Another fitness/lifestyle related site?
Nope…well, not exactly!
What makes this site different from the others?
You definitely want to bookmark this site and subscribe so that you don’t miss any future posts I will publish!
There are a few good websites/advice out there for skinny-fat people (there should be more in my opinion!), however, the problem I find is that I have yet to come across one that shows their transformation step-by-step (they usually talk about what they did after they have transformed).
Well this site charts my journey in transforming my physique from an actual skinny-fat guy to hopefully (and willingly) a lean/muscular guy. You can see for yourself my progress, my mistakes, what I am doing, if it is working or not working and more importantly you can see this every step of the way as I post my progress and stats regularly.
If you don’t already know by now, how we eat and train is wildly different for Skinny Fat people and most of the conventional advice out there just won’t work for our body type. In fact, you’ll just end up getting fatter; mostly around the abdominal area!
Along the way I will post articles on key topics around nutrition, diet, gym and other topics of interest for the skinny fat community that I will undoubtedly learn through my own transformation, for all to see. This can be learning from my mistakes or learning from what I’m doing right!
Make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss any future posts and check back in regularly, even if it is just to compare your own progress with mine.
This site is also intended to be my digital notes in transforming my physique. It acts as my reference points for when I need to track or refer to things and helps keep me accountable.
It is really not designed as an advice platform for others as I’m not a fitness or nutritionist specialist. However, I tend to do thorough and diligent research before implementing anything. You are welcome to use anything I post on this site and to discuss anything in the comments section of the post.
If you are interested on why I want to transform then you can read my post about it here.
If you want to know more about me, you can read up here
Most of my posts are ‘my-crib-notes’ I’ve taken from a number of sources, mostly from here: Oskar Faarkrog: Skinny Fat Transformation where I try to follow most of Oskar free advice and track here to see results. I recommend viewing his website in detail, starting off with his F.A.Q
My Stats
- My weekly progress measurements can be seen here
- My monthly photo progress can be seen here.
Based on his advice within his website, I am treating my transformation in two main phases:
Phase 0: January 2015 – May 2015 [4 Months]
- Got my bodyfat from 24.3% Jan-15, to 16.1% May-15, mostly through good diet tips (not drinking, eating only three times a day and no junk food) and good sleep patterns (8 hours a day). I did not really (consistently) go to the gym (sporadic sessions only).
- Diet is key to to ensuring your metabolism is optimal, you’ve increased testosterone naturally through diet which promotes fat burning & muscle-building and you reduce your estrogen naturally through diet as estrogen blocks testosterone and is the female hormone that promotes man-boobs and other skinny-fat traits.
Phase 1: Get lean (10-12% bodyfat): May 2015 – December 2015 [6 Months]
- My Calorie-Deficit-Diet-Plan can be seen here: Phase 1: high-testosterone-diet
- My Workout Plan can be seen here: Phase 1: Workout
Gym Etiquette: [Click here to read my full Gym Tips]
- Use gym time to get better at body-weight exercises and get use to high-reps, low-weights, more sets style of training to help achieve my goal to become lean and prepare my body for phase 2.
- Set small goals at the gym as this will keep you motivated and by achieving one small goal, it raises your standards for the next goal. Below is an outline of my small goals which will eventually lead me to the bigger vision that I have
Diet Etiquette: [Click here to ready my full Diet Tips]
- Ensure you are in a calorie-deficit diet that is roughly a balanced diet consisting of a near 33/33/33 (protein/carbs/fat) and mainly comprised of testosterone promoting food and the removal of estrogen-promoting food to ensure good metabolism and good hormonal balance.
- Remember, during a calorie-deficit diet, you need to be hungry in between meals. If you are not hungry, it a sure sign that your metabolism has slowed down and you need to cut more calories out. I combine this approach with Intermittent Fasting (IF). I believe IF not only speeds up results, but also instills good eating discipline.
Analysis
I started out with 16.1% bodyfat in May 2015 and now down to 15.1% in November 2015 (I was 24.3% in Jan 2015). This may not seem as much but you can see from my pictures that the body re-composition is working. I look more leaner, toned and defined. My shoulders grew from 112cm to 115cm, arms and chest look much better, back looks a lot stronger and my waist has reduced, you can visibly see my stomach is less-prudent compared to my June 2014 pic, though I still need to lose fat from my handles. I still have some work to do to get to 10-12% range but confident I will get there. Changing your physique is a marathon, not a sprint! My perfect-form chin-ups went from 0 – 15 during this time also (6 months) so my strength gains have improved quite a bit.
It is evident from my progress so far that as a SFT guy, you can build a bit of muscles and lose body fat at the same time whilst following a solid muscle building program combined with a calorie-deficit diet plan. Keep in mind that my focus for this phase is to lose fat and not build muscle as the two are mutually exclusive. However, based on my own progress and to my surprise, I think SFT people are the only body types that can build muscle and lose fat simultaneously, albeit slowly and for a short time only (til at least 15% bodyfat as I have).
Phase 1.5: Personal Trainer: December 2015 –
- This phase is exactly the same as Phase 1, getting lean to 10-12% bodyfat. However, I have hired a personal trainer who is completely responsible for my training and diet program to ensure I get from 15% to 12% bodyfat before moving on to Phase 2.
Phase 2: Build Muscles
- Only start this phase when the following has been completed:
- 15 perfect-form chin-ups [Completed]
- 25 perfect-form diamond-pushups [Completed]
- 10-12% bodyfat [In-Progress]
- …
- …
Phase 3: Maintenance
- Cut down to a few gym sessions a week to maintain
- Find the right diet to support my lifestyle and physique maintenance