If you have a high body fat, lose the fat before gaining mass!

I really want to gain more muscle, but I�m afraid I will gain fat. I�m not your typical skinny guy. I�m thin, but I also have a large stomach and some love handles. I recently got my body fat measured and it's 28% Is it possible to be skinny and fat? What should I do?

Answer:
Yes, it is possible to be thin and still have high body fat levels. Being �slim� doesn't necessarily mean you have low body fat levels.

I have seen many results from many different types of people on high calorie diets. From my experience, individuals starting a high calorie diet with a high body fat level will tend to gain more fat than muscle. This could quite possibly be due to a sluggish �fat storer� metabolism. On the flipside, individuals starting a high calorie diet with already low body fat levels tend to gain more muscle than fat.

Since you have a fairly high body fat level, you should first go on a fat loss diet to lower your body fat. This will increase your chances of gaining more muscle than fat when you do start a higher calorie diet. It will also help you to keep your body fat levels in check. It is very easy to let your body fat levels get out of hand when trying to �bulk up�. This is a mistake. The more body fat you have, the more difficult it becomes to remove later on.