Thread: 17 year old male needs guidance!

Hey guys. I'm currently in the skinny-fat stage, right now. I used to be huge, but I got really skinny in my arms and neck, and pretty much everywhere else. Everyone says I'm really skinny, and I'm only about 120lbs and I'm like 5'5 (17 year old male). I have no muscle bulk, its all fat. And its all stuck on my stomach and chest, and my butt/high thighs are a bit flabby. I would say I have a high metabolism because I eat A LOT and I haven't gained a pound. I want to lose the flab, and gain some muscle, but I heard you can't do both at the same time. Is that true? I used to do high-intensity aerobics and I loved it, and thats how I lost all my weight. But I also ate poorly and didn't weight train at all.

All I pretty much wanna do is tone myself up. I dont wanna bulk up, but I want to gain a little bit of muscle mass, while also lose the rest of my fat through cardio....

So, my question is: Can I still gain some muscle through resistance training (pushups, crunches, squats, pull-ups, etc) while doing high intensity cardio?

Also, I'm very lost on the whole dieting thing. I'm always scared that I'll eat too much and I wont lose, or I wont eat enough and I'll lose too much muscle. Can someone help me with creating a diet plan?

THANKS!!!

don't cut or bulk yet. your young and new to dieting, you'll be setting yourself up for failure if you want to start strictly cutting fat.

as a newbie you will experience newbie gains (read:great gains in muscle with simultanious loss of fat) for the better part of the first year, as long as your training program is not completely retarded (i went from 200'ish to 170'ish with more muscle after my first year of training and i was doing muscle and fitness routines). use this time to learn all you can about training/diet and start slowly building in new healthy habits. more frequent meals, clean foods etc. don't get discouraged when you cheat, it takes time to get used to eating 12 egg whites instead of 2 whole eggs for breakfast.

basically start slow and build a foundation. going gung ho will set you up for failure, unless you are a very very very (yes three very's) determined individual (which is very possible, i can't possibly judge your character by one post in an internet forum).