3 Reasons Why You Are Still Skinny Fat!

Today we’re going to dig a little deeper into a subject that we’ve talked about before and it’s the “Skinny Fat” body type. In the first article called ‘Why Are You Skinny Fat?’, we talked more about the basic reasons why you could be skinny fat like using a diet that is too extreme, training with workouts that were not programmed correctly, or you may just be naturally skinny but eat like crap and don’t really train at all. So today we’re going to get into a bit more of the specifics of the ‘mentality of training’ to help you understand how THREE very specific reasons might be holding you back!

Reason #1: You’re Constantly Increasing Your Training Intensity, But Not Your Calorie Intake

What I see a lot in my gym is people who are trying to lose that last layer of body fat, especially around their mid-section and they go into what I call “psycho training mode”. They perform a 2 hour workout, plus cardio for 45 minutes and then end it with the sauna or steam room. In theory this might sound like it’ll work and I wouldn’t even doubt that some stupid magazine somewhere said a celebrity did this to get ripped for a movie. But my Daddy always told me to work SMART, not hard and this my friends is a recipe for disaster. Not just physically, but mentally as well.  

You can only push yourself this hard for so long before your body starts to shut down and I’m not saying that pushing body is bad. What I’m getting at here is that people who go into psycho training mode do all this intense work, but NEVER increase their calories! Then because of all this extra work, their calorie deficit becomes so huge that instead of burning fat, their bodies start burning muscle in order to obtain the nutrients and energy their body needs to keep up with the training.

So if this sounds like you, the solution is simple. Yes you can boost the intensity of your workouts, but if the goal is to get shredded maybe instead of doing LONGER muscle building workouts (where you hit your chest for 3 hours?!), you need to be smart and switch up your workouts to something like full body circuits where you’re doing exercises like burpees, jumping lunges, plyo push-ups, dumbbell curls to shoulder presses, bent-over rows to rear delt raises, etc.Basically, switch your workout to something that is GEARED TOWARD burning more calories in a shorter amount of time and make sure you adjust your meal plan so that you actually have the energy to perform these workouts.

Reason #2: You Do The Same Workout Every Day, Every Week, Every Month, Every Year

This actually came up because there is a woman in my gym that I have seen do the same butt and leg workout every single day for about the past month. Actually what’s funny about this is when I first met my wife in the gym, she used to do the same thing, leg day every day! Now I know most of my viewers are men, but this still applies to you.

How many times and for how long have you been going to the gym and been just going through the motions of the same routine? You know what exercises to do, what order to do them in and you don’t need a journal because you’ve already memorized all your weights you lift for every set. This my friends means that your intensity is in the toilet. Yes you’re still “weight training”, but the muscle stimulation isn’t what it used to be when you first started out and you’ve most likely plateaued months ago!  But the worst part about this is the psychological affect it’ll have on you. In your brain you know that you’ve going to the gym to train every week, so why are you not seeing results?! Well, the only thing it could be is your meal plan, right?! So if you’re training for muscle growth you’ll probably try to eat more food to see gains and if you’re training for fat loss you’ll most likely start reducing your calories even more to lose more fat. But no matter what you do, each choice is going to lead toward increasing that skinny fat look.

So what is the REAL problem here? Well, its’ that you don't have a game plan, a strategy or a vision and that's OK, that’s why I’m here! You need a proper workout program geared towards your goal and increasing the intensity of your training month after month so you don’t plateau with your progress whether it’s for muscle gain or fat loss. Then once your workout plan is in order, if you’re still not seeing the results you want, THEN we can take a closer look at your meal plan.

Reason #3: Not Drinking Enough Water

So, for those of you trying to lose weight, I’ve noticed that a lot of people seem to think that sweat is fat. I know, this sounds crazy, but let me explain. When you rely on the scale for weight loss all you focus on is that number going down, so you do everything you can to sweat and not take on too much “water weight”. For those of you trying to build muscle, you might be reaching for a sandwich every couple hours, but not your water bottle because let’s face it, drinking water is boring and easy to forget about. For example, I can tell myself I’m not thirsty, then go and grab a drink that I like, like a soda or an energy drink and I can down that in two seconds. But if I were to grab some water, I wouldn’t really be that interested in drinking it at that very minute. My point is it happens to all of us.

But we have to remember that water is SO important no matter what your goal is! Water aids with proper digestion to make minerals and nutrients more accessible to the body. Then once digested, water also helps your body excrete waste through perspiration, urination and pooping.  But what most people fail to realize is that our bodies are about 60% water and we’re losing water all day long through breathing, sweating and as we just mentioned, digestion. Your body also uses water in all its cells, organs, and tissues to help regulate its temperature and maintain other bodily functions. So if reasons number 1 and 2 don’t apply to you and you’re still skinny fat, well then the missing key must be not drinking enough water, which is about 1.5 to 2 liters a day (minimum). I’d also like to mention that on those days where you feel super FLAT or maybe you just can’t get a good pump in the gym, think about much water you have consumed lately. I bet the answer is going to be not enough.

Conclusion

Think about this as well. If you’re drinking ANYTHING ELSE which includes energy drinks, soda, coffee or  pre-workouts mixed with water…even though those are liquids, your body still needs MORE water to help break those down for digestion. So, not all fluids are made equal is what I am trying to say. Just because something might “contain water” it doesn’t necessarily count toward your daily goal. So drink up!