Flabby but healthy?

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Tuesday, December 3. 2013

The latest very large study says it's not really possible: Fat and healthy is a myth, new study says.

Medical risks associated with being overweight include breast cancer and several other cancers, cardiovascular disease, arthritis (esp. knee), diabetes (obviously) along with other insulin-resistance-related metabolic syndromes and carbohydrate-craving, non-alcoholic liver disease, pancreatitis, stroke, hypertension, gall bladder disease, sleep apnea, and many more fun problems.

Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Medical, Our Essays at 15:58 | Comments (19) | Trackbacks (0)

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I wish they'd move away from the problematic BMI calculations to assess 'healthy' weights. Especially when it comes to children.

#1 MissT on 2013-12-03 16:55 (Reply)

I double down on MissT's comment.

I had a BMI of 27 and was told I'm "overweight" by my insurance company. My doctor would look at me and ask "where are you hiding it?"

Getting down to, and below, 25 has 'helped' the disc problem in my back and my reflux, and I fit into pants I hadn't worn in years. In terms over overall health, I'd say the difference is negligible.

#2 Bulldog on 2013-12-03 17:23 (Reply)

BMI again, ignore these studies

#3 dennis on 2013-12-03 17:35 (Reply)

I simply don't believe any of these studies anymore. They have all been refuted, reinterpreted, withdrawn, denounced, and found false or non-repeatable. It's like you can get doctors and researchers to say anything if you pay them enough. The whole entire vaccine scare was created by one research doctor in England and it was all nothing but a lie.

Besides, double blind study or just researchers concluding that they were right after all after polling through the data they selected?

#4 Curtis (Link) on 2013-12-03 17:50 (Reply)

Thank God for this article! It's important to get in shape and stay that way.

#5 Thank ya on 2013-12-03 17:57 (Reply)

"Besides, ... or just researchers concluding that they were right after all after polling through the data they selected?"

We have a winner...

(and yes, I am quite conversant in statistical analysis, and this study isn't)

#6 Jess1 on 2013-12-03 18:20 (Reply)

Now, let's see the list of what is going to kill the skinny people. Then we can compare and see who will suffer the most in their death since going out with dignity is prohibited by law.

The fact is, none of us are getting out of here alive so it is best just to manage the suffering while we are here. And if we are very, very lucky we'll go suddenly instead of months, years under a doctor's care under constant torture.

But even if you do everything right for yourself, eat "right", exercise, keep all the bugs, syndromes and mutating cells at bay, you still might get hit by a bus.

#7 JKB on 2013-12-03 18:42 (Reply)

Point is, nobody is doing himself any favors by being overweight. Most medical problems are bad luck, but being overweight is one of the things people have choice in.

#8 Dr. B. on 2013-12-03 19:35 (Reply)

Define overweight.

I'll wait....

#8.1 Jess1 on 2013-12-03 22:03 (Reply)

and you'd be wrong.
I ended up overweight after an accident that pretty much destroyed my ability to be an active person.
Despite adapting my diet to a far lower caloric intake, I bloated.

And by now, unless I put myself on a starvation diet (2 protein shakes and a few glasses of water per day) my weight doesn't come down an ounce.

There's a lot of things out there influencing the shape, size, and weight of your body, and it's not just your conscious diet choices, no matter what the BMI freaks claim.

#8.2 J.T. Wenting on 2013-12-04 01:48 (Reply)

I argued RELENTLESSLY with the Army for their Height\Weight standards for YEARS After returning from the Sandbox in 1990. Since they gave us that 'horse serium' and those NAC pills, no matter what I did, I could not meet the H\W standards, but could run sub 13min 2-miles, do 90+ pushups and 120+ situps, and 20+ chin-ups, and still be considered 'overweight' and had to be RELENTLESSLY taped.

Over half the guys in the units I served in had to be monthly taped to maintain the H\W standards, that were archaic and way out of line with current GI lifestyles (not drinking, but body-building, cross training, endurance sports, etc). The body building kid, who could benchpress a VW, weighed in at 290, and not an ounce of fat ANYWHERE on his body. He'd get taped, to assess his body-fat percentage and it would be below 3%.

Sure, I'm crossing my 50's, not really as mobile as I was, but I still can hike, carry a load, even do 60+ pushups, but my Doc and insurance guy have a cow because I'm 'dangerous' on the BMI, with no other med conditions to warrant it.

So, I call shenanigans, and laugh at these sheepskined eggheads with so much time to waste on fertilizer research and nothing but ink\paper to so for it. I have observation, history, and experience than their 'insight'.

#8.3 fred zeppelin on 2013-12-04 07:32 (Reply)

I hear you. I was in the Navy for 6 years. Was always 1 or 2 pounds over the weight for my height. ALWAYS had to be taped, and always was well within measure. It was embarrassing, and didn't make sense. I am tall (5'10") and I think the weights for tall people are a mess. I would regularly see short women who could be round as basketballs who would still be within weight standards.

In fact, I went into Boot Camp and came out in incredible shape, but had lost only 2 pounds. Other girls lost 20 pounds or more during the 9 weeks. Can we say, 'different body type'?

The more muscular a build you have, the worse off you are with these weight tables.

#8.3.1 MissT on 2013-12-04 11:00 (Reply)

Exactly the same boat!

I remember a group of us getting scolded for weight after PASSING the Marine PFT. One guy was a serious lifter - took off his shirt and asked the Corpsman and First Sgt. to point out the fat he needed to lose.

#8.3.2 NJSoldier on 2013-12-04 13:07 (Reply)

I don't believe any of the BMI stuff, 25 is a ridiculously low number, at my height I haven't been under 165 pounds since I was 21, and I've been at the me weight for probably 20 years with no issues and I'm at 185 and most people can't believe I weigh that much. When they show me how we can all be the same and there is nothing different I might change my mind, but last I looked, we are all different and nothing fits in n easy box.

#9 Js4strings on 2013-12-03 20:11 (Reply)

My longest living relative was also the heaviest.

#10 Daphne on 2013-12-03 22:39 (Reply)

Relatively "fat and happy".

#10.1 happy infidel on 2013-12-03 23:16 (Reply)

I'm 6'3 and 235 lbs with ~ 18% body fat. I blow away the BMI. The BMI doesn't care for large framed people who enjoy high intensity weight lifting as exercise and stress relief.

#11 phil g on 2013-12-04 12:12 (Reply)

I come from a large family. Lots of aunts, uncles cousins, etc. Almost all my aunts and female cousins were overweight and many downright obese. They all outlived their skinny spouses and died in their 80's. Go figure. So if they were "normal" weight I suppose they would have all lived into their 90's?? My last living "old" cousin just turned 88 and shows no signs of either giving up or losing weight. I might aso add that without exception 100% of them were NOT physically active. With the exception of preparing meals and cleaning the house they pretty much did nothing. (Not looking for an arguement about how hard house cleaning is.) I just don't see the evidence to support the conclusions. What I do see is that most people with diabetes become overweight and sure enough their diabetes causes them serious health problems. But was it their weight?
My favorite example of how this measure and the criticism goes so totally wrong is Mariah Carey. She is obese based on her BMI but I will bet you if you ask 100 men to describe her the word "hot" will come up 100 times and the word "obese" not once. I remember KAren Carpenter (the singer). She was not overweight and died young. If you had asked 100 guys back when she was still living to describe her the word "boney" or "skinny" would have come up 100 times but the word "hot" not once. So what value is there to the BMI measure?

#12 GoneWithTheWind on 2013-12-04 12:25 (Reply)

If it's impossible to be active...

Try merely wading in a swimming pool.

The body heat lost is made up by muscle activity -- without even moving a limb.

Just don't over do it.

It's one of the primary tricks used by doctors to trim weight off of the staggeringly obese -- but works if you've got joint issues, too.

#13 blert on 2013-12-05 22:50 (Reply)

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Tuesday, December 3. 2013

Flabby but healthy?