Are you TOFI? | 11.10.21

Hey, this is a fitness center, right? When you look around, you see a lot of fit, healthy, motivated, driven people that come here on the regular. What I want to draw our attention to is that when you look at the normal weight population, approximately 40% of these people also have what’s called metabolic syndrome. This has spawned a new medical term, TOFI: thin on the outside fat on the inside.

The main cause of TOFI is metabolic syndrome—a cluster of signs that mostly result from chronically high insulin levels indicating the body isn’t processing carbohydrates properly. These signs include elevated blood glucose and hemoglobin A1c high triglycerides elevated LDL (especially the small dense kind) low HDL and high blood pressure. They also usually include obesity—particularly around the abdomen—but people who are TOFI have many of the signs without the excess body fat. For reasons of genetics or just plain luck they avoid putting on weight but can still experience all the same negative effects of insufficient physical activity and a diet high in refined carbohydrates and unhealthy fats.