Manhattan men are nation’s 2nd-skinniest: report

Pearl Gabe/New York Daily News

Actor David Singletary of East Harlem exemplifies the trim status that Manhattan men enjoy in a new study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. He works out at New York Sports Club six days a week, and has lost more than 200 pounds after moving to New York from Florida….

Here’s the skinny on Manhattan men.

A new study reveals that they’re second only to the slender guys of San Francisco as the trimmest in the nation — and one reason is the Type A personality that’s prevalent in the Big Apple.

Handout/David Singletary

… where Singletary, pictured here in his pre-NYC days, says ‘it’s okay to have extra pounds. It means someone’s lovin’ you, cooking for you at home.’

Fewer than one in five Manhattanites is obese — and male life expectancy in the city has gone up a whopping 13 years since 1985, compared to eight years for New York women.

Men in Manhattan tend to be more affluent, better educated and success-driven — all factors that help tip the scales toward not tipping the scales, according to the new report by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

Pearl Gabel/New York Daily News

Exercise is key for many Manhattan men, such as those riding bicycles through Central Park.

“There is a lot of pressure to look your best and be healthy here,” said David Singletary, 30, a musical theater actor who moved from Florida to the city when he was 450 pounds.

He’s now a ripped 215 — and a poster boy for health.

Pearl Gabel/New York Daily News

New Yorker Michael Eigen keeps trim by riding his scooter home from work.

“A casting director told me I would spend my career typecast as the ‘funny, fat sidekick’ unless I lost weight,” said Singletary. “Where I grew up, it’s okay to have extra pounds. It means someone’s lovin’ you, cooking for you at home.”

Singletary said he won the battle of the bulge by walking, going to free exercise classes and throwing out the junk food in his fridge.

Pearl Gabel/New York Daily News

Luigi Fenzo, another trim Manhattan man, takes a spin class at a New York Sports Club branch.

“Working out is hard and I don’t always want to do it, but it’s probably the best thing I have done in my entire life,” said Singletary, who lives in East Harlem and works out six days a week at New York Sports Club. “Losing half my body weight was like losing two Olsen twins.”

For Michael Eigen, owner of Premier Cru, a boutique wine shop on Madison Ave., exercise is key — he rides his bicycle 100 miles a week.

Joe Marino/New York Daily News

Skinny ties, skinny men. That’s Manhattan for you, says a new report by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

“New York is filled with temptation. You’ve got to pay attention to your health,” said Eigen, 48. “We’re all Type A’s here. Riding a bike at the end of a workday and feeling the breeze calms you down. It’s like having a drink.”

One of the authors of the study called Manhattan’s life expectancy numbers “impressive” and said Mayor Bloomberg’s initiatives against smoking, sugar and trans fats played some role.

“He can’t take all the credit, but he certainly can take some when you think about how low obesity is (in Manhattan), compared to 50% in other places,” said Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
Other parts of the country can’t make the same boast.

Nearly half the men in Owsley County, Ky., and Issaquena County, Miss. — which ranked at the top of the country’s obesity chart — were busting their buttons in 2011.
“I believe it,” said Kim Reed, owner of the Home Town Cafe in Booneville, Ky.

“About half my male customers fit the bill,” said Reed, who dishes up fried chicken, biscuits and gravy and homemade peanut butter pie.

“I guess after they hit retirement, they eat themselves to death. All that country cookin’, I guess.”

hevans@nydailynews.com