We’re fit but fat – trolls hurl fat-shaming jibes our way but we can run rings around skinny minnies in the gym

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.

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.