MODERN medicine has long written off people with higher BMIs as unfit, as doctors tell them that overweight automatically means unhealthy.
But a new study has debunked this, suggesting you can be fat AND fit.
Plus-size gym bunnies Michelle Thomas, Tammy Davidson and Katrina Rohman[/caption]
Katrina, 40, has always been larger despite being fit and active, and says: ‘I wake up with energy and I have stamina’[/caption]
A study at the University of Michigan took samples from two groups of people with BMIs above 30 who were matched for body fat mass, weight and sex.
Half had been exercising four times a week or more for at least two years, while the other half had never exercised.
They found that those in the workout group had healthier belly fat tissue and fewer cells that cause inflammation.
They also had better capacity to store fat under the belly skin, which is healthier than around the organs.
Michelle Thomas, 57, had always been a skinny child and only started thinking about weight as a teen.
But it was a throwaway comment in her mid-twenties that really knocked her for six.
“I was going out one evening and wearing a strappy dress,” recalls the public relations expert, from Ramsgate, Kent.
“My mum said: ‘You look lovely, but it’s a shame you’ve inherited your grandmother’s fat arms’.
“She didn’t mean to upset me, but from that day on I no longer had arms — I had fat arms.”
Michelle, who has a 14-year-old son, says it took her years to overcome that mindset and is sick of being made to feel bad about her larger shape.
She says: “Mum was a yo-yo dieter because that was the culture at the time.
“But I want to show my teenager that women eat normal food and they can be strong.”
Michelle, who is 5ft 4in and a size 16-18, has exercised on and off over the years, but started training regularly during lockdown in 2020, using Chris Hemsworth’s Centr app.
And in June last year, she took up powerlifting.
She says: “I had a women’s health check-up and the doctor wanted to put me on statins.
“I thought it was better to keep fit than take medication.”
I want to show my teenager that women eat normal food and they can be strong
Michelle Thomas
Today, Michelle can lift up to 120kg in the gym and works out three times a week. She also cycles, goes swimming in the sea and does boxing and yoga.
But she remains at 15st 3lb and her BMI is 36, which is considered obese. Michelle says: “I think BMI should be banned.”
“It makes you anxious and paranoid, plus shaming people has never motivated them.
“Doctors don’t take into account that I’m mixed race. The studies they reference are all based on the average white European woman.
“I’m also in menopause and the hormonal changes make it harder to lose weight.”
Michelle says she has made peace with her shape, but stops short of saying she “loves” her rolls.
She says: “It’s not about how I look — it’s about how my body feels and what it can do.”
But Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi of the Royal College of GPs, warns: “While exercise can help reduce many of the health risks associated with being overweight or obese, the evidence suggests excess body fat remains a risk factor for cardiovascular, metabolic and musculoskeletal health, even in active individuals.
“BMI remains a good, simple tool to raise awareness of what a healthy weight range might be.”
Despite being fit and active, Katrina Rohman has always been larger.
As a child, her dance teacher referred to her as “chunky girl”.
“I stood out from the crowd, which makes you self-conscious,” she says. I’m 5ft 9in and 5st over ‘ideal’ weight, so people make assumptions about my lifestyle.”
Michelle, 57, can lift up to 120kg in the gym and works out three times a week[/caption]
But while the 40-year-old marketing manager is a size 20 and has a BMI of 39, her fitness levels put many skinnier women to shame.
She does spin and body pump classes several times a week and enjoys wild swimming and cycling.
Katrina, who writes a travel blog called Real Girls Wobble, puts her body shape down to genetics and polycystic ovary syndrome, diagnosed at 19.
“I was prescribed a drug called Metformin, which is also used for type 2 diabetes, and I had good results,” she says.
“But over the years, the weight crept back on.
People will say things like: ‘You have a bike but do you actually ride it?’
Katrina Rohman
“I lost more than 2st during lockdown when I had time to exercise once or twice a day, but I’ve put it all back on as that isn’t sustainable.”
Katrina has been with partner Michael, 41, for 12 years and lives in Cardiff.
She says she is often the butt of fat-shaming jibes: “People will say things like: ‘You have a bike but do you actually ride it?’.
“But I played hockey in high school and have had a gym membership off and on since I was 18.
“I also try to eat healthily and mostly cook from scratch, but I won’t miss out on the odd cider or treat on holiday.
“It does frustrate me when I see thinner women who eat junk and stay skinny.
“But I tell myself they are storing up problems for later and I know I’m looking after myself well.
“I might not be as small as them, but I wake up with energy and I have stamina.”
Tammy Davidson, 49 with a BMI of 31, also suffers from PCOS and admits her desire to be a mum drove her to fad diets — but she just ended up miserable.
She says: “I’ve not always been curvy, but I have polycystic ovaries and it was only in my thirties that my weight became an issue.
‘I can lift 100kg’
“I needed IVF to get pregnant and doctors were insistent I lose weight first.
Tammy, from Gloucester, followed doctors’ orders: “I was on the cabbage soup diet, Dukan and Slimming World, with varied success.
“I lost 3st and dropped three dress sizes but my IVF didn’t work.
“I felt angry that the medical profession pushed me into unhealthy eating habits when my fertility issue was not weight-related.”
As a child, Tammy hated PE due to her asthma, but after her failed fertility treatment, she took up exercise.
She says: “I started with gym classes like boxing and fell in love with weight lifting. Ten years on, I can lift 100kg.”
Tammy says experience has taught her you can’t go by the number on the scales alone.
Strangers in the gym will make assumptions based on my body shape, but I can keep up with people in their twenties and thirties
Tammy Davidson
“I focus on how I feel in my clothes and also my capacity to live a good life, rather than the fact my BMI hasn’t been below 30 in a decade,” says Tammy, who’s 5ft 8in.
“I also accept eating less and moving more doesn’t have the same impact now that I’m perimenopausal.”
Tammy has now retrained as a sports and exercise psychologist (themindfield.co.uk).
“Strangers in the gym will make assumptions based on my body shape, but I can keep up with people in their twenties and thirties,” she says.
“Best of all, I haven’t stepped on the scales in ages. Strength and functional movement is more important to me now.”
Tammy, 49, reveals: ‘I started with gym classes like boxing and fell in love with weight lifting’[/caption]
What is BMI?
BODY Mass Index is used to categorise people’s weight, based on their height.
There are different bands, with levels 18.5 to 24.9 described as the “healthy” range, 25 to 29.9 as “overweight” and 30 to 39.9 as “obese”.
But the system is often criticised because it does not take into account body composition, sex or age.
Likewise, someone with a “normal” BMI isn’t automatically healthy and could have a poor diet.
