Thin Is Fit - Or Is It?

Yes, it is possible to be thin but unfit! To maintain or increase lean body mass, you need to look at both diet and a comprehensive exercise programme. You’ll not only lose fat, but experience considerable health benefits.

- Ian Craig

There is a prevailing dogma in the health and fitness industry that deserves serious discussion. We are in an era of ‘thin is fit’, which perhaps stems from the fitness boom of the 1970s and 80s when the mass public of the Western world started running marathons and watching their dietary fat intake. The approach doesn’t appear to have worked particularly well, but nonetheless the increasing struggle with our waistlines has probably added to the perception that ‘thin is fit’.

So how do we become thin and fit? Well, if you follow the trends of the fitness clubs and popular health magazines, you will spend an hour a day on a treadmill or X-trainer and eat low-calorie, low-fat food. The problem is that in the long term, this approach is generally ineffective. Body weight usually drops initially, but stabilises after a while. In an effort to lose more weight, the person may increase the cardiovascular (CV) exercise and further restrict the calories. This may or may not result in ‘thinness’ depending on the individual’s body type, but when you actually measure the percentage of body fat, it is often surprisingly high.

INTRODUCING SARCOPENIA 

Would you believe me if I told you that many skinny models are actually fat? They don’t look fat, but their body fat might exceed 30% of total body weight, compared with healthy levels of 20 - 25% for women and athletic levels of 15 - 20%. Two slim women could appear the same, but one has a healthy body composition and the other a high percentage body fat plus accompanying health risks.