Hate the term skinny fat

Someone mentioned this term in the forums the other day and it bothered me and got me thinking. It is such a negative term which just further teaches us to be ashamed of not having the perfect body. I was even doing some reading about it from body building websites who talked about how unhealthy being skinny fat was.
Looking at the diagrams given I would be skinny fat because I still have a few fat reserves here and there. Does that mean I am unhealthy? I have decided no. I have a BMI of 21.5 and a body fat percentage of 25% according to scales. Both are within a healthy range for my aging female years. In fact I believe I would be healthier now than if I went down another 10%.
In this day and age it seems so many are striving for perfection rather than just good health. This just makes us more insecure about ourselves and our body image which is not healthy for our mental health.
Maybe we need to stop striving so hard for the perfectly toned body with little body fat and begin striving for overall health, both physically and mentally. Maybe we need to embrace our bodies which are not perfect. If other parts of our life are suffering because of our fixation on trying for perfection then we are not living a healthy balanced lifestyle.
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Replies

  • danadikay4239
    danadikay4239 Posts: 2 Member
    My younger sister is "skinny fat". She has normal weight, but when we measured her waist an hips for a sewing pattern, we saw that her waist is one size bigger than the rest of her body. We made one of those Internet tests and if we can believe them, she's "skinny fat". She also has symptoms like tiredness, she has no energy, she's getting dizzy after sports in school. That's not healthy.
    I don't think the term "skinny fat" applies on you, like AnvilHead just said. But there are many people this term applies on. So maybe you should just check if you are "skinny fat", because being skinny fat means a lot of health problems, as I could research.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    Lillymoo01 wrote: »
    gebeziseva wrote: »
    The term describes people of healthy bmi and obese fat %.
    Why are people upset by a term for a specific condition?
    I am skinny fat now and the fact that I know what this means makes me NOT being upset by my body shape because I know that I can change my shape by working out a bit (and recomposing my body instead of losing more and more weight). Healthy fat % is important for overall well-being too, not just your bmi.

    Because the term is overused rather than being used by correct medical terms. If I had a fat percentage higher than 30% (which is the maximum for an acceptable range for a female) with my current weight that is one thing. I'd still have health problems. However, because I still have a nice healthy supply of fat reserves around my butt, thighs and upper arms many 'gym junkies' would also relate that term to me.

    Thinking about it, it is not the term that is the issue, it is the overuse of it to all that don't have that perfectly toned body. It is like we are inferior and unhealthy because we are not striving for a 6 pack and a low body fat %.

    Someone had done a remarkable job with weightloss and posted his after photos on this site. He looked good and should have been proud of himself. Someone then had the audacity to mention the words 'skinny fat'. It got my blood boiling because this didn't apply to him in the slightest. He didn't have a perfectly toned body but he was definately fit and healthy and it was obvious that he was exercising while losing weight.

    That's awful in the context of a success thread.

    However I don't like the phrase Gym junkie either,
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
    The term, when used properly is completely valid as pointed out a couple places above. Unfortunately in the health & fitness world many, many terms get used improperly or are individually defined so often, that they become meaningless(*cough*clean eating)
    Also why let one small subset of people (body builders) have such an impact on you?
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    IDK. Skinny fat seems like an apt term. It applies to people who are a smaller or slender size but have excess body fat, probably around the waist, and not a lot of muscle. It's a term reflecting health more than appearance, IMO.

    Seems to me that the objection is more for people who use the term incorrectly rather than the actual term, skinny fat.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Lillymoo01 wrote: »
    rybo wrote: »
    The term, when used properly is completely valid as pointed out a couple places above. Unfortunately in the health & fitness world many, many terms get used improperly or are individually defined so often, that they become meaningless(*cough*clean eating)
    Also why let one small subset of people (body builders) have such an impact on you?

    When that one small subset of people think it is their business to shame others for their imperfections rather than encourage and praise for achievements reached it can become a problem. We are all here because we are striving for better health. Encouraging and teaching people to do a mixture of cardio and strength training to encourage fat loss without muscle mass loss is important for this overall health.

    Reading through so many of these threads though, you can see that too many are fixated on this ideal. They feel guilty if they have what they consider a cheat meal, they feel embarrassed because they can't accept that their bodies aren't perfect which is totally different than being healthy. There are so many threads about recomp. Are they wanting to do with because of health as they are actually skinny fat, or how about we use the correct medical term rather than the body builders term, metabolically obese normal weight, or they they doing it because of this continual pressure put on us for perfection? Are they continually driving themselves to get fitter and stronger because they are never satisfied with their results?

    Health is so much more than just our physical appearance.

    Wait, what? I don't understand what you are getting at in your last paragraph. It reads as if you think wanting to recomp is a negative or unhealthy goal. And what's wrong with wanting to get fitter and stronger continually?

    I don't consider this to be a bodybuilding site and have no memory of large numbers of the people who do happen to lift (whether specifically for bodybuilding or not) shaming others for their imperfections. If a person asks specific questions they are answered and I don't doubt that there is an *kitten* bodybuilder or two, just as there are *kitten* runners and yogis, but there's your post reads as if there a glut of this activity when there is not.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    Lillymoo01 wrote: »
    gebeziseva wrote: »
    The term describes people of healthy bmi and obese fat %.
    Why are people upset by a term for a specific condition?
    I am skinny fat now and the fact that I know what this means makes me NOT being upset by my body shape because I know that I can change my shape by working out a bit (and recomposing my body instead of losing more and more weight). Healthy fat % is important for overall well-being too, not just your bmi.

    Because the term is overused rather than being used by correct medical terms. If I had a fat percentage higher than 30% (which is the maximum for an acceptable range for a female) with my current weight that is one thing. I'd still have health problems. However, because I still have a nice healthy supply of fat reserves around my butt, thighs and upper arms many 'gym junkies' would also relate that term to me.

    Thinking about it, it is not the term that is the issue, it is the overuse of it to all that don't have that perfectly toned body. It is like we are inferior and unhealthy because we are not striving for a 6 pack and a low body fat %.

    Someone had done a remarkable job with weightloss and posted his after photos on this site. He looked good and should have been proud of himself. Someone then had the audacity to mention the words 'skinny fat'. It got my blood boiling because this didn't apply to him in the slightest. He didn't have a perfectly toned body but he was definately fit and healthy and it was obvious that he was exercising while losing weight.

    That's awful in the context of a success thread.

    However I don't like the phrase Gym junkie either,

    I agree. It has a very unhealthy and negative connotation, as the term is commonly used in context with illicit drug users/dealers involved in criminal activity. The phrase "gym junkie" paints people who exercise in a very unfavorable light and could be considered as shaming/ridiculing such people. At least the term "skinny fat" has a factual, objective medical basis and a proper contextual usage.
  • newheavensearth
    newheavensearth Posts: 870 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that there are other reasons for strength training than obtaining an "ideal physique", namely for the health of your bones and muscle.

    I just spent an hour at the nursing home this afternoon - what a depressing place! Many people end up in a nursing home because they no longer have the strength (i.e. muscles) to get on and off the toilet or in and out of bed.

    Let 84 yo Ruth Bader Ginsburg be an inspiration to us all: http://www.health.com/fitness/ruth-bader-ginsburg-workout

    Of course there are other reasons besides looks. I come from a family where height loss from osteoporosis is unfortunately common. That's one of my motivations for strength training. But I can lift till the cows come home and still look skinny fat for reasons as stated above. And others strength train for health and functional fitness but don't want to take it to the level of a physique athlete. And also don't deserve the title "skinny fat".
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    Lillymoo01 wrote: »
    gebeziseva wrote: »
    The term describes people of healthy bmi and obese fat %.
    Why are people upset by a term for a specific condition?
    I am skinny fat now and the fact that I know what this means makes me NOT being upset by my body shape because I know that I can change my shape by working out a bit (and recomposing my body instead of losing more and more weight). Healthy fat % is important for overall well-being too, not just your bmi.

    Because the term is overused rather than being used by correct medical terms. If I had a fat percentage higher than 30% (which is the maximum for an acceptable range for a female) with my current weight that is one thing. I'd still have health problems. However, because I still have a nice healthy supply of fat reserves around my butt, thighs and upper arms many 'gym junkies' would also relate that term to me.

    Thinking about it, it is not the term that is the issue, it is the overuse of it to all that don't have that perfectly toned body. It is like we are inferior and unhealthy because we are not striving for a 6 pack and a low body fat %.

    Someone had done a remarkable job with weightloss and posted his after photos on this site. He looked good and should have been proud of himself. Someone then had the audacity to mention the words 'skinny fat'. It got my blood boiling because this didn't apply to him in the slightest. He didn't have a perfectly toned body but he was definately fit and healthy and it was obvious that he was exercising while losing weight.

    That's awful in the context of a success thread.

    However I don't like the phrase Gym junkie either,

    Sorry I should have termed it more appropriately as there is definately a negative connotation that I didn't think about when writing it. Going to the gym is a healthy part of wellbeing if it works for you. Nothing negative about that at all. I should have phrased it as those that spend exessive amounts of time working out at the expense of other important things.