I'm a curious guy, like very much so. I would sometimes look at other people, and wonder how they experienced they world, like physically. What does it feel like to be skinny? fat? ripped? What does it take to attain certain body types? For some reason, I just needed to know. Asking these questions to my friends always felt too intrusive. But trying to get information online about this stuff felt like HELL.

It feels like everyone has some kind crazy agenda, cope, delusion, or shit they're trying to sell, when it comes to fitness. It's so hard to me to pick out whats actually real. It might be my trust issues, but the only way I thought I could figure these questions out, was trying to explore having different body types myself.

By now, I've done a few, and it has seriously changed my perspective in mulitple areas of life. I really do recommend trying to experience a new body type. Or, at least reading thru what I've found in the sections below. I just hope you can trust me on this, (I'm such a hypocrite LOL).

Before we go on I think its important I give some context on the attributes I can't change:

Skinny Fat:

Welp, you could call this my base form. When I'm not putting effort into trying to change my body, this is how I'll be. Not athletic, but really not that unhealthy.

I hover around 155lbs (71kg) which puts my BMI at 22.5, squarely within the normal range. I was even this weight on my ID I got when I was 16!

What It Took:

I truly just ate whatever and whenever. And when I was eating, I just ate until I was full, zero mental effort. As a teen I would just eat stuff in the pantry or fridge, then whatever my parents cooked. They werent health nuts, but generally avoided super processed crap. A couple times a week I'd go out to eat, usally fast food, and I'd just get value baskets of whatever looked good.

For exersize as a teen, I did some sports for school, but I wouldn't say I took them seriously, I didn't condition or train on my own time. I just kinda showed up to have a good time and run around. This level of exersize didn't seem to make me stronger, and it didn't make me leaner, cuz I would just eat more random snacks after practice.

Then I went off to college. My diet changed, but the effort I put in (none), and my body, definitely did not change. I ate less since I had go out or make my own food, but I also excersized less, since I didnt do any organised sports. It makes sense these factors canceled out, and so, I stayed at roughtly 155 lbs throughout it all.

For general eating habits, I have noticed I have a tendency to ingore my hunger for hours when I'm locked in on work. Also, I never ate breakfast, and only ate snacks a couple times a week. I'd drink sugary drinks with nearly every meal, but I would not eat many sweets because I'm lowkey so picky when it comes to deserts (I don't even like ice cream!). As for drinking, I only would drink a couple times a month, max. I'm introverted (more like antisocial), It tastes mid tbh, and the sensation just isn't as fun as everyone makes it seem. I'd think these natrual behaviours of mine, allowed me to put little effort into my eating habits and still maintain a "healthy" weight. That or I could just get full at a earlyish point when I eat compared to heavier people, because really, the quality of my meals was nothing special.

How It Felt:

Honestly, it felt great. I could do pretty much any althetic activity well enough to have fun with friends. Like sure I'd get owned by the club team, but I could crank out a mile swim on a random tuesday, hike forever in the park, play fun games of basketball, raquetball, pickleball, lacrosse or whatever really. Plus, eating what ever I wanted was just nice, I wasn't worrying about anything when it came to food.

Unfortunately, I didnt think I looked all that nice. I always thought having abs and muscles was cool, but my arms were thin and my stomach was kinda flabby lol. I was pretty jealous of ppl with lean, muscular builds, but I just assumed I wouldn't be able to achieve it. After the high school sports I played had me looking the same as before, I honestly though that some people just get muscular physiques easier. But really, they were just working harder than I was, and dieting and building muscle on their own time.

Ultimately, if you are so-called skinny fat and comfortable with your body, I genuinely 100% respect that. It feels good and it is good. It seems like it's been slightly demonised as a body type lately, which is weird because if skinny fat is bad for you, then like nobody on earth is actually healthy lol. Alot of people, me included especially, just get caught up in the media of heros or cool people having impeccable bodies. Others get caught in the health nut spin of needing to be able to run 10 miles a day and eat only steaks or quinoa. So being able to shake that off and be comfortable in your healthy-enough natural state, well I think it's justified.

Skinny:

When I was 20, I decided I wanted to lose weight to below 135lbs. Why? Well, I had a few reasons. One, I wondered how hard it really was to lose weight. With how common obesity is in America, you're constantly hearing about people trying to lose weight. It's seen as a big struggle, and really, rarely did I see people pull it off. The second reason, is uhh, I wanted to see if I could get abs LOL. I've heard the term, "abs are made in the kitchen", and some of my lanky friends had abs without much time in the gym. So, I though if I could just get below 135lbs I'd have them. At 5'10 and below 135 lbs my BMI was around 19.5, just above the underweight zone.

What It Took:

I was about 155lbs when I started (more on this in "skinny fat"), so I knew to reach 135lbs I had to lose 20lbs. 20 pounds can seem small compared to more extreme weight loss journeys, but keep in mind I was starting from a lowish weight. In relative terms I would need to eliminate about 13% of my mass.

First, I had to pick a strat to get this done. I was a big believer in 2 things, my own discipline, and CICO (calories in calories out). CICO, if you don't know, is the belief that losing weight is as simple as eating less calories than you burn. So, I went with one-meal-a-day or, OMAD, as my diet method. This way, I could sit down and eat what ever I wanted, but just once a day. This severely limited the amount of calories-in I was getting per day. I liked this method, because I could still participate in plans like going out to eat, and I could still eat the same things I liked, even "unhealthy" things.

Since I did this while at college, I had my one meal at campus fast food alot, places like Canes (gas) or Panda Express (gas), and I'd just get their standard meals. I usally ate at around 1pm, unless I had plans later in the day, where I would just wait. I wasn't that strict with it either, if for what ever reason besides my own hunger I needed to have a meal, I would. I didnt want to come off as having a stick up my ass about this. Thankfully, I very rarely had to break OMAD.

Now I had decreased my calories in, I could've added excersize like cardio to increase my calories out. But eh, I just didnt bother, I could run a 5k every day and only burn like 300 calories each time. It felt like limiting my eating would work well enough without cardio, which I abosulely hate haha.

Ultimately OMAD, as a strategy, worked pretty well. In a little under 3 months after starting, I stepped on my scale and read 135 lbs (Woohoo!). I then maintained this weight for a couple weeks by continuing OMAD before I called it a day.

How It Felt:

At the start, I was suprised how easy it was to stick to OMAD. I'd start feeling hungry, then I'd kinda just ignore it every time. I would still feel it, but the sensation wasnt that bad. I knew I would still eat every day. It was pretty easy to just distract myself with games, work or whatever else was going on. If I felt like I needed to eat, I could convince myself that I didn't, because, well, I didn't, and I'd be missing out on finding out what it's like to be skinny. It doesn't sound like much going over it again, but that was enough motivation for me.

Despite this, I definitely looked forward to The One Meal every single day, If I wasn't distracted. I would be thinking about it constantly, not about how I needed it now, but more so how good it was gonna feel. Like how a soldier thinks about his wife back home while out at war, I think. I would go to bed every day excited for tommorow, just because it meant I would get to eat again.

Before I started, I worried that I might just start cheating the game by ordering larger meals. But it ended up ok, I still left satisfied with the same meals as before. I also had doubts about mental exaustion since I was also trying to get my degree at the time. This turned out ok too, looking back on the semester I tried this, it was an average GPA for me. Since food was out of the equation, I did get up from my work less. But, while some people say fasting helps focus, I didn't feel a big change in it.

So, all in all, dieting wasnt a walk in the park, but it wasn't impossible either, just an interesting challenge to see if I could endure hours of hunger every day.

Did it get easier as time went on? No, not really, my motivation dropped along with my weight. The closer I got to being skinny, the more I felt like stopping now could be a "good enough" run.

Another disheartening factor I discovered, was that, the more weight you lose, the harder it gets to lose more. I lost the first 10 pounds before the first month, then the rest of the time was for the remaining 10 pounds. I've heard that dieting can be very hard because, your body adapts its metabolism to your lower calory intake. I 100% belive this to be true. I was just a less energetic person while dieting. I noticed some weird changes. I would guesture less. I would like not exert myself whatsoever, for example if i was putting my backpack on, I wouldn't whip it over my sholder like I usally do, thats a waste of energy, I would carefully place it on the desk and slide my arms in the holes. It felt like I had to do it this way. The weirdest thing, I think that I started doing, was unconsiously walking in completely straight lines. I had no pep in my step, each footstep felt calculated in getting me to wherever I wanted to go with minimal energy. Opening tough doors and lifitng heavy things was also noticably harder, but not by much, to be honest.

Upon reaching 135 lbs, stuff really did feel different, physically. Sitting felt a bit unconftorble, with my butt bones right on the chair. When sleeping, since I sleep on my side, I usally have my knees touching. Now, they were so bony I just couldn't for long before it hurt. Plus, resting my arms on the desk while working started feeling painfull too.

It's now that I reallize the abs I wanted, uh I did not get. Yeah this is where I adopted the belief that abs were pretty much all genentics, at least for the time being. I just couldn't believe I did all this work, was 5'10 at 135lbs, and didn't have abs. Like wtf! Scam! But I did notice some visual changes, my face felt more defined, which was kinda cool. I also stated wearing my skinny jeans I hated when I was fatter, because they clinged to my legs then. Now, they were loose, and I had a pretty mean thigh gap, which I wasnt a fan of, as a dude.

Being skinny at a healthy weight like I was here, I think is what the experts say is the most healthy body type. I mean it adds up to me, your heart has so little mass it needs to worry about, and its not like your actually starving. Also, like I touched on, your metabolism noticably slows as well, which is good for longevity, cuz of like cells and mitosis and shit. While I personally felt like I had low energy, I didn't have any health issues as a result of dropping weight, in fact it felt like each breath kinda lasted longer, if that make sense.

So, I decided to call off OMAD, after a couple of weeks of skinnyness. I felt like I accomplished what I wanted, and I didn't particulary enjoy this lifestyle. I was a bit worried about eating disorders, but my eating habits picked up the same as they've always been, the moment I stopped the diet. Within a couple months I was at 145 and eventually back at 155 like nothing ever happened.

Since this was my first time changing my body type, I took away a lot from the experience. I gained appreciation for those going though long diets to achieve their goal weights. I learned what it takes to change eating habits from whats natural to your body. I find skinny people kind of fascinating now too, if that makes sense. Their natrual state made me feel so odd, but to them it's normal. It also gave me confidence in self control. I succesfully ignored a primal urge, hunger, for months, and learned I could succeed in a diet if I ever found my self at a weight too high for me. In a industry as warped as weightloss, its nice to know you have a method that works if you ever need it. I really do reccomend OMAD, I don't think I could put in the effort to change exactly what I was eating, but changing how much seemed to be fine. The clear rules of: if you're not at your one meal, then you cant eat, were easy to keep to as well.

Overall, it was a fascinating experiance and one I'll try to remember, because I don't want to do it again

Jacked:

So what can I write about building muscle that hasnt been written? Well, all I can promise is that I'm a normal guy. I'm not a full time fitness influencer who can work out for 5 hours each day, I'm not here to sell you anything that I attribute my gargantuan size to. I'm not on a stack of 40 reaearch chemicals from China. I'm not even on any PEDs at all, I'm completely natural, and I think its important to be honest about how far people can get with just training and diet. There really is a lot to gain by lying about stuff like this.

Like my exploration into dieting and lightweightedness, I wanted to build muscle just to know what it was like to be a muscleman. But also, like most people, I just thought I'd look pretty damn cool if I did it.

This one is still ongoing as of writing this, but I'm at 171 lbs, 17% body fat right now. That means my BMI is 24.9 juuust under the overweight zone. BMI is bad alreadly, I just use it because it might give a better reference, but yeah, I'm apparently damn near overweight now. Oh well.

What It Took:

I'd be lying if I said this was my first attempt of getting built. I tried once during the summer when I was 17, quit because I moved to campus and didn't have a car. I tried again the summer when I was 18, quit because I had too many responsibilites now in college. Then I tried again the summer when I was 20 (this is after the weight loss expirement). Again, I tried my best, but during the worst semester (time) of my life I quit once more. Each time it was just too much effort to share with how much college life put on me. Can't say why other people could, but I just couldn't.

But that was my last year of school, and the fire within that wanted this still burned. The week after taking my last exam, I back was in the school rec center, determined, that this would be the run. I had taken my last gruelling engineering class, and could finally put the focus I wanted into this.

When I went back home to search for a job, I continued the grind. From my prior attempts, I had a strategy I was fond of. Each time it seemed to work, I just ditched it too soon. Thats what I told myself.

The gym I always went to at home was the humble Planet Fitness. They got me hooked young with the teenagers go free thing they had during the summers. So I just kept going to it. I figured, if I couldn't max out the Planet Fitness weights, then there would be no use paying more for a "real" gym. Weights are just weights lol. Also the open 24 hrs policy they had was nice for a degen like me. I'd go at like 11pm and get like the whole gym to myself.

Pretty much all the exercises I did were ones I picked up from friends going to PF with me. I'd follow along with thier workouts like a lil padawan. I then picked out the ones I liked and started expirementing with how my routines would go. Early on I settled on a chest/tris, back/bis, sholders/abs split. I would spend each day at the gym doing the excersizes that covered each area. I didn't include a legs or cardio day at the start, because I felt like I wasn't even big enough in the upper body for them to matter yet. With how my lifting stints would last like 6 months max at a time, I was kind of right. And I always did plan on adding them if I kept going long enough.

I would also just cycle the days as they came, doing the one I did least recently. Setting Monday as like chest day, didn't make sense to me, because I wasn't strict in the days I went. What mattered more to me is just that I was going enough times a week. At the start, like when I was 17, I would try to go like 6 days a week, and stay for nearly 2 hours. This fizzled out quickly, and I started aiming for like 4 days a week spending 2 hours in the gym at a time. Looking back, this seems absurd, but I really had nothing better to do at that time during the summer. I miss those simpler days...

Anyway.

After all the different attempts, it was 2025 and this time, my goal was to go at least 4 times a week for 80 min a time. Along the way I also cut out abs from my workout plan. Shoulders stayed as it's own day because they are just so important for a physique in my eye. You cant grow taller, but shoulders is how you can grow wider. The idea for removing abs was that if I wasn't focusing on lowering my body fat, I was never going to see them, so why bother.

The hint there, was that this was going to be a bulk. My roommate in college took working out pretty seriously, and he had a great body while only taking creatine as a booster. He said his weight was 185 at 5'11". So my first goal would be to get up to 170 pounds, starting from 150. Thus, clearly, I would need to eat more. Eat more to fuel my workouts, and eat more to gain mass. My meal plan, however, would be nonexistant. All I cared about was getting as much protein as possible, preferably animal based proteins, which I learned about that time were much more, uh, protieny. Like 1 gram of plant protein counts for only like half an animal protein. That and eating as much healthyish food I could find. This was pretty easy when I was just bumming around my parents house, but once I moved out I had to buy my own stuff.

I'm not a good cook nor do I have good taste in food. And I'm sort of thankful for this, cus I didnt like wasting time on making food. I cook simple stuff, big pots of spagetti and ground beef, make ground beef and blackbean tacos, baked potatoes, steaks, baked chicken and just try to eat as much as I can every time. Everyday I try to eat 5 eggs and a cup or more of yogurt or cottage cheese (I LOVE cottage cheese, it might be my superpower). For lunches I just get a burger or bring a ham sandwhich to work. I still eat out a lot, getting Dominoes pan pizzas, Culvers, McDonalds or Chinese takout. All things considered, I'm far from the controlled bodybuilding meal plan of chicken and rice, but I still try not to have unhealthy snacks and only eat unhealthy meals in moderation.

So thats how I operated for the first 6 months of this current attempt, from May 2025 to October 2025.

It was about October where I decided to make some changes. I had been fighting to get to 160 lbs and I finally made it. I felt like It was time for my legs to catch up a bit. So, I started a leg day. And I really didn't like it. Going about 4 times a week, I only got to hit sholders, chest/tris, back/bis each about once a week, which didnt feel as effective. I restructued my workout plan. I would cut down my time in the gym to 60 min, go 5 days a week, do 1 leg exersize on each day, and add a cardio/abs day on Sundays. I still kept the 3 other workout days cycling, but on sundays I always would do abs and cardio. This way I could cycle through my workouts as quick as before, add legs and cardio and abs, since they would matter eventuallly. At this point, I knew I was fully committed.

And that's pretty much the method I still use. Is it optimal? Who cares, It's been working well enough for me. I'll put my notes doc I use for my workouts below.
image of gym notes 1

How It Felt

I do like working out, and I'm not sure why. You kinda just move heavy things for an hour or so. It's not complicated, but that's where I think the charm is. It might be the easiest skill to build, theres no uncertainty, and all you have to do is show up.

The problem is that showing up really is the hardest part. I think, right now, I spend about 10 hours a week on working out. Only 5 hours of this are actually at the gym. The rest are driving, eating, shopping, and uh, shitting. Working out uses a lot of your time, which is why I found it hard to keep up with it in college.

Driving adds about 30 mins since I have to get to and from my gym. I could use the gym at my work, but it's really much more limited, and I'm trying to get tf outta there come 5 O'clock.

Then I basically need to eat a whole 'nother meal every day, shopping for and cooking it too, adding about 25 mins if I play my cards right. I won't remind you where the extra 5 min a day go.

Sometimes I think about where I would be if I spent 10 hours a week on one of my other hobbies, but whatever. I do enjoy working out, and I'm glad I'm being productive at all. It's nice to work on something even the most normie among us can apreciate. Like, wanna hear my amature music styled after a 20 year old kids game (ME, ME, I DO!!!)? For most people I meet, it's probably not their cup of tea.

My very least favorite part of all this is all the eating, I think. I didn't realise how hard it would be. Before working out I would just eat until I was satisfied, but I realised that this doesnt allow me to build mass when I work out. I made it a point to eat more, but I still get a bit sick from all the eating, way too often. This, in turn, makes it even harder to eat more. I find when I don't eat processed foods as much it isnt too bad. Before this I was always skeptical of skinny people saying that they're trying to eat more but can't. But I get it now, I have a limit to how much I can eat and it feels like I'm reaching it every other day. Also, sometimes for what ever reason, I dont eat much during a day, and then I just feel down on myself for skiping meals.

It's also lowkey expensive to be buying as much food as I do (egg prices man...). Makes me ever reluctant to start buying the protein powder stuff too. Idk, I also don't want to be a scooper. I wanna see how far I can get with just normal person food (excluding the cottage cheese ofc).

But really, for everything hard about working out, I think its been worth it. I feel great and I think I look great too. As of writing this, Ive been at it for 10 months straight reaching 171lbs and 17 percent body fat. I've come along way from being pretty inactive at 150lbs, in under a year. My pecs are defined, ppl comment on the size of my arms, and I fill out my shirts more. I'm pretty excited for summer where I'll get a few chances to show off, hehe. Unfortuanalty, at 17% BF, still no abs. I've decided not to worry for now, though. I'm still in phase 1, The Bulk. This means the goal is just to add as much muscle as possible, even if it comes along with some fat.

I don't really feel heavier though. I guess since my legs are stronger, its a net 0 there. About my legs, I can't cross them the "gay" way anymore, lol. I'm not gay, but it was always pretty comfortable to me and I didn't care what people thought about it. But now, my legs are too chunky to sit like that for long. Another thing I cant do anymore, is sleep on my side. Before lifting, this was my favorite way of snoozing, but everytime I get a little bit of muscle, my shoulders and larger chest start pinching my blood off. Not fun! So, I just sleep on my stomach. I've heard sleeping on your back is better, but it's less comfortable to me, and thats an expirement for another day. Something else I feared losing was my general flexability. I always saw those videos of like a dude putting a sticky note on a builder's back and he cant get the thing off. They're pretty funny, but I didnt want that to be me. I suppose I'm not having that issue because im still not that big, comparatively, but its been nice to build this much withough getting any significant stiffness.

I did get sore a couple times though, This mostly happened when I was just starting out. Its no cause for concern, every time it comes, the next day, its fine. First time leg days tho, jeez, let me tell you. When I was 17, during my first foray into working out, I tried my first leg day. I thought I was killin it, I hit like every leg excersize ever. The next day I could barely move. And I was going to go to a Coldplay concert that day. It ended up ok, but I was sad that I missed out on jumping and banging my head to The Scientist.

I havent gone too far and keep good form usally, so real injuries havent befallen me yet. However, recently, my elbow felt so weak during a workout, I couldn't do a couple of my chest excersises. I looked up "flimsy elbow gym" and read that I might have Tennis Elbow. I dont remember what exactly it is, but I just remember reading that it takes over a year to recover from, and I swear, I almost started crying. Like, total panic. The next day it was totally fine. I suppose it's good that I care so much haha.

Unlike dieting, working out does get easier as you go. The hardest parts are getting back into it after a long vacation. I dont know why, but it feels scary. Like, "what if I lost everything I built in months, during this week long trip..." but you have to push thru! Or maybe its just me having those thoughts. Anyway, once you build the habit, I swear, there are some days where all you're think is, "eh, i dont need to go to the gym today", But then you kinda find yourself there lol. It feels like muscle memory after a point. And the feeling of finishing, always makes my day better.

And that's how I got to 171lbs! This is measured easily enough on a scale, but recently my work got a pretty advanced body scanner. It like sends electrical pulses thru your body to determine what its made of, somehow. Then it prints off a sheet of your stats. Thats how I Know im at 17% body fat right now. I also know I'm 15% right leg, by weight. I put the rest of the sheet as an image, if you're curious. Also, I told my self I wouldnt post shirtless pics of myself on the internet and I won't here, but idk,,, everyday it gets harder...

I currently dont plan on stopping anytime soon. In fact, I would like to see if I could get to 180lbs before I start a cut. The cut is when I'll start eating with intention of reducing bodyfat, and simply retaining muscle, instead of building it. I'm a bit excited to eat less, although I assume I'm going to need to eat healthier lean foods too. This is also where I'll get my abs, if I'm even capable. We shall see. Overall, I enjoy getting out to do something productive I care about. Learning how our bodies work in the process is nice too, along with just looking and feeling good. I plan on continueing to work out for years. I dont have anything against enhancements (roids) either, I just hate people who say they're fully natrual while on them. I've been concidering hopping on enhancements after a couple years if I keep going. But my hairlines already goofy as is lol. I think the only things that could stop me are, boredom, more life responcibilities, injury, or something more interesting I feel like doing comes up. So wish me luck!

I learned a lot about building habits, human appitite, nutrition, recovery and determinination. I am so glad I finally stuck with this.

Frisymn

Fitness

Skinny Fat:

What It Took:

How It Felt:

Skinny:

What It Took:

How It Felt:

Jacked:

What It Took:

How It Felt

Fat: