Subcutaneous fat .

[twentysix by twentyfive]

was diagnosed

Check with a health professional if you are concerned. Otherwise enjoy climbing the hills at speed

 

[woodbutchmaster]

Can you have thin arms with a fair bit of muscle?

Also, you don't say how old you are, sadly that is relevant.

Long and lean rather than short and bulky .....and sadly you are right ....l'm 77 next month.

I was a lot like that in 1987 and was diagnosed as a type 1 Diabetic. My body was eating all the fat it could get as having no insulin to make it was burning fat to provide me with energy. Fortunately putting me on four insulin injections a day and eating plenty of carbohydrates got me back to almost normal.

Thanks for your info. l guess l had better get myself checked out !

 

[woodbutchmaster]

You definitely want subcutaneous fat. Fat on the outside of the skin attracts flies.

It sounds as though you may have personal experience of an outer layer of fat , flies and all . Mind you l expect it keeps you warm in winter .

 

[wafter]

I've got plenty of both; free to anyone with a scalpel and Henry hoover with drinking straw attachement 👍

 

[gzoom]

If I get to 77 and one of main worries in life was skinny arms I would take that as life win .

 

[ColinJ]

If I get to 77 and one of main worries in life was skinny arms I would take that as life win .

I got to 67 and one of my many main worries was skinny arms so I started waving kettle bells about, which seems to be helping. With their muscles that is... The arms don't seem to be gaining or losing subcutaneous fat though!

 

[presta]

Fat on the outside of the skin attracts flies.

Unless you're swimming the channel.

I got to 67 and one of my many main worries was skinny arms so I started waving kettle bells about, which seems to be helping. With their muscles that is... The arms don't seem to be gaining or losing subcutaneous fat though!

A year after my health curbed my cycling, my chest had gone from looking like a xylophone to my ribs disappearing under a thick layer of fat, but my weight hadn't changed at all. When I told a doctor this she looked at me like I was doolally, but the point I was making, which was completely lost on her, was that the weight of the fat had been offset by lost muscle.

 

[gzoom]

I found being 68 kg at 1.86 m height (10 st 10 lbs, 6' 1") wasn't brilliant either.

That would give you a BMI of 19, only just above the 'underweight' limit. You must have being literally skin and bone.

I'm 180cm currently 72kg, which gives me a BMI of 22. I've done quite bit of resistance training last 12 months. My FTP isn't amazing at 230watts, and I have very nice 1 pack .

I'm fairly happy with the my overall physic at present, though arm muscles are useless for cycling, I can 100% lose another 1-2kg in fat for more definition but I love cake (and beer) too much . I'm 41 and as I've said if am still worried about the appearance of my arms at 77 I would be really happy!!

 

[Drago]

It sounds as though you may have personal experience of an outer layer of fat , flies and all . Mind you l expect it keeps you warm in winter .

But in the summer there are so many flies that I look like a Garibaldi.

 

[ColinJ]

That would give you a BMI of 19, only just above the 'underweight' limit. You must have being literally skin and bone.

I looked like Froome, or Wiggins when he won the TdF. My ribs stuck out @presta's xylophone-style.

I did a long post about my arms a while back. I'll try to find it for you. Here you go...

I know the size of my arms with low body fat AND small muscles, because that is what they were like when I left university. I weighed about 68 kg at that time despite being 1.86 m tall and a medium build (6' 1", 10 st 10 lbs). I was skinnier than Chris Froome!

Here is a 3.5 inch roll of Sellotape ...

View attachment 103864

When I left university, I could slide one of those over my hand, up over my forearm, past the elbow, over my bicep and have it nestling in my armpit!

When I developed fat arms, I could get the roll almost as far as my elbow, but no further.

Now, my arms are getting lean again and the veins and connective tissue are starting to stand out.

View attachment 103866

The flab has gone. So, how far would the Sellotape go now? I know the answer before even trying it because I know that my arms are a lot bigger than they were when I was skinny ...

View attachment 103865

The roll of tape will not go as far as it would when I had fat arms, and that certainly is not stuck up in my armpit! The thing blocking its path is a muscle. It isn't flab. It isn't fluid in the tissues. I don't do any exercise other than cycling and walking, and I am sure that it isn't walking that made my arm muscles bigger! I don't even carry my shopping using my arms - I carry that in a rucksack on my back.

Anyway, I think I've made my point ...

So, they used to be really scrawny, then they got fat, and now they are a bit skinny but getting more muscular.

 

[Tenkaykev]

When I did a lot of long distance running I got down to 58kg for a short while, I'm 5'10". People who weren't runners thought I looked ill, other runners thought I looked fit. There was a saying that if you couldn't look in the mirror and count your ribs you weren't training hard enough.

 

[gzoom]

When I did a lot of long distance running I got down to 58kg for a short while, I'm 5'10". People who weren't runners thought I looked ill, other runners thought I looked fit. There was a saying that if you couldn't look in the mirror and count your ribs you weren't training hard enough.

....and apparently excerise is good for us .