increasing your strength or building muscle, then your kettlebell workout should not be longer than 30 minutes.
The above 30 minute rule applies to resistance training, where strength and muscle gains are the main goal. If you are doing a cardio kettlebell workout at home, with the aim of burning calories and fat, or improving your fitness levels then you could go longer than 30 minutes. A gentle, steady state cardio workout with a kettlebell could go on for up to an hour without negative consequences and is a good way to burn fat, especially if done on an empty stomach, first thing in the morning.