Skinny Fat

(Rachel Sharp) #1

Hi,

Help with my strategy woukd be much appreciated. I’m 6 weeks in. Believe I’m almost adapted if not already. I wanted to feel better which I already do. Long standing ibs seems to be resolved much to my surprise!

Fat loss was my other goal. I say fat because I only weighed 136 pounds before I started keto. I lost 9 pounds in 3 weeks and have stalled for the past 3. I’m not worried as I expected this but I do know from a Dexa scan that I have an exceptionally high Body Fat - 44% so 55 pounds on my very small frame and only 72 pounds of lean body.

If I try to reduce my bf to 25% which is average I would weigh only 90 pounds. That sounds scarily low to me. I have weight trained with a personal trainer for a year and we discovered after repeat dexa’s that the only way I gain muscle is when I gain fat :sleepy: What the heck should I do? I only wanted to lose another 8 pounds weight wise as I look ill below that so I’m at a loss as to what to do.

  1. Just stick with regular keto with my usual 2 meals a day and let my body decide?
  2. Take more steps like IF or OMAD to try and increase weight/fat loss?
  3. Start with some other type of exercise programme whilst I continue Keto?

Any thoughts from you very helpful people?

Thanks.

(VLC.MD) #2

IF.
Make sure you are in ketosis - carbs under 20.

Dexa scans seem not to be useful for you. Ditch them and save some money ?

(Rachel Sharp) #3

Thanks and yes, stopped having the dexa’s. Had bought a package of them to try and monitor the effects of lifting but seem to be a person who has little capacity to build muscle. I can shape them nicely but really struggle to put on lean mass.

Always keep below 20g carbs. Just not sure if I should start fasting now or whether to just stick with what I’m doing for a while longer?

(VLC.MD) #4

IF.
Aka - skip breakfast.

If you can’t then keep LCHF / Keto til you can.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #5

Many women have restricted calories for so long that they need to build up lean muscle mass even while needing to lose fat. When they go keto they often get frustrated because the scale doesn’t go down as they think it should. They neglect to take into account that their measurements are improving as their body composition is shifting.

From this, I would say that ketosis is probably ideal for someone in your situation. The key is to keep carbs under 20 grams, keep protein moderate, and eat lots of fat. Don’t restrict your calories, just eat fat until you are full. Let your body tell you when you’ve given it enough energy to do the healing it needs to do. Your body is perfectly capable of burning both the fat you’re eating and the fat stored in your fat cells and using all that energy to put on lean body mass.

I believe that if you don’t overthink the process and if you leave your body to get on with things, you will be happy with the results.

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #6

Have you listened to the TOFI episode?

How tall are you, those are scary low numbers for women over 5’5", but if you are on the petite side, 5’ give or take a few inches, they are not nearly so scary. Also how much of the lbm is bone, etc.? DEXA should tell you all three, muscles, fat, and bones, etc.

Also are you measuring how clothes fit, your over all strength, measurements? They help give a total picture.

You might find some helpful info over on Leangains.com. It is keto centered, and is aimed at bodybuilders.

Good luck.

(Rachel Sharp) #7

I think that’s definitely me! Gastric band for 8 years which was over restrictive and had to come out finally. I am sure the last year destroyed my muscle mass.

I really like the idea of just going with my body’s signals and with keto I’m not regaining when I don’t count calories which is great. It’s the only WOE that I’ve ever found that possible with. I do watch the carb and protein grams though and keep below the limits.

Thanks for the advice it was helpful.

(Rachel Sharp) #8

Hi @collaroygal,

I think I must have missed that episode, thanks for flagging it!

I’m 5ft 3 so not huge but I previously weighed 110 pounds which was my lowest ever and everyone around me freaked out. I think 90 pounds would look horrendous. I’m “top heavy” so I do not like to be too thin as it makes it even more pronounced. Everyone was much more relaxed when I was at 119 pounds so that was my goal.

My LBM of 72 pounds included 4.5 pounds of dry bone mineral content which is normal and where it would be expected to be I’m told.

I certainly would have been a survivor should famine have hit with my Body Fat levels. Just means there is still plenty to go at I suppose!

Off to listen, thanks again :blush:

(Sjur Gjøstein Karevoll) #9

Seconding IF. It’s a well known technique for body recomposition. Make sure you eat a lot when you eat, don’t skimp on the protein, 2g per kg target body weight minimum, and lift heavy stuff right before you eat. Don’t eat too many carbs, but if you’re working out a lot and you’re really strong you can get away with more than the recommended 20g. If you’re weak or don’t spend several hours every day working out then 20g is a fine target

The theory is that the overconsumption when you eat is going to cause a huge growth stimulus. A large amount of food at once is going to cause a large insulin spike which stimulates growth. Yes, it also stimulates fat growth, but if a large amount of your calories (compared to average) comes from protein that’s going to stimulate muscle synthesis more than usual. The exercise does the same due to the increased inflammation in the muscles, and the fasting also promotes HGH which again focuses the body on preserving (during energy deficit) or adding (during energy surplus) muscles at the expense of fat storage. All this is supposed to come together to put you in a state of growth that’s largely focused on your lean tissue.

The fasting is going to put you in a state of tissue breakdown, but when you go long periods of not eating the body is going to become more and more focused on preferentially breaking down fat, hence why you shouldn’t eat for 16 hours at a time.

The body isn’t going to do tissue breakdown and growth at the same time, that’s highly inefficient. If you want to do both you need to alternate periods of growth and breakdown which you do by alternating eating and not eating.

At least this is what I’ve gleaned from various fitness forums, I’m not exactly an expert. It seems to make sense, and people seem to get results from it.

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #10

Wow we are very similar then. I was about “perfect” at 115 lbs. back in the day. Good luck sorting out the more muscles issue.

(Rachel Sharp) #11

Wow @Berengal thanks for that. It does sound plausible. My trainer used to have me eating protein all day, carbs below 20g and still monitoring calorie intake but I never lost fat. Gained equal muscle and fat which was frustrating for both of us as my calories stayed at about 1000 a day. Of course I now see that I was spiking my insulin by eating protein 6 times a day despite the low calories!

When he decided I should bulk and then cut I got really scared. I gained about 14 pounds which was 8 pounds fat 6 of muscle. I could easily bulk but couldn’t shift a pound of the fat with his CICO approach to cutting. And so I gave up lifting and eventually ended up here…thankfully. I miss it though and plan on getting started again v soon.

(Sjur Gjøstein Karevoll) #12

Yeah, when you eat all the time and stay at an energy deficit the body can sometimes become confused; you’re not supposed to be in a deficit when you’re eating. Some people can handle it fine, but not everyone it seems. IF makes sure that when you’re at a deficit you’re not eating, and when you’re eating you’re at a surplus to not give the body mixed messages.

That said gaining 6 pounds of muscle out of 14 total is really good. The body is much more reluctant to build muscle than put on fat (but also more reluctant to break down muscle). You don’t have to put on more muscle than fat to do a recomposition, you only need to put on more than you lose during the cut.

(Edith) #13

Maybe the Dexa scan results were wrong. People make mistakes. 45% fat seems awfully high for someone who weighs less than 130 pounds.

Edith

(Rachel Sharp) #14

I agree its possible @VirginiaEdie but they were very consistent over a period of months and i am unfortunately quite “jiggly” so know i must have quite high body fat…sigh…

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #15

Would you be okay if keto caused your body to both burn fat and add lean muscle mass, at the price of not seeing the scale go down?

(Rachel Sharp) #16

Oh yes definitely @PaulL. I’m at a healthy weight just not body fat, so burning fat and building muscle was my main aim.

Most I would ever want to lose weight wise now is 7 pounds and I wouldn’t mind too much if I stayed where I am. Do you have some advice?