Fellow One Research lead scientific researcher, Marc Nelson, appeared on The Podcast by KevinMD with host Dr. Kevin Pho to discuss skinny fat and normal weight obesity. Only being loosely recognized and somewhat accepted by mainstream science and medical doctors in the last decade or so, skinny fat is genetically influenced and means having an unusual amount of some form of fat (cellulite, thin fat, loose skin, saggy skin, crepey skin, normal weight obesity) on your body. Normal weight obesity is defined as having too much fat on your body while within your safe BMI weight range, carrying with it the same general health risks as obesity.
The disease of obesity is having too much fat on your body which takes you outside your safe BMI weight range.
The conversation focused on better understanding the difference between regular fat (white fat/yellow fat/excess fat) and skinny fat by first clarifying the current mainstream science and medical doctor’s body type standards. When you go to see your licensed medical doctor for your regular checkup, you, like every human being, are being judged by:
- Standard #1: Standard Scientific Human Body Anatomy Book Body Type One (BT1) – found in any scientifically approved human body anatomy book. This first body type standard is not accurate because it fails to recognize that it is a scientific/genetic fact that any part of the human body can be underdeveloped to whatever degree. Nor does it give credence to any form of skinny fat.
- Standard #2: Body Mass Index (BMI) – It is not accurate because it fails to take into account skinny fat. For countless people globally, even when they are within their safe BMI weight range they still have too much fat on their body, which is the technical definition of obesity (having too much fat on your body). Nor does BMI realize the possibility of excess muscle mass, which can put one into the overweight or obese column of their BMI weight scale but they are not overweight or obese.
- Standard #3: Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) – It is inaccurate as it fails to calculate skinny fat in the Standard Mifflin St Jeor Equation and Harris-Benedict Equation for activity. Science recognizes that one pound of muscle mass burns six calories per day but one pound of fat/skinny fat only burns two to three calories per day, which directly, negatively affects metabolism. If you have skinny fat on your body yet are within safe BMI, you are likely eating too many calories daily following your standard BMR calculations.
The Podcast by KevinMD – Diagnosing Skinny Fat & Normal Weight Obesity
The discussion shifted to how there is currently no real means for doctors to diagnose skinny fat of any kind, including normal weight obesity. Since BMI became the standard in the mid-1980s, very little if anything has changed in terms of the current body type standards and medical care, in general. Fellow One Research’s Body Type Science (The Four Body Types) research is working on changing things to improve the accuracy of the currently accepted body type standards so doctors have a real, 
accurate way to make the appropriate diagnosis, as needed.
Having the proper means to make the necessary diagnosis will improve healthcare and health overall. It will also help mitigate the worldwide obesity epidemic. Moreover, wrangling the widespread, unrealistic, inaccurate physical body type standards and expectations placed on the average person by mainstream scientists and doctors, social media, the media, and society will improve no less than declining emotional and mental health, especially among young people.
Body Type Science helps you accept your genetic scientific body type, allowing you to make healthy science-based diet, exercise, and lifestyle choices thus encouraging improved mental, emotional, and physical well-being in the short and long term. Fellow One Research’s cutting-edge science-based tools can help, including the online Scientific Body Type Quiz and Scientific Weight Loss Programs. Listen to this educational and informative The Podcast by KevinMD episode on Apple Podcasts.
