Am I Skinny Fat? The Top 5 Ways to Tell.

Prevailing wisdom suggests that body weight is the most important thing we need to track and maintain for optimal health and fitness.

This is one reason so many people obsess over their scale weight and attach their value and self-perception to each day’s weigh-in.

While body weight can be a helpful metric, it can also mislead people. Specifically, it can mislead skinny fat people. 

What Is Skinny Fat?

A skinny fat person is someone who lacks muscle but is at a high body fat percentage. As a result, the person is at a ‘healthy’ weight according to the BMI scale but lacks muscle definition.

Aside from lacking definition, skinny fat folks often carry more fat around certain areas. Skinny fat women typically have more fat on the belly, lower back, buttocks, and thighs, whereas men carry fat on their chest, stomach, and lower back.

Here is how skinny fat men and women look like:

The unfortunate reality is that, while you might technically be at a healthy weight and thin by most people’s standards, you could still be at risk of some health issues. The scientific term for skinny fat individuals is normal weight metabolically obese (NWMO) (1). According to data, people with the body type are at risk of similar health issues to overweight and obese individuals (2).

Further, research suggests that body fat distribution could be a more accurate predictor of health issues than body weight (3). For instance, belly and visceral fat correlate with increased cardiovascular disease risk.

Am I Skinny Fat? 5 Steps to Tell.

1. Calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI)

I’m not a fan of the BMI scale because it judges something as complex as human health based on a few numbers. Still, the medical term for skinny fat is normal weight obesity, and you must first determine if you’re at a normal weight.

The BMI scale works well for untrained people. Such individuals are less likely to have good muscular development that skews calculations, often putting people with great body composition in the ‘overweight’ category.

2. Look at Yourself In The Mirror

Once you’ve calculated your BMI, it’s time to take the next step and remove your shirt. Look at yourself in the mirror to determine if you classify as skinny fat or if you’re skinny.

As discussed above, a skinny fat person will have a layer of fat covering their body. Men typically store more fat on their bellies and lower back, whereas women carry more fat in the lower back, buttocks, and thighs.

Still, you can use a few other methods to determine your body type if you’re unsure from examining yourself in the mirror.

3. Measure Your Waist and Shoulders

According to most resources, the ideal shoulder-to-waist ratio for men is 1.6. In other words, the shoulders should be 1.6 times the width of the waist for optimal body proportions. For example, if you have a 30-inch waist, your shoulders should be 48 inches in circumference.

For women, the number is roughly 1.4. So, a 30-inch waist would require 42-inch shoulders.

If your shoulders are only slightly wider than your waist and you lack muscle definition, you’re likely skinny fat. Similarly, if your waist is wider than your shoulders and you’re at an average weight, you’re skinny fat and might even be at risk of health issues.

4. Look at Your Eating Habits

The next thing you can do to confirm your skinny fat status is to examine your diet. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• Am I paying any attention to my protein intake?
• Do I eat primarily whole and nutritious foods?
• Do I practice any form of portion control or calorie tracking?

Each of these is necessary for eating well, controlling body fat percentage, and supporting muscle growth. Not getting enough protein, mainly eating processed junk, and never paying attention to portion control is the perfect formula for the skinny fat physique.

5. Consider Your Activity Level

Physical activity is also vital for determining your body type. Each exercise modality uniquely affects your body and promotes specific adaptations.

For example, cardiovascular exercise is helpful for controlling your weight and improving your endurance. Unfortunately, such activities rarely promote muscle growth because there is not much of a growth stimulus.

In contrast, weight training is a form of physical activity that contributes to healthier body composition––more muscle mass and less fat (4).

Physical inactivity is the worst because you’re at a higher risk of unwanted weight gain, disease, etc. (5).

Looking at your activity level and the type of exercise you do is an excellent way to tell if you’re likely to be skinny fat. Individuals doing some form of resistance training will typically have some muscle. In contrast, those mainly focused on cardio would be more likely to lack muscle and be classified as skinny or skinny fat.

3 Steps You Can Take to Reverse The Harmful Effects of Normal Weight Obesity

1. Start Eating Healthier Foods

Your nutrition is the first thing you must start improving if you are skinny fat. Eating whole and nutritious foods is necessary for supplying your body with the nutrients it needs to function well and build muscle.

Eat more fruits, vegetables, and grains for complex carbs, dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

Also, make an effort to eat more protein-rich foods: meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, etc. Doing so is necessary to provide your body with the building blocks needed to support muscle tissue and produce hormones, enzymes, neurotransmitters, antibodies, and more (6).

Keep your diet diverse and eat as many whole and unprocessed foods as possible.

2. Prioritize Sleep

Getting good sleep is one of the most practical ways to improve your health, well-being, and body composition.

First, adequate sleep is necessary for fat-burning. Research suggests that, with everything else being the same, sleep restriction can promote muscle loss during a diet (7). Second, sleep is needed for muscle protein synthesis (8). Not getting enough sleep increases the risk of muscle loss and physical disability.

Good sleep is also essential for your energy levels, productivity, and overall cognition.

According to most guidelines, we should get at least seven hours of sleep per night. Combining a healthy diet with better sleep can have a profound positive effect on your body composition.

Here are a few simple tips for better sleep:

• Avoid caffeine within 6-8 hours of bedtime
• Skip that alcoholic drink in the evening
• Keep your bedroom dark, quiet, and cool
• Avoid staring at screens in the last hour before bed
• Spend your evening doing relaxing things: reading, meditating, journaling, stretching, etc.

3. Get Active

The third step to improving your body composition and health is introducing some form of exercise into your life. Aerobic activities like running and riding a bike can be beneficial, but I recommend focusing on weight training first.

Lifting weights promotes muscle growth, which goes a long way in improving how your body looks. Weights also promote insulin sensitivity, reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life (9).

Resistance training is also fantastic for supporting the muscle you have while dieting to lose fat. As a beginner, you might even build some muscle while losing fat. The process is called body recomposition and is the quickest way to make huge visual improvements.

You can read more about the best training and nutrition practices for tackling the skinny fat look here: Skinny Fat to Ripped: 3 Training Plans (+4 Diet Tips).

Final Words

Fixing the skinny fat physique starts with a simple question: “Am I skinny fat?” Follow the five steps I’ve outlined above to determine if you fall into the category.

The three steps outlined above will give you a great start to fixing the body type, gaining confidence, and reducing the risk of health issues down the road. Most importantly, arm yourself with patience and don’t fall for ‘quick fix’ tactics.