Why men are skinny-fat (and how to fix it)

The skinny-fat body type in men is an interesting one to work with because of its hormonal implications when dieting and training.

„Skinny-fat“ refers to someone who has a weight and BMI that is normal for that person’s height but has much more body fat and not enough muscle recommended for optimal health.

I often get asked whether someone should „cut“ or „bulk“ in this state.

Let me elaborate:

The skinny-fat problem is two-fold (this is a copy/paste from one of my previous articles about calorie counting):

„When you carry more body fat, you are increasing the rate at which your Testosterone turns into Estrogen.
If this wasn’t enough of a castration, your body fat will turn your Dihydrotestosterone (responsible for male secondary sexual characteristics) into inactive metabolites.

This process works as a feedback loop:

A man gains body fat which reduces his Testosterone and Dihydrotestosterone levels (and raises his Estrogen), making it harder for him to lose body fat and gain muscle mass.

Now that his Testosterone and Dihydrotestosterone are depleted, he will gain body fat more easily and lose his muscle mass at the same time.”

Simply put, having lower Testosterone levels coupled with higher Estrogen levels as a starting point of your cutting (or bulking) phase is shooting yourself in the foot.

Fixing your hormonal imbalance should be your main priority when trying to change the shape of your body.“

Again, the problem is Estrogen because of elevated body-fat and therefore „cutting“ first should be a priority (by fixing your diet, supplementation and training).

If you go on a „mass“ phase when your Estrogen is already sky high, you will gain even more body-fat and not that much muscle-mass.

After cutting body-fat, we would have diminished Estrogen and reached a more favorable Testosterone/Estrogen ratio before going on a „bulk“. This will help us gain more muscle than body-fat during that said mass phase and reach a more favorable body composition at the end.

 

It depends...

Is your lower body muscular or is it mostly fat ?

If it tends to be on the fatter side, it could still be a Testosterone/Estrogen imbalance. I would get a full hormonal panel to see if there are any issues.

If it is muscle, then I would just focus on building the upper body through resistance training. You shouldn't have any issues to bulk it up if your overall body-fat is not too high.