Stomach fat on a skinny guy, is this normal?

[red-alert]

Hi all, I'm an 18 year old male around 5'10" and 135 lbs (skinny by north american standards, but I guess not that bad by the rest of the world's standards).

Anyway, I started a weight training program about 2 months ago and have been working out at least every other day since I started. I try to work out all parts of my body but feel that I have been neglecting my abdominal area. I either bicycle/walk a few kilometers every day and eat a healthy diet.

My concern is that I am noticing a bit of belly fat (just a bit, I think) on my abdominal area. When I stand up and tuck/flex my stomach, it seems to be well-shaped. But when I slouch and completely relax my abdominal muscles, the stomach seems to be sticking out a bit (just a bit past nipples). When I sit down or bend over, rolls are visible.

Is this normal for a person of my description? Or do I have something to worry about? I guess I should step up the cardio, but what do you guys think?

By the way, I have been drinking a protein shake every day (with one scoop protein mix) with yogurt, milk and frozen berries.

I didn't really notice all this until I got a bit conscious about body build.

[PopOverride]

Everyone has that. And you're damn skinny, stop comparing yourself to people who are starving.

[CJ_Guns]

What you will hear on these boards:

Suck it up and lift. Abs aren't everything.

[red-alert]

Everyone has that.

That's reassuring, but in today's society, it's hard to ignore "imperfections" with your health and body especially when the media is always in your face about it.

And you're damn skinny, stop comparing yourself to people who are starving.

I don't understand what you mean by that. Where I currently live, the predominant ethnicity is Chinese/Japanese/Korean/that sort of thing (I'm neither of those), but these people are generally "skinny" and do make up a significant portion of the world's population. Many of my friends are of similar height and weight. In fact, I have two close friends a bit lighter than me and about just as tall. Yes - I am skinny, but not abnormally or hazardously so. It's just that Americans/North Americans tend to have a much (much) larger body build (males AND females), weather it be fat (more likely) or muscle/bone size.

What I was more concerned with was the uneven distribution of fat that I (think) I am observing on my stomach, as opposed to on my arms, legs, or upper chest. I am trying to get rid of it and tone it down as much as I can.

And if I didn't make myself clear enough, let me state that I am most certainly not comparing myself to people who are starving.

Thanks for your reply.

[red-alert]

What you will hear on these boards:

Suck it up and lift. Abs aren't everything.

Oh, wow. I'm sorry to stir up such irritation then. I was only trying to seek opinion from somone who may have had experience with the matter.

[billyj1994]

be happy that your skinny enough lol

[red-alert]

be happy that your skinny enough lol

A skinny person wants to gain mass. A fat person wants to lose it. That's like telling a fat person "be happy that you're fat enough, lol". I think we're all just trying to improve our bodies.

[chiraag]

Hi all, I'm an 18 year old male around 5'10" and 135 lbs (skinny by north american standards, but I guess not that bad by the rest of the world's standards).

wtf? so america is the only country that has adequate food supplies?

anyways, back on topic, your gut is normal. the only reason why you can see it is because you don't have much muscle mass. just eat and lift

[red-alert]

From what I've read and learned, youre gonna have to do more cardio

you said that you have a healthy diet but you could help by being specific in what you eat, eating fewer calories than you burn will result in weight loss, while eating more will result in weight gain

there are different types of cardio
running or biking for extended periods (20-25+ minutes) will kick your body into fat burning mode
i've also read some about HIIT (high intensity interval training) which ihas been shown to better at burning fat than the slow cardio that i mentioned above, HIIT consists of short sprints (30-60 seconds) followed by a slow jog or walk that was twice as long as the amount of time you chose to sprint, typically an HIIT session would look like this:

30s sprint
60s walk
repeat sprint 6? times

and you said youre neglecting your abdominal area, well stop because aside from the aesthetics, the core is a very important area to work as many of your movements involve the core

anyone can feel free to correct anything I've said if they think its wrong

Thank you very much for the detailed and informative reply. I will definitely do the running and biking for extended periods of time. Running is definitely harder and I don't think I can run for 20 minutes constantly, but that's something to work towards. I can bike for hours, however, so I can keep that up as well.

I have also started the P90X ab workout program. It's really good and I like it so far.

As for the details on the diet:

breakfast - omlette, milk, juice, protein shake

lunch - usually rice with meat such as chicken, fish, salmon sandwhich, subs, that sort of thing

dinner - rice almost certainly with lentals, sometimes meat, a whole assortment of vegetables for sure

Again, thanks for the reply.

[red-alert]

wtf? so america is the only country that has adequate food supplies?

anyways, back on topic, your gut is normal. the only reason why you can see it is because you don't have much muscle mass. just eat and lift

No, I didn't intend for it to sound like that. It's just that I've traveled to various cities in the U.S. and have observed that in many places, the majority of the population is fat/dangerously obese. I didn't mean that in an offensive way. It's just what I have observed.

[signals]

who cares how your stomach looks right now. You're not competing and summer's over. What you're describing is totally normal man so don't sweat it.

[IWAAE]

its normal, i have a big belly too and im skinny. if you just go search the forum like "skinny with belly fat" youll get many results. just dun wry bout it for now

[red-alert]

who cares how your stomach looks right now. You're not competing and summer's over. What you're describing is totally normal man so don't sweat it.

I don't care about what other people think of my appearance. I just want to be healthy.

depending on how much meat you get in your meals, you could try fitting another protein shake in there

also it looks like you eat 3 big meals a day, instead you should try to eat 4-6 smaller meals throughout the day, as that will speed up your metabolism

Thanks, I'll try that as well.

its normal, i have a big belly too and im skinny. if you just go search the forum like "skinny with belly fat" youll get many results. just dun wry bout it for now

Thanks for the reassurance, I'll keep that in mind.

[jayjee123]

What you will hear on these boards:

Suck it up and lift. Abs aren't everything.

he wasnt complaining so theres nothing to suck up, ur an idiot

[digitalpunk]

[user321655667]

I think we're all just trying to improve our bodies.

oh really? **** i thought this was bodyadmiring.com
brb changing forums.

[dbz9000]

by some standards? no your just f uckin skinny.

[HCAFC]

1. Make a workout routine for every day of the week
2. Go to the gym and start lifting
3. Eat a lot of chicken/fish/other healthy food. If you're not using supplements, drink a few glasses of milk every day

It doesn't get much simpler, really

And, you're not pumping up by asking us on these forums. Your replies are ridiculously long, just get to the point.

[Num3n]

Hi all, I'm an 18 year old male around 5'10" and 135 lbs (skinny by north american standards, but I guess not that bad by the rest of the world's standards).

brah, thats like holocaust **** right there.... srsly... :\


you must be trolling

[Uneducated17]

Its because you have no muscle so nothing is burning the fat, and if you go out of your way to lose that fat you will look like a skeleton afterwards. Then as soon as you start to bulk (if you do) the fat will just come back and you will look the same.
If you want to be healthy put some muscle on