BMI may not be best barometer for determining health
Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comCan you be healthy at any size?
Seeded on Sun Jun 6, 2010 1:39 PM EDT (msnbc.com)
— Filed under: health, fitness, womens-health, obesity, cholesterol, overweight, heavy, blood-pressure, hypertension, cardiovascular-disease, disease-prevention
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Healthy fat? Is that like military intelligence? No such thing. There is no magic to losing weight - you can't do it by diet alone - gotta get off your duff and work out...
There's a word for people who don't have fat--DEAD!
This all sounds like an excuse to maintain an unhealthy lifestyle. "If I accept myself as being fat, I can have another plate of fried chicken." Pass the cookies.
Hey, I am 68 years old have been overweight all my life inspite of all my efforts to lose. I do have arthritis in my joints, but the last time I saw my dr. he said go home you are the healthiest person I have seen all day. I f all my patients were this healthy I would go broke.
Kind of sounds like the rare person who smoked all of their lives and lived to be 90 years old.
I was at the WALGREENS the other day and behind me two women struck up a conversation. One was eyeing the cartons of cigarettes and the older one said something like:"I gave up smoking when I found out I had emphysema, which is why you hear me wheeze". The younger woman promptly found it necessary to rebuttal with this: "Oh I have an uncle who is like 80 years old and he smoked all his life and he is healthy as a horse!" Which made me ponder why people take exceptions to the rule in an effort to disprove sobering realities...
"Hey I know a guy who drives drunk all the time and he is not dead yet!"
Meanwhile, a very wealthy friend of mine died a while back at age 59, never having been able to control his weight issues. When he died he was 604lbs. He was lucky to make it that long. Some of us realize that 'going on disability' is not an option!
Now what was all that in the bible about gluttony and sloth? Oh yeah... not good!
Actually moron, it disproves it.
Simply "some ol bull@!$%#."
Garbage. Every once in a while we see a story like this here at MSNBC. Why send such a message? Makes you wonder about who controls the media and their motives.
Sure, it's okay to be fat!
It's okay to eat 4000 calories a day and suck down high fructose corn syrup.
Because, in a few years, you fat people will be complaining about how you have a disability, and need a handout and free healthcare!
And us healthy, thin Americans who watch our diet and exercise will be forced to pay for the whole thing.
Enjoy your diabetes!
I eat 1200 to 1400 calories a day. I exercise regularly: I am training for my 2nd marathon, and I ride my bike to work. I eat fresh organic fruit, veggies and meat, and a few whole grains. I drink tea instead of juice or soda pop. And guess what? I'm FAAAAT! Yup, according to the BMI charts I'm very overweight, almost obese. I do have a lot of muscle, but I have fat too. I'm not getting thinner. But I am very healthy, low blood pressure, etc. So... revise your stereotypes please.
You might as well call it the "lazy-acceptance movement". These are people that just want to feel better about not getting their fat a-- off the couch and want their poor diet habits to be accepted. In my experience, overweight people universally despise exercise and refuse to give up their fat-rich food choices.
The size of people today is really sad to see and now there's a movement to make it acceptable. It's truly pathetic and I, for one, don't accept it.
I think it depends on how fat. I think you can be twenty pounds overweight and still be fit. I also think that for really big people to lose a certain percentage (but to still be overweight) could be ok.
Anyone who says there isn't an obesity epidemic in this country hasn't been people watching at the mall lately. Maybe we just quit looking because it's so obscene.
I like the idea from Alabama and South Carolina to make fat state employees pay a higher health care premium. That policy should be adopated by all insurance plans as a national, across the board, excess fee. Finally, people would have to put their money where their mouth is.
As a nurse, I do not believe in BMI. I feel it's too limited. I do agree that some extra weight can be healthy and thin does not necessarily mean healthy. By BMI, I am overweight. Yet if I drop 10 lbs from my current weight, my body goes into starvation mode. But there is a difference between being a few lbs over BMI and being morbidly obese. Fitness matters but too much weight puts strain on all parts of the body. Whether talking about weight or smoking, being sedentary is a much bigger health risk than either. The focus has been on smoking for decades, yet roughly 50-75% of smokers have health issues directly related to smoking. Of grossly obese people, about 95% have health issues which can be directly attributed to obesity. Diabetes, neurological, digestive, respiratory, back pain, orthopedic, cardiac and psychoemotional, genitourinary, reproductive and other issues have all been linked directly to obesity.
http://missoulian.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_f002dbec-7011-11df-852f-001cc4c03286.html
Check this out.
Excuse me are you going to eat that pie?
you hear about the diabetes, join pain, breathing problems, high blood pressure etc. What people don't regularly talk about is, certain cancer risks. I had a friend who had a mad addiction to sugar whether it be candy, cakes, cookies, whatever covered in chocolate. She also ate veggies and fruits and excercised but she really loved those sweets. Well, about a year ago she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died this past December 10th at the ripe age of 45 years old. Eating that junk increases your risk by up to 35%. Also, the belly fat pressing against your organs increases the risk of liver and bladder cancer.
BMI is a dinosaur. Fat percentage is the ONLY wise measuring tool. Every pro athlete has an "overweight" BMI due to muscle mass. There is no excuse for your Doctor not use a bioelectric impedance measuring device.
Absolutely right! I can't believe they still use it. It only works for measuring sedentary people. You don't even have to be a pro athlete for it to be way off. Anybody who regularly lifts weights for example will be overweight or even obese by BMI standards even though they have less body fat and a thinner waist than a sedentary person who meets the BMI healthy standard. How good can a measurement system be that penalizes people for developing muscle?
"fat" is a relative term then. Obesity and morbid obesity can never be healthy states to be in in my opinion but I think you can be "fat" and healthy. I think each person has a threshold where they cross over to unhealthy.
agreed!
Morbid Obesity is a different issue but I have seen some "fat" people do things that "skinny"
people would get tired from. I have seen some "skinny" people by way of BMI, that looked
like they were suffering from malnutrition.
It depends on your height, your body frame and other things this article is limited on.
I have absolutely NO DESIRE to be my ideal weight. I'm 5'6", my ideal weight according to BMI is 120-130.
I'm 168. I'd like to be 145 - 150. That would keep me curvy, but still slender. And FYI - even at 168, I have low blood pressure and a great heart rate.
I hate to get all ethnic and racial, but I'm a black woman. I wonder if BMI takes ethnicity into consideration?
If I were 130, I'd probably lose my magnificent behind - the one that has men of ALL races watching when I walk by. LOL. And that magnificent behind sits atop of one of the greatest sets of legs ever made.
I'm so sorry, but there is NOTHING attractive about a stick looking woman with pelvic bones that look like razor blades, and no distinction between waist and hips. No visible calf muscle, thighs with no definition. I'd stay my current weight FOREVER before I looked like that.
Sir Mix-A-Lot wrote that song for me....
Hi Camiwa!! lol
lol....
reading all these opinions about Fat'....Hey" they want to be delusional about their wight and live unhealthy lifestyles....let them 'there's plenty of room at the cemetery.....and 1 grave fits all fat you can get into it....
a modest breakfast, light lunch, supper with possibly a small second serving and NO between meal snacks. i have learned to enjoy hunger pangs as a guarantee that i'll enjoy my next meal. regular exercise and an active lifestyle have kept this 60 yr old, 6 ft male between 158-172# all my adult life.
in 2 weeks in peru we saw few obese (except on the floating islands where walking range was limited) back in the miami airport, obesity was everywhere you looked. it was almost painful. as an organism we have not changed in the last 100 years, but our diets and lifestyle have.
we have been coaxed incessantly by advertisers to give in to the urge to consume and with an increasingly effort avoiding lifestyle WE'RE GETTING FAT!
as a nurse of 30 years i know the toll weight takes on the body. it's one the one way we have at our immediate disposal to control healthcare costs.
of course it's not easy, but neither is saving for retirement, paying off the mortgage, making the bed, raising good children or giving to charity. all things that are good for us in the long run. and that's what's important, the long run.
Oh, give it a rest! We all die of something, we're not going to live forever. Losing weight doesn't solve all of one's problems. Looks deteriorate with age no matter how fat or skinny you are (actually, being a little overweight makes one's face appear young a bit longer). Living takes a toll on the body. Move on and live as long as you were meant to. No one knows how long that is. Worrying constantly about how one looks or what other people think is what really puts a load on the heart.
i have worked 27 years in home care nursing and have watched people age and die. if you care for the body you have a better shot of a comfortable aging/dying process instead of the suffering i have seen some people go through. people just don't live till they die. they live, age and die. i know what i'm talking about and why i'm doing it.
I worked for a long time in a hospital setting and went through several nursing homes with my father (who was 90 when he died; he smoked heavily all his life and was in good health until 87; old age, not smoking, is what killed him). Aging is no picnic no matter what you do. 'Comfortable ' and 'aging' are diametric opposites,and nothing you do can prevent aging (except a premature death). We don't have half of the control over what happens to our bodies that we like to think we do. There are so many genetic and environmental factors that come into play. Yes, we could eat less and exercise more, but exercise brings its own possibility for doing harm to yourself (today, here a 67-year-old bicyclist was struck by a car). We spend so much time worrying over our health, worrying over staying young in appearance, worrying about living longer, worrying about what people think of us, that we forget to enjoy the moment. I say, just live your life and enjoy what there is of it. Eventually, you will lose your health and die. Cross that bridge when you come to it. Che sara`, sara`!
But good luck to you.
why do less than the best for yourself than you can do? i don't worry, or obsess. living healthy brings me satisfaction. of course there are no guarantees. i'll take my chances with living a healthy lifestyle any day over doing stupid stuff. i will take control over that what is in my power to do so then there are no regrets. good life today, best shot at a good one in the future. ever see someone die of copd?
Many, many people do die from smoking. You are fortunate that your father was not one of them. My father is dying of COPD now, due to smoking, and he was always of average build and very fit and healthy (other than the smoking thing). It is terrible to watch him wither away, and now his entire life has shrunk to the distance the lines from his oxygen tank allow him to travel in his home. I would rather die in an accident while running than suffer the way he is suffering.
People who choose to be fit and healthy aren't necessarily doing it just because they want to look good; looking good is simply a wonderful side effect!
My husband's life has also shrunk to the length of his oxygen hoses. Part of that was from smoking, but part of it was from the career he chose when he was young. He was a welder and pipefitter and was exposed to a lot of chemicals. No one knew back then that they would affect one's health in later life. And then there's the asthma he was born with. As I said, there are so many factors that affect the old age one will have, and not all are under our control.
Papa was lucky that he was blessed with an iron constitution and a long and happy retirement.
I have never smoked. I've just always failed to see what people get out of it, and I do think it is a very nasty habit.
It is true the BMI is not accurate for everyone. A better test is one inch of skin between your fingers over your ribs as it allows for more variation in body tpe. Many people are in fact too heavy. It is my opinion that varying types of people have vey different efficiencies to their metabolic systems. This makes it difficult to adjust their weight to a safe level as they eat what others eat and turn out a comnpletely different size!
Really people should not walk around looking like bags of blubber. Let's go for the clean machine look whatever it's shape.
I am surprised that this article decides to further the myth that health or fitness is strictly tied to weight. Can you be overweight and be healthy? Sure you can. Can you be overweight and unhealthy? Yep. Can you be thin and healthy? Yep. Can you be thin and unhealthy? Of course. Being FIT makes you HEALTHY, regardless of your weight, and the only way to be fit is through REGULAR EXERCISE. The thing about exercise is, if you do it regularly, and with at least a moderate level of exertion, and you don't replace all of your calories burned, then you will lose weight while increasing your fitness level.
A comment I take exception to in the article is that there are benefits to being overweight, specifically: 'Being heavier helps fend off osteoporosis, for example, because a little extra mass helps strengthen bones.' That may be true, but a better, healthier way to strengthen bones is through impact exercise.
a single individual lifetime smoker may have a healthier life than a single individual non smoker, but 100 healthy bmi, active non smokers will ALWAYS have far more healthy lives than 100 healthy bmi, active smokers. since we have no crystal balls, i'll go with statistics to make my lifetime decisions, rather than what happened with uncle bill.
Hey look, this article really is just trying to tell us, that fat, ugly people need love to. So come on America, lets all get fat, and ugly, then it won't matter, will it.
There is probably and error in the BMI, as women who are 5'9" should weigh about 165#. They should not expect to be size 4's. Although the sizing has changed in the last fifty years to accomodate larger women.
Probably the best approach to keep the Love Handles small.
Xyla