Just found out that I am "skinny fat" (high percent body fat with normal BMI) and don't know what to do

(Whitney) #1

I have always considered myself to be just plain old fat rather than “skinny fat”. After years of yo-yo dieting and finally finding keto this past April, I have gotten down to 135 pounds (highest ever non-pregnant was 205 pounds). And Keto has gotten me into the 130’s in an enjoyable way, which no other diet ever did. And my current BMI is normal (actually 10 pounds less than the highest “normal” BMI for my height)! Well, I got a DEXA scan yesterday for the first time and my body fat percentage is a whopping 36.1%. I am 31 years old, but this number means I have the average body fat of a 70-year-old woman. This is crushing news, especially as I have spent 15 years trying to get to a normal BMI and it no longer feels like an achievement to have reached this goal. I am reading that high body fat, even with normal BMI, increases risk of breast cancer, diabetes, and general mortality.

So what should I do to get my percent body fat down and percent lean mass up? Up my protein intake and lift weights? How much protein? I average between 50-75 grams of protein a day generally (and 100-120 grams of fat). I already run 5K’s 2-3 times a week, do yoga, and throw in some light weight lifting and core/abs workouts a few times a week (which I hate), so I am already an active person. I would also like to continue to lose fat, not just build muscle.

Here are my numbers if they help:
Height: 5’4"
Weight: 135 pounds
Age: 31.5 years
36.1% overall body fat
21,571 grams of fat tissue
38,122 grams of lean tissue (so how much protein should I be eating each day?)
Arms 40.3% fat
Legs 42.2% fat
Trunk 32.7% fat
I already IF (skip breakfast) about 5 days a week. I’ve also recently (in the past week) discovered the wonders of bone broth. Don’t know if more bone broth would help me save the muscle I’ve got and hopefully add some more.
Edited to add: I have no known insulin resistance. My fasting blood glucose levels have always been between 75 and 90 when checked annually the last four years. I have never had an A1C and no doctor has ever suggested that I may need to worry about pre-diabetes. But my grandfather, mother, and aunt are all diabetic, so I knew that I needed to get my weight and sweet tooth/carb addiction under control and I love Keto for helping me do that.

I am also planning to start trying for baby #2 this month, which I guess will only hamper my goal to lessen my % body fat since I will expect to gain ~25 pounds with a pregnancy. :frowning:

(Mike W.) #2

Was your last pregnancy when you were Keto? My wife gained about 10# during her pregnancy and dropped that plus 10 within two weeks after while breastfeeding. I’m not saying everyone will have the same results but there is a lot to be said about controlled BG levels and low insulin whilst pregnant.

(Whitney) #3

No, my last pregnancy was not keto (I wish it had been!). My daughter is almost three years old and I have only been Keto for 5 months. But I am committed to making pregnancy #2 totally keto. I’m hopeful that is will help me limit weight gain to only 25-30 pounds (instead of the 45 pounds I gained the first time) and help with faster weight loss after.

(mole person) #4

Although I wouldn’t want to discourage you from lifting weights, you can’t expect to move the needle on your % fat much by exercise alone. Even if you joined a Crossfit gym and worked out 5 days a week it’s unlikely you’d put on more than 5 lbs of muscle in a year. So, basically, to change your body composition meaningfully you’ll still have to lose more fat.

#5

@KetoWhitney

First of all, congratulations on your success so far! Sounds like you’ve done some great work.

Personally I would replace two of the 5ks/week with some good resistance training. Training to failure will save you a lot of time over that running and should give you some lovely results vis a vis you body composition, your metabolism and your shape.

Doug McGuff is a good resource for training to failure and goes into a lot of detail on his protocol, which is almost always done on machines. @SlowburnMary has some good posts on an at-home version of it, which is generally done twice/week. If you want a quick intro to the whole idea of it, check out Ted Naiman’s video here.

You’ll probably want to bump up your protein a bit but this is not an area in which I’m comfortable giving advice, so … yeah, I’m not sure.

Given your family history, it wouldn’t hurt to get an A1C just to know what it is. Also it gives you a reference that might come in handy later.

#6

This makes sense, but she’s only been keto since April, so she’s going in a great direction already. Adding resistance work will help.

(mole person) #7

I agree. My point was just that if she wants to see that percentage change a good deal, in a reasonable time frame, the effort for fat loss is still very important. Thinking that the focus should shift to lean gains, and adding protein towards this end, might lead to discouraging results. But, yes, I’d never discourage resistance work. It’s extremely good for you and will help change body composition, albeit much more slowly.

(Allie) #8

Lift heavy and eat keto.

(Whitney) #9

@Ilana_Rose, I think you are definitely right about needing to lose more fat. I thought I was only ~5 pounds from my goal weight, but it seems like I need to re-evaluate what my goal weight actually is. I always figured I would be “healthy” if I were on the upper end of the healthy BMI range for my height, but now knowing that fat makes up such a large portion of my overall tissue, maybe I need to aim for the lower end of my healthy BMI range. And while I do lift weights about twice a week, it is definitely nowhere to the point of exhaustion and so may not actually be doing much for my lean muscle tissue. Thanks for the resources @Madeleine! I will look into them and try to be smarter about my resistance training.

(mole person) #10

I’m exactly the same. I need to be at the extreme low end of the “normal” BMI range to be at a healthy fat level. Those BMI’s are going to be averages and some people will even be healthiest outside of the standard ranges. They can’t take into consideration the extremes of individual variation in bone mass and muscle mass. I expect that the “normal” range is figured out the way most things are in statistics. They have given a range where something like 95% of people will fit in. But there will always be a few who are best somewhat below and somewhat above that range.

(Frank) #11

Are you still losing weight?

(Whitney) #12

Yes, I’m still losing weight. I’ve just come off a plateau and lost another pound since originally posting. But now knowing that my body composition is more fatty than I thought, I have become nervous about further weight loss and not knowing how much of the mass lost is fat tissue vs. muscle tissue.

(Mike W.) #13

Well if you have a baseline DEXA now, you can check again in a year or so.

(Frank) #14

If you’re taking in adequate protein you really shouldn’t have to worry about lean loss. I’d KCKO. You’re doing great. However, where each of us decide that enough is enough is a personal decision.

(Pete A) #15

You can get a DEXA scan somewhere, or just wait it out, meaning monitor your weight, and don’t skimp on protein. I’ve veen skinny fat for months, but the fat/skin is noticably shrinking. And I’ve been the same weight on the scale! I expect at this rate for it to be totally gone by Spring. :grinning:

And some kind of muscle building routine wouldn’t hurt either…

Good luck!

(Phyllis) #16

Hi, I’m in the same situation as you even though I have only started Keto for 2 months. I’m certain that I am in Ketosis for the full 2 months as I did frequent urine strip tests. I thought that Ketosis is supposed to be burning fats? I’m losing weight on the scale but the fats percentage has only moved from 35% to 34%.

(CJ Young) #17

Resistance training is the most effective way to start building muscle. It sounds like you’ve never done it before so you might want to do some reading about getting started or if you want to jump in with both feet most gyms give you a free session with a trainer if you sign up for a month. One of the most important things to know about it is that when you get started as long as you are actually pushing yourself you will initially gain some good muscle quickly. Sustained muscle growth takes a commitment to regular weight training but I honestly think it’s worth it. Also, it’s tied to improved bone health, joint health, the list goes on.

You know how some people just talk forever about how great Keto is? That’s me and the lifting. Ha.

#18

Well, you may have the average bodyfat of a 70 year old SAD woman, but LCHF/keto will unleash your body’s metabolic healing and make sure you won’t be that when you are 70! Keto is a way of life, not a quick fix - give it time!

I’d gently ask - why not wait to try for a possible baby #2 until you’ve gone through more recomposition? 31 is quite young, and you’re clearly fertile, so consider the many many benefits of prioritizing your own body recomposition & health first. The physiological costs & any hormonal manipulations of your first pregnancy, takes some time to recover from - on top of the previous years of being a sugar burner/carb addict. Another pregnancy in a non-overfat state (say, 25% bodyfat) will be better for both you and any next baby - as it will allow you some significant preconception detox through fat-burning along with hormonal optimization that can greatly benefit any future pregnancy, breastfeeding, and postpartumrecovery!

Re your time spent running and “core/abs” - replacing it with instead high intensity whole body strength training (the McGuff routine has a body-weight routine that doesn’t require machines, and the Hahn Slow Burn style has a home routine with dumbells) - just 1-2 short sessions a week can boost the metabolism amazingly. Dr. McGuff urges long recovery times of 7-10 days in between super slow high intensity workouts - studies have shown that less is more! Yoga is also good for healing & fertility, especially the contemplative, slow, restorative/yin kind.

But the bottom line is that 99% of body recomposition is dietary - according to most recent analyses by keto slow burn strength trainer Fred Hahn as well as LCHF/keto physician Michael Eades MD. Ten years ago keto physician and senior personal trainer Doug McGuff MD (author of Body By Science) was saying 90%, but that’s changed with recent science. Strength training is just an awesome leverage tool that speeds the recomposition process.

You’re probably 100% fat-adapted at this point, so it may be helpful to look at reducing your fat intake a bit so that your body can access your own fat stores. A number of postpartum and midlife women have found that reducing fat intake (ie, not having fatty coffees + fatty breakfasts, not putting tablespoons of butter on top of their fatty food, not gorging on avocado/guac, not adding fat bombs or keto ice cream for dessert every night) helps speed fat burning. Also, Ginger supplementation - as Ginger is a cortisol-reducer and enzymatic aid among other things like being a fibrin-reducer and likely insulin-reducer. Cortisol levels in females have to be addressed in order to lose fat - so, personal stress level can be a factor that may mean it can be too stressful for some women to start a high intensity weight lifting routine. If you use the search bar there are many great older threads about keto for females, postpartum/midlife women, and Ginger!

This is something discussed here on the forum quite a bit in various threads - as keto per se (ie, 2-3 rich high fat meals a day) is not a tool for fat loss in those who are overfat but non-obese. It’s a tool for excellent biomarkers and neurogenesis - but, particularly for postpartum and midlife females - unless you tweak keto macros to access your bodyfat, it will happen at a glacial pace and perhaps not much at all.

Also, keeping a degree of randomness is crucial too. This may include having one or two high fat (80-85% of macros) days and a higher carb day (within reason, pushing the limits at about 60-75grams total carbs, not carb-loading) per week, and keeping IF random, varying it so your body stays in agile response. In Christian Vlad’s book Periodic Fasting I read that research has shown that just two days a week of IF provides the same recomp benefits as more IF - probably having to do with the increased variability that two days a week of IF represents.

In female metabolisms, when needing to access our own fat stores, it can help a lot to boost variability/randomness. This includes varying OMAD and TMAD (many females may find faster recomp with TMAD more days a week, as the body likes to be reassured that there is plenty of food) and varying eating windows - 4 hours one day, 8 hours the next and so on. The female body’s main agenda is to hold on to and multiply fat on behalf of survival of the species (extra fat stores mean a female can last longer in times of privation and thus the chances of survival of her children or grandchildren or any children she takes under her wings are much higher).

I’ve been experimenting with randomness for awhile now - and more recently, cutting down on fat. It’s quite a tasty and surprising adventure in continued satiety!!! When I recently stopped my fatty coffee routine (2 tblsp coconut oil and 2 tblsp HWC) I replaced it with strong-brewed 2 teabags of delicious Morning Thunder tea (black tea and yerba mate, which is a great antioxidant and fat burning/metabolic herb) I was a little worried I wouldn’t be sated. But after the first two days of adjustment, I noticed a boost in energy, continued appetite suppression, and swooshing! I brew it strong in a tall latte mug and add only 1 tblsp coconut oil and a splash of cream, and it still keeps me satisfied for many hours!

Keep calm and keto on, reduce fat and burn on!

Steady & slow wins the race is my affirmation, at about 1.5 years keto. I keep shrinking!!! Self-care is top priority. When Mama’s happy everybody’s happy.

:avocado::coconut::steakcake::fried_egg::steakcake::herb::sparkles: