Why do I have a muffin top even if I’m skinny? This is a great question and extremely common for a lot of women.
The answer for most women is that you’re actually not quite lean enough yet. Our bodies typically do not lose weight evenly, so it’s completely normal for women to lose weight in different areas first.
In this case, you can be quite slim in your legs, but your stomach may still not be. For the vast majority of women, the answer to ‘why do I have a muffin top if I’m skinny’ is to simply focus on weight loss and getting closer to your ideal weight.
As we’ll explain, you want to know two things. That is your:
- Weight Loss Calories
- Maintain Weight Calories
This is what most women need to focus on which is as we’ll explain, making a calorie deficit (1).
In this article, we’ll show you what causes a muffin top and how to get rid of it.
What Causes A Muffin Top
Why do I have a muffin top if I’m skinny? Firstly, we want to know what actually causes a muffin top. We want to understand this first so we can see what steps we need to take.
As mentioned, our bodies don’t lose body fat evenly. This is completely normal and will depend on your shape and genetics. In this case, it’s extremely common that many women will tend to gain weight on their upper body first.
What this can mean is that your legs can be quite slim, but your stomach not yet.
It’s important to understand you cannot spot train body fat (2) and the solution here is to actually focus on weight loss, which is as we’ll explain, about making a calorie deficit.
As you make a calorie deficit, your body will tap into its energy stores and your stomach will get slimmer.
How To Get Rid Of Muffin Top
As mentioned, there are two things you need to focus on for solving your muffin top. That is your:
- Weight Loss Calories
- Maintain Weight Calories
This is what really causes weight loss and what you need to focus on.
This is because the science of weight loss is that it’s about making a calorie deficit.
Each day your body burns what’s known as calories, which for most women will be between 1400 and 2000 calories each day.
When you eat below what your body is burning, your body taps into its energy stores and you lose weight. That makes sense, right?
It actually takes 3500 calories to lose one pound (3).
What this means is that by making a 500-calorie deficit each day, over the week that will add up to one pound burnt.
Once you have your calories, you can actually reach them as you like. It’s not true that when you eat or what you eat affects weight loss. The total calories are what matters.
Getting Your Weight Loss And Maintain Weight Calories
Fitness has become far too complicated for most women. You want to simplify it by knowing roughly how many calories you lose weight on and how many calories you maintain your weight on.
You can do two things.
Firstly, is to use the below calories as a guide to get started. We recommend with clients, most women start on around 1400 calories for weight loss and around 1800 calories to maintain on. This is a good starting point for most women.
Secondly, and what you want to do long term is to find how many calories you maintain your weight on.
For example, if you’re eating 1800 calories and not losing or gaining weight, that is your maintain weight calories.
Then you can aim to make a calorie deficit eating around 500 calories below this.
When it comes to losing weight and avoiding regaining it, it really is about the total calorie deficit and these frameworks will let you find how many calories you need. Once you have them, you then want to make sure you reach them in a sustainable way.
Will My Muffin Top Go Away With Weight Loss?
Yes, for the vast majority of women. For most women, the problem is that you’re simply not quite lean enough because as mentioned your body doesn’t store body fat evenly.
But as you get to your ideal weight, your body will have no choice but to pull from its body fat stores and your stomach will get slimmer.
Are There Workouts To Remove A Muffin Top?
This is a huge mistake and is endemic in fitness and what stops a lot of women from getting the results they deserve.
You cannot spot train body fat. You can indeed build some tone underneath, but because you’re not lean enough you won’t be able to see it.
This is the reason that:
- 15 Minute Ab Workouts
- Toning Workouts
- Fitness Classes
Don’t work for you.
If you actually go to most fitness classes, you’ll see that most in there are not lean or toned. It’s because you cannot train your stomach to get it slim.
You want to start with your calories first because getting your stomach slim is about getting to your ideal weight.
Does Cardio Help Remove Muffin Top
This is a misunderstanding and bad advice for women.
Losing weight is about the total calories burnt (hence the reason to do cardio). Whilst cardio feels good, the truth is that it’s not really that great for weight loss.
Most cardio sessions will burn around 300 calories, but it takes 3500 calories to lose one pound.
If you go to most fitness classes, you will see that most women in there are not lean. And whilst many fit trainers promote these, it’s not the reason they have their results.
One of my clients story with cardio is really common for most women. She was running 5 days per week and she said, “I lost a little bit, but not much.”
Cardio can indeed help to burn extra calories, but I recommend you start with your calories and reaching them each day first.
For example, if your body is burning 1800 calories and you eat 1300 calories, that’s a 500-calorie deficit even without cardio.
Why Do I Have A Muffin Top If I’m Skinny?
For the vast majority of women, it’s simply because our bodies don’t store body fat evenly and it’s very normal for many women to gain in your stomach or upper body first whilst you can be skinny elsewhere.
Hence why the answer to why do I have a muffin top if I’m skinny is to focus on getting to your ideal weight.
What you need to do here is focus on a calorie deficit. You want to know your:
- Weight loss calories
- Maintain weight calories
And focus on reaching them each day.
As you lose weight, your stomach will get slimmer and your muffin top will disappear.