Our skinny fat science research began in 2003, 3 years before the first mention of skinny fat in the official literature. Nearly 25 years later, our research shows that skinny fat is deficient genetically-influenced muscle, not too much fat within “safe”/normal-weight BMI. #skinnyfatscience - https://fellowone.com/

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BMI estimates body fat. Lean body mass (LBM) – DEXA, InBody, etc. - is a composite of all non-fat body tissue. Like waist-to-hip, waist-to-height, body fat %, etc. - none directly measure muscle tissue – they’re inaccurate proxy estimates.

As of Sept. 2026, there’s no standardized:

1 - way to measure total muscle tissue (including atrophy, sarcopenia)

2 - baseline average to compare #1 to

3 - baseline phenotype to compare #1 and #2 to

4 - way to measure total genetic muscle tissue from birth

5 - way to measure how much muscle is added via resistance/exercise

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Cake day: September 2nd, 2026

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  • Yes, BMI is a limited, inaccurate proxy measure.

    Lean body mass (LBM) – DEXA, InBody, etc. – is a composite of all non-fat body tissue. it is also not a direct measure of muscle tissue. Like BMI, LBM is an inaccurate proxy estimate at best.

    As of September 13, 2026 –

    1. There is no standardized way to measure total muscle tissue
    2. There is no standardized baseline average to compare #1 to
    3. There is no standardized baseline phenotype to compare #1 and #2 to
    4. There is no standardized way to measure total genetic muscle tissue from birth, or ever
    5. There is no standardized way to measure how much muscle tissue is added via exercise – resistance or extreme cardio (hypertrophy)
    6. There is no standardized way to measure how much muscle tissue is lost via poor diet, exercise, or lifestyle (atrophy)
    7. There is no standardized way to measure how much muscle tissue is lost via aging (sarcopenia)