Someone please explain skinny fat...

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  • 1joanner
    1joanner Posts: 1
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    I really suggest getting a subscription to or going on line and reading Oxygen Magazine (not to be confused with the cable tv station Oxygen) - I have never found a magazine that I literally read page by page! The reason why I suggest this is that they speak a lot to this phenomenon of "skinny fat"...from what I understand, if you don't take in a certain amount of calories your body goes into starvation mode and begins to then store fat in an attempt to preserve itself.....so you could be exercising regularly and be eating cleanly but not taking in enough calories and you could still stay stifled in weight and begin to add "fat" .... I think that's it but I could be wrong with regard to the term....hope this helps and doesn't confuse - but look into Oxygen and enjoy!
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
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    As I understand it, it's a genetic thing.

    I can be, certainly. The person who never needed to work out never created much muscle, so whatever weight they suddenly put on is very likely to be fat. So if you are genetically disposed to burn a lot of calories you might be skinny fat and not even be aware of it.

    More likely, though, it's the result of over-reliance on BMI as an indicator to health, a drive to lose weight too fast at the cost of all else, and an unwillingness to become "fit", not just "not fat".

    And having a high body fat percentage is tied to a lot more than cancer. In fact, it's tied to a lot of things that will kill you a lot faster. Arterial diseases, blockage, etc.

    Exercise and healthy eating are the keys to avoid or get out of any kind of fat, skinny or otherwise.
  • devil_in_a_blue_dress
    devil_in_a_blue_dress Posts: 5,214 Member
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    Basically, if you control your weight by diet alone. You can weigh 115 pound, but your body fat can be like 30ish%, which is a board line obese number. So, you're thin, but "fat".
  • trm981
    trm981 Posts: 42 Member
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    It's a term made up for those that were way too happy for losing weight and feeling good about themselves. We all need labels that make us feel like we aren't quite perfect.

    Pretty much. While most of the definitions given on this thread are correct its the way people use it that is the problem. Acceptable body fat levels for women go up to 32%. Yet anyone here without visible muscles is labeled as skinny fat which is really insulting. I'm at 24% according to my body fat scale and online calculators, so I'm going to say its pretty accurate, and but I don't have noticeable muscle definition so I would be labeled as skinny fat even though by body fat percentage is in the "fitness" range. Its ridiculous.

    What I don't get are the people who get so bent out of shape when someone calls a muscular woman masculine but throw around the term skinny fat like its nothing. They are equally insulting.
  • tamtamzz
    tamtamzz Posts: 142
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    I really wasn't trying to insult anyone. I was just asking a question. Sorry if I offended anyone!
  • trm981
    trm981 Posts: 42 Member
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    I really wasn't trying to insult anyone. I was just asking a question. Sorry if I offended anyone!

    Oh my gosh, this wasn't meant at you! I'm so sorry. I guess my irritation at the way its used on these forums came out a little harsh. =) I had no idea what it was either until I came here, I had never heard of it.
  • ctooch99
    ctooch99 Posts: 459 Member
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    better than fat-fat.

    Better LOOKING, maybe, but not healthier.

    This is why BMI is such a poor indicator - it makes people think that the scale tells all. It does not. Not even close.

    If you have little muscle development and a very high body fat percentage, you can look like a meth addict (all the rage in fashion magazines) and be just as much a candidate for cardiovascular complications as someone with the same body fat percentage but who happens to be carrying around a lot of lean muscle as well.

    And overweight people tend to carry around a decent amount of lean muscle - they need it to carry themselves around in daily life. Remember that someone who weighs 280 like I once did needs strong muscles just to walk around compared to someone who weighs 190 which is my goal weight. That's 90 pounds I was carrying around, which is good resistance training. Trouble is, of course, a lot of that 90 pounds happened to be fat, so my body fat percentage was pretty gruesome.

    Very important points here - well said. My personal opinion (based on no facts admittedly) is that skinny-fat people are at higher risk for heart attacks than fat-fat people are. All the people I know who suffered heart attacks were skinny-fat...
  • ctooch99
    ctooch99 Posts: 459 Member
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    It's a term made up for those that were way too happy for losing weight and feeling good about themselves. We all need labels that make us feel like we aren't quite perfect.

    Pretty much. While most of the definitions given on this thread are correct its the way people use it that is the problem. Acceptable body fat levels for women go up to 32%. Yet anyone here without visible muscles is labeled as skinny fat which is really insulting. I'm at 24% according to my body fat scale and online calculators, so I'm going to say its pretty accurate, and but I don't have noticeable muscle definition so I would be labeled as skinny fat even though by body fat percentage is in the "fitness" range. Its ridiculous.

    What I don't get are the people who get so bent out of shape when someone calls a muscular woman masculine but throw around the term skinny fat like its nothing. They are equally insulting.

    I don't know that I agree with this. I agree that "skinny-fat" may be an insensitive label in some ways, however I do believe that "skinny-fat" is a true health issue just as generally accepted clinical obesity is. In my opinion, "skinny fat" is the end result of an unhealthy weight loss, or the idea that someone can "eat whatever they want and not get fat". Both are myths that people would like us to believe, but the reality is in both cases they are indicative of very unhealthy and dangerous lifestyles.

    The "thin" person who eats whatever he/she wants, does not exercise and does not seem to gain a pound in actuality is often in terrible condition, has clogged arteries, high cholesterol and carries all their weight in their mid section. They may appear thin and fit and hold themselves out to the world that way (as if they have magic genes), but it in reality they are probably a stroke candidate. The person who crash diets, does not exercise, sheds 30 pounds in a month and now holds themselves out as a "skinny" person is no different. Crash dieting is one of the worst things for health.

    So yeah, maybe the "skinny-fat" label is just that - a label, but I think the message sent by the two examples above to those of us who have made serious lifestyle changes, had slow steady weight reductions and maintain healthy eating and exercise habits is a detrimental one - it says (to me anyway) all you people who work hard and take the slow steady path are stupid and wasting your time...
  • toomuchsweetness
    toomuchsweetness Posts: 168 Member
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    better than fat-fat.

    like
  • Oishii
    Oishii Posts: 2,675 Member
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    It's a term made up for those that were way too happy for losing weight and feeling good about themselves. We all need labels that make us feel like we aren't quite perfect.

    I agree, along with bingo wings, cellulite and many, many more. The fitness industry can't sell as much to you if you're happy, so they have to make you insecure about something :angry:

    When I first lost weight, back when we were allowed signatures, my signature read 'Skinny fat and proud of it'. Now I'd like to be 'lean' someday. I see what they did there, but they still did it!:noway:
  • GelinaKnows
    GelinaKnows Posts: 46
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    I think I'm the opposite, I still need to lose some weight but I have definition, when really all I wanna lose inches yeah I have decent mean biceps and the beginnings of a 6 pack but all I really want is to lose inches around my upper arms inner thighs and stomach. Right now I weigh 134 but I am barely 5'4", and I just wanna fit into my clothes from last year, I'm not quite sure what happened because my weight stayed the same, but apparently my waist didn't....I have weighed between 135 and 145 pretty much my entire adult life, but I have fluctuated in clothing size between a 3 & 14, except for a couple years when I was around 115 & a size 00, people would bet me money ALL the time that I weighed under 90 pounds and I weighed 120, I guess I have very heavy bones lol...also, wth are bingo arms? I keep hearing that...

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