FAT PEOPLE CAN BE AS HEALTHY AS THIN PEOPLE
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I guess when I was heavier I considered myself "healthy". I exercised, had a healthy diet, and normal blood pressure but I had serious problems with my knee and i seriously think it had to do with my weight. When I lost weight and got into a healthy weight range I had no problems at all with my knee. so for me knee problems because of being overweight=unhealthy. even if i was considered "healthy" in other aspects. I think the stress weight can cause on on knees and other joints is one of the reasons I lost weight. And I really wasn't that overweight, only about 10-15 lbs. its amazing how much difference 10-15 lbs made on my knee.
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People who think being fat is healthy are delusional. Have we as a society become so overweight that we are starting to consider it normal? BTW, healthy is a subjective term that is not clearly defined in any health journal but what we do know as fact is that an overweight person is more likely to get diabetes or heart disease. The stats don't say every single fat person gets theses diseases, it says tthat they have a higher chance of getting them when compared to someone of a smaller frame.0
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surely it depends what healthy habits are adopted? and surely if one of those is eating healthier foods the person in the bmi of 30 would be moved to mid range bmi if consistently stuck to? the results are saying that someone who adopts healthier lifestyle choices will stay at a bmi of 30 and i just can't see that, encouraging people that the fact they're overweight they will less likely die early is just plain stupid
for the people on here who are doing well with their weight loss programs have adopted one or most likely two healthier habbits are on the middle of that table are probably feeling good and i completely agree being too skinny is just as dangerous as being overweight as we see more in the middle of the table
the other two ends of the table are completely unfounded.... one end you've got someone who is skinny but does nothing at all to be so they miraculously over eat and remain sedentary most days and stay skinny and the other you have someone 1/3 over their normal bmi eating salads and doing 10 mile runs every week....
EDIT also this says a bmi of 18.5 is healthy which it quite clearly isn't for the average person i have a bmi of 21/22 and feel too skinny... my ex was a bmi of 19 and was told by her doctor to put on a stone minimum so the "evidence" isn't really evidence it's just a retarded way of looking at the facts lol0 -
My mother used to say this all the time. She's been overweight 90% of my life. She never had any health problems . . . Until she did. Within a year she went from all good results to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and knee problems.
Just because you're over weight doesn't mean your unhealthy. But just because your "numbers" say you're healthy doesn't mean your healthy either.
Unless she caught a really nasty cold that gave her all those symptoms, I'm pretty sure they were building up during her "healthy" years until they hit a breaking point and caused the unhealthy test results.0 -
As I said earlier my Mother was never overweight. She ate only food she she cooked . Perhaps she and I would go to dinner but never to those fast food places. Sometimes I wish she was heavier as he fell and broke her pubic bone. After that she needed a walker. Her independence was gone. She used to say to me, "I wish I was dead". She didn't like being dependent and weak. At 90 she got her wish. I miss her daily, but she id happy now. I am not saying extremely health people are healthy but like everything else there is moderation. No one in my family was over weight. I am due to an illness which kept be bedridden for awhile. This is why this process is difficult. And there are 89 year olds who do not have the will to live. I know quite a few people who not only passed, young, were thin and never smoked. As I said before sometimes it is not up to us.0
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I'm sure someone already said it, but there is a range higher than model thin and lower than obese and most of us are in that range.
Ever heard the term 'matronly figure'? Maybe there aren't a lot of obese 90 year olds but there are a lot of plump ones with their bikini and speedo years way behind them.
There are two definitions of fat and thin now. One is driven by the obsessive focus our society (and possibly species during the 'breeding years') has with appearance. The other is a medical definition. One has an extremely narrow acceptable range, the other is broader. Guess which is which?
That said, if you can get your plump but otherwise healthy granny going for walks with you in the neighborhood every day, would anyone deny it's good for her health?
And then there are the numerous elderly people at my gym. I think they might be Terminators. This is based on the fact that I have just now caught up to their weight numbers and no longer have to lower it when I follow them on an exercise machine...usually.
I want to be like them when I'm ancient! Not all of them are stick skinny, either. But I admit, most are pretty thin compared to the average American.0 -
I have a really hard time believing that article. Overweight and over fat are always unhealthy, period, end of that story!
No they are not. You are confusing risk of becoming unhealthy with actually being unhealthy.0 -
How many obese 90 year olds do you see around?
My great grandfather and grandmother lived to 89 and 92. They were both obese.
I'm obese, got great cholesterol. Triglycerides is like 79 which is awesome. Blood pressure 100/60 awesome, blood sugar 84 also awesome. I'm just around 130lbs overweight not so awesome. I don't feel unhealthy though. I just want to be able to wear what I want, and not be judged so much by other people. Also they don't make all dresses in all sizes, yah know (sadly).
But you are 24. The health problems of obesity tend to come on a bit later--they often start in late 30s for women (and obesity doesn't seem to be as much of a health liability for women). It is good that you are working on losing the body fat now, before it does become a problem for you.
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People who say that act like once they turns 80 they will just die in their sleep, or have an instanteous killer heart attack and be dead in seconds. The reality is more like what happened to my mom, woke up, ate breakfast, had a stroke. Spent 3 days in a coma, woke up to find she was paralyzed, had aphasia, double vision and was bedridden. Spent 6 mos in rehab, during which should couldn't remember the names of her children, had to wear adult diapers, couldn't read, speak or write. She wasn't overweight though. She was actually underweight (98lbs), sedentary, a 2pack of day smoker with only borderline high blood pressure - and she was only 53. That's what it's like to have medical issues when you are older, you are stuck in a hospital that even with good care, only offers marginal care. It's having your children change your diapers. It's not being able to speak for yourself because you have an inability to articulate your thoughts. It means no more clothing with zippers, orthopedic shoes that fit your brace, multiple medications, no alcohol, never ordering lobster or crabs in the shell, and having your steak cut for you. But don't think this means that her intelligence has lessened or been diminished - and that is one of the worst things, that the stroke has run through this point: your body is a cage that carries your brain around. But sometimes your body becomes just a cage.How many obese 90 year olds do you see around?
I'm all for getting "healthy," but hell I'd gladly trade my 80s and 90s to enjoy myself while I'm in my 20s.
ETA: Screw it, throw my 70s in the trade too.
Do I try to live a healthier lifestyle because of this? You bet. Because it's a lottery. I may be lucky and be able to live a long life without having to do anything special by way of diet, exercise, lifestyle. Or I may do everything and have it not be enough to keep medical issues from cropping up. But I don't know which way it will go. If eating right and exercising gives me 10 -5 extra years before my first stroke, then hey I'm gratefult --but even better if it prevents me from ever having one.
Because it's not the quick death that I fear. It's the long, drawn out illness, the partial recovery, and then 15-20 years after.0 -
...BTW, healthy is a subjective term that is not clearly defined in any health journal but what we do know as fact is that an overweight person is more likely to get diabetes or heart disease. The stats don't say every single fat person gets theses diseases, it says tthat they have a higher chance of getting them when compared to someone of a smaller frame.
Yes, a very high proportion of those who are "morbidly obese" have Type II diabetes or are "pre-diabetic". But I think it likely that the same dietary habits (eating sugar and simple carbs) that produced the obesity also produce Type II diabetes. They would be co-morbidities. Many diabetes researchers are now saying that both are just facets of the same disease of "diabestity".0 -
I think their is a difference between "healthy" and "quality of life". Yes, someone who is obese may not smoke, drink, or have diabetes. They may not have high blood pressure or high cholesterol. But if you can't walk without get winded, or do the activites that you used to enjoy, does it really matter if you are "healthy"? I don't have any risk factors but I want to have quality of life. I want to keep up with my kids, ride bikes with them, go to amusement parks without wondering if I can fit in the seat. Being "healthy" is important to me, but quality of life is essential.0
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I believe this is true. I am still way overweight and trying hard to lose but I do exercise reguarly and have been for years and according to my dr. I am as healthy as anyone at normal weight so other than being in the "obese" category on the scale I have no health factors that she is concerned with. Of course I'm trying my hardest to lose weight but there is something for exercising and being "fat and fit"0
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I believe this is true. I am still way overweight and trying hard to lose but I do exercise reguarly and have been for years and according to my dr. I am as healthy as anyone at normal weight so other than being in the "obese" category on the scale I have no health factors that she is concerned with. Of course I'm trying my hardest to lose weight but there is something for exercising and being "fat and fit"
I think that exercising and staying as well-nourished as you can often forestalls many of the problems of obesity AND I think that if a healthy diet and healthy amounts of exercise just naturally work to keep body fat down (and to reduce it). I didn't make any drastic changes (other than to cut out sugar, wheat and simple carbs) and added a couple of hours of pool exercise and weight lifting. I made the dietary changes a couple of years ago and took off thirty-five pounds without thinking much about it. Since I added the exercise last summer, I have taken off another 17 pounds. I have lost almost 8 inches off my waist and I consider this one of the most important measurements of my loss of body fat. I have to admit that adding the exercise has made a big difference in my energy levels and just a general feeling of wellness---but that was already improving from the dietary changes alone.0 -
Yes if it wernt for the fact that they were over weight..... over weight will always mean you are unhealthy0
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Yes if it wernt for the fact that they were over weight..... over weight will always mean you are unhealthy
I think it is important to define what we mean by "overweight". My husband, who has always been a trim athlete, has also always been "overweight" by the standard tables because he has a big bone structure (a pediatrician once described his bone structure as "dinosaur bones") and is heavily muscled. He has a trim waist. Generally, what we mean by "overweight" is really over-fat. I think that is an important distinction. People who are over-fat tend to have lots of abdominal fat and health authorities say that abdominal fat is the bigger health liability (rather than the fat that women gain in their thighs and buttocks).0 -
How many obese 90 year olds do you see around?
My great grandfather and grandmother lived to 89 and 92. They were both obese.
I'm obese, got great cholesterol. Triglycerides is like 79 which is awesome. Blood pressure 100/60 awesome, blood sugar 84 also awesome. I'm just around 130lbs overweight not so awesome. I don't feel unhealthy though. I just want to be able to wear what I want, and not be judged so much by other people. Also they don't make all dresses in all sizes, yah know (sadly).
But you are 24. The health problems of obesity tend to come on a bit later--they often start in late 30s for women (and obesity doesn't seem to be as much of a health liability for women). It is good that you are working on losing the body fat now, before it does become a problem for you.
Absolutely this. As I said, you become a ticking time bomb. It's just a matter of time before the obesity contributes in a huge way to some catastrophic event. No, it wasn't the obesity that CAUSED the stroke, heart attack, diabetes.... but it was a contributing factor to it.
Yes, at 24 I felt fantastic even though I was obese. I was still able to ride horses (poor horse), run, walk, play tennis, and have LOTS of active fun. My numbers were fantastic and I was as healthy as that poor horse. Well, when I got to 28 it got a little harder to do those things. At 32 harder still and those numbers were all getting a bit dodgy. By 38 I couldn't even stand for long periods of time without being exhausted and I ran out of time. I stroked out.
My end goal weight is still (by the charts) considered "overweight". I don't think that ALL overweight people are about to kick the bucket, but I do really think that OBESITY turns your body into a time bomb. It will go off.0 -
so if you put an obese person on a track and a healthy person they will both be able to do same amount of laps????
sorry but I do not agree with that at ALL. When I was 200# and 25% body fat there is no WAY that I was as healthy as I am at 170# and 13% BF....0 -
...BTW, healthy is a subjective term that is not clearly defined in any health journal but what we do know as fact is that an overweight person is more likely to get diabetes or heart disease. The stats don't say every single fat person gets theses diseases, it says tthat they have a higher chance of getting them when compared to someone of a smaller frame.
"Healthy" is a word with a meaning. It's not really subjective at all.
health·y/ˈhɛlθi/ Show Spelled [hel-thee] Show IPA
adjective, health·i·er, health·i·est.
1. possessing or enjoying good health or a sound and vigorous mentality: a healthy body; a healthy mind.
2. pertaining to or characteristic of good health, or a sound and vigorous mind: a healthy appearance; healthy attitudes.
3. conducive to good health; healthful: healthy recreations.
4. prosperous or sound: a healthy business.
5. Informal. fairly large: I bought a healthy number of books.
health/hɛlθ/ Show Spelled [helth] Show IPA
noun
1. the general condition of the body or mind with reference to soundness and vigor: good health; poor health.
2. soundness of body or mind; freedom from disease or ailment: to have one's health; to lose one's health.
3. a polite or complimentary wish for a person's health, happiness, etc., especially as a toast: We drank a health to our guest of honor.
4. vigor; vitality: economic health.
(www.dictionary.com) Either you have it or you don't, and it's only partially within our control. A good bit of whether or not you are healthy re is luck.0 -
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Yes if it wernt for the fact that they were over weight..... over weight will always mean you are unhealthy
I think it is important to define what we mean by "overweight". My husband, who has always been a trim athlete, has also always been "overweight" by the standard tables because he has a big bone structure (a pediatrician once described his bone structure as "dinosaur bones") and is heavily muscled. He has a trim waist. Generally, what we mean by "overweight" is really over-fat. I think that is an important distinction. People who are over-fat tend to have lots of abdominal fat and health authorities say that abdominal fat is the bigger health liability (rather than the fat that women gain in their thighs and buttocks).
Yep but the OP is probably referring to people who have to much weight, you husband to me does not sound over weight, just that the BMI ratio does not work in his case because he has more muscle/bone than the average person?0 -
...BTW, healthy is a subjective term that is not clearly defined in any health journal but what we do know as fact is that an overweight person is more likely to get diabetes or heart disease. The stats don't say every single fat person gets theses diseases, it says tthat they have a higher chance of getting them when compared to someone of a smaller frame.
"Healthy" is a word with a meaning. It's not really subjective at all.
health·y/ˈhɛlθi/ Show Spelled [hel-thee] Show IPA
adjective, health·i·er, health·i·est.
1. possessing or enjoying good health or a sound and vigorous mentality: a healthy body; a healthy mind.
2. pertaining to or characteristic of good health, or a sound and vigorous mind: a healthy appearance; healthy attitudes.
3. conducive to good health; healthful: healthy recreations.
4. prosperous or sound: a healthy business.
5. Informal. fairly large: I bought a healthy number of books.
health/hɛlθ/ Show Spelled [helth] Show IPA
noun
1. the general condition of the body or mind with reference to soundness and vigor: good health; poor health.
2. soundness of body or mind; freedom from disease or ailment: to have one's health; to lose one's health.
3. a polite or complimentary wish for a person's health, happiness, etc., especially as a toast: We drank a health to our guest of honor.
4. vigor; vitality: economic health.
(www.dictionary.com) Either you have it or you don't, and it's only partially within our control. A good bit of whether or not you are healthy re is luck.
I would agree. I know that a large part of my weight gain over the years was due to poor eating habits that I developed in childhood (lots of sugary treats and simple carbs) before we had the knowledge that we have now. But another part was the arthritis (genetic predisposition inherited from my mother) that set in (and it was exacerbated by my increasing body fat). I became sedentary because I hurt when I exercised--couldn't handle the pounding on my joints. Pool exercise has been a godsend for me---I actually enjoy exercising for the first time. I wish I had taken up weight lifting as a young woman---but women just didn't do that in the past (and only a few "weird" men did weight-lifting in those days---the kind of guys who ate raw eggs and wheat germ
).
Having said that, I believe that we need to try to be as healthy as we can be within the limits of the bodies we have been given. I am hoping to avoid being a burden to my children and grandchildren but, as you have observed, some of it is simply beyond our control.0 -
Yes if it wernt for the fact that they were over weight..... over weight will always mean you are unhealthy
I think it is important to define what we mean by "overweight". My husband, who has always been a trim athlete, has also always been "overweight" by the standard tables because he has a big bone structure (a pediatrician once described his bone structure as "dinosaur bones") and is heavily muscled. He has a trim waist. Generally, what we mean by "overweight" is really over-fat. I think that is an important distinction. People who are over-fat tend to have lots of abdominal fat and health authorities say that abdominal fat is the bigger health liability (rather than the fat that women gain in their thighs and buttocks).
Yep but the OP is probably referring to people who have to much weight, you husband to me does not sound over weight, just that the BMI ratio does not work in his case because he has more muscle/bone than the average person?
Yes---a lot of athletes are "overweight" (that is, they weigh more than the average person of their height) but are not over-fat. My husband has never been over-fat. In the past (and now), If he felt that he was getting a little "flabby" he would cut out the cookies (that he loves) for a month and be right back to trim. It isn't as easy for some of us.0 -
Being a healthy weight is a byproduct of healthy behavior. All the overweight (read: inactive) people that are consistently making healthy choices over poor choiceswill reach a healthy weight. Everyone that says, "I'm overweight but healthier than thin people" because you are working out and eating properly are probably right, but by virtue of your choices, you will be thin eventually, thus nullifying your argument.
I keep telling myself, I'm not fat, I'm in transit! Back when I wasn't moving, wasn't paying attention to my food, etc., then I was fat, but this girl... she's going places.
Edited to fix wording0 -
Yep but the OP is probably referring to people who have to much weight, you husband to me does not sound over weight, just that the BMI ratio does not work in his case because he has more muscle/bone than the average person?
Yes---a lot of athletes are "overweight" (that is, they weigh more than the average person of their height) but are not over-fat. My husband has never been over-fat. In the past (and now), If he felt that he was getting a little "flabby" he would cut out the cookies (that he loves) for a month and be right back to trim. It isn't as easy for some of us.
Some athletes are overweight and over-fat.0 -
Being a healthy weight is a byproduct of healthy behavior. All the overweight (read: inactive) people that are consistently making healthy choices over poor choiceswill reach a healthy weight. Everyone that says, "I'm overweight but healthier than thin people" because you are working out and eating properly are probably right, but by virtue of your choices, you will be thin eventually, thus nullifying your argument.
I keep telling myself, I'm not fat, I'm in transit! Back when I wasn't moving, wasn't paying attention to my food, etc., then I was fat, but this girl... she's going places.
Edited to fix wording
Amen! 0 -
Yep but the OP is probably referring to people who have to much weight, you husband to me does not sound over weight, just that the BMI ratio does not work in his case because he has more muscle/bone than the average person?
Yes---a lot of athletes are "overweight" (that is, they weigh more than the average person of their height) but are not over-fat. My husband has never been over-fat. In the past (and now), If he felt that he was getting a little "flabby" he would cut out the cookies (that he loves) for a month and be right back to trim. It isn't as easy for some of us.
Some athletes are overweight and over-fat.
True. My husband uses a very simple criteria for judging whether he is over-fat or not. He says that if he can grab any fat on his abdomen, that he is over-fat (he never gains fat anywhere else). He works out and eats properly (for the most part, except for the cookies). If he cut those out permanently, he would probably never gain any fat. 0 -
People who think being fat is healthy are delusional. Have we as a society become so overweight that we are starting to consider it normal? BTW, healthy is a subjective term that is not clearly defined in any health journal but what we do know as fact is that an overweight person is more likely to get diabetes or heart disease. The stats don't say every single fat person gets theses diseases, it says tthat they have a higher chance of getting them when compared to someone of a smaller frame.
I don't think people who think "fat" people can be healthy are delusional at all. First, the original post stated fat CAN BE healthier than thin. And it can. As many other people have posted, having healthy habits is probably a better indicator of health than size. Do we not hear over and over on here people going on about how the BMI isn't accurate for individuals?
Well, guess how they determine who is fat and who isn't? BMI. They don't go and measure everyone's body fat and say okay, you are 5'5" 125 pounds and 35% fat, you're obese and they don't say you're 5'5" 160 pounds and 20% fat, you're healthy. No, they say the 125 pound person is at a healthy weight and the 160 pound person is overweight. Who is most likely healthiest? Probably the person with 20% body fat because they probably have worked to achieve that.
We hear people on here all the time encouraging others to not focus on the scale and to not judge based on their weight or BMI but to focus on fitness and body fat %. So, to arbitrarily say that a person who is deemed as "fat" using BMI is delusional in thinking that they can be healthy is arbitrary. With my current LBM, in order for me to get to a "healthy" BMI range, I'd have to have less than 6% body fat (as a woman). Even if I lose 10% of my LBM (which I've done a good job of maintaining to date), I would have to get down to less than 15% body fat to be at a "healthy" weight. I will probably end up in the middle of the "overweight" range as I am working very hard to maintain my LBM and get more fit as I lose weight. I will always be "fat" by BMI standards but I can guarantee you that I will be more healthy than many, many "thin" people.0 -
well I will agee to disagree...
This thread seems like a cop out to me ..if you want to tell yourself that being over weight is as healthy as someone who is not overweight then more power to you...
If you believe that I got a bridge to china in my backyward to sell you...0 -
well I will agee to disagree...
This thread seems like a cop out to me ..if you want to tell yourself that being over weight is as healthy as someone who is not overweight then more power to you...
If you believe that I got a bridge to china in my backyward to sell you...
I agree somewhat. Of course a fat person can be healthier than a thin person. The thin person could elderly and dying. They could have been born with type 1 diabetes, or be thin because they have cancer and the chemo makes them sick all the time, they could have any number of diseases that cause them to be thin. And the fat person may be young and hasn't yet developed the obesity related diseases which are likely in his/her future.
But if you take 2 healthy people with all things being equal other than weight, where one is fat and one is not, the thinner person has a much greater chance of remaining healthy than the fat one.
It is much like smoking. The increased risk of developing lung cancer from smoking doesn't happen for years. The longer you smoke, the greater your odds of developing it. The longer you are fat, the greater your risk of obesity related disease.
It all comes down to how much you want to gamble with your health.0 -
People who think being fat is healthy are delusional. Have we as a society become so overweight that we are starting to consider it normal? BTW, healthy is a subjective term that is not clearly defined in any health journal but what we do know as fact is that an overweight person is more likely to get diabetes or heart disease. The stats don't say every single fat person gets theses diseases, it says tthat they have a higher chance of getting them when compared to someone of a smaller frame.
I don't think people who think "fat" people can be healthy are delusional at all. First, the original post stated fat CAN BE healthier than thin. And it can. As many other people have posted, having healthy habits is probably a better indicator of health than size. Do we not hear over and over on here people going on about how the BMI isn't accurate for individuals?
Well, guess how they determine who is fat and who isn't? BMI. They don't go and measure everyone's body fat and say okay, you are 5'5" 125 pounds and 35% fat, you're obese and they don't say you're 5'5" 160 pounds and 20% fat, you're healthy. No, they say the 125 pound person is at a healthy weight and the 160 pound person is overweight. Who is most likely healthiest? Probably the person with 20% body fat because they probably have worked to achieve that.
We hear people on here all the time encouraging others to not focus on the scale and to not judge based on their weight or BMI but to focus on fitness and body fat %. So, to arbitrarily say that a person who is deemed as "fat" using BMI is delusional in thinking that they can be healthy is arbitrary. With my current LBM, in order for me to get to a "healthy" BMI range, I'd have to have less than 6% body fat (as a woman). Even if I lose 10% of my LBM (which I've done a good job of maintaining to date), I would have to get down to less than 15% body fat to be at a "healthy" weight. I will probably end up in the middle of the "overweight" range as I am working very hard to maintain my LBM and get more fit as I lose weight. I will always be "fat" by BMI standards but I can guarantee you that I will be more healthy than many, many "thin" people.
I think it's more likely that you are overestimating your LBM. It would be pretty hard for a 5'5" woman to have 20% BF and weigh 160 lbs. And darn near impossible for the same woman to have 6% BF and weigh > 150 lbs without some type of enhancer like steroids, which carry their own health risks.0
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