Being slim is often considered the ideal parameter to measure one’s fitness. However, in the past couple of years, even the most slender-looking people, who fall under the normal BMI range, have expressed concerns about being ‘skinny fat’. The term, popularised by an international magazine in 2014 to highlight the perils of being skinny fat, is described as a condition where someone’s weight and BMI are right for their height, but their body fat percentage is high, compared to muscle mass.
“In simple words, skinny fat means there is an imbalance in your body composition. You may appear to be fit and slender but the fat percentage in your body is higher than your muscle mass. An analysis of body fat percentage is essential to understand if you are skinny fat, which is also referred to as normal weight obesity,” says Sayantan Ghosal, a fitness instructor and certified sports nutritionist from Pune.
What makes you skinny fat?
Health experts say some of the common reasons include high intake of carbs, no physical activity, hormonal imbalance, not getting enough sleep etc. “Some people are susceptible to it since birth. However, many end up being skinny fat because of lack of exercising, or not eating enough proteins and sometimes because of excessive dieting,” says Dr Rajani Chaturvedi, nutritionist and certified weight-loss expert, adding, “Not paying attention to this means you only have fat underneath your skin. There is no muscle to cover your bone and it could be extremely dangerous, further causing other health issues. Instead, focus on gaining muscle mass.”
Why should you care?
The lockdown witnessed a steep rise in people switching to home workouts. Hence, a spike in the sale of weighing scales, gym equipment etc was seen. However, Sayantan urges that one must invest in scales that come with a body composition monitor that helps one understand if the per cent of fat in their body is right. Apart from weak muscles, being skinny fat impacts your health. “Skinny fat leads to diseases like diabetes, high cholesterol levels, cardiovascular diseases etc. While it may appear like a simple issue, it impacts your strength and flexibility, and heart. The University of Michigan in its study found that being skinny fat can negatively affect up to a fourth of people at regular weights and put people with normal-weight obesity at risk of heart-related diseases, too.” says Dr Kapil Upadhaya, a cardiologist from Mumbai, adding, “To fight this, you have to start reducing your carb intake and increase protein consumption. Besides you have to work on your workout regime and avoid doing too much cardio.”
What you can do to avoid being skinny fat - Ensure you get enough sleep
- Consume a balanced diet with the right amount of protein and fibre
- Make sure you focus on workouts that help gain muscles and lose fat
- Avoid refined sugar
- Don’t follow a crash diet or fall for dieting fads
– As shared by Sayantan Ghoshal, fitness instructor and nutritionist Why is building muscles important? - Muscles aids metabolism
- Muscles are essential for better bone and tendon health and strength
- More muscles mean lesser injuries and more flexibility
- Less fat and more muscles tone your body, make you stronger and fitter
Activities that help lose fat - HIIT workouts like squats, jumps, planks, jumping jacks
- Resistance training
- Sprints
- Strength training
- Surya Namaskar
- Swimming
- Pilates
Often, losing a lot of weight in a short period of time by completely discarding calories and only doing cardio can cause skinny fat in many people. Therefore, it is essential that calories should never be completely stopped and your fitness regime should have a mix of cardio and weight training
- Joyeeta Thakur, nutritionist and diet consultant
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