Yes, it’s possible to be both. It’s also possible to be underweight (or at a healthy weight) and overfat.

How can it be? If a person has a good BMI (Body Mass Index), doesn’t that mean they are healthy? Not necessarily.

BMI is a commonly used tool to estimate risk associated with being overweight or obese, but it has always been seen as a quick and dirty tool, not a definitive measure. Now we are seeing why.

Normal weight but over fat

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have found that as many as half the normal weight people in America have too much body fat, and thus have an increased risk for diabetes, heart disease and other lifestyle conditions. This is because much of their body fat is visceral, which is deeply deposited, most often around the belly, and which produces triple the bad chemicals of other types of body fat. Visceral fat is the kind normal weight people have – it builds up without changing our total weight because it replaces muscle that is naturally lost as we age.

Fit and fat

A 2008 report in the Journal of Internal Medicine showed that half of all overweight people and 1/3 of obese people (as defined by BMI) are actually healthy in terms of risk. Their blood pressure and body chemistry numbers are good.

So, if BMI does not work as a predictor of health or disease risk, what does?

EXERCISE!!! I’m a personal trainer, what did you think I would say? People with the lowest fitness level are 4 times more likely to die than those with the highest level. Fitness level at any weight is the single strongest predictor of your risk of dying. A minimum level of fitness is all that is needed – just one healthy habit! (took me a while to get that in…)

Cmon people, get off the scales and put your shoes on!