“Thin-Fat” - Fat and Fit vs. Skinny and Unfit
August, 2008 by Antonia
“Thin-Fat” - our expression for those supposedly “lucky” individuals who, no matter what they put down their necks, never seem to put on weight. You’ve seen them at the gym - they’re the ones who wear next to nothing yet also do next to nothing on the cross-trainer.
We may envy their amazing capacity for food, and silently curse their names as they chuff down yet another candy bar, however bodyweight and size may not be a totally reliable indicator of good health. In fact, quite the opposite. Were they to undergo a body scan, an unfit skinny-mini will potentially have dangerous fatty deposits around the heart and abdominals, leading to complications more commonly associated with their more “substantial” friends.
So is BMI a reliable indicator of healthy weight? In some circumstances, the answer has to be “No”. Take the example of a male heavyweight rowing friend (no names I’m afraid)! At 96 kilos and 185cm, my mate’s BMI comes out at 28, putting him firmly in the overweight category. No one would argue that someone who has raced at the 2004 Olympics and trains three times a day is unfit or unhealthy - obviously his muscle mass (muscle weighing more than fat) versus his height tips the scales.
There is of course no doubt that being very overweight puts a strain on the heart and body. A healthy BMI is between 19 and 25, but even those with a slightly higher BMI will stack the odds in their favour if they excercise and keep fit. A study in The Journal of the American Medical Association found that those with the lowest level of fitness were four times more likely to die over a 12 year period than those with the highest level of fitness. Even those who had just a minimal level of fitness had half the risk of dying compared with those who were least fit.
I think that tells you all you need to know. GET ACTIVE. Are we sounding like a broken record yet?
Posted in diet, fitness
