"Being thin doesn't automatically mean you're not fat," said Dr. Jimmy Bell, a professor of molecular imaging at Imperial College, London. Since 1994, Bell and his team have scanned nearly 800 people with MRI machines to create "fat maps" showing where people store fat.
According to the data, people who maintain their weight through diet rather than exercise are likely to have major deposits of internal fat, even if they are otherwise slim. "The whole concept of being fat needs to be redefined," said Bell, whose research is funded by Britain's Medical Research Council.
Without a clear warning signal — like a rounder middle — doctors worry that thin people may be lulled into falsely assuming that because they're not overweight, they're healthy.
"Just because someone is lean doesn't make them immune to diabetes or other risk factors for heart disease," said Dr. Louis Teichholz, chief of cardiology at Hackensack Hospital in New Jersey, who was not involved in Bell's research.
Even people with normal Body Mass Index scores — a standard obesity measure that divides your weight by the square of your height — can have surprising levels of fat deposits inside.
Of the women scanned by Bell and his colleagues, as many as 45 percent of those with normal BMI scores (20 to 25) actually had excessive levels of internal fat. Among men, the percentage was nearly 60 percent.
Relating the news to what Bell calls "TOFIs" — people who are "thin outside, fat inside" — is rarely uneventful. "The thinner people are, the bigger the surprise," he said, adding the researchers even found TOFIs among people who are professional models.
According to Bell, people who are fat on the inside are essentially on the threshold of being obese. They eat too many fatty, sugary foods — and exercise too little to work it off — but they are not eating enough to actually be fat. Scientists believe we naturally accumulate fat around the belly first, but at some point, the body may start storing it elsewhere."
Excerpt from Yahoo article
TOFI, huh? I guess it's time that I got serious about exercising now that there's an acronym for my condition. I joined a gym a few months ago (purchased a one month trial membership online) and never actually set foot in that gym. Sad, indeed. I don't think I've been to a gym since I worked at one about 7 (or is it 8?) years ago. Even then, I rarely worked out despite having a free membership. Can you say "motivationally challenged"? I remember going to the gym with friends a handful of times back in junior high, but our efforts were cancelled out by a trip to The Olive Garden after every workout (hey, at least we shared the cheese ravioli).
I recently bought a yoga mat along with two DVDs because I theorized that I may be more willing to exercise if I didn't have to shower and primp beforehand. Well, that lasted about 4 sessions. But in my defense, 3 of those sessions were "power yoga", so those should count for double. Yeahhhhh, that's it.
What is wrong with me? I have excellent intentions....and that's about it. Absolutely zero follow through. What's a girl to do? I guess I'll wait until I get a beer belly or grow 3 chins...that oughtta motivate me.
