It has become apparent to me that many of the problems people are faced with in diet and fitness are due to a lack of understanding of the definitions of some of the most basic concepts.

This is me at my ideal Adonis Index, around 180lbs. I have no idea what my bodyfat % is and I don't care.

It may be that much of the anxiety and the roadblocks people face on a day to day basis can be reduced or eliminated by having a better and clearer understanding of what they are trying to do. This starts with having clear definitions of each of the major issues in health and fitness, and today I want to talk about the definitions of ‘overweight’ vs ‘overfat’.

Overweight vs Overfat

“Overweight”

Overweight is a designation that comes from the Body Mass Index rating scale that indicates how heavy a person is compared to their body size. It’s a tool clinicians can use for recommending lifestyle changes or interventions to a patient. Researchers can also use it as a way to assess population data when determining relative risks of disease in large groups of people.

For most people who are dieting and going to the gym they don’t care about being overweight per se, it’s more accurate to say that most people want to avoid being “overfat”.

“Overfat”

Overfat refers more specifically to the amount of fat compared to lean mass a person is carrying. You can be overweight and not necessarily overfat, and you can be overfat without necessarily being overweight.

Most people are more concerned about being over fat than overweight. There are general cutoffs for each designation that are used to indicate relative risk of various diseases, but overall most people don’t care about these cutoffs, they just want to look better.

For most people, the goal or target look that they’re after can’t be defined in terms of overweight or overfat, and until now there was no words for it besides ‘being in shape’.

I think this is a lousy way to describe a health or fitness goal and instead would rather use a goal that specifies exactly what the actual shape is you’re trying to get into.

And my research has obviously lead me to an answer that ends up being the Adonis Index for men and the Venus Index for women.

Both of these designations account for weight, fat mass, muscle mass, and most importantly the overall shape (which is what everyone wants anyway).

Nobody cares if they are in the healthy bodyweight or bodyfat range if their shape isn’t what they want. There are many people I have worked with that weren’t overweight or overfat but were still entirely unsatisfied with their body SHAPE, and that is because they never knew what shape to work towards.

To start off the discussion on definitions I suggest throwing overweight and overfat out the window and replacing them with body shape goals.

Having a body shape goal provides a much more specific target that automatically accounts for weight, fat, and muscle mass. Working towards any of the other targets by themselves will never ensure that you’re also getting to the shape and look you really want.

Let the shape be your soul focus and the other metrics will fall into place along the way.

John

Here is a quote from a national Canadian newspaper article today: “We know that within the past 30 years, the prevalence of obesity doubled among those ages 40 to 69 and tripled among those 20 to 39,”

You're not Broken (as some fitness marketers would have you believe)

Can you see what the obvious implication of this quote is?

It’s that there is nothing wrong with you or your metabolism but rather our lifestyles, society and food supply/access has changed.

We haven’t undergone any evolutionary change in the past 30 years…but our food supply has.

Our daily activity levels have also dropped in this time. And stress levels in general are on the rise. So it’s pretty obvious where the root of our overeating problems come from.

But supplement/diet/fitness marketers will always try to sell you a story of how YOU are broken and their magical cure can fix you. Don’t believe it.

Eat less and you’ll lose weight.

John

In light of a few past discussions about BMI and body fatness etc I’ve come to a realization that is just another indication of how our societal norms change the language to disguise the truth and try to make everyone feel exactly the same.

The issue is with the way we describe body size and the use of the word ‘weight’ and the thinking around it.

It’s not uncommon to refer to someone as ‘overweight’, even the individual themselves can easily recognize when they’re overweight and will often refer to themselves with this word.

It’s also not uncommon to refer to someone as underweight, or too light, too skinny etc.

So if the categories of overweight and underweight exist…what are they being compared to?

The ‘right’ weight?

Normal weight?

The ‘correct’ weight?

Average weight?

Good weight?

If you think about it you’ll realize we don’t have a term that is associated with the word ‘weight’ to describe what ‘overweight’ and ‘underweight’ are being compared to?

If ‘normal’ weight or ‘average’ is in fact the correct technical terms we certainly don’t use them in the general discussions or pop culture (it might show up in clinical setting’s such as the BMI chart…and we all know how well that goes over)

Instead we tend to use other terms that don’t associate the word weight.

We use terms like “In shape”, “athletic”, “lean”, “toned”, “jacked”. Whatever.

But we never use a ‘weight’ associated word. When was the last time you heard someone say “she’s at her correct weight”

However it’s perfectly normal to say “she’s overweight”…BUT in order for someone to be ‘overweight’ that means by definition there has to be an ideal/normal/correct/right weight…otherwise how do you know you’re over it?!

“Overweight” cannot exist without “normal” weight to compare it to.

“Skinny” cannot exist without “normal” size/weight to compare it to.

I think this is another instance where you can’t point out what is good or ideal or right or correct because then it seems to suggest someone is ‘better’ than someone else. (when it could very well be that physically they are, you’re just forbidden by societal norms to say it)

John