Skinny fat

[Pickingmyselfup]

I've been battling with this for years and despite doing everything right I'm still not seeing any changes.

Back in early 2020 I started a progressive heavy weightlifting programme, I weighed 50kg, was a regular gym goer for body pump but I wanted to lose the fat so I switched to heavy weights.

Definitely the worst time to have started, the gym was very hit and miss over the 2 year lockdown period and I gained loads of weight due to comfort hitting and drinking.

I lost a lot of weight once life got back to normal in 2022 and the lifting resumed properly but even now I don't weigh what I did 5 years ago, I'm currently 53kg on a good day.

2023 I picked up running and started entering into races which means the gym has taken a hit due to injury or holidays where I'm away for a week with no gym access or I've had to skip a day due to illness/busy family life.

Everytime I stop lifting for a week I have to deload, I've not been near the weights at all this week because I have a half marathon at the weekend and don't want to get injured so that sets me back once I restart again.

Everything took a bit of a backseat over Christmas because I was doing up the house.

I always do 3 runs a week with one being 10K+ and on a good week I get 3 gym sessions in.

I do a lot of walking, my diet on the whole is pretty good but it's not perfect. I buy wholemeal sourdough and have that most days, I don't have time to make it. I have a protein shake or a protein dessert some days to supplement my protein without it making a huge impact on my calories. I have sweeteners in my coffee because I can't stand it without anything and sugar is really high in calories. I drink one pepsi max can a day and 2l of plain water. I use energy gels for my long run (SIS or high five) if I'm doing anything an hour and a half or over. I caused a bit of a stir with a thread about my gel intake but it's something my running coach recommends and so I'm sticking to it. I don't think one to two a week is causing the issue anyway especially when I account form them in my calories.

Today my meals are...

2 coffees-85ml semi skimmed milk and 7 sweeteners total. First coffee has collagen and creatine in it.

Wholemeal seeded sourdough, 2 poached eggs, 2 slices of prosciutto ham, 60g of avacado and a handful of spinach.

Lunch is a tuna and cucumber sandwich on wholemeal no added sugar bread, no butter made with full fat and light mayonnaise.

Snack-home air fryed chicken and a banana.

Dinner-homemade bolognese with spaghetti and some cheese.

I may have a slice of toast and honey because I'm trying to keep my carbs up for the race.

Total 1900 (and something) calories if I have the toast. Calories are a bit on the higher side as of today to see me through the race and because I'm away from tomorrow evening until Sunday evening so all meals will be out. I will drop them a bit on Monday for a week to compensate.

Not sure when the weights will resume, it would normally be Monday but I'm not sure I'll be in the best of shape to lift heavy the day after a half marathon.

I have 2 more booked, August and October and I'm also going to be doing a few shorter races to try get my speed up. Really working on building that base this year because I'm dealing with niggles that mean I'm not doing a marathon like I had planned.

I'm not expecting to be ripped but I'm carrying too much fat for someone of my weight, build and activity levels.

I'm not willing to go to extremes so I'm a bit lost as to what else I can do.

Any ideas?

Weightlifting OK, but you cite height and weight and that is BMI not body fat percentage. Someone can have a low to medium BMI, but high body fat percentage.

It has always puzzled me tbh but I guess there are some things I'm not prepared to do to change it.

I'm happy to drop my calories a little, walk a lot and exercise but I refuse to go to the extremes. I notice someone said ditch mayonnaise, again I'm happy to cut it down, not have it as often but cutting it out completely is pointless when I enjoy a cucumber and tuna sandwich for lunch from time to time.

I enjoy running and I enjoy weightlifting, swapping one out for the other for the sake of potentially chasing unrealistic goals is just going to make me miserable.

You seem to be eating a lot of UPFs. Would you be interested in a more whole food, plant based approach? Maybe try the Zoe podcast. They just had an episode on strength training.

Well no not really.

I've swapped white bread to brown and more frequently seeded sourdough.

I eat shop bought mayonnaise because I CBA to make my own.

I can't drink my coffee without sugar or sweetener and I only use sweetener because otherwise the calories would be sky high.

Prosciutto ham isn't a UPF and neither are eggs, avocado, spinach, homemade soup or pasta.

Granted the protein shakes are as are the protein pots but sometimes they are just a quick easy way of getting my protein levels up.

I will admit that this weekend has been an absolute UPF fest with eating out and my gels during my race but those gels got me a half marathon PB and eating out is necessary when you are away from home with no cooking facilities.

Do you know what your BMR, TDEE and active calories are for your different activities?

I'm 5'2" and currently 64kg. While my BMI is around 25, that is partly boosted by having muscular legs so while I'm trying to lose a moderate amount off my waist, I'm only wanting to get to BMI 24 or 23 and any lower is not ideal for my age/ body shape.

My BMR is around 1500 calories to exist.
According to Garmin, I typically burn 1930 calories per day, but the reality is that the distribution of that varies wildly. In the last week that's been 2500, 2064, 1853, 1983, 1820, 1800 and 1738. That has averaged at 1965, but some days at a fixed target of 1900 would be maintaining, some surplus, some loss. Overall, I'd be maintaining.
Being marginally taller, heavier and more muscular, my BMR is likely to be a bit higher as a starting point.

I CBA to tot up calories because it's a ball-ache to weigh out and record for fresh food. Instead I loosely concentrate on macros filling up on protein, veg/ salad and managing carbs around my exercise load for the day. (There's also the issue that working out calories out is a rough guide not precise science)

The other thing is that calories are not all equal.

Muscle is built from proteins.
Proteins also take longer to digest so fill you for longer (ditto for fibrous veg and complex carbs) They also have less caloric avaliability. 100 calories of nuts waste about a 3rd of their energy potential on the longer digestive process. 100 calories of sugar would all be avaliable for the body to use/ store.

The body breaks foods down into glucose which the cells in the body either use or store as fat if not required. Consuming sugars and simple carbs fast tracks that process and stops the body fuelling itself on existing fat stores. It's better to delay eating carbs until later in the day when you need them to stay fuelled on your fat reserves for longer if you're aiming to reduce your fat mass, and you need the protein to fuel muscle growth.

As I understand it, artificial sweetners are not metabolised identically in everyone. In some people, they trigger the insulin spikes as sugars do and can affect the metabolism. It could be that you're one of the people that they don't work effectively for.
(I avoid them as much as I can as they give me headaches and digestive issues, plus tasting like soap in my mouth for hours afterwards 🤢) I've gradually cut refined sugar intake and reduced my sweet tooth by having less sweetness from any source.

Different exercise is fuelled in different ways too. Intense exercise uses glucose, and lower intensity aerobic exercise is optimal for fat burning. If the long, slow run is under 90mins and you can run it at a chatty pace, you shouldn't need the additional fuelling. In a training block for a HM, there shouldn't be many long runs pushing long enough to need the gels- probably roughly 9-10mi+ at a middling pace. On race day when pushing harder, you'll deplete the body's glycogen stores more so you will need more compared to a gentler training run. They have their place, but you shouldn't need many of them

I suspect that concentrating on calories isn't giving your body the right balance of nutrients that it needs to increase muscle and reduce fat and you need to reassess the balance and timing of proteins/ carbs (complex and simple) and vegetables to achieve the outcomes you want.

Good God. Honestly, read a book. Preferably one that’s not about diet or fitness. Life is so short.
Sorry, but it all sounds so damn joyless. Who gives a shit if your thighs jiggle. Yoour body is an amazing machine. Are you healthy? Can you walk and run and dance? Brilliant. Enjoy yourself.

Well no not really.

ok, fair enough, and great you can eat bread so often without getting fat. It’s become a rare treat for me nowadays.

Exercise is wonderful, makes you feel amazing so no, we'd not rather read a book thanks ...

I started getting race fever wanting to do another an hour after I finished 🤣

Reading a book would be much cheaper!!

I was talked into my first half-marathon while on a high from my first 10k

I am 5 foot 1 and there is absolutely no way you are any kind of fat if you are 50kg ( that's 7 stone 12). That's my weight too.

Its really disturbing that at this height and weigh you describe yourself like this:
I would estimate it to be in the region of 30% and I know I'm definitely carrying too much fat because everything jiggles. My trousers sink into the cellulite craters in my legs and tight shorts are a no go because they cut into my leg fat

The good thing I have found about exercising/activity ( I gym and run too) is that it teaches you to have a positive view of your body as something that is capable, strong, supportive and that enhances your life rather than just focusing on how it looks ( against societal standards).

However, you seem to have gone the opposite way and to have developed an obsessive focus on how your body looks rather than the incredible achievements you have had with your body.

Frankly, your posts make me worry about your mental health due to your obsessive focus on this imagined 'fat'. I suggest you address your mental health as you have developed an unhealthy fixation.

The is probably bad advise but.. im taller a weight a bit more than you but do more running (and walking and weights). If I ate that much I would put on fat I think. I would chill on the carbs and the fat.

I did exactly the same, finished my first 10K race then booked my first half marathon. Mad to think less than 2 years ago I wasn't sure if I could run 10K and now I'm up to half marathons.

Even crazier to think it wasn't that long ago in the grand scheme of things I couldn't even run half a km.

It's not imagined, it's as clear as day in photos 🤷

What's in your imagination is that this is a problem. Having some fat on bodies is normal and healthy, especially for women. Cellulite is just a product on how the body stores fat on some women. There is no way you have excessive problematic fat at your height and weight. Let alone at your fitness level.

You have decided your healthy fit active body is 'problematic' and have become obsessed on ' fixing it.'

Its easy to get into this state. In my late 20s I became obsessed by the thought I was developing fine lines and would scour my face for them in the mirror, obsessively finding them. Guess what, when I managed to shift myself away from the obsession I stopped noticing the fine lines and became happy with my face again. The 'problem' of them was entirely created by my mind.

Shift your mindset and I guarantee you the 'problem' will go away. You'll be much happier for it.

I don't want to shatter your dreams! But I don't think it's possible to be really good at lifting weights AND running at the same time, they're a different muscle skillset iyswim. And trying to fit both into a week means you don't have enough recovery time, especially if you're being tight with the calories as well

Are you doing the classic deadlift/squat/bench type heavy lifts? I'd be tempted to go to things like single leg RDLs, split squats etc that will improve unilateral strength and mobility as a backup to your running (because that seems to be where your heart lies)

Getting a body fat % below about 20 is bloody hard work for women, I've been down to the high teens but it was far too much work to maintain it and questionable whether it's actually healthy long term - attached pic to give an idea of what might actually be attainable

Classic heavy lifts with some running specific stuff thrown in there too like split squats, single box calf raises, hammer curls and my attempt to do single leg RDLs and ab exercises for my core.

I can't yet lift my body weight for deadlifts, squats were being problematic with a muscle pulling every time (seems to be connected to my current calf and shin issue) so I'm nowhere near body weight yet although it wasn't far off before I started running.

How old are you op?

I'm wondering if you have loose skin, not fat. At 8 stone and 5' 1" you shouldnt have pockets of fat.

I'm 38 and I do have a bit of loose skin on my upper stomach but that doesn't really bother me. It's my legs that are the issue because they are so much bigger than the rest of me and the cellulite too.

I got my race photos back and I actually look about 2 stone heavier than I am! My legs in some of them look like I've never run a mile let alone 13 or picked up a barbell in my life. Yet I've had several people over the last few days tell me I've lost weight. I think with clothes on I look quite small but take them off and it's obvious my legs aren't nicely toned and I have a bit of flab on my stomach.

I don't know what the long term plan is, my injury is really playing up today so I'm on a full on rest weekend doing as little as possible. My diet has been shit too because I'm very out of sorts. I know I'll pull it back once I get out of my funk and I have a plan but right now I just need to do what I need to do.