Skinny fat looking to lean down

[Kevin Cale]

I have a skinny fat build, trying to get down to around 12%BF to improve insulin sensitivity and nutrient partitioning. Then I can build slowly from there. I think I’m at least 20%BF at present. I’ve given myself at least 6 months to achieve this. Is this a reasonable time frame?
How does this diet look?
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/dia...ate=2014-10-07
I weigh 192 lbs. I set up initial total calories multiplying bodyweight by 15 and going with a 300to 500cal deficit.
Tried to base it around 4-6 eggs, 1lb of meat, 2/3 scoops protein powder.
Carbs are fruit, veg,potatoes, rice/rice cakes and oats.
Dairy sources are whey protein, butter, cheese and greek yoghurt.
Also some nuts, peanut butter, the odd protein bar.
Training will be 3 full body sessions a week.
How do the macros look?Any other suggestions?

[Darryl Shaw]

Originally Posted by Kevin Cale

I have a skinny fat build, trying to get down to around 12%BF to improve insulin sensitivity and nutrient partitioning. Then I can build slowly from there. I think I’m at least 20%BF at present. I’ve given myself at least 6 months to achieve this. Is this a reasonable time frame?
How does this diet look?
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/dia...ate=2014-10-07

Too much protein, not enough carbohydrate. And you might want to try eating some vegetables occasionally - they're good for you.

I weigh 192 lbs. I set up initial total calories multiplying bodyweight by 15 and going with a 300to 500cal deficit.
Tried to base it around 4-6 eggs, 1lb of meat, 2/3 scoops protein powder.
Carbs are fruit, veg,potatoes, rice/rice cakes and oats.
Dairy sources are whey protein, butter, cheese and greek yoghurt.
Also some nuts, peanut butter, the odd protein bar.
Training will be 3 full body sessions a week.
How do the macros look? Any other suggestions?

Eat less, exercise more.

AIS Sports Nutrition Factsheet: Weight loss.

A Common Sense Approach To Sound Nutrition by Jeff Novick, MS RD.*

Maximizing Weight Loss: How To Fine Tune Calorie Density by Jeff Novick, MS RD.

* Note: To calculate the calorie density of meat or anything else not included in Jeff Novicks calorie density scale look it up in the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference then enter 4.54 in the box labelled value per 100g to calculate calories per pound.

All links wfs*

[Luke Sirakos]

You are definitely on the high side for protein. 1g per pound of weight is more than enough, especially for cutting. Will the excess hurt? Not really so if you are feeling plenty full from your current diet and have enough energy throughout the day and your workouts there isn't a need to change. I would probably move some of the protein cals towards carbs myself but honestly the key is sufficient protein while maintaining a caloric deficit so if it works no need to make it more complicated.

[Joe Davison]

Build the muscle first. Set a few strength goals and once you reach them, then you can try to drop some fat. Dont limit calories until after you reach your strength goals.

[Chris Mason]

Don't use some formula to choose your starting cals, or at the very least be generous on the high side when you do. You should start with significantly higher calories at first and then map how your body responds once you have a very good feel for your daily caloric intake. Wait at least two weeks at any given intake to see if you are losing fat, stagnant, or gaining muscle and or fat. If you are not losing fat you can then reduce by 2-300 cals and watch again for another 2 weeks and so on.

[Richard Colon]

Originally Posted by Kevin Cale

I have a skinny fat build, trying to get down to around 12%BF to improve insulin sensitivity and nutrient partitioning. Then I can build slowly from there. I think I’m at least 20%BF at present. I’ve given myself at least 6 months to achieve this. Is this a reasonable time frame?
How does this diet look?
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/dia...ate=2014-10-07
I weigh 192 lbs. I set up initial total calories multiplying bodyweight by 15 and going with a 300to 500cal deficit.
Tried to base it around 4-6 eggs, 1lb of meat, 2/3 scoops protein powder.
Carbs are fruit, veg,potatoes, rice/rice cakes and oats.
Dairy sources are whey protein, butter, cheese and greek yoghurt.
Also some nuts, peanut butter, the odd protein bar.
Training will be 3 full body sessions a week.
How do the macros look?Any other suggestions?

This is all too technical for me. If you say you have a skinny fat build, I see this.

Skinny
Fat

That means, get more muscle and lose some bodyfat. Do more compound lifts followed immediately by some bodybuilding stuff. Look up "hypertrophy" on google. That takes care of the muscle part.

Now for the fat part, eat a bit better but just think some clean foods. Don't stress about the numbers, your body and what you see will tell you what you need to know.

That leads me to nutrition. Eat good food. Veggies, proteins and carbs for energy. Kinda like a bodybuilder honestly, with maybe less rice and more veggies (they eat like 7x Rice + Chicken vs. I'm sayin' maybe a few more greens in there). Don't worry about numbers. If you are bulking up, you are on track. If you still look the skinny part, then eat more. If you don't have energy then eat more or increase carbs. If you are starting to get fat, then maybe you at least lost the skinny part and are now considered 'puffy muscle' or 'thick fat', which isn't bad. Don't tell me strongmen aren't fat, but they have thickness and bulk that removes all doubt that they are beastly strong - despite being 6ft7, 350lbs. I digress...from there, if you get to that point, just start cleaning up your diet even more and you'll soon be just muscle.

There are people that LOOK strong (bodybuilders - and yes I KNOW some/most are extremely strong but we are talking the image of muscle to actual strength). There are people that ARE STRONG (elite KB lifters, Olympic lifters, strongmen, powerlifters). There are people that both LOOK AND ARE STRONG (gymnasts, top level Crossfitters, those Olympic lifters, power lifters and strongmen that look like a bodybuilder - Dan Green, Klokov, Ivanov, Matt Kroc, Pudz, and those bodybuilders that are crazy strong - Coleman, Jackson, any top level really). Key word in all of this is STRONG. Worry about the muscle and strength first, then take care of the fat later.

[Larry Bruce]

I used to be skinny-fat in school however gradually over time with more sports and training it improved. As well, I later found that I could run a modest deficit during most non-training hours, hence burning energy from stores than from meals, And I could run a surplus around strength/metabolic training - 4-5 hours after, building muscle. (Great majority of protein synthesis occurs in that time-frame)

It's a bit more work to do than daily calorie counting - it is essentially knowing at any point whether your body is in a fed or un-fed (merely an approximation). It's similar to IF except of having alternating days of cutting and bulking, it's done intra-day.

Admittedly it may take longer to get there because ones hormonal milieu doesn't change radically, however it also means you can eat at maintenance levels, enjoy the food you like, train freely, burn more fat and gain more muscle during the same day, and improve both over time. I don't believe it's success would be limited to noobs either.

You can see examples here with surplus/deficit kept within a range of +400/-400 (wfs).

http://www.foodandsport.com/handouts.html

Note that after doing it a while it becomes automatic can detailed counting isn't necessary, like regular counting.

[Chris Ball]

Toughest thing to do is keep or increase muscle mass while dropping fat.

It will really depend on how you store fat, how easily you put on muscle, how carb tolerant you are etc.

They don't tend to be popular on here, but bodybuilding is probably the better tactic if you're entirely focused on body composition goals. I mean, body composition IS bodybuilding whereas it's a byproduct of Crossfit.

My suggestion would be to diet down as low as you can possibly stand and experiment with the best way for you to keep muscle and lose fat. I'd probably do something ketogenic. Once you're as low as comfortable I'd slowly ramp up calories by adding carbs, or carb cycling and increase the hypertrophy work.

Honestly, I'd probably drop Crossfit for a while unless you're following programming that's very in tune with your specific goals, at a minimum I'd drop the WOD and Metcon work to super short workouts and really focus on the Strength/Skill component to keep those sharp.

Anyway, those are my thoughts.