Skinny Fat Workout Plan Female: Exercise and Diet Tips to Help You Fix It

One thing about internet culture is that it helps come up with new literal terms for things. These may not be the nicest words out there, but they can sometimes work to define real-world circumstances. The “skinny fat build” is one such literal term. It describes a person who outwardly appears to be skinny/thin and seems to be of normal weight, but in reality has a very high body fat percentage and low muscle mass.

If you recently discovered that this definition fits you, or you suspect that this definition fits, don’t be worried or defeated. Just because you fall into this category doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with your body. It also doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re “stuck” there if you’re hoping to make a change.

So, if you’re ready to make a lasting change to your body, this skinny fat workout plan female or male routine may be just the thing you’re looking for. Read on to find out what such a routine entails, and how you can effectively lose that “skinny fat” body type to be the healthiest version of yourself.

What Is a Targeted Skinny Fat Workout Plan for Female Fitness?

A targeted skinny fat workout plan for female fitness is a program that is designed to help outwardly skinny women reduce body fat and build lean muscle. Such a program can lead to a more toned and defined physique as it focuses on eliminating the “skinny fat” body type, where an individual has a higher body fat percentage and lower muscle mass.

Why Is Skinny Fat Hard to Lose?

Skinny fat may be hard to lose because it is “invisible obesity”. Also known as normal weight obesity, researchers define this as a condition where the individual has normal weight or normal body mass index (BMI) but high body fat percentage (1, 2, 3).

Ordinarily, when people want to lose weight or fat, they use the scale to determine whether they are succeeding at their goal or not. However, when dealing with skinny fat, the scale going down isn’t necessarily a good thing. Simply losing weight could indicate that you’re also losing muscle mass during your calorie deficit. If you’re losing body fat and muscle mass simultaneously, you’ll continue to hold on to that “skinny fat” body type. However, if you’re undergoing body recomposition (gaining muscle while losing body fat), you’ll be able to cut down on that “skinny fat” body and reveal a chiseled physique. 

For the perfect skinny fat transformation woman or man results, the plan to lose the internal fat must include solutions that target the excess body fat and low muscle mass problem.

Read more: Mat Pilates Exercises List: 34 Foundational Exercises Explained

Where to Start if You’re Skinny Fat

The best way to know where to start when dealing with normal weight obesity is to understand the causes. They include:

• Genetics

Unfortunately, some people are genetically predisposed to having a higher body fat percentage and less muscle mass than others. According to a 2021 study on South Asian populations, researchers stated that people in this region are uniquely prone to the “thin-fat” phenotype (4). 

It should be noted that researchers also mentioned that this phenotype is incredibly common in tropical countries, so if you’re from such a country, it may be beneficial to have your body fat percentage checked professionally (4).

• Other Causes

According to a review published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health in early 2022, researchers looking at the diagnostic criteria of skinny fat mentioned that it can be caused by factors such as (5):

1. A sedentary lifestyle
2. An unhealthy diet, as well as improper diet habits such as irregular meals and snacking between meals
3. Smoking
4. Alcohol consumption

From the list of causes above, we can gather that to prevent, manage, or lose the “skinny fat” distinction, you need to start by:

1. Fixing your diet
2. Increasing your daily physical activity, i.e. exercising more – this is where the skinny fat workout plan male or female routine comes in
3. Reducing or eliminating smoking and alcohol consumption

BetterMe: Health Coaching app helps you achieve your body goals with ease and efficiency by helping to choose proper meal plans and effective workouts. Start using our app and you will see good results in a short time.

What Is the Best Diet for Skinny Fat?

As mentioned above, being skinny fat means your body fat percentage is higher and your muscle mass is lower than the average for your height, gender, and age. Therefore, the best diet to help counter this would be one that helps support fat loss and promotes increased muscle mass. Here’s how to structure your diet for the best transformation:

• Limit Your Intake of Unhealthy Foods

Studies on the risk of obesity list unhealthy habits as one of the top contributing factors to obesity. These studies describe unhealthy foods as (6, 7):

1. Those that are high in calories and low in nutrients
2. High-fat and high-sugar foods
3. Ultra-processed foods

When you’re looking to lose skinny fat, all foods that can be described as above should be limited or completely eliminated from your diet. They contribute to the high fat percentage by increasing your intake of fats, simple sugars, salt, and overall calorie intake. By keeping them in your diet, you make the effort of losing the extra fat harder. 

• Increase Your Intake of Whole Foods

Whole foods are foods that are in their natural state or have undergone minimal processing. These include:

1. Fresh fruits and vegetables
2. Whole grains
3. Nuts and seeds
4. Lean meats, plant protein, or fatty fish

Studies on healthy eating and obesity encourage the consumption of whole, minimally processed foods, as unlike ultra-processed foods, they maintain their nutritional characteristics, which reduces your intake of empty calories.

Studies on the effects of whole foods versus ultra-processed foods on health and diet have shown that the latter helps with greater weight loss and reduces the risk of metabolic syndrome, hyperglycaemia, and high cholesterol (8, 9).

• Control Your Calorie Intake

In addition to what you eat, how much you eat also determines the amount of fat in your body. To lose excess fat, you must learn how to balance your calorie intake with your energy expenditure. For example (7):

• Balanced state, i.e. when calorie intake equals calorie expenditure – this leads to maintained body weight
• Positive energy, i.e. when calories consumed exceed calories burned – this results in weight gain
• Negative energy balance, i.e. where calories burned exceed intake – this leads to weight loss

Your skinny-fat diet should have a negative energy balance, which can help you burn off the excess fat in your body. However, you should avoid very low-calorie diets as they can lead to muscle loss and may make your body hold on to the excess fat. Finding the right balance is key.

• Increase Your Protein Intake

When tackling this issue, your protein intake will play a huge role in your success. This macronutrient plays a huge role in both weight loss and muscle development (10, 11, 12).

Regarding weight loss, a high-protein diet supports this through:

• Increased satiety, which reduces your overall calorie intake
• Increased thermogenesis that allows you to burn calories, even while at rest
• Increased muscle mass, especially when combined with exercise

Protein is also the building block of muscle. Exercise, particularly resistance training, helps with increased muscle mass and strength. These two factors combined lead to the best results. Increase your protein intake to 1.6 g per kilogram of body weight per day, and you’ll see incredible changes.

The above small but significant changes will help make the best diet to supplement your skinny fat workout plan female at home routine.

If you’re curious about the body traansformation for a woman, check out our earlier article.

Which Is the Best Skinny Fat Workout Plan Female?

The best workout plan to help a woman get rid of a “thin-fat” physique is a routine that combines cardio and strength training. Cardio exercises such as running, hiking, Zumba, swimming, and jumping rope burn a large number of calories during the workout session and go a long way in burning fat. The more calories you burn throughout your day, the greater the calorie deficit you can create. A calorie deficit is a requirement for any fat loss journey. You must burn more calories than you eat in order to lose body fat. 

On the other hand, strength training exercises help with increased muscle mass. The more muscle mass you have in your body, the more calories your body burns while at rest. This means that strength training helps you keep burning calories long after the workout is done. Some strength training exercises you can add to your routine include:

1. Bodyweight squats – 3 sets of 8-12 repetitions
2. Deadlifts (with resistance bands or free weights, i.e. dumbbells, kettlebells, barbell, etc) – 3 sets of 8-12 repetitions
3. Wall or standard push-ups – 3 sets of 8 repetitions
4. Elbow plank – Hold the position for 30 to 60 seconds
5. Bicep curls (banded or with free weights) – 3 sets of 8 repetitions
6. Leg raises – 3 sets of 15 repetitions

The BetterMe: Health Coaching app will provide you with a host of fat-frying fitness routines that’ll scare the extra pounds away and turn your body into a masterpiece! Get your life moving in the right direction with BetterMe!

How to Lose Fat as a Skinny Fat Woman

To lose fat as a woman with such a physique, you need to eat healthy and exercise. As mentioned above, a sedentary lifestyle is one of the main causes of thin-fat. This can be easily countered by increasing your daily physical activity. 

The CDC recommends exercising 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, using a combination of moderately-intensive exercises and muscle-strengthening workouts. 

This helps with fat loss and also reduces the risk of serious health problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and some cancers (13, 14).

Read more: How to Lose Weight with Pilates: Complete Guide and Sample Workout

What Are Common Mistakes When Fixing Skinny Fat?

Common mistakes you should avoid when dealing with this issue include:

• Eating too little or too much – As mentioned above, eating too few calories is detrimental to your fitness plan. It will lead to more muscle loss and make your body hold on to the excess fat. On the other hand, eating too much will lead to more fat gain. Find the right balance.

• Too much cardio over strength training – You have to balance both cardio and strength training to overcome skinny fat and improve your overall health. Cardio increases your heart rate and allows you to burn more calories during your workout, while resistance training helps increase muscle mass. More muscle mass = more calories burned at rest.

• Not eating enough protein – You cannot see successful muscle growth results without enough protein. Use a food tracking app to help you track how much protein you are eating a day.

Don’t be afraid to supplement your protein intake through whey or plant protein powder if you’re unable to reach your required amount through food alone. You should always remember to contact a medical professional before introducing any supplement to your diet. 

• Inconsistency with fitness or diet – Make a plan and stick to it. This is the only way you’ll see results. Inconsistency only keeps you stagnant, and it can even push you back. Find small but effective ways to keep yourself motivated with both diet and fitness.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Does lifting weights help with skinny fat?

As shown above, yes, it does. It helps burn fat and increase muscle mass, which combats the skinny fat physique. Remember to lift heavy and progressively challenge your muscles for the best results.

• What are the first signs of skinny fat?

It’s hard to tell if you’re skinny fat just from your outward appearance. As previously mentioned, most people who fall under this category look skinny or of normal weight. Instead of guessing, do a body percentage screening. This is the only way to accurately tell if you’re skinny, underweight, of normal weight, or secretly skinny fat.

• Do I need to cut if I’m skinny fat?

If you’re hoping to lose this distinction, then “cutting” would be beneficial. “Cutting” refers to cutting out calories, which also means creating a prolonged calorie deficit. As we’ve mentioned, a calorie deficit is a requirement for weight loss. However, those who are “skinny fat” will want to lose body fat while simultaneously gaining muscle mass. This process where you simultaneously lose fat and increase muscle mass through diet and exercise is known as body recomposition and is likely the best option for “skinny fat” people.

• Can cardio alone fix skinny fat?

It really depends on how you define “skinny fat”. Can you lose a substantial amount of weight from cardio alone? Not necessarily – you’ll need to include healthy eating habits and create a calorie deficit. Cardio excels at increasing your heart rate, which directly makes you burn more calories in your workout session. More calories burned each day is a great plan for fat loss, but not so much for muscle gain. Therefore, you need a combination of cardio and strength/resistance training exercises to fix this issue while also paying close attention to your calorie and macronutrient (protein specifically) intake.

The Bottom Line

An effective skinny fat workout plan female program should include both cardio and resistance training exercises. You should also watch your diet to help supplement the exercise program – eat in a calorie deficit, consume whole foods, and increase your protein intake. All these factors will ensure success.