Skinny Fat - Enlighten Me Please

aedreana

I had never heard the term skinny fat till I joined MFP in June. By now, I have seen numerous posts with reference to skinny fat, yet nothing to clue me in to what that term actually means. I must be the only one who doesn't know! Does it mean fat in some areas on an otherwise thin person? A person who is a small size due to a small bone structure, but carries a lot of fat? I have no idea what it means. I don't like being clueless-- I feel out of the loop! Am I skinny fat?

meshashesha2012

having a higher percentage of bofy fat even though you are technically within healthy weight limits.

scales tell you numbers not the composition of those numbers (ie lean mass vs fat).

oh and frame size doesnt have anything to do with it.

zorbaru

it means to be in a healthy weight range but no muscle.

alexuh

It refers to someone who is a low weight, but has low muscle % and a high(er) body fat %. Generally the aim is the opposite - to have more muscle and less fat which is why incorporating some weights and exercise in general whilst eating in a deficit is important! :drinker:

Springfield1970

It refers to someone who is a low weight, but has low muscle % and a high(er) body fat %. Generally the aim is the opposite - to have more muscle and less fat which is why incorporating some weights and exercise in general whilst eating in a deficit is important! :drinker:

Skinny fat people should go straight for the bulk, which means eating in excess and having a good few months of progressive lifting. That's how you turn the clock back! Afterwards, if needed, a slow fat cut, while still lifting to minimize the muscle loss.

Springfield1970

I had never heard the term skinny fat till I joined MFP in June. By now, I have seen numerous posts with reference to skinny fat, yet nothing to clue me in to what that term actually means. I must be the only one who doesn't know! Does it mean fat in some areas on an otherwise thin person? A person who is a small size due to a small bone structure, but carries a lot of fat? I have no idea what it means. I don't like being clueless-- I feel out of the loop! Am I skinny fat?

Hi! You're awesome! (I read your profile). Lifting doesn't mean you'll get muscley, you can always stop when you feel it's gone far enough.

What it will do is give you great posture, strength, a great booty, lovely curves and growth hormones. It basically turns the clock back.

I will lift til the day I die! I'm 43 and feel 23. I'm fighting gorgeous young men off with sticks! Haha!

LumberJacck

It's often used as a derogatory term, sometimes through envy.

Springfield1970

It's often used as a derogatory term, sometimes through envy.

True, it's not nice. But it describes the body type well. Skinny isn't always healthy or nice looking, and extremely frustrating for the person who just spent ages dieting to end up feeling flabby. I know, because when I was down to 123lb, even though I wasn't flabby, I had no lift or curves, just felt a bit droopy and unhealthy, not like the youthful slim look I was hoping for. Also, I wasn't eating that much so had lack of energy and vitality.

8lb of muscle and fat later and it was a different matter!

aedreana

Thank you all SO much! When I last weighed myself, before I started my diet (I refuse to weigh again till August), the scale said my body fat is 24.2% and muscle mass is 23.3%. Does that classify me as skinny fat?

rachelfrancoise

Springfield19, I have to say, if you're 40 something, you're looking amazing!

DR2501

It's often used as a derogatory term, sometimes through envy.

Derogatory? Perhaps. Envy? I seriously doubt it. No one aspires to be skinny yet unhealthy, soft and weak.

Its just a term used to describe someone that might look slim, but in reality they are carrying a lot of fat due to low muscle mass. I've never heard anyone say "I want to be skinny fat..."

KarenJanine

Thank you all SO much! When I last weighed myself, before I started my diet (I refuse to weigh again till August), the scale said my body fat is 24.2% and muscle mass is 23.3%. Does that classify me as skinny fat?

Here are the levels of BF% for men and women.

Description Women Men
Essential fat 10–13% 2–5%
Athletes 14–20% 6–13%
Fitness 21–24% 14–17%
Average 25–31% 18–24%
Obese 32%+ 25%+

So your BF is at a healthy level.

Springfield1970

Thank you all SO much! When I last weighed myself, before I started my diet (I refuse to weigh again till August), the scale said my body fat is 24.2% and muscle mass is 23.3%. Does that classify me as skinny fat?

You can't rely on the scales for the body fat measurements.

How do you feel? Would you like to be firmer? Same weight but tighter, smaller waist, rounder booty? More energy, tighter and glowing skin, stronger bone density and able to eat a bit more without gaining?

Lifting will do that for you.

Springfield1970

Springfield19, I have to say, if you're 40 something, you're looking amazing!

Thank you!

I was skinny fat, after starving myself for too long. I love food. When I was pregnant I weighed about 170lb! I'm 127 now, no sag, been lucky with the skin, but worked really hard to get my calories and carb consumption back to optimum. I finally have energy again, and have won the depression battle.

LucasEVille

It's often used as a derogatory term, sometimes through envy.

Is this heading towards a mean person thread?

aedreana

Thank you all for all this interesting information! What I need is actually MORE fat--on my hips and butt. But those are not the areas where my body would add fat to by gaining weight. I looked good before menopause. I had plenty of fat in those areas. The loss of hormones from menopause deleted the fat from my hips/butt, and shifted it to my waist. That's why I had to reassess my ideal weight-- before menopause, my ideal weight was 135. I know that sounds like a high weight for 5' 3 1/2;" however, I have always preferred to look a little fleshy. By dieting, I found that I can have a waist again if I weigh 118 lbs. or less. And a better, smaller waist at 112. Below 112, I start to lose too much fat in my bustline. THE problem is that there's no fat on my butt any more :frown:

LumberJacck

It's often used as a derogatory term, sometimes through envy.

Is this heading towards a mean person thread?

I would tend to say no, as what I wrote was factual.

Edit: the envy bit is due to the person in question weighing (in some cases much) less than the person calling them skinny fat.

msf74

Skinny fat is a marketing term mostly and seems to be a spin off from normal weight obesity (body weight in a healthy range but with excessive levels of body fat and therefore risk of the same health problems as obesity.)

I suspect most people who are worrying about skinny fat probably don't need to as it is more about having a certain look which is out of favour rather than anything else which is subjective.

jackielou867

Skinny fat is me. I got to goal weight and wondered why it didn't look the same at 47 as it did at 21. Now I know it is because I have lost a lot of muscle so a bigger % of my weight is now fat. I am fixing that by lifting to build back muscle, it is slow but I will get there :-)

RGv2

It's often used as a derogatory term, sometimes through envy.

Is this heading towards a mean person thread?

I would tend to say no, as what I wrote was factual.

Edit: the envy bit is due to the person in question weighing (in some cases much) less than the person calling them skinny fat.

:huh:

LucasEVille

It's often used as a derogatory term, sometimes through envy.

Is this heading towards a mean person thread?

I would tend to say no, as what I wrote was factual.

Edit: the envy bit is due to the person in question weighing (in some cases much) less than the person calling them skinny fat.

MityMax96

I will lift til the day I die! I'm 43 and feel 23. I'm fighting gorgeous young men off with sticks! Haha!

:noway: :noway: :noway: :grumble: :grumble: :grumble:

*note to self, never approach her, you will get beaten*

Of course I ain't young though

neandermagnon

I first heard the term as being synonymous with normal weight obesity

normal weight obesity = having a weight that's within the healthy BMI range, while your body fat percentage is in the obese range.

This is more common than people realise, and it's also the main reason why BMI is flawed, as people with normal weight obesity far outnumber people who are in the overweight or obese BMI range while their body fat percentage is healthy (yes the latter exist too, they're just less common and I'd hazard a guess that they're all large framed strength athletes or large framed manual workers who have to lift heavy things on a daily basis)

So basically, if BMI tells you you're obese, then unless you're large framed and lift very heavy things on a regular basis or a similar level of exertion of the muscles, then you're probably obese.

However, if BMI tells you that you're in the healthy range... well, you might have a healthy body fat percentage, but there's quite a significant likelihood that you're actually carrying too much body fat. If you're sedentary or small framed, this is more likely to be true. So BMI is kind of useless really.

MityMax96

This would be me, skinny fat

neandermagnon

This would be me, skinny fat

you dont' look remotely skinny-fat in either picture. you look like you have a reasonable amount of lean mass and a healthy body fat percentage... maybe more fat than you want and less muscle than you want, but you look like you have enough muscle under the fat to not be skinny-fat.

MityMax96

hmm...
I don't know, I look at those pics, I see it differently.

But thank you. :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

JoyeII

This is why BMI is a useless number.

Springfield1970

I will lift til the day I die! I'm 43 and feel 23. I'm fighting gorgeous young men off with sticks! Haha!

:noway: :noway: :noway: :grumble: :grumble: :grumble:

*note to self, never approach her, you will get beaten*

Of course I ain't young though

Puts stick down.

How yoooooo doing?

Willowwisp23

It means someone that is normal weight but has a high percentage of body fat.

It annoys me when people use it just because they don't like a certain aesthetic though. You get people posting pictures of two women, both slim, neither skinny fat but one is a paparazzi photo, taken in bright sunlight, she has a tiny bit cellulite and compare that to a studio lit photo of a women with a totally different body shape and usually 10 years younger. Then it seems to be another way to make people feel rubbish about their body.

AllOutof_Bubblegum

To answer you question, these are examples of "skinny fat". These ladies are in no way overweight, but as you can see are severely lacking in muscle definition. This can be the result of eating at too-large of a calorie deficit, while not strength training to preserve muscle mass. The overall look is one of slightly saggy, droopy looking skin, with no firmness. That is what is meant by skinny fat. Hope that answers your question.

DeguelloTex

It answers the question quite vividly.