Someone please explain skinny fat...

tamtamzz
tamtamzz Posts: 142
in Health and Weight Loss
This term is so confusing to me. What does it mean? How does it happen?
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Replies

  • toomuchsweetness
    toomuchsweetness Posts: 168 Member
    my thought on it is when someone loses a substantial amount of weight but they arent toned and they are skinnier than they used to be, but to the average person they still look overweight??? at least thats what I think it means. lol
  • Cindym82
    Cindym82 Posts: 1,245 Member
    means ur not toned, like you might be 120lbs but still have a high body fat %. Ppl can be the same weight but different bf % and look completely different
  • bm99
    bm99 Posts: 597 Member
    Skinny fat is when you are a healthy weight and considered thin but you have no muscle tone and are flabby.

    It happens when you are thin and don't workout or get much exercise.
  • soehlerking
    soehlerking Posts: 589 Member
    better than fat-fat.
  • LadyIntrepid
    LadyIntrepid Posts: 399 Member
    It generally means that someone is thin -- within a healthy BMI -- but either high body fat for their height/weight/age and/or very out of shape -- no muscle definition, etc. They may be a decent weight, but they might not look so good for it.
  • janemem
    janemem Posts: 575 Member
    I don't know if there is an official definition but I personally think I have/am 'skinny fat'. I am quite skinny but what flesh there is on my bones is loose and untoned, therefore making me feel 'fat'. I consider myself to be skinny fat.
  • RunHardBeStrong
    RunHardBeStrong Posts: 33,069 Member
    It's when you're thin but still carry a high body fat percentage and a low lean mass percentage. Ideally you want that switched around giving you a fit "toned" look. It happens when some one loses weight to quickly and/or doesn't do anything to preserve muscle mass while losing weight.
  • Justagirl1978
    Justagirl1978 Posts: 64 Member
    It means slim but with a high percentage of body fat. It's entirely possible for someone who is a size 8 to have a higher % of body fat than someone who is a size 14.

    Skinny fat is often achieved by dieting too drastically whilst doing lots of chronic cardio and doing nothing to preserve the lean mass. Not a desirable look IMO!
  • Justagirl1978
    Justagirl1978 Posts: 64 Member
    A comparison:

    skinny+vs+toned.JPG
  • HealthyIrishLass
    HealthyIrishLass Posts: 53 Member
    It's people who are skinny but have little/no muscle tone because they don't work out at all and/or eat poorly. High BF% but a low weight.
  • KiltFuPanda
    KiltFuPanda Posts: 574 Member
    What I have gathered, it means you may make the measurements for being "skinny" (like a 30 inch waist or a size 4), but you have no body tone. I've known several guys in my line of work who meet that requirement. They're about 130-140 lbs, but they're packing a small Mt. Dew gut and they have no musculature in legs or arms.
  • contingencyplan
    contingencyplan Posts: 3,639 Member
    Skinny fat is basically what it's called when, due to a lack of visible muscle tone, what little bit of meat a person does have on their body comes from fat. You see it a lot on people with EDs who haven't yet hit the point where they're nothing but skin and bone. It is not an attractive look.
  • Moxie42
    Moxie42 Posts: 1,400 Member
    For the most part, it means being slender but not toned, so low-healthy weight but high body fat percentage. It typically happens when someone loses weight without any exercise- some would say it happens with cardio-only as well.
  • AnitaVolpato
    AnitaVolpato Posts: 204 Member
    OK, you know that broad when you are at the beach or the swimming pool that wears the tiniest bikini and is super thin and thinks because she is thin she is the hottest woman on the beach. Stare at her body close enough and her *kitten* is jiggly and she has saddle bags and her belly is a bit saggy. That is skinny fat! She has no tone just skin and bones.. ha ha ha ha ha
  • Giniac
    Giniac Posts: 36 Member
    You have less fat than before but have little muscle, so the skin isn't 'toned' and a bit jelly like.

    To get over it, you need to build muscle to 'fill you up' a bit. :)
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
    It's where you are a healthy weight, or perhaps even underweight.... but you still have more body fat than muscle. You can also experience health problems that a "fat" person would experience such as a fatty liver, diabetes, heart attack, stroke... so this isn't just a vain thing, it's a health thing.
  • blonde71
    blonde71 Posts: 955 Member
    Low-ish bodyweight yet high-ish body fat percentage.

    Example: I used to be ~125 lbs. with ~30% body fat. Considering how slender I was, my body fat should have been a lot lower.
  • RunHardBeStrong
    RunHardBeStrong Posts: 33,069 Member
    double post....
  • Jbarbo01
    Jbarbo01 Posts: 240 Member
    People who are not genetically predisposed to gain weight but are flabby, sedentary, and eat a very poor diet but manage to stay thin anyway.
  • bulbadoof
    bulbadoof Posts: 1,058 Member
    My sister has chicken legs, scrawny arms, and a bloated belly. She eats way too much crappy food and never exercises. I'm 50 lbs heavier than her and could easily outrun or outswim her. That's skinny-fat.
  • LindaCWy
    LindaCWy Posts: 463 Member
    better than fat-fat.

    This is true, cause alls you gotta do now is start weight training.
  • AnitaVolpato
    AnitaVolpato Posts: 204 Member
    I have noticed alot of cocaine users are skinny fat.. I guess cause they are wasting away.....
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
    Skinny fat has a couple of definitions but one of the better ones is normal weight obesity.

    In other words whilst your weight falls within the normal range according to BMI standards you have a particularly high level of body fat at the same time. This means you can potentially suffer similar health problems to people traditionally classed as obese.

    Edit: how it happens is using severe calorie deficits which are not suitable for your body's current composition and failing to incorporate some form of resistance training / weight bearing exercise to preserve existing muscle mass.
  • kayemme
    kayemme Posts: 1,782 Member
    it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with former size.

    a person can be life-long "skinny fat".

    it's when a person actually has fat deposits on the interior but maybe doesn't show on the exterior. that's why physical appearances don't always reveal overall health.

    i first heard the term in the book Microserfs by Douglas Copeland, when the protagonist realized one day that he was "skinny fat".

    it is more of a ratio of muscle to fat.
  • ctooch99
    ctooch99 Posts: 459 Member
    I would define it as someone who has the correct weight (per the scale) for their height, but who's body fat percentage is still way off the charts high - from which one can infer that they are not in shape (ie, flabby, "loose in the cage").

    Skinny fat tends to happen to people who crash diet, fad diet and focus on the scale as opposed to fitness and lifestyle changes.

    I had a relative who dropped a ton of weight in a really short period of time by going on one of those "cardboard box food" diets - no exercise, no lifestyle change, just shear starvation to lose weight. His weight was lower, granted, but when he took his shirt off at the beach my first impression of him was "he is still a fat dude, just a smaller fat dude"...
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
    High body-fat percentage while still being at a healthy weight or BMI.
  • BigSupes
    BigSupes Posts: 3
    What everyone else has said...

    Further more, to reduce the chances of this happening, incorporate weights into your regime. :)
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
    I would define it as someone who has the correct weight (per the scale) for their height, but who's body fat percentage is still way off the charts high

    This exactly. That's what the term means.

    As you exercise, if you aren't eating good amounts of protein AND maintaining your muscles with resistance (heavy lifting, high-resistance cardio, etc) the muscles will burn off quickly, generally as quickly or more quickly than fat. The result is that, while the number on the scale makes you happy and you look pretty slim, you still have unhealthy amounts of fat on your frame and are at many of the same risks as someone with similar body fat percentages.

    Body fat percentage is profoundly more important than actual weight.
  • tamtamzz
    tamtamzz Posts: 142
    OoooK. I understand now. But let me ask another question:

    I like to run, actually, I LOVE to run. It's usually not steady state, I'll do some hills, some intervals, whatever I feel like for the day. I ALWAYS eat back my calories. If I didn't, I would collapse somewhere on the street. I still have to shake off another 25 to 30 pounds, but I can see some muscle tone. I'm not particularly fond of weight training (lifting weights), but I will do some body weight training three times a week.

    Let's say I did NOT eat back my calories, and just ran the way I do now, skipped the resistance, and only ate 1000 or so calories. Would I be on my way to skinny fat?

    I have ZERO intention on doing the latter. In fact, I can't. I'm just using the scenario for illustration purposes.
  • jojo52610
    jojo52610 Posts: 692 Member
    I lost a lot of weight very quickly in about 2 months due to stress and emotional issues(not on purpose)

    I am 5'9" I went from 177 to 142 (for my frame I should be between 152 - 173) - very unhealthy my skin hung and was loose I lost all muscle tone in my body.

    My husband and I went to join a Gym and they did a body fat measurement on me I was actually pissed I was like that's not right look how thin I am. Then the Trainer explained it - Skinny fat.

    Low or no muscle tone, low body weight

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