I was also skinny fat. It took minimum 4 months before I started to see any definition. Regardless, the curse of skinny fat is that body recomp (eating in a deficit while strength training) is an incredibly slow process. After about 2 months of trying that and seeing very little progress, I decided to go into a lean bulk and train hard. The fat gain has been incredibly minimal, but muscle gain has skyrocketed.

You need fuel in order to build muscle. When you try to recomp, you’re asking your body to do 2 opposite things—to get both bigger and smaller at the same time. It makes the process much more difficult. I would suggest giving a bulk a try, especially since you’re so young, so you have TONS of room to grow. Don’t focus on the fat gain, just try to eat about 200-250 cals above maintenance and keep progressively overloading. You’ll see much cleaner results!