Skinny Fat: What It Means and How to Get Rid of It

What Is Skinny Fat?

Skinny fat, sometimes written as fat skinny, describes someone who is skinny and fat at the same time: they look slim in clothes and have a normal weight, but carry too little muscle and a relatively high percentage of body fat. It is the opposite of the lean, V-shaped physique many men train for. Doctors call it normal-weight obesity: a normal body mass index (BMI) combined with a high body fat percentage, which is linked to metabolic problems and a higher risk of death (Oliveros et al., 2014).

The skinny fat meaning comes down to what BMI misses. BMI only compares weight with height, so it cannot tell muscle from fat. Two people with the same BMI can have very different bodies: one lean and muscular, the other with little muscle, a soft stomach and more fat than their weight suggests. Our guide on how to get rid of body fat explains why the type and location of fat matter as much as the amount.

Because studies use different body fat cut-offs, estimates of how common it is vary widely, from about 4.5% to 22% of adults worldwide. Genetics, diet and physical activity all appear to play a part (Wijayatunga and Dhurandhar, 2021).

Does skinny fat mean chubby?

Not quite. Someone who is skinny fat usually wears a normal clothing size and does not look overweight. The difference shows without clothes, or in how the body feels: soft rather than firm, with little muscle definition even at a low weight.

Skinny Fat Body Type: Am I Skinny Fat?

Common signs of the skinny fat body type include:

• your weight and BMI are in the healthy range, but your body looks and feels soft
• your arms and legs are slim, but you carry fat on your stomach, love handles or chest
• you have little visible muscle definition, even when you lose weight
• you feel weaker than your size suggests
• your weight has barely changed over the years, but your shape has

Signs only go so far. To know for sure, measure your body composition rather than your weight:

• Body fat percentage. A DEXA scan is one of the most accurate measurements, while body composition scales are less precise but useful for tracking change. There is no single agreed cut-off; studies commonly use thresholds of around 20% to 25% body fat for men and 30% to 35% for women.
• Waist-to-height ratio. UK guidance advises keeping your waist measurement to less than half your height.
• Waist-to-hip ratio. A ratio above 0.90 in men or 0.85 in women signals central obesity. Our waist-to-hip ratio calculator works it out for you.

What Causes Skinny Fat?

Skinny fat usually comes from too little muscle combined with a little too much fat, rather than from overeating alone. Common causes include:

• Little or no strength training. Cardio burns calories but does little to build muscle.
• Repeated crash dieting. Losing weight quickly without enough protein or resistance exercise means some of the weight lost is muscle, and weight that returns tends to be fat.
• Not eating enough protein to build and keep muscle.
• Age. Muscle mass gradually declines from middle age unless you train to keep it.
• Genetics. Some people naturally carry less muscle or store more fat around the waist.
• Sleep, stress and alcohol. Poor sleep, long-term stress and heavy drinking all make it harder to build muscle and lose fat.
• Hormones. Low testosterone in men and the menopause in women both shift the body towards less muscle and more fat, often as deep fat around the organs.

Is Skinny Fat Unhealthy?

It can be. A normal weight is no guarantee of good metabolic health. A meta-analysis of 25 studies and 177,792 people found that normal-weight obesity was linked to nearly twice the odds of metabolic syndrome and abnormal blood fats, and around 40% higher odds of high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes (Mohammadian Khonsari et al., 2022).

Where the fat sits matters most. In a US study of 15,184 adults that measured central fat using the waist-to-hip ratio, men with a normal BMI but fat concentrated around the waist had 1.87 times the risk of dying during follow-up compared with normal-weight men without central fat, and around twice the risk of men who were overweight or obese by BMI alone. Women with normal-weight central obesity also had a higher risk (Sahakyan et al., 2015).

If you think you might be skinny fat, particularly with a large waist, ask your GP to check your blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol. Adults aged 40 to 74 in England are also offered a free NHS Health Check every five years.

Skinny Fat Men: Chest Fat, Love Handles and Testosterone

A skinny fat man usually has slim arms and legs with fat on the stomach, love handles and chest. Men tend to store excess fat around the waist, which is the pattern most closely linked to health risk, so the skinny fat male body often looks slim everywhere except the middle.

A soft or puffy chest is one of the most common complaints. If it is mostly fat, the diagnosis is pseudogynecomastia, which improves as body fat falls. If there is firm tissue behind the nipple, it may be gynaecomastia, which does not respond to diet or exercise and may need gynaecomastia surgery. Our guide to man boobs explains how to tell the difference.

If you also notice low sex drive, erection problems, tiredness or breast tissue growth, see your GP, as low testosterone can reduce muscle and increase body fat.

For most skinny fat men, the goal is to go from skinny fat to muscular: building the shoulders, back and chest while bringing body fat down, which is what creates a V-taper body. Our guide to looksmaxxing covers the online trends worth ignoring, and our cosmetic surgery for men hub covers the procedures men ask about most.

Skinny Fat Women: Hips, Thighs and the Menopause

Women naturally carry more body fat than men, so the thresholds are higher. Skinny fat women often notice a soft lower belly, upper arms or thighs despite a slim frame, and around the menopause fat tends to shift towards the waist. The fix is the same: resistance training reduced body fat in both women and men in a large review of trials (Wewege et al., 2022), and liposuction only has a role for stubborn areas that remain.

Skinny Fat Belly: Why Your Stomach Stays Soft

A soft stomach, sometimes called a skinny fat tummy, is the most common complaint. Three different things can cause a skinny fat belly, and each needs a different approach:

• Subcutaneous fat. Soft fat you can pinch, just under the skin. It is often the last to go, particularly on the lower belly and love handles. It shrinks with fat loss and, if it persists, can be removed with liposuction such as VASER lipo.
• Visceral fat. Fat packed around the organs behind the stomach muscles. It makes the stomach look firm and round, and you cannot pinch it. It responds well to exercise and fat loss but cannot be removed by surgery.
• Loose skin. Skin that creases or hangs after weight loss, often with stretch marks. Exercise will not tighten it; our guide to loose skin versus fat explains how to tell them apart.

Sit-ups and crunches strengthen the abdominal muscles, but they do not burn the fat sitting over them. The muscles only become visible once overall body fat is low, which is why a flatter stomach comes from whole-body fat loss rather than from ab exercises. If your stomach has a crease across the middle, our guide to the B belly explains why.

How to Get Rid of Skinny Fat

The answer is not simply to eat less. Dieting alone tends to turn a skinny fat body into a smaller skinny fat body. What works is body recomposition: building muscle and losing fat at the same time, even if your weight barely changes.

Skinny fat workout: lift weights two to four times a week

Resistance training is the most important step. A review of 58 trials found that resistance training alone lowered body fat by an average of 1.46 percentage points compared with no exercise, and also reduced visceral fat, with no difference between men and women (Wewege et al., 2022). UK guidelines recommend muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days a week. Build your skinny fat workout around compound lifts such as squats, deadlifts, presses, rows and pull-ups, and gradually increase the weight or repetitions over time.

Skinny fat diet: eat enough protein

Protein gives your muscles the building blocks they need. A meta-analysis of 49 trials found that extra protein increased the muscle and strength gained from resistance training, with no further benefit above about 1.6 g of protein per kg of body weight a day (Morton et al., 2018). For a 75 kg man, that is about 120 g a day, spread across meals. If you have kidney disease, check with your GP before increasing your protein intake.

Should you bulk or cut if you are skinny fat?

For most people, neither. A big bulk adds more fat to a body that already has too much, and a hard cut risks losing the little muscle you have. Eating at or slightly below maintenance while training hard usually works best, especially for beginners.

Gaining muscle while losing fat is possible. In a four-week trial, young men on a large calorie deficit who trained hard six days a week and ate a high-protein diet gained 1.2 kg of lean mass while losing 4.8 kg of fat (Longland et al., 2016). That was an intensive, supervised programme, but the principle holds for everyone: train hard and keep protein high.

How to lose skinny fat faster: walk, sleep and drink less

Daily walking adds to fat loss without getting in the way of recovery. Aim for seven to nine hours of sleep, and keep alcohol within the UK low-risk guideline of no more than 14 units a week.

How to fix skinny fat: how long does it take?

Most people notice changes in strength, waist size and shape within about three months of consistent training, with bigger changes over a year. Track your progress with your waist measurement, body fat percentage, strength and photos rather than the scales, which may barely move.

Can Liposuction Fix Skinny Fat?

Not on its own. Liposuction removes fat cells from specific areas, but it does not add muscle and it does not improve your metabolic health. In a study of women with obesity, removing around 9 to 10 kg of abdominal fat by liposuction did not improve insulin sensitivity, blood pressure or cholesterol (Klein et al., 2004). Surgery is not a shortcut past training.

Where liposuction does help is with stubborn pockets of fat that remain once you have built muscle and brought your body fat down. For men, that usually means the lower belly, love handles and chest. Male liposuction, including VASER liposuction, is the most common option, while stomach liposuction and love handles liposuction treat the areas skinny fat men mention most.

You can see more results in our before and after photo gallery.

If you have already built a good base of muscle, HD lipo and abdominal etching sculpt the fat around it to show more definition, including the lines of the Adonis belt. They reveal muscle that is already there, so they work best after training, not instead of it.

Liposuction of smaller areas can often be performed under local anaesthetic with sedation, while larger areas are treated under TIVA. There is also a safe limit to how much fat can be removed in one session. Prices are in our male liposuction cost and liposuction cost guides.

Frequently asked questions

Liposuction for Stubborn Fat in London

If you have put in the training and still have stubborn areas of fat, a consultation at our CQC-regulated hospital at 95–97 Baker Street, London, will tell you whether liposuction can help. Your surgeon will assess whether the problem is fat, loose skin or muscle, explain your options and give you a written quote. The consultation costs £100, which is redeemable against the cost of treatment. Call 020 7993 4849 or book a consultation online.

Further reading

• Male body contouring: which procedure is right for you?
• Visceral fat vs subcutaneous fat
• V-taper body: how to get one
• How to get rid of body fat: what actually works