This is my first article from a long series to come where I am going to discuss and see whether a lot of health and fitness facts and tips we read on the Internet are true or not. I am writing this because just like many of you reading this I have also spent half of my life trying to figure out, “How to lose those extra inches?”  or  “How to look like that Victoria Secrets model?”. Suffering from PCOS, losing weight has never been an easy task for me. I desperately followed anything and everything I read on the internet but no results popped up !!!

It was only a few months back when I started my journey towards becoming healthier and not thinner that I came across so many things I have been doing wrong. This article is just an attempt to share what I learned based on my experiences and some thorough research so that your journey to health can be a lot smoother and shorter.

Common Myths About Being Skinny

How do you judge a person is healthy? I’ll tell you how I did. I looked at someone skinny, eating a pizza or a doughnut while I sat there with a sad-looking salad and I thought he must be so healthy eating all this and still looking like that !!

Well, I was wrong. For those who think size does matter, No it doesn't unless you are skinny from inside. Now, what the hell does that mean?

It is a common myth that people who look slim are healthy, no matter what they eat and even if they don't move an inch. Some other common myths are:-

1. If you are visibly fat you are at higher risk of diseases.

2. A normal BMI or normal weight means you are healthy.

3. If you are overweight only then you are obese.

So, stop reading those “How to get slim in 10 days”  posts because you might get skinny but you will still be fat or the right word is ‘skinny fat’. Skinny fat is a term used for people who have a normal BMI and weight according to their height but much more body fat and low muscle mass.

Also Read: Why Is It Difficult For Women To Lose Weight?

Getting Skinny - The Misguided Goal

The problem with most people is when they start following a diet or working out they set their main goal of getting thin. According to research a normal BMI (18.5- 24.99) and normal body weight do not ensure a low body fat. In fact, a skinny fat person is metabolically the same as an obese person. Why do people want to be skinny then? I often wonder, whenever I used to think of following a diet or a workout regime why did I dream of a small waist or a flat tummy?

Research shows that the media has played a big role, ‘thin’ has been set as the standard. The unrealistic portrayal of the body can be seen everywhere be it movies, magazines or TV and this is true not just for women but for men as well. How many times have you looked at a magazine cover and not wished for a body like that pretty model with a 24-inch waist or that dude with an 8 pack abs? I know I have.

What Makes Skinny Unhealthy?

It's time for some myth-busting !! So all the skinny people out there thinking they can eat and sleep their way to health, time to get moving!!!

To understand why you can be ‘skinny fat’ we need to know that our body consists of two types of mass, the fat mass, and the fat-free mass.

1. Fat mass: This is the weight of obviously our fat stored, which takes part in no effective calorie burning. It is just stored to fuel our bodies in emergencies like starvation or to protect our organs by surrounding them (visceral fat).

2. Fat-free mass: This is the rest of our body mass which includes bones, water, muscles, and tissues.

The fat mass is again divided into two types visceral and subcutaneous fat mass. As already mentioned visceral fat surrounds the organs, it develops in the abdominal cavity and wraps around the kidney, intestines, stomach, and liver whereas subcutaneous fat is stored just below our skin and this is what makes you look fat. Yes, you guessed it right subcutaneous fat is the culprit for those love handles or that bulging tummy. People who look skinny but have a high body fat are the ones with high visceral fat but less subcutaneous fat.

So, all of those with high subcutaneous fat but a low visceral fat, congratulations !!! you are healthier than your skinny friend who has high visceral fat. Research links high visceral fat to increased risk of heart diseases, high cholesterol, low mineral bone density, loss of cognitive function and insulin resistance and even increased risk of death.

Role of Genes - Skinny Genes and Fat Genes

Most of you can relate to the frustration when you are eating the same thing, following the same routine and yet you are fat but your roommate gets skinnier by the minute. Stop giving him those looks it's not his fault. Just call your parents, it's their fat genes working. Your genes affect the fat distribution in your body as well as the level of fat that your body will accumulate.

Some people have fat genes, called FTO also called fatso. Fatso causes overeating. Sometimes even after eating a meal you still feel hungry and you just can't suppress your hunger, that's because people with FTO find it hard to suppress their hunger compared to people without FTO. It also increases the chances of obesity by 20% to 30%. As if that was not enough, some people have two fatsos.

Also Read: What Is PCOS And How To Lose Weight With PCOS?

Active Lifestyle and Balanced Diet

By this time you must be having mixed feelings. So... I am fat but may be healthier than someone skinny sitting next to me but I have a fat gene or worse maybe two!! If I would have been born to fatso-less parents, maybe I could have been skinny and healthy.

Don't worry you can't change your genes or your parents but you can surely control your genes.  Research shows that by following an active lifestyle and a balanced diet you can overcome the effect of FTO. You just need to work harder than most other people blessed with good genes. Whoever said life is fair was lucky enough to have good genes.

Loving & Accepting Your Body

I am someone who suffered from body image issues since my teenage and I know many others who are still suffering. Looking every hour in the mirror to see do I look fat or wearing those tight corsets beneath, not able to breathe. I would only say, “Just let go”. Strive for a healthier you, workout to reach a stage where you are stronger and leaner. Don't kill yourself over to look like some model.

My Journey To Realisation

Just like many of you even I believed that having a normal weight and a normal BMI was more than enough to prove that one was healthy. So, I kept focussing on losing weight, sometimes standing up on the scale 2-3 times a day to see if I lost any weight (measuring my weight after peeing or taking a dump !!). I did lose weight, I reached a normal weight and a normal BMI but something was wrong; although I looked slim, I was not feeling good about my body. I felt weak. So, I decided to get a body fat test done and this is what I discovered.

I had a high body fat percentage!!!!! I was confused about what went wrong??? I had followed ‘X’ number of diets, I had lost so much weight, I looked slim and yet my body fat was high. I was devasted, all my efforts made no point. I desperately looked for answers. Later I discovered what was missing from my approach to losing weight. I always followed diets blindly, never paying any importance to work out. As long as I was losing weight I was happy. As a result, I lost weight but not body fat. A few months later I changed my approach, this time focussing on the workout but not following any particular diet (just avoiding junk as much as possible). To my surprise, I was feeling better than ever, I lost some weight along with body fat. Although I still have a long way to go, at least now I know which way to go.

Don't Lose Health Lose Fat

The bottom line is you can't just look at someone and decide that he is healthy or obese. Being thin or fat is certainly not a measure of health and neither is your BMI or weight. So, whether you are a couch potato or a couch finger chip you need to get up and workout to be healthy.

Sources

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6114934/

https://www.nhs.uk/news/genetics-and-stem-cells/why-fat-gene-mutation-may-make-you-obese/

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/18594089/ns/health-fitness/t/thin-people-can-be-fat-inside/#.XG_8H5MzY0p

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160425161349.htm

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2906751/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3635949/