Skinnyfat? Body Recomposition?

[skitlets]

I'm afraid I'm moving from skinny to skinny fat. I used to be a super twig, 5'7 and shy of 130 pounds. Did Starting Strength for 5-6 months and felt great! Moved up to 140. Squat, bench, and deadlifts were moving along very well until my hips starting hurting a lot. I took some time off but fell out of the gym lifestyle and now I'm back at it slowly. It's been about a year. Hips still experience discomfort so I'm moving squats up very slowly.

I put on more fat than I wanted, all directly to the love handles. I've never had them before! And without working out, I lost a lot of muscle and am left with all the extra fat. Back down to about 132 or so.

Question is, is body recomposition a real thing? I don't want to put on a lot of weight, ideally be a lean 140-145. I have a really small appetite and don't think I can realistically be much heavier than that. Is it possible to clean bulk about 10-15 pounds while losing the love handles, or should I suck it up, try to get up to 150 or so and then cut back down?

 

[uNiCoRnPriNcEsSx]

Yes, it is a real thing, but it's going to take discipline and genetics. Discipline that 95% of the population doesn't have. If you're an ecto and have a hard time gaining muscle, results may vary. I'm a meso and feel like I gain muscle pretty easily. As to how I did it, I read the entirety of the sufu supermeatheads thread and followed the suggestions of kunk and charly. Went from 180 to 170 in the course of 4 months, losing bf and gaining significant muscle in the process. If you haven't done so already, it might be next on your to do list? Anyways, Diet is 70% of the recomp, exercise is 20% of it, and genetics is the remaining 10%. Not gonna go into diet, that's way too much information to convey. Basics, figure out where your basal metabolic rate is, and plan your diet accordingly. Macros are important. My macros are 270g protein, 60-80g carbs, 60-80g fat, depending on my goals. just make sure you have 1.5g x desired lean body mass in pounds for target protein consumption. Nutrient timing isn't really that important, but be smart about it. Consuming your PWO shake 45 min after your workout isn't gonna kill ya, but don't have 100g of spaghetti right before you go to sleep. Unless your reason is especially good. (Threesome with twins? yea you're gonna need the energy) This is a good guideline to start: http://liamrosen.com/fitness.html I can not stress the importance of having a good workout routine. Don't stop doing compound exercises because your hips hurt. If it's hurting, you're doing something wrong. Allow your body to fully recover, and adjust your technique until it no longer hurts. Chances are, you might be going too heavy for your body to handle.

 

[IndianBoyz]

 

[suited]

Hard to give advice without knowing your bf %, or seeing pictures.

 

[Nicola]

Originally Posted by skitlets

I

Question is, is body recomposition a real thing? I don't want to put on a lot of weight, ideally be a lean 140-145. I have a really small appetite and don't think I can realistically be much heavier than that. Is it possible to clean bulk about 10-15 pounds while losing the love handles, or should I suck it up, try to get up to 150 or so and then cut back down?

IMHO body recomps are aimed more at people close to their goals. The last 18 months my weight is more or less flat. I might be up 1 or 2 pounds. I've dropped a full pant size.

OTOH you're not really suited for a body recomp.

Appetite is a poor excuse. Add olive oil to everything. Snack on nuts and dried fruit. Drink whole milk instead of water. You won't have any problem hitting high calorie levels.

You don't say how old you are . If you're younger a normal bulk/cut cycle might be fine. If you're older then just do a slow bulk.

 

[mm84321]

Originally Posted by Nicola

Appetite is a poor excuse. Add olive oil to everything. Snack on nuts and dried fruit. Drink whole milk instead of water. You won't have any problem hitting high calorie levels.
Or he could just eat more ***** protein, and less of everything else. Who wants to eat 800 calories worth of nuts and whole milk?

 

[skitlets]

I was already doing the whole olive oil, lots of milk, etc. to get to 145, and I was uncomfortably full a lot of the time. Small appetite isn't an excuse, I would just feel comfortable being a lean 140 or so. Once I get there, I'll re-evaluate. I'm 23 and bf is probably around 15% or so all to the love handle area.

Eating in the morning makes me want to yak so I just eat a banana + protein shake.
I'm going back to a decent diet. I eat typical Chinese meals, meaning lots of rice and veggies, not so much protein. I'm cutting back on the rice a lot and eating more meat. No more soda except for the occasional caffeine craving.

Sticking with starting strength + 1 cardio day a week. Just feeling a little lost and discouraged because last time I bulked it didn't end how I wanted so I'm seeing if there are other ways to reach my goal of +10 lean pounds. I think the best way to motivate myself would be to first lose the fat. That would give me a visual improvement and a little confidence boost.

 

[mm84321]

Originally Posted by skitlets

Eating in the morning makes me want to yak so I just eat a banana + protein shake.
Try not eating anything at all. Since you're not hungry in the mornings anyway, this shouldn't be exceptionally difficult for you to do. Try to space your last meal from the day before around 14-16 hours between your first meal of the next day.

I'm going back to a decent diet. I eat typical Chinese meals, meaning lots of rice and veggies, not so much protein. I'm cutting back on the rice a lot and eating more meat. No more soda except for the occasional caffeine craving.

A good lunch for you would be some salad greens with a lean protein source (salmon, tuna, chicken, etc.) and a vinaigrette. Do away with the Chinese if you can; this will be much more satiating, anyway. Eat some type of fattier meat for dinner with any green vegetable of your choice.

Sticking with starting strength + 1 cardio day a week. Just feeling a little lost and discouraged because last time I bulked it didn't end how I wanted so I'm seeing if there are other ways to reach my goal of +10 lean pounds. I think the best way to motivate myself would be to first lose the fat. That would give me a visual improvement and a little confidence boost.

Try some intermittent fasting as a catalyst for weight loss. One of the great benefit of this is the marked change and improvement in your appearance within the first few days: a great motivator to persist and follow through with the diet.

 

[Nicola]

Originally Posted by mm84321

Or he could just eat more ***** protein, and less of everything else. Who wants to eat 800 calories worth of nuts and whole milk?

100 grams of shelled walnuts is over 600 calories.

A litre of whole milk isn't much less.

If you think a litre of milk is bad you don't want to try the GADD diet (Gallon a day)

 

[Nicola]

Originally Posted by skitlets

Sticking with starting strength + 1 cardio day a week. Just feeling a little lost and discouraged because last time I bulked it didn't end how I wanted so I'm seeing if there are other ways to reach my goal of +10 lean pounds. I think the best way to motivate myself would be to first lose the fat. That would give me a visual improvement and a little confidence boost.

Why are you doing cardio?

http://www.defrancostraining.com/art...rds-part1.html

You need to build a strength muscle base first. Just dropping fat will cause more problems then it'll cure.

 

[mm84321]

Originally Posted by Nicola

100 grams of shelled walnuts is over 600 calories. A litre of whole milk isn't much less. If you think a litre of milk is bad you don't want to try the GADD diet (Gallon a day)

The idea of drinking a gallon of milk a day is rather revolting. Don't impoverished Kenyan bodybuilders drink nothing but ox milk and blood every day? I don't know, I'd rather have a duck breast or a juicy Porterhouse--maybe that's just me.

Originally Posted by Nicola

Why are you doing cardio? http://www.defrancostraining.com/art...rds-part1.html You need to build a strength muscle base first. Just dropping fat will cause more problems then it'll cure.
A day of moderate cardio a week certainly won't hurt him; if anything, it will help to expedite the process. Though, his diet is probably the largest determining factor.

 

[Nicola]

Originally Posted by mm84321

The idea of drinking a gallon of milk a day is rather revolting. Don't impoverished Kenyan bodybuilders drink nothing but ox milk and blood every day?



A day of moderate cardio a week certainly won't hurt him; if anything, it will help to expedite the process. Though, his diet is probably the largest determining factor.

Don't know about Kenya but it's pretty old school bodybuilding. It's the old farm boy diet. All the milk and eggs you can eat.

The cardio is just going to burn more calories. He doesn't want to eat much now so I don't see the point of the cardio. If he is lifting hard it's not like he won't get some cardio benefit from the lifting.

 

[mm84321]

Originally Posted by Nicola

The cardio is just going to burn more calories. He doesn't want to eat much now so I don't see the point of the cardio. If he is lifting hard it's not like he won't get some cardio benefit from the lifting.
Right, but if he wants to do some light to moderate cardio once a week, it's not like it will directly interfere with his progress.

 

[skitlets]

Gallon of milk a day is too much for me. I managed a gallon every other day but this could have led to the excess fat gain. Since I'm eating so little as is, adding +200 or +300 calories a day is not difficult. I'll take the slow bulk route and assess every 2 weeks or so. Doesn't sound like gaining weight AND dropping the love handles is going to be possible for someone who only weighs 130 pounds.

Time to add on some weight and do a proper cut this time around. The reason I say losing the fat first would be a great motivation is because I know I can regain the base strength. I went from lifting the bar to 205 squat and 175 bench 3x5, 260 1x5 Deadlifts at 140 bw. It'll just take a little longer this time around.

The cardio I see as a plus for me. Doesn't affect the calories too much as I eat a lot afterwards and I like to play ball every now and then.

 

[stinger70]

get some finely ground oats and drink like 200g a day. half in the morning half before bed...mixed with whey protein thats almost 1000 calories per day added of good carbs and 70g protein.