Quoting summerbabyX2:" weight and health don't have to be connected. I know people who are "overweight" but jog 3 times a week ... [snip!] ... weight and health. We need to forget about weight and focus on our health, eating good food, and exercising our bodies."

This. I have a sister who eats fast food constantly, drinks a ton of coffee, almost no water, and I've NEVER seen her work out. However, she is of a good weight. She also smokes. I wouldn't consider her healthy. She's sick all the time and I'd bet most of her bloodwork would be not ideal. I highly doubt she's healthier then someoen who is overweight but eats well and works out a few times a week.

Weight is not an accurate predictor of health. There is a broad spectrum of weight that contains healthy individuals.

Healthy thin, unhealthy thin, healthy average, unhealthy average, healthy fat, unhealthy fat.

A more accurate predictor of health, as cited by research, is activity.

Quoting Chroma Hex [+1]:" Congratulations on the weight loss! You look great! Thank you for sharing."

Thank you   However, I would like to say that in my 2 months of eating very healthy and exercising daily, I am probably healthier than my little sister who was recently discharged from the Army as she eats an insane amount of dangerous calories daily and does not exercise anymore after leaving the Army...and She is a size 2 with practically no body fat.

Quoting summerbabyX2:" weight and health don't have to be connected. I know people who are "overweight" but jog 3 times a week ... [snip!] ... weight and health. We need to forget about weight and focus on our health, eating good food, and exercising our bodies."

yea my sister does like the HCG Diet but doesn't work out because she says she walks enough at work 3 days a week for her 12 hr shifts. Whereas the kids and I eat good protions and go for a daily walk if not run like literally run around the yard and play football or tag or whatnot.

Quoting iLL-Legal Alien:" Not trying to be a smartass...but it becomes unhealthy when it affects your health. According to the ... [snip!] ... and my blood pressure is perfect, I am very healthy aside from the occasional aches you get from having 3 children."

That is why I made that option. I'm sure some people would agree that it is only unhealthy when there are symptoms of poor health associated with weight. Or, rather, when they can start measuring the effects.

Quoting melindapple:" It's always unhealthy to be overweight, but i don't think being 10 lbs and being 50 lbs is the same level ... [snip!] ... both will do damage, but an alcoholics damage should be much worse than an occasional drinker, i would think? i'm no doctor."

But you realize that overweight is sort of arbitrary, right? I mean, a person who is very muscular can EASILY be overweight if not obese even though they are in wonderful health because it's a simply weight vs height measurement. It doesn't take into account build or body fat % at all.

Being overweight is unhealthy even if it hasn't caused health problems yet. Having excess fat means the fat is surrounding your heart and other organs. You are more at risk for having health problems due to excess fat in your body. It's not healthy.

Just like a smoker who never gets lung cancer, even though they didn't get the side effects, they still are not healthy.

Quoting she nan igans:" But you realize that overweight is sort of arbitrary, right? I mean, a person who is very muscular can ... [snip!] ... wonderful health because it's a simply weight vs height measurement. It doesn't take into account build or body fat % at all."

 

Quoting she nan igans:" But you realize that overweight is sort of arbitrary, right? I mean, a person who is very muscular can ... [snip!] ... wonderful health because it's a simply weight vs height measurement. It doesn't take into account build or body fat % at all."

Maybe OT, but Id on't think there can be an accurate, across the board system for measuring healthy/unhealthy weight. I don't believe in the BMI system at all.

Quoting Rumpelstiltskin:" Being overweight is unhealthy even if it hasn't caused health problems yet. Having excess fat means the ... [snip!] ... Just like a smoker who never gets lung cancer, even though they didn't get the side effects, they still are not healthy. "

Being overweight is not "unhealthy" in and of itself. There are other factors that contribute to disease.

There are actually studies that exhibit a phenomenon known as the obesity paradox, in which fat has protective qualities.

Health and weight actually conform to a bell curve. Those at the most risk are at the extreme ends of the spectrum. The extremely underweight and extremely overweight.

Not to mention that a fat person who is active burns visceral fat (the fat around the organs). A thin inactive person can have more visceral fat than a fat active person. You can't tell how much visceral fat an individual has by looking at them.

It's not about the number and being overweight it's about the amount of fat and where it is. Fat increases your risks for everything- heart problems, diabetes, etc. I work out 5 times a week for an hour and eat healthy and am still 35 pounds overweight. I still consider myself "unhealthy" because of the amount of fat I still have on my body, even though I have no other health issues at all.


And if you are overweight now and don't have any issues now, there is a greater chance you will when you are older! Some things are hereditary while others depen on your lifestyle. 1 in 3 people get diagnosed with type 2 diabetes... I think that's crazy, sort of lol it makes sense that those statistics are so high based on the American lifestyle..

Quoting Kristen Parris:" It's not about the number and being overweight it's about the amount of fat and where it is. Fat increases ... [snip!] ... I think that's crazy, sort of lol it makes sense that those statistics are so high based on the American lifestyle.."

My family history is: Diabetes when you get older, heart problems, stroke, heart attack, high bp...do I need to keep going? r

How do we explain the disease processes of heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes in thin people? If someone is fat and gets something like this it is automatically attributed to their fat... what about the thin people who have the same issues?

Quoting Chroma Hex [+1]:" Maybe OT, but Id on't think there can be an accurate, across the board system for measuring healthy/unhealthy weight. I don't believe in the BMI system at all."

But that's what determines what "overweight" is. How can you talk about when overweight becomes unhealthy when you can't define WHAT overweight is?

Having the extra fat just increases the risk of a person getting some diseases because your heart has to work harder because of the amount of fat on your body.

Heredity DOES play a role in a lot of diseases as well.

Being "skinny" doesn't mean you are 100% healthy either.. Eating a lot of fatty foods can lead to clogged arteries causing heart problems and high blood pressure which can lead to a ton of other issues!