If you have a fat stomach but everything else is skinny then there is a good chance you might be in the body classification group that is known as ‘skinny fat’.  When people have this body type it means that they have an average body fat percentage but little to no muscle tone. This means they don’t carry the small to average amount of fat they have well, and can look in pretty bad shape. Although when fully clothed and wrapped up, a skinny fat person can pass for someone in regular shape, when it comes to wearing more revealing clothing such as in the summer or when at the beach, another story is told!

If you have noticed that you have a fat stomach but the rest of your body is fairly skinny, it means that you have more fat cells around your stomach area. Fat cells hold fat and it depends on our genetics as to where we have the most fat cells. In the case of people with the majority of our fat cells around their stomachs, this will be the first area to get fat when putting on weight and the last area to get thin when losing weight.

How to Go from Skinny Fat to Just Being Normal

If you are sick of being skinny fat and having some parts of your body being skinny, while others are fat, there are a few options open to you to get in great shape.  One option is to attempt to lose the fat and become a regular skinny person. The other option is to try and build some muscle so your body becomes more efficient at burning calories and you developed a toned, athletic looking body. Both options are suitable for men and women and in both cases I would recommend the second approach. However it is up to you to decide, as whatever approach you decide upon you will need to stick to it for at least a few months to get real results. Chopping and changing between the two won’t help anyone, least of all you.

How to Decide Whether to Lose Fat or Gain Muscle

In an ideal world you would lose fat and gain muscle at the same time, giving you a toned and athletic physique with little body fat. Unfortunately this isn’t possible as in order to lose fat or weight you need to eat fewer calories than you need each day, but in order to gain muscle or weight you need to eat more calories than you need each day so that you can grow and tone those muscles. You can’t eat more and less calories than you need at the same time so you have to choose one approach and stick to it for at least three months and often longer.

How to Choose Which Approach to Take

If you feel you are too fat in your fatty areas and you just can’t live with the wobbly bits anymore then it will be easier for you to stick to an approach where your number one priority is to lose the fat and become regular skinny instead of skinny fat. From then you can go on to developing some muscle and getting a toned athletic physique. If you can’t face being skinny fat anymore then taking the other option of adding lean muscle mass while you are still holding some fat isn’t going to be something you can easily stick to as it will take you a lot longer to lose the fat.

If you can tolerate the fatty areas and don’t mind having them around for a while longer in order to reach your goal of getting that toned and athletic body you always wanted, then I would recommend starting work on gaining muscle in order to transform your body. You can make this transformation at home by following a home workout routine with some basic weigh training equipment, or you can join a gym. It is up to you.

When taking this second approach of working to develop muscle tone, your body will become better at burning calories throughout the day. This is because muscle burns more calories and increases your body’s metabolism. As muscles ‘eat’ more calories, as you become more muscular, your body will be burning more calories each day, even when you don’t workout on a particular day, instead of turning those calories into fat as your body is doing now.

Overtime, as your body develops more muscles and your metabolism speeds up, you will start to notice that the proportions and composition of your body starts to change. Instead of the fatty and flabby areas being the most prominent, they will start to diminish and your natural muscle tone will develop giving you a leaner, toned and firmer appearance.

For both approaches you should start working out at home or at the gym with weights, but for the first approach, your main goal will be to lose the fat, rather than develop any muscle. The weight training will help with the calorie burning which is needed to burn the fat already on your body (along with a good diet).

What You Shouldn’t Do to Get Over Skinny Fat Syndrome

The above two approaches are fairly simple to follow but take time and dedication. By sticking with the workouts you can change your body composition for the better. However, you have to stick with it. If you get distracted and inpatient you could end up switching one of the quick fixes that never really works, at least not in the long term, and you will be back to square one. Some things you shouldn’t do to beat skinny fatness include:

• Going on a crash or fat diet. In order to lose fat you need to eat, but it can’t be any old rubbish. Going on a crash diet and drastically cutting calories will slow down your metabolism and make it even more difficult to lose weight.
• Doing nothing but cardio in the gym. Cardio is great for improving your fitness but when it comes to losing fat and becoming more toned and athletic looking, weight training is more effective. This applies to women as much as men. Cardio training might help you lose weight but it won’t tone you up and you will still be left with wobbly bits rather than a firm and toned body.
• Not doing weight training. You can buy a couple of kettlebells or some cheap home dumbbells and start working out at home just as easily as joining a gym. But whichever approach you choose, weight training should be at the heart of your strategy for getting in great shape.
• Not staying for the long haul. It probably took you a long time to get out of shape or get to where you are now. So it stands to reason than it will take a while to shape up. Stick with it and the rewards will be plentiful. Quit too soon and you will be back to where you started from, only older and more negative. Keeping going!

So as you now know, there are two main approaches that I recommend for sacking off being skinny fat and getting in great shape. If you can hang in there for a while longer, both men and women should start working out to build lean muscle tone and eating just a little more calories than they need, in order to build muscle. If you’ve had enough of being skinny fat, then focus on losing the fat by doing weight training and cardio but also eating a little less than you need each day.

Whatever approach you take, stick with it and you will reap the rewards. Don’t give up too early, remember, the darkest night is just before dawn.