• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
SKINNY-FAT TRANSFORMATION

SKINNY-FAT TRANSFORMATION

The #1 Website for Skinny-Fat Guys

  • Articles
    • Top Articles
    • Skinny-Fat Physique
    • Low Testosterone and Puffy Nipples
    • Calisthenics and Bodyweight Training
    • Gain Muscle
    • Lose Fat
    • Diet
    • Motivation
    • Training Routines
    • Genetics
  • 2 Phases of a Skinny-Fat Transformation
  • Contact Me
  • Success Stories
  • Transformation Program

Feel Grumpy? Eat More.

by Oskar Faarkrog, ISSA Certified Personal Trainer 9 Comments

You’ve been on a strict diet and you did a lot of cardio, and you lost a bit of fat, but not as much as you would like to.

You still have love handles, and you don’t look like you workout.

You’re feeling lethargic and irritable.

Then, all of a sudden, your fat loss stops and you wonder how to proceed.

Your body is clearly signalling that you shouldn’t reduce calories further, but you still have those damn love handles, so what can you do to shred them while feeling good in the process?

You need to take a step back and reset your body.

Your Fat Loss Stopped Because You Wanted A Quick Fix

The main reason to why your fat loss stopped despite you dieting hard is that you wanted to lose it fast.

You wanted to have that 6-pack fast, so you decided to drop your calories fast, even if that means feeling like shit during the process.

When you do that, you set yourself up for failure because of the following reasons:

  1. You feel irritable and lethargic at low calorie levels. There’s no way you can sustain this type of diet for long enough to get ripped, and if you do, you may damage your hormones.
  2. Feeling irritable and lethargic during a diet is a sign that your body needs more calories to function properly. If you don’t supply it with enough calories, things inside go to shit. Your testosterone levels (main muscle building hormone) drop, and your cortisol levels (stress hormone) increase. Low testosterone and high cortisol make it close to impossible to lose that last bit of chub around your waist.
  3. Your body adapts to a set amount of calories fast. If you eat 2000 calories a day, your body will adapt to that number.

You’re Supposed To Feel Good In The Process

When I lost 60 pounds of fat, I felt good throughout the process (with the exception of those last 10 pounds or so because I went on a low carb diet).

I felt energized and I was able to train hard 4-6 days a week for 2-3 hours a day while studying for final exams at business school in the second most competitive program in my country and travelling a lot.

I did have times during the day where I felt a bit hungry, but that was never more than 3-4 hours and the hunger level was slight.

My athletic performance improved, I got better grades in business school and I had a lot of experiences from my travels.

I couldn’t have done all these things if I went on a crash diet and lost the fat fast.

The reason to why I could have all this energy and mental focus while dieting was that I had a long-term fat loss mindset.

I knew that 90% of people who lose fat regain it within 2 years, and I didn’t want to be part of that statistic.

I looked at how most people lose fat, and most of them lose it fast.

Their fat-to-fit stories are inspirational, but the way they lose fat sets them up for failure since they can’t sustain that type of lifestyle forever.

Therefore, I decided to take the opposite approach and lose fat slowly.

I lost 60 pounds in 18 months, which is about 3.3 pounds per month.

That may not sound impressive and I even had a few guys comment on my YouTube transformation video that I should have done “this and that instead” to lose fat faster.

However, now I am here, 3.5 years after shredding my fat and I’ve been in good shape ever since.

Because of that, I put all my Online Transformation Program clients on a similar fat loss protocol and most of them experience fat loss while feeling great in the process.

I want you to achieve this type of fat loss too, and it all starts with resetting your body so you can achieve sustainable fat loss.

How to Reset Your Body For Sustainable Fat Loss

When you lose fat, you want to keep calories as high as possible and shred the fat gradually.

This can be a bit tricky though if you’ve already gone on a crash diet, lost some fat and then hit a wall.

With that said, if I were in your shoes, here’s what I would do to reset your body:

  1. Optimize your diet.
  2. Increase your calories to 2500-2800 depending on how big you are. (The closer you are to 200 pounds, the higher your calories, and if you’re over 200, just keep the calories around 2800).
  3. Stay on this caloric level for 4 weeks to reset your hormones and functions inside your body.

While doing this, you want to do a good strength training routine such as bodyweight training for the skinny-fat beginner to build some muscle mass and strength (muscle mass increases your metabolism, so you burn more fat at rest).

Then, once your body is reset, you’re ready to start dieting down again.

However, when you start again, don’t make the same mistake you made last time.

Don’t go into your diet with a “quick fix mindset”.

Start lowering your calories with 300 each week until you start losing just 0.25-0.5 inch around your waist or hips per week. Once you’re at this level, stay at it and keep adjusting your diet whenever you don’t see progress for 2 weeks.

Be proud but stay hungry,

Oskar Faarkrog

Category: Lose Fat
skinny-fat-transformation-program-oskar

About Oskar Faarkrog, ISSA Certified Personal Trainer

My name is Oskar Faarkrog, I’m an ISSA Certified Personal Trainer and my website SKINNY-FAT TRANSFORMATION has been read by over 6 million skinny-fat guys from all over the world. I was diagnosed with low testosterone levels however despite my shortcomings I boosted my testosterone levels by 270% naturally, lost 60 pounds of body-fat and gained 40 pounds of muscle mass.

Previous Post:Foods That Make You Ripped and Healthy
Next Post:Muscle Burns FatMuscle Burns Fat

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Josh

    March 30, 2016 at 11:44 AM

    Thanks for this. I’ve been wondering what to do with my current low calorie diet because my weight seems to be staying the same. Looks like I need a reset. By the looks of it, resetting looks a mini “bulk” because I’m going to be increasing my calories. So, it would be normal to be gaining a little bit of fat, right? If so, that”s fine by me. As long as in the long run I finally get to lean out :D If not, then please, tell us what we should expect to see when doing this method of resetting the body.

    Thanks again for the great content!

    Reply
  2. Miguel Prado

    February 13, 2016 at 7:03 AM

    Hey, great article. I’ve lost about 10 kg in the last 3 months, and for the next two months or so, I’d like to keep losing about 1 kg per week. Do you think 10 kg in 3 months or 1kg/week is too fast?
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Oskar Faarkrog, ISSA Certified Personal Trainer

      February 13, 2016 at 7:16 AM

      Hey Miguel, thank you. As long as you feel good while doing it, then it’s all good.

      Reply
  3. Thi

    February 12, 2016 at 6:46 AM

    Thanks a lot again, Oskar. Always cool to see new posts here. Just a question, do you think it is possible to achieve 15 inch arms(like you have) only with bodyweight training? I know you go to gym too.

    Thanks and sorry if you already say this in some post, i read almost everything you write, but i dont see this. You and this site are the best!

    Reply
    • Oskar Faarkrog, ISSA Certified Personal Trainer

      February 12, 2016 at 6:48 AM

      Hey Thi,

      Thanks a lot for the compliment!

      Yes, it’s definitely possible. Muscle ups, diamond push ups, close grip chin ups and bodyweight skullcrushers will build up your arms.

      It might just take longer and be harder to train them directly since a lot of bodyweight exercises train several muscle groups at the same time so you can’t just isolate your arms and make them blow up in a short amount of time.

      Reply
      • Thi

        February 12, 2016 at 7:18 AM

        Thanks for quick answer! And i am glad to see we have a lot of new posts coming. Keep to good work. And sucess mate!

        Reply
        • Oskar Faarkrog, ISSA Certified Personal Trainer

          February 13, 2016 at 6:09 AM

          You’re welcome, and thank you!

          Reply
  4. Shums

    February 11, 2016 at 10:13 PM

    Hey Oskar!
    thank you so much for guiding me on the right path. I follow whatever you have said, however my workout is slightly a bit different. Along with body weight training i also perform 15 reps of dumbell incline press and dumbell bentover rows so that my muscles develop faster. Do you think this is a good idea? Thanks

    Reply
    • Oskar Faarkrog, ISSA Certified Personal Trainer

      February 12, 2016 at 6:27 AM

      You’re welcome bro. As long as you can recover from the training, you’re doing good.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Article Categories

  • Calisthenics and Bodyweight Training (12)
  • Client Transformations (4)
  • Diet (19)
  • Gain Muscle (27)
  • Genetics (11)
  • Health (1)
  • Lose Fat (23)
  • Low Testosterone and Puffy Nipples (11)
  • Mindset (8)
  • Misc (11)
  • Motivation (20)
  • Skinny-Fat Physique (20)
  • Training Routines (16)

Return to top

Copyright 2013-2023 · SKINNY-FAT TRANSFORMATION · All Rights Reserved