Do you think someone can be obese and healthy?

bcattoes

I know a few men who are tall with a good amount of muscle mass, who according to the BMI scale, are considered obese. So, yes.

Actually, you don't know ANYONE who is considered obese based on their BMI index alone. BMI is a guestimate that does not consider lean muscle mass. Bodybuilders are overweight (again, a measurement based on a metric average), but they are NOT OBESE. BMI is a horrible measurement for people with lean muscle mass.

BMI does have an obese category based solely on height and weight. Your opinion of it being horrible doesn't change that.

Yeah, it's an INACCURATE CATEGORY.

Sometimes, but not usually. It is population based and supported by research. Like any poplation based tool, there will be individual outliers.

The keyword in your sentence is "sometimes." Whenever you apply BMI to people who are bulky but have a low percentage of body fat, it skews the results. The BMI was not designed for athletes with lower body fat composition. Think about it. Do you think the HULK is obese? That's totally ridiculous. His BMI would say he is, however.

Which HULK are you talking about? BMI was not designed for any indvidual or specifc cohort. That's what "population based tool" means.

Athletes can be obese.

you are arguing just to argue. "BMI was not designed for any indvidual or specific cohort." Damn right, it wasn't. That's why individually it's highly inaccurate.

Yes, occasionally it is.

roanokejoe49

I know a few men who are tall with a good amount of muscle mass, who according to the BMI scale, are considered obese. So, yes.

Actually, you don't know ANYONE who is considered obese based on their BMI index alone. BMI is a guestimate that does not consider lean muscle mass. Bodybuilders are overweight (again, a measurement based on a metric average), but they are NOT OBESE. BMI is a horrible measurement for people with lean muscle mass.

BMI does have an obese category based solely on height and weight. Your opinion of it being horrible doesn't change that.

Yeah, it's an INACCURATE CATEGORY.

Sometimes, but not usually. It is population based and supported by research. Like any poplation based tool, there will be individual outliers.

The keyword in your sentence is "sometimes." Whenever you apply BMI to people who are bulky but have a low percentage of body fat, it skews the results. The BMI was not designed for athletes with lower body fat composition. Think about it. Do you think the HULK is obese? That's totally ridiculous. His BMI would say he is, however.

Which HULK are you talking about? BMI was not designed for any indvidual or specifc cohort. That's what "population based tool" means.

Athletes can be obese.

you are arguing just to argue. "BMI was not designed for any indvidual or specific cohort." Damn right, it wasn't. That's why individually it's highly inaccurate.

Yes, occasionally it is.

Read this article on the history of the BMI chart. Then you will see how flawed it is. It wasn't even designed (in 1830,by the way!) for the way people are currently using it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_index

mungowungo

Depends on the definition of "healthy". If this means don't have any chronic conditions requiring medical intervention/daily medications then yes. I am healthy, I am also obese, I am also in my 50s.

kamakazeekim

yes. I know several people who are considered obese yet have healthy numbers (cholesterol,blood sugar etc) and can run 5Ks around most other people I know. I'm obese and have perfect blood pressure and all the other tests and I run mud runs and work out and eat healthy....I hate my weight but due to a hormone disorder my body clings to every calorie

Smeltzer2

I am not a doctor but i can say whether i was really fat or average i always had high blood pressure. I know some real heavy people no health problems some are old some are young but overweight. At times I think it is heredity.

pammyiam

My 79 year old father is is the healthiest fat person I have ever seen. He has low blood pressure. Of course there are parts of his body that hurt him with the excessive weight, but no heart trouble, stroke or other issues. Knock on wood.

dtimedwards

I'm 5'10 and 210#, so by BMI I'm still obese by about 2#.

Last week I ran 42 miles which included a 13 mile run.
I routinely smoke people when hiking the local mountains. (except when I go with the ultra-marathoners)
My recent blood work numbers were all acceptable or better.
I poop 1-2X/day and they're generally firm.

So yes... I'm obese AND healthy.

And while BMI can generally be considered to be bunk, if I wasn't as active as I am and you saw me naked you'd be "yep... that dude is obese"

jwdieter

If you define "healthy" as "alive" or even "alive and ambulatory", many obese people are "healthy".

Commander_Keen

Only in the NFL and even then your stretching it.

RhonndaJ

Yes, to a point.

I'm 51, and have been obese to morbidly obese for 90 percent of my adult life. Blood sugar is great. Cholesterol is great. Blood pressure great. Injuries heal quickly and when I do catch a bug I am usually over it long before most other people.

I do have mental health issues, and am having joint issues in my hands and wrists, neither are considered to be related to my obesity.

So.

My doctor considers me healthy, though clearly unfit.

That all said, I fully understand that I am both incredibly lucky and effectively a walking timebomb.

eileen0515

Why is this question even important? I think most would agree, from a health standpoint, less fat is better than more fat. Active is better than sedentary. Sweating good, lot's of sitting bad. Sure someone could be absent of disease, while being obese. However it's playing with fire, because eventually the clock keeps ticking...

Sorry but sounds like excuses to be fat. As a former fat person, the last thing I need is an excuse. Forget the BMI charts, we all know what fat, versus slender looks like.

mungowungo

Why is this question even important? I think most would agree, from a health standpoint, less fat is better than more fat. Active is better than sedentary. Sweating good, lot's of sitting bad. Sure someone could be absent of disease, while being obese. However it's playing with fire, because eventually the clock keeps ticking...

Sorry but sounds like excuses to be fat. As a former fat person, the last thing I need is an excuse. Forget the BMI charts, we all know what fat, versus slender looks like.

I'll remember to tell this to my 94 year old father - yes he is not slender.

No it's not an excuse. The OP asked a question - whether it was possible - it was answered. The thing is obesity is of itself an indicator/cause of other health problems. We all know that - for goodness sake this is a health/fitness site after all and we all know it's better in the long run for our health if we aren't obese. No one is making excuses.

jennegan1

Do you? Please give reasoning as to why or why not

Probably not. The frame of the body isn't designed to support that kind of mass which is why ALL obese people have joint and pain issues. Not to mention if the weight is "pushed" against the internal organs, it's going to affect the efficiency of how they work.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I agree with you but dont forget for those who are also suffering from other alignments such as Chronic Lyme Disease which result in joint and pain issues....But then again thats another topic

SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish

The answer is, yes you "can be obese and healthy" qualified by two things: as an obese person you have chosen a "factor" which will negatively impact yourself in almost every way in health maintenance, recovery, and disease resistance and, it depends on your definition of healthy. In the same way, a heavy smoker could be "healthy" too until he succumbs to disease, and in rare cases a man could live to 90 and not diseased while smoking regularly: but since that same man probably has some other very positive genetic factors allowing him to live to 90 while smoking, he might live to 110 and have more useable years out of that time period if he didn't smoke. Similar circumstances with obesity.

SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish

Sure, you can be heavy and healthy. The problem is that the healthy part tends to be more temporary than with smaller folks. There are some conditions that heavier people are at increased risk for...although those are certainly not inevitable. Or even limited to fat folks.

I think there are enough studies to show the correlation between health problems with obesity but it's never absolute. These studies just show a higher "risk" but they don't mean it has to happen...like I am at higher risk of being hit by a car with my daily walking to work than my husband who rarely walks to anywhere, but it doesn't mean I will be hit by a car tomorrow...please don't beat me if this is a bad example. :flowerforyou:

It is a not quite accurate example. It impedes your body's function in many ways, your body is always working to overcome this obstacle, its more like "I'm swimming in a current against me, but I can swim as fast as average" Maybe so, but eventually your body gets tired.

As for bodybuilders classified as obese: yes all the time, most of the top level ones. Its just weight and height, so its an error prone measure, but you are going to be certain about those in this category when you see them, you dont just "happen to have so much muscle you are in the obese category". TheRock is a famous one classified as "obese" through most of his time in the spotlight, I remember a recent article stating he relatively recently got down just under the "obese" rating at 29.something, to 245lbs, AFAIK.

LaurenAOK

Also, how, exactly, are you defining "healthy?"

^This. It all depends on your definition of "health." To me, yes, an obese person can be healthy. I know obese people who can run a faster mile than I can, who have near perfect bloodwork, who rarely get sick, and are happy with their body (so they are mentally healthy). To me, that's health. Now, do these people have a greater risk for becoming unhealthy in the future? Absolutely. Obesity can lead to so many problems down the road - there's no way around that. So if being at a high risk for disease means "unhealthy" to you, then no, obese people can't be healthy. It really all depends on how you look at it.

fitandworking

There are outliers in everything. Some obese people may be healthy at least for the time being and some people at a "healthy" weight are not healthy due to genes or bad health habits. However it is generally better to not be obese than to be obese. If anyone says otherwise they are fooling themselves. Just because someone is better being obese as opposed to being a drug addict, doesn't mean obesity is good. I have been been obese all my life except for a very short time where I was at the high end of overweight. I haven't had a heart attack or diabetes but I'm only 24. Most people when they are young and obese act like it's not a problem then hit 40 or 50 and surprise they have high blood pressure or diabetes. It's just generally better to be close to a healthy weight. I certainly feel better being 74 pounds lighter even though I'm still considered obese, I'm not morbidly obese anymore.

kimad

I am not sure I would use the word healthy, but there is a study out there that supports that being overweight and maintaining that weight is much much easier on your body/organs, than to yo-yo all over the place.

that's all I got!

ETA: in another breath, there are a lot of 'skinny' people who are very unhealthy. Just goes to show!

rileysowner

I am sure someone else has said this, but obese is usually based on height to weight comparisons. The thing is many top level athletes, not to mention many of the muscular guys here would be obese base on height to weight tables out there, but they are healthy due to eating well, exercising frequently, and having a low body fat. A better question would be can a person have a fairly high body fat percentage and still be healthy?

ali524

I think being active is more important than the obesity level. For instance, you can have someone 5'8'' who is 120 and is so out of shape they have to gasp for breath running up the stairs, and you have another person the same height 100lbs more who can do it with no problem at all. Who is in better shape?

I will also like to point out, there are families out there, that have had obese people for generations who lived a long time. My grandmother was a very large woman. She was also very active. She lived into her 90's with very little health problems and *gasp* she didn't have any problems with her knees or joints!

So it isn't right to make a blanket statement like that. Maybe, most people, because there ARE people out there that won't fit that mold. When I was 190 my stomach was so flat you could bounce a quarter off of it, yet I was considered overweight, right on the cusp of being obese. I brought my worries to my dr and he told me to never go below that weight, that my build was such that was perfect for me.
I hate that stupid BMI chart, HATE IT!