AIBU to ask what people understand by the phrase skinny fat?

[Ohyesiam]

Do they mean untoned, or that they have a fat bit (butt?) on an otherwise skinny frame, or that they just don’t like their seemingly ok body?

Or something else entirely.

Doesn't it mean that the fat is distributed around your organs rather than deposited away from them with the effect that you can look skinny but still at risk of illness? I don't know, without googling, that's my first guess

Someone with a normal bmi but with a low proportion of muscle to fat, opposed to someone who’s toned with a higher proportion of muscle to fat.

I presumed it meant a skinny/slim person who was untoned.

Google tells me that 'skinny fat' is a phrase used to describe people who look fit and healthy on the surface yet, due to a lack of exercise or poor diet, have a slew of health problems brewing beneath it.
ie those lucky enough to have a fast metabolism.

www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/are-you-skinny-fat

I always thought it to mean, you look slim in clothes, but your body is primarily made up of fat. So being jiggly, and no muscle tone.

I'd never heard of it but probably described me most of my life. I'm now just fat fat.

Means they may be skinny but their diet is bad and unhealthy so they will have health problems later on

It's when someone is a normal weight but doesn't have very much muscle. You should really control your weight through diet and exercise, including some resistance (toning/muscle training), rather than just relying on calorie intake alone. The problem with being skinny fat is that you might have dangerous levels of visceral fat whilst still having a healthy BMI and being able to squeeze into your size 10 jeans (or whatever).

Untoned ie low muscle tone but otherwise slim.

In terms of the actual phrasing, does it mean capturing an untapped market to bombard with gym memberships and wacky dieting products?

Slim body, liquid fat in the veins.

I think it's basically people who appear to be slim, even skinny, but whose diet and lack of exercise means they are not as physically fit and healthy as their slim frame would suggest.

it means someone who is relatively slim, but no tone or muscle definition.

Just so you know, that even if youre slim, its STILL not good enough

teyem no not really, since it's perfectly possible to lose weight and build muscle without ever setting foot in a gym or buying 'wacky dieting products'.

Someone who looks skinny, but is unhealthy, so has fat round their internal organs.

Branleuse it's nothing to do with being 'good enough', it's about being physically fit and healthy, thereby increasing your quality of life and health expectancy.

I thought it referred to people who look slim and well but have an unhealthy diet and/or lifestyle and therefore probably won't be fit and healthy long term.

Absolutely feeling, it is. But who is using the phrase and what are they selling? Because it's more loaded than eat well and exercise, isn't it?

Do they mean like this thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/thin-on-the-outside-fat-on-the-inside-tofi-by-dr-mosley/

It refers to people who look slim, but have a larger proportion of fat around their internal organs

I always assumed it meant small dress size but with lots of wobbly bits. So, not overweight but very untoned.

BBC journalist Dr Michael Mosley looked and was shocked by what he found.

His body was the ultimate Trojan horse. Three years ago, Dr Michael Mosley considered himself trim and healthy. But lurking inside him, around his vital organs, were layers of fat.

He now knows he was a TOFI: Thin on the Outside, Fat on the Inside. People identified as TOFIs often just think they are normal weight or have a bit of “middle-age spread”. Housed deep within their abdomens, however, are loads of fat around their organs, allowing their bodies to carry deadly illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease.

Most TOFIs are blissfully unaware of their status as human ticking time bombs, but if the fat is left idle, they face higher risks of diabetes and dementia, on top of cancer and metabolic disturbances.

I remember the programme, it was very interesting.

I take it to mean untoned, yes. They’re skinny but no definition and maybe some chubby bits.

sounds like bollocks to me, I've never heard it used and it's a contradiction.