GetFit Top Tip

Have you noticed there are lots of “skinny” fat about, those folk who look skinny but are in actual fact “fat”, sadly skinny fat people are just as likely to have problems with cardio vascular diseases as a “large” fat person.

A skinny fat person is someone who is constantly dieting, heavily restricting their calories, keeping the “weight” off, but always seems to be a little soft and quite fragile. Their BMI (body mass index) would be happy reading for a normal health professional, but a layer fat over a minimal frame and muscle structure means that they are not as healthy as the BMI figures suggest.

Unfortunately I see this quite often in teenage girls up into the mid-twenties, where they fight tooth and nail with rabbit food diets and hour upon hour of slow steady state aerobic workouts.

The problem is that their precious metabolism is completely shot, vitamin and mineral intake is extremely low, colds, flus and all sorts of nasty illnesses are ever present, and structurally they are more likely to have bone density issues and joint problems later on in life.

Psychologically this group of people are the hardest people to break through when trying to assure them a “sensible” nutritional plan where calories are NOT restricted and a program of exercise to boost the metabolism, will give them the body shape they crave with much less effort and a much improved lifestyle.

A body with a lower percentage of fat and a higher percentage of muscle tissue means your body is

• structurally more healthy
• less likely to have cardio vascular illness (type 2 diabetes, heart disease etc…)
• and looks great too!

Things a skinny fat person can start doing today:

• Eat 5-6 small but sensible meals a day with high quality proteins and unprocessed carbs and sensible less of fat content
• STOP doing aerobic style training and start a program of resistance/ body weight exercise.
• Learn to accept calories are NOT a bad thing, we should be using them to our advantage!

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I don’t usually get tied up with the seasonal fluctuations of peoples fitness habits. If you’ve been a reader of my top tip for a while you’ll understand that I’d prefer my clients and readers to focus on lifelong health habits and fitness habits rather than the New Year burst of enthusiasm or the pre summer panic.

You see the summer IS just around the corner and I know many of you will be thinking about what your body looks like with the winter clothes peeled away. But before you start thinking about the drastic methods you may have adopted in the past

• Heavily restricted calorie intake
• Long hours in the gym on the treadmills and in the aerobics classes
• A bucket load of abdominal crunches

Why not adopt a different approach that is sustainable long term.

• Sensible eating habits with real food
• Short, sharp and very efffective fat burning workouts
• and stay away from that damn crunch machine!

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