How ideal is "normal BMI"? Should it change as we age?

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  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
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    siluridae wrote: »
    Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
    withoutasaddle wrote: »
    Can't read the article now, but it almost sounds like an excuse to stay overweight to me

    Why would someone need an excuse to stay overweight?

    There's an awful lot of them.
    Starvation mode, muh metabolism, corn syrup, sugar, fat, carbs, I work 25 hours a day and have a trillion kids, all the gyms are populated by intimidating roiders, broke every bone in my body, people don't support me, can't afford counting calories, muh genetics, too many toxins in my body, ruined my body by doing that juicing diet fifteen years ago...

    People get very creative when it comes to finding excuses. They usually don't say, yeah I'm fat, I like lots of pizza, bugger off now. It's always out of their control.

    You seem to be talking about excuses people give for why they can't lose weight despite trying. How could you use this study in that way?
  • siluridae
    siluridae Posts: 188 Member
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    Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

    You seem to be talking about excuses people give for why they can't lose weight despite trying. How could you use this study in that way?

    Probably for the kind of thinking that occasionally evolves out of these excuses: fat is totally healthy.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    edited October 2015
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    never mind.
  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
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    At least part of the obesity paradox might stem from who gets diseases. People who get a disease at a normal weight probably have strong genetics for that disease. People who are overweight or obese that get a disease probably don't have as severe of genetics and can influence the condition by losing weight.
  • tabletmfp
    tabletmfp Posts: 53 Member
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    Stacescotty wrote: »
    Those studies need take age into account. Of course a 45 year old overweight person will be more likely to survive and recover from the same illness that kills a thin 75 year old.

  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
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    senecarr wrote: »
    At least part of the obesity paradox might stem from who gets diseases. People who get a disease at a normal weight probably have strong genetics for that disease. People who are overweight or obese that get a disease probably don't have as severe of genetics and can influence the condition by losing weight.

    Funny that you say that. AFTER I finally, finally got my diagnosis as a young woman, I told my extended family that it was figured out and being treated, and my grandmother and great aunt both said they were on the same treatment by their doctors! I asked what for, and they couldn't remember. I told them the name of this rare disease, and they both were on the the treatment to avoid the complications from having it themselves, yep.

    That would have been nice to know while I couldn't get a diagnosis to save my life, lol.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Jruzer wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    IdLikeToLoseItLoseIt wrote: »
    A recent study demonstrating that the protective benefits of an overweight BMI disappear after accounting for lifetime weight history, specifically highest weight ever achieved.

    http://www.weightymatters.ca/2015/08/guest-post-lifetime-peak-weight-and.html?m=1

    As with anything in science, nothing is ever as simple as it seems. The more any topic is thoroughly researched, the more complex and blurred definitive conclusions become, especially regarding a topic with as many co-factors as weight and mortality.

    Very interesting.

    In reading through the linked study, it seems to me that the claim is that formerly overweight people are still at much higher risk than never-overweight people. That's kind of depressing. Am I misreading?

    I think it's more the idea that if you exclude people who lost weight that being normal weight is the healthiest, with the idea that within the people who lost weight category are people who lost weight due to illness. I don't think it means that losing weight doesn't diminish the health risks -- that would be for a separate study.
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Jruzer wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    IdLikeToLoseItLoseIt wrote: »
    A recent study demonstrating that the protective benefits of an overweight BMI disappear after accounting for lifetime weight history, specifically highest weight ever achieved.

    http://www.weightymatters.ca/2015/08/guest-post-lifetime-peak-weight-and.html?m=1

    As with anything in science, nothing is ever as simple as it seems. The more any topic is thoroughly researched, the more complex and blurred definitive conclusions become, especially regarding a topic with as many co-factors as weight and mortality.

    Very interesting.

    In reading through the linked study, it seems to me that the claim is that formerly overweight people are still at much higher risk than never-overweight people. That's kind of depressing. Am I misreading?

    I think it's more the idea that if you exclude people who lost weight that being normal weight is the healthiest, with the idea that within the people who lost weight category are people who lost weight due to illness. I don't think it means that losing weight doesn't diminish the health risks -- that would be for a separate study.

    That's a more positive spin and you may be right.

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