Skinny is not always healthy

"Skinny fat" is a slang term used to describe someone whose body shape isn't regarded as overweight in terms of the body mass index (BMI) but has a higher body fat percentage and is often lower than optimal lean body mass.

Your waist-to-hip ratio may be more important than the numbers on the scale or your BMI. A higher waist-to-hip ratio may be linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and its consequences.

Frequently, individuals who are "skinny fat" have high levels of visceral (deep abdominal) rather than subcutaneous (under the skin) fat deposits. NWO affects more than 30 million Americans. Adults affected by normal weight obesity have a four-fold risk of cardiac and metabolic diseases (Correa-Rodríguez et al., 2020).

How does this happen?  According to NASM (the National Academy of Sports Medicine), the same lifestyle choices that lead to obesity can lead to normal-weight obesity. This is including but is not limited to poor dietary choices (higher than ideal consumption of fats and carbohydrates coupled with low protein intake), poor sleep, high stress, and lack of exercise. It is important to highlight the role of lack of exercise, especially resistance training when examining the cause of normal-weight obesity as low skeletal muscle mass can be a driver in developing NWO. (Normal weight obesity)

To make body composition changes to reduce your body fat percentage by increasing your lean mass, you'll need to incorporate resistance training, stress reduction, and supportive nutrition, all of which are needed to make positive changes.