why do people think you can be healthy at every size?

davani09 wrote: »

it's unhealthy to be obese

And it's unhealthy to be at a normal weight and have high blood pressure, heart disease, renal failure, etc. This isn't a black and white issue.

I think when you are under middle age or so and are obese and your biometrics are healthy you got that going for you but eventually you will have problems. Once you start to age and that weight stays on and you may gain more if a women (menopause) comes the problem. Eventually, your knees and hips go. Ambulatory and agility start to become more difficult. Your body chemistry starts to change due to build up of all kinds of toxins (visceral fat, insulin, environmental;) your system can only handle so much. So I feel in your younger years and you are healthy it's a good time to manage your weight. You can only manage so much when you get older. Aging brings a new set of stressors and we all know what cortisol can do! Twas a big wake-up call for me! The gyms have those biometric scales that they use in combination with your body measurements to tell your body fat %.

SusieBanyon wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

SusieBanyon wrote: »

You can gain weight on an entirely healthy diet (fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, etc.; which is easy to do, most grains are 600 calories per dry cup, most proteins and fruits will cost you too, along with starchy vegetables) - it is a matter of consuming too much. That being said, at 5'4, if I weighed 146 pounds, I would be overweight according to BMI calculators (http://www.height-weight-chart.com/504-140.html). That is not a very heavy weight or even out of the ordinary for my size, nor would it be a necessary health hazard. Therefore, being overweight at my size =/= unhealthy. Being 175 pounds at my weight would make me obese.
http://www.height-weight-chart.com/504-170.html
Those are "obese" men and women. They do not look to be in a danger zone health wise based solely on weight.

ETA Link to 140-145lb range referenced.

"Looking" has little to do with health, in a lot of cases. When I looked like people in those photos, my blood pressure was high, as were my cholesterol and triglycerides. (I was just over the line into obese, 5'5", 183lbs, BMI 30.4, and I was athletically active). I even looked about as healthy as most of those people when I had cancer**. . . until chemotherapy started, all my hair fell out, and I got all pale and stuff.

I think we've collectively become accustomed to looking at people who are technically obese, and thinking of them as "normal". But it's the (technically) obese BMI that tends to correlate with health issues, not the "looking". Everyone needs to make their own choices about weight, based on their own circumstances . . . but it's good to be clear-eyed about it, I think.

** Breast cancer, which is more likely to happen to obese people, at age 45.

That is all well and true; but the original question was why do people think you CAN BE healthy at every "size." I think a lot of people do not have a realistic perspective of what overweight/obese weights actually are/look like. Those men and women are not so massive that they are falling apart (My 600lb Life), their skin isn't bad, their hair, their eyes; they generally LOOK healthy, and probably are. Because, again, you CAN BE healthy at an overweight/obese weight, depending on what you are putting into your body and how you take care of yourself. That does not mean that MOST are healthy, because MOST probably aren't (at any weight, unfortunately). I myself am 5'4, 120lbs; which is essentially ideal; but I suffer from hypoglycemia amongst other things. I'd bet my bottom dollar that some of the men/women in those photos, who are considered overweight, feel better than I do & weight-aside could be considered in better over-all health than myself*IF* their diets aren't necessarily filled with alcohol and food like your (cousin, I think?) eats on a consistent/every day basis. Then again, your description of him sounds healthy enough. So, it's really all a matter of personal circumstance, nutrition, genetics, and so on; not always, "you are fat, therefore you are sick." Nor is it, "you are an ideal weight, therefore you are healthy."

Health cannot be summarized by a scale; or, boy, would life be easier and the medical industry suffering.

I think this is the perfect point! I am currently overweight and not healthy. My eating isn’t on point and I’m not currently working out regularly. My tests will all come back fine, but my BMI is MORBIDLY OBESE. I’m 5’3 and weigh 220lbs. To be within a healthy BMI my “goal weight” should be closer to 130 but that will never be my goal weight. My goal weight is between 160-180 because that’s when I’ve felt my best.

I don’t believe you can truly be healthy at ANY size but I do believe you can love your body at any size if that makes sense

That objective evidence said I was healthy when I was obese. I don't think being obese is healthy, as it's an unnecessary risk factor, but the idea that everyone overweight or obese has bad test results is wrong.

Anyway, once again it's the idea that one can do things to improve health/risk factors, whatever weight one is.

It's simply untrue that health and weight are not correlated, and that one can be "healthy at any size."

If you are morbidly obese due to excess adipose tissue, your morbid obesity is negatively impacting your health in a serious way. There's really no way around that. It's simply impossible to be that fat, and to still be "healthy."

Could one be overweight and healthy? Probably. BMI is a very crude tool, better at measuring populations than individuals. One could be overweight and fit because one has lower body fat and a high amount of lean mass. Or maybe they are carrying a little extra fat, the amount of fat that, statistically speaking, poses a health risk, except this particular individual is not suffering any ill health effects from it. And if you're a bodybuilder, you might be "obese" according to your BMI, but you may still be fit (although when t comes to some really, really big muscled folks, I'm not sure if enough research has been done to show that a certain amount of lean mass and the protein needed to sustain it also doesn't pose a health risk; I'm no expert, but my hunch is that the body isn't adapted to that sort of lifestyle, and some of these bodybuilders aren't all that healthy).

But just because BMI isn't exact doesn't mean that there isn't a size you can be, an amount of fat you can have, that is simply not healthy. Denying this, according to the evidence we've got, is tantamount to denying the link between cigarette smoking and ill health effects, or the link between carbon emissions and climate change. The only difference is that instead of this delusion being pushed for the financial gain of corporations, it's being pushed by well-meaning people who just don't want fat people to feel bad.

And I agree with their sentiments. Society shouldn't shame fat people. Fatphobia is one of the most accepted prejudices, and fat people are clearly discriminated against in society. Fat people are often bullied.

But treating fat people with dignity doesn't mean that we have to pretend that excess fat is still "healthy". We can treat the human with dignity without being scientific denialists. We can recognize that a large excess of fat is bad for you, but that people who have this large excess, even though they would benefit from working on this problem, are still worthy of respect and should still love themselves. Having any kind of issue, disorder, or flaw, doesn't necessarily make one unworthy of dignity.

Personally, I try to treat fat people with respect by not discriminating against them in contexts where their size shouldn't matter (like, okay, it may be justifiable if a fat person, on the basis of their physical condition, doesn't make the cut for being a firefighter, but for jobs where fat is no hindrance, selecting against them simply because of their appearance is discrimination), not giving them unsolicited health advice (fat people know they are fat; they don't need you to tell them. Their health isn't your business, unless they come to you for advice or you are close enough that you can reasonably expect to care for each other's health, such as in the case of partners), not teasing or bullying them, etc. Now, I can't claim to be perfect or a saint. I think we are all guilty of making the odd fat joke behind an acquaintance's back, or making fun of fat celebrities. But I am trying to be mindful of this behaviour and to correct it, because I don't want to be that kind of person.

But, all this can be done while still recognizing that a certain amount of fat on a human body is, in fact, not very good for that body.

What is seen and perceived are two different things. My sister (may she rest in peace) was fit as a damn fiddle! Ate healthy, worked out daily, was thin and strong. She even owned her own health club at one point. She was never overweight not even slightly, not even when she was pregnant. She died of a fatty liver.