Photo by Diana Polekhina

Being skinny does not always mean being healthy. Skinny fat or normal weight obesity refers to those that have a normal weight and BMI for their height but have a high percentage of body fat and not enough muscle mass.

Risk factors

• Not exercising enough-exercise causes your body to release anabolic hormones which in turn stimulate muscle building
• Unbalanced diet-diet high in refined sugar can negatively impact body composition
• Age-older adults are prone to muscle loss(sarcopenia) which is accompanied by an increase in body fat
• Genetics-some people are predisposed to having higher body fat percentage and less muscle

Health risks of skinny fat

• Heart disease
• Diabetes mellitus
• High cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• Metabolic syndrome
• Low muscle mass-muscle is important for metabolism and activities

What can you do?

• Move your body
  • exercise
• Strength training
  • builds and maintains muscle(remember to pair protein with it)
• Work on a balanced diet
  • limit highly processed foods
  • reduce refined carbs and refined sugar
  • look for nutrient-dense foods(fruits and vegetables) and fat burning foods(lentils, cinnamon, chili peppers, oatmeal, broccoli)
  • don’t skimp on the protein
• Sleep
  • work on getting 7-9 hours of good quality sleep
• Relax and work on decreasing stress