ot; fat wins!

[scaredyclassic]

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/human_nature/2013/01/if_fat_is_unhealthy_why_are_overweight_people_less_likely_to_die.2.html

where is briansd to admit defeat?!

[zk]

Being overweight or even mildly obese, as measured by body mass index, doesn’t make you more likely to die than a person of normal weight.

There’s a huge problem with the analysis right there. They used BMI to determine whether a person is of normal weight or not. BMI is totally useless. Quite laughably, it doesn’t even account for gender. Let alone bone structure or muscularity. I’m not sure why anyone uses BMI for anything.

[scaredyclassic]

BMI is sometimes wrong, but it’s generally right.

the stats would not please briansd1

[The-Shoveler]

From my somewhat limited observations (just family members and a few friends)
The overweight people tend to be more sickly and see the doctors more often and have a lot harder time moving around (walking etc…) but seem to live about the same age as the more fit people who tend to just suddenly fall over dead one day after a life time of seemingly healthy living,
Pick your life style…

[NotCranky]

I don’t have a problem with the numbers but the conclusion is questionable.

Moderately overweight people in our society are more cautious than the collection of skinny people. They actually support/take care of themselves better than most, but not by any means, all skinny people. This is easy to observe. Doesn’t make being fat better. The real fatties are just as self destructive as the most crazy/reckless of the skinny people.

Perhaps the best case scenario is to be more fit and also be habitually reasonably cautious, with, work,money,sex, diet,meds,adrenaline, moods, exercise, sleep, coffee, cigarettes, alcohol etc.
Being pretty good with all this and moderately overweight is probably a more frequent occurrence.

[scaredyclassic]

I’m heavier now than ive ever been and I feel better. More rooted.

[CA renter]

We’ve discussed this on one of the “fat” threads that brian was posting on.

The note that skinny people are not always healthy jibes with what I’ve witnessed among our friends, relatives, and acquaintances.

Many skinny people, especially women, manage to stay thin by cutting out vital foods (nutrients), smoking lots of cigarettes, taking “speedy” diet pills and supplements, drinking coffee non-stop, etc. Very few people, especially middle-aged women with children, can live a healthy lifestyle and still come out looking like Angelina Jolie (brian’s stated model of what women should look like, though I think she looks unhealthy).

Even the men we know who look “fit” have very unhealthy diets and lifestyles; they live on protein powders and weird supplements, don’t eat fruits or vegetables, etc. Then, they spend countless hours bulking up at the gym, staring at themselves in the mirror, and end up with all kinds of joint, muscle, or other tissue damage. Not sure why anyone would think that’s “healthy.”

[CA renter]

[quote=Blogstar]I don’t have a problem with the numbers but the conclusion is questionable.

Moderately overweight people in our society are more cautious than the collection of skinny people. They actually support/take care of themselves better than most, but not by any means, all skinny people. This is easy to observe. Doesn’t make being fat better. The real fatties are just as self destructive as the most crazy/reckless of the skinny people.

Perhaps the best case scenario is to be more fit and also be habitually reasonably cautious, with, work,money,sex, diet,meds,adrenaline, moods, exercise, sleep, coffee, cigarettes, alcohol etc.
Being pretty good with all this and moderately overweight is probably a more frequent occurrence.[/quote]

Tend to agree with this, Russ.

[ocrenter]

[quote=zk]

There’s a huge problem with the analysis right there. They used BMI to determine whether a person is of normal weight or not. BMI is totally useless. Quite laughably, it doesn’t even account for gender. Let alone bone structure or muscularity. I’m not sure why anyone uses BMI for anything.[/quote]

there’s going to be intrinsic problems with any attempt to measure the entire human population with a standard index.

that said, BMI is actually quite accurate for the general population. With professional athletes being the most obvious exception to the rule. Bone structure, surprisingly, is very similar in folks within the same height and gender group, so unfortunately the “big bone” theory is a myth.

What is more problematic is how we interpret the BMI. Unfortunately, for the most part, this country does a poor job figuring out that the BMI scale is very different for the various racial groups.

For example, criteria of BMI of 30 and higher is the state of obesity, a time when metabolic syndrome takes hold and leads to morbidity. The latest study confirms that folks can get up to BMI of 29 and still do quite well. Well, this really only apply to people with Western European/Northern European ancestry.

For African Americans, that BMI threshold should be higher at 33. For Mediterraneans and the Middle Easterners, that BMI threshold should be around 27. Same goes for Hispanics. As for East Asians, now you are looking at 25. For Southeast Asians, that threshold is more like 23.

We are suppose to be a multi-racial society, yet BMI wise we are all just Western Europeans. Go figure that one out.

[Author]

Posts