Are You Skinny-Fat?

Before I start writing, I want to make sure no one feels like they are being called fat. Skinny-Fat is the name given to people who are thin, but still carry around a high percentage of body fat.

Skinny-Fat, Explained

For example, let’s take two women who weigh the same, but one has a higher percentage of body fat.

Female #1 – 120 pounds 25% body fat
Female #2 – 120 pounds 15% body fat

No one is going to say that either of these women is fat. However, one of them is at a healthier body composition than the other, even though they both weigh the same.

Female # 1 is likely to be unhappy with the way she looks. Her waist, hips, and thighs are likely to be larger, and she more than likely doesn’t exercise or eat correctly. She will have very little muscle, and the body mass that she does carry around is mostly fat.

Female # 2 is going to have abs. She likely exercises every day, and more than likely, she has her nutrition dialed in. She carries around muscle and looks fit – muscle that is helping her burn more fat and look better.

Read why you need to build muscle to burn fat.

This is one of the many reasons why I tell people to stay off the scale. Both are 120 pounds, but female #2 has half the amount of fat on her body.

Read more about why you shouldn’t use the scale to gauge healthy.

How Do People Become Skinny-Fat?

There are usually 2 primary reasons why people become skinny fat.

Reason #1:

They diet, but they don’t exercise. Muscle needs stimulation to grow, especially while dieting. If you are eating below maintenance calories while dieting, and you aren’t working out, your body has no reason to hold onto its muscle. It will start to lose muscle. Will you lose weight? Yes. But not the kind of weight that you want to lose – fat.

Reason #2:

They don’t eat enough calories. Your muscle needs calories to maintain itself and grow. Muscle is highly energy intensive. It is constantly burning calories for you, even while you are sitting there watching TV. It is imperative that you do what’s necessary to hold onto it while dieting.

Eating too few calories puts your body into a highly catabolic state. When you eat too few calories, your body’s starvation mechanisms kick in, and it starts to shed what is unnecessary to maintain. Since muscle is highly calorie intensive to maintain, and it isn’t needed in large amounts to survive, your body holds onto its valuable fat reserves (energy) and rids itself of unneeded muscle.

Read more about why you’re not eating enough calories to lose weight.

So if you’ve ever wondered how someone can be skinny and fat and the same time, there you have it. A little guidance, and they (or you) can get on the right track towards achieving what you really want – fat loss.