Home > Good Form > Archives > 2007 > May > 14 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USDoes Thin = Fit?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the world of super-models, being thin is superb. For me, I never liked the thin look, but the fit look. Of course, that is just a personal preference.
The purpose for this blog is explain that just because you’re thin, it doesn’t mean you’re fit. For nearly a decade, I have been testing body fat of individuals. Many of them were thin. However, their body fat was just as high of that of those that would be considered obese. These types of individuals are coined as “skinny fat.” Some of those I tested were in disbelief and flabbergasted.
A recent study at the University of South Carolina is showing that this phenomenon as fact (related article). It has long been considered that weight and body mass indexing (BMI) were sufficient in determining health risks. Most of your diet centers and doctors offices only look at these numbers. Joe Schmoe trainers, such as myself, have always known this to be false.
Though I have found that external fat (fat just underneath the skin) can be very high in skinny individuals, this study shows that internal fat (fat in muscles and intra-abdominal fat) can be very high as well. This means the risks of heart disease, diabetes, and other diseases associated to obesity can be just as high in non-exercising thin people. The study also states that active “overweight” individuals can be at less risk of disease.
The point that needs to be taken from this is that weight is not the tell all, end all, factor to being fit. What we need to be looking at is if a person is over-fat. At the end of the day, you can be skinny, but that doesn’t mean you can walk a mile any better or decrease your risks of a sedentary (inactive) lifestyle if you are inactive already.
Are you or somebody you know would consider to overweight, but fit? If so, then share. When I was in the Army I knew a guy that would fail the weight test, but would have high scores on his PT (physical training) test.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Health, In The News
Comments
By depends on reasons for thinness/heaviness
May 21, 2007 9:55 AM | Link to this
Depends. If a person is thin due to binging and purging 10 times a day, or exercising excessively to purge excess eating, not healthy. If you’re somewhat heavy due to a robust appetite for meals but otherwise healthy, with moderate exercise, and not consuming entire pizzas alone at night in the privacy of your kitchen or a dozen donuts on the way to work, ok, I guess. It’s just that we should never look at a thin body and idolize it; we may not know why that person is thin, whether from illness, depression, an eating disorder, or the ideal, just a moderate appetite for healthy food.