How Skinny Fat Affects Mental Health

Now that we have clarified what skinny fat is and how to fix it in terms of diet, exercise, and lifestyle relative to physical health, it is important to understand how skinny fat affects mental health.

Human mental health directly correlates to what we think we are supposed to look like as a human being. Our body height, weight, shape, curves, features, muscle/mass, and definition, at least. What the average person sees — diverse shows, subject matter, and advertisements — on television, in movies, on social media, and in magazines, no less, has profound effects, typically negative, on body image and mental health (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8). Thin, toned, muscular, defined, attractive human body shapes with “all the right curves” and features are typically considered “normal”.

This “norm” is reinforced when you go to see the doctor. You, like every human being, are being judged by the Standard Body Type One (BT1) found in any scientifically/medically approved human body anatomy book/resource (9, 10, 11):

According to mainstream science and medicine, once you are within safe Standard BMI (18.5 to 24.99) you are the Standard BT1 with all 600+ muscles developed. The only reason you don’t look like a Standard BT1 is you are eating too many calories above Standard BMR calories. Reduce your calorie intake and lose the excess regular white/yellow fat weight and, viola, you are once again the Standard Body Type One (BT1).

How Skinny Fat Affects Mental Health – Everyone is Not a Standard Body Type One (BT1)

Children and adolescents (teens), in particular, see these “norms” and seek to be “normal.” But the latest Body Type Science research data (12) shows that every human being is NOT born in the “normal” Standard BT1. The Standard BT1 is inaccurate (13) because it fails to account for no less than skinny fat tissue; thin fat and/or cellulite (14).

This inaccurate “normal” standard encourages impossible, unrealistic body composition and shape (figure/physique) expectations and goals in people, in general — but especially among children and adolescents — to be a Standard BT1. Which increases the risk (6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8) of body dissatisfaction and other health issues (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23) like anxiety, depression, body dysmorphia, and eating disorders (EDs) such as anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, etc., directly affecting physical, emotional, and mental health.

Unique Genetic Body Composition

It is a fact that genetics is the foundational blueprint (24, 25, 26) of the human body. Genetic heritability (27, 28, 29, 30) determines unique genetic structure, body composition, and shape. Environment, including diet, exercise, and lifestyle, influences unique genetic body composition and shape temporarily (31, 32), but at this time you cannot permanently (33, 34, 35) change your unique genetic body composition including muscle mass.

Yet, the widespread misleading and false information on TV, in movies and magazines, and on social media, etc. claims that with enough diet, exercise, and lifestyle hard work, you can permanently change (recomp) your unique genetic body composition and have a body just like your favorite celebrity, influencer, or the like.

Body Recomposition (Body Recomp)

Body recomposition (36) is most certainly not permanent (37) and for many people, thanks to their genetics, it is more difficult if not impossible to achieve as desired. Unique genetic body composition and shape matter. The more skinny fat tissue (thin fat, cellulite) that a person is experiencing, the less likely it is that they can recomposition/change their body composition enough to look like the Standard BT1.

And for those people who do come close to or even possibly fully achieve the Standard BT1 look they want, the vast majority fail to realize that their body recomp achievement is temporary. Once they stop doing all the hard body recomp work that allowed for their achievement — losing regular white/yellow fat weight, adding muscle mass, and reducing skinny fat (if they have any) — they will inevitably, gradually lose the added muscle mass, most likely regain at least some regular fat weight, and eventually return to their original default genetic body composition and shape including muscle/mass (or lack of) as well as skinny fat (if any) — like Research Participant 378 (38).

Gaslighting and Mental Health

As for the people who get within safe BMI yet fail to realize their body recomposition goals due to skinny fat tissue even when they do put in the hard work, they are gaslighted (39), “…manipulating someone into questioning their own perception of reality…deception of one’s memory, perception of reality, or mental stability,” relentlessly by everyone — influencers, medical professionals, politicians, laypeople, family, friends, etc. — all who claim that the person is lying, cheating, and just plain lazy (not working hard enough), and being skinny fat is their fault.

Of course, genetics are just an excuse. Which, at the very least, damages self-confidence and mental health.

All the while, those same dubious people (many who are scientists) cannot offer a single explanation, remedy, or solution once the person is within safe Standard BMI. No matter how close to 18.5 BMI they get, they cannot get rid of the skinny fat tissue (thin fat, cellulite). Yet, somehow magically, it is still their fault.

Which further damages self-confidence and mental health, no less.

Understanding Unique Genetic Body Composition – How Skinny Fat Affects Mental Health

The key to wrangling the global mental health crisis (41, 42, 43) and obesity epidemic (44, 45, 46, 47) lies in scientifically understanding unique genetic body composition (muscle/mass, regular fat, skinny fat) and metabolism in relation to science-based diet (48), exercise (49), and lifestyle (50).

The Scientific Health Quizzes including the Scientific Body Type Quiz (51), Scientific Metabolism Quiz Health Score (52), Scientific Diet Quiz Health Score (53), Scientific Exercise Quiz Health Score (54), and Scientific Lifestyle Quiz Health Score (55) were developed using the latest scientific data, evidence, and facts in proprietary algorithms to accurately calculate your unique metrics to help keep body composition and shape expectations and goals realistic and achievable.

Are Regular Fat and Skinny Fat the Same Thing?

References

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