Please stop drinking the coolade. Your fat ass son has been told he was sloppy fat by his school chums so many times that he probable thinks his name is fat ass.

Help your son, by getting him off his ass. Speed walf and do situps everyday. Help him find his balance

By the time he reaches his teen years, his muscle mass will burn away his fat

Lisa - sorry some people are so incredibly rude. Whether your son has a weight issue (due to excess fat) he surely shouldn't have been told that he's morbidly obese to his face. Most kids at the age of 10 still haven't gone through puberty so it's likely he's a little heavier. Pre-puberty is a tough time anyhow, self esteem is developing and negativity can take a toll. Just keep your boy active and healthy, his happiness and emotional health is more important that a couple extra pounds of baby fat at this point in his development.

Where was the BMI sacrament of the anti-healthcare priesthood when grandma lived happily and well in her own home to age 94?

Why should any government and any corporation that cannot control itself (crippling deficits, obscene bonuses) be controlling the citizens, particularly, you, your body, your pocketbook? Could it be because it is easier (and cheaper) to distract with nonexistent citizen problems (the problem of middle-aged spread than no doubt goes back to the beginning of time) rather than tackle all too real citizen problems - like the total inability of the government to create an environment where more reliable companies could actually create some jobs if the government and bailout crowd would just get out of the way?

The 20% figure mentioned above may or may not work for a mostly sedentary man at a desk job who then hits the gym for an hour, and is consistent with the PC movement for the feminization of Western men. (Oh no.) Most active men would look anorexic at 20% BMI. And for a woman who would like any breasts or hips it is totally unrealistic. 23% - 24% seems much more realistic.

Elaine-771403

Why should any government and any corporation that cannot control itself... be controlling the citizens...

They're not controlling you, they're giving you information and advice. They're supposed to do that, it's their job.

distract with nonexistent citizen problems...

Obviously you have a fat head as well as a fat body. There's an obesity epidemic in this country. But I suppose you grew up hearing that you weren't "fat", you were "pleasingly plump".

Why do you have such a problem with this? Just ignore it, go have some cake and watch TV.

-dog

Where did you get the notion that it is the government's job to "give you information and advice" about your health? Have you a brain? Can you think? Can you read? Can you analyze information and come to a conclusion on your own? If you read the basic documents of what the "job" really is for government I think you will quickly realize that the constitutional duties are NOT being addressed and that these nonsensical distractions are simply smoke and mirrors. Those who can perform- do so to solve real and urgent problems. Those who can't perform - simply confuse those who are easily confused. Better to create a job than fight a popcorn ball.

Your fat head phrase is a perfect segue to my next point in response: The present obsession with the so-called "obesity problem" has less to do with fat American bodies outside the Beltway and far more to do with fat HEADS in Washington and their NY and LA media shills. This is just a distraction story to distract from the total breakdown of economic order due to governmental fiscal irresponsibility. Trillions in deficits are too real. Much easier to fight a "scary" danger like a steak.

Of course there are people in America who are overweight (happily I'm not one, thanks for your concern, though, -dog) and I'm sure they are aware of it and suffer daily from this decidedly uncivil society we all must deal with (and your snarky, childish comments brand you as one who has gone the way of rudeness and incivility, and that is sad,-dog). To that I would just ask you, "where is your compassion for these overweight souls?" Why isn't that PC?

Finally, the insurance companies simply want to take a lot of something - your dough - for little or nothing that you'll get back in services. They do not want to run tests to find and treat any real (and expensive to treat) maladies. They would rather charge you hundreds and hundreds of dollars every month to see you once a year and tell you, "You've lost some weight - good job. Continue your diet and exercise" (website available advise) or "take a pill".

What the hell is wrong with you?

You take some health advice and turn it into a nonsensical political rant.

You can deny that you're fat all you want, but I think you're lying. You're FAR to bitter about this to be a decent weight. You're either fat or mentally ill... probably both.

There's an obesity epidemic in this country.

So more people live shorter lives. Big deal. There's an over-population epidemic worldwide.

"If you read the basic documents of what the "job" really is for government I think you will quickly realize that the constitutional duties are NOT being addressed and that these nonsensical distractions are simply smoke and mirrors."

What documents are you talking about? Here's a tip, you live in the United States of America, a democracy, not North Korea. Your government isn't on an endless crusade to murder you. So put down Ayn Rand and get a grip with reality. Furthermore, if you've actually read the constitution or the federalist papers there's plenty of evidence for the government playing a beneficial role in people's lives. This isn't the 1700s where everyone is a farmer with a less than kind feudal lord, stop acting as if the world hasn't changed.

Elaine, you should get off your anti-government soap box and read a bit more carefully - Leonard never said to stay below a BMI of 20, which would be borderline underweight. He said you should stay below 20% body fat, which is absolutely sound advice and something everyone should shoot for.

The problem for most people is that they don't have access to get that measurement taken - you need a special device or scale, or access to a professional with calipers, or access to a water tank measuring device.

The advice to stay below 20% body fat is sound advice for men. For women, though, 20% body fat and below is criteria for an athletic build. "Normal" range for women is 20-30%. This is reflected in the article, as it quotes obesity for women being above 35% body fat.

So what does your doctor say? Insurance companies are risk averse, meaning that they are unlikely to take your assessment of your condition over what their charts tell them. But a competent GP should be able to tell if you need to lose weight after a brief exam.

...and there is always a chance that your assessment is wrong.

James Holben you have identified the source of the current so-called "obesity epidemic" and it is the insurance company's greed once again. It always comes down to money. As you have so correctly written, "a recipe for being 'catagorized' and pay a higher premium". That is ALL this is about - self (ever-higher profits)-care for the insurance company donors to the political campaigns (the never ending cycle) and very little or nothing to do with individual health. The politicians have created a hole so deep it runs all the way to China, and much of that "hole" came from corporate welfare to insurance companies, banks and other big political campaign contributors. After running up deficits that cannot be paid off eight generations the fleecing of what little money is left in the pockets of Americans is the goal to both Kenya-care and the various other takings since the turn of the new century.

It is essential that Americans use their votes and their voices to get the incumbents out and to get Kenya-care repealed. Vote all the incumbents out in 2010 and in 2012. If you live in a state not a part of already-filed multistate lawsuits to declare the government's overreach into forced anti-health insurance unconstitutional, make clear to those in your statehouse that you want your state Attorney General to join other Attorneys General in these lawsuits. Better we spend our money on healthy food for ourselves than unhealthy big-corporate welfare and unhealthy big government welfare and waste.

Vote out the incumbents in 2010 and 2012. Repeal Kenya-care ASAP. Your individual health and your pocketbook health will thank you for it.

James Holben you have identified the source of the current so-called "obesity epidemic" and it is the insurance company's greed once again.

Elaine - you need to look around you and stop theorizing about conspiracies by greedy insurance companies.

Take a walk though an average shopping mall and, just by casual observation, see how many people out there appear grossly out of shape, with bodies resembling a sack of melting jello.

Obesity is increasingly an issue in this country. Which is why diabetes is on the rise, along with other weight-related ailments.

James Holben may not be fat, but he should get a doctor's assessment of his general physical condition (which he may already have), and not just rely on his own self-assessment.

...Kenya-Care? Cute turn of a phrase, I have to admit. I don't like everything it implies, but I'm no fan of the recently passed health care legislation either.

dman = didiot

Of course there are overweight Americans and I'm sure they are aware of it. Snarky, meddling and mean has replaced class, restraint and manners in a deteriorating America.

Sadly there is no need for a conspiracy theory where insurance company greed is concerned. Are you aware that in just one example of the so-called model of "quality healthcare", that while hiding behind nonprofit status the company spends just 50% on patient care and the other 50% goes to staff and foreign medical graduate doctor salaries far higher than industry standards and for other perverse incentives for doctors who find ways to avoid running tests that might find illnesses the company does not want to treat due to expense? Or that this emphasis on "preventive care" is code for rationed and low service for disproportionately high fees? Americans have been sold a bill of goods.

A plainer turn of a phrase than the one above is actually "DMV care". Think of your body as the car that needs to be insured, registered, tagged and dunned for every possible "violation" along the way by the highway men. And the doctors as the clerks at the Department of Motor Vehicles, the ones you wait for a long time to see; a few general words are exchanged as you hand them your money; you get the paper you need to prove you complied with the law from the clerk; you are out the door; the cycle continues each year. That is what has just passed as healthcare when the American boom has gone bust, but if you are no fan, you no doubt already know this.

Out into the workaday world now. A good day to all.

Elaine - I agree with you on all points. Some people are clueless on what their trusty big brother is up to.

Which was the point of the article, was it not?

BMI is a joke, for anyone that exercises it is totally useless. At 5'6" 7% body fat I would be considered fat on there chart. But Momo am most likely more fit than you and I can eat what I want even at 50, lift weights and run just about every day. So, this BMI which was created in the 90's by a bunch of do gooder scientists(so called). So, go out and exercise and leave your cappuccino alone.

No, I doubt your more fit than I, though I am much older than you and work out daily and have worked out daily for over 50 years now. Hard to keep up with Olympic athletes even when they get older and no longer compete:) I have never drank coffee but do swear by green tea, a habit I picked up when living in Japan, along with their diet of rice and vegetables. Lift on, while I prefer the challenge of Bikram.

Who even cares? MSNBC and the other media outlets post stories about health issues all the time. Take all the advice, follow all the diet programs, exercise regularly, and you're still going to die. Not one single person has lived forever, regardless of medical advances. Enjoy your life and stop worrying about what other people think, because they're all going to end up dead, too.

There is a BIG difference between living forever, and living with disease due to high body fat! Hello? No one claims to want to live forever. Oh my, what an excuse that one is.

The immigrants are the cause of all the problems, even obesity now. Jeez, who changes a discussion about obesity into a tirade against immigrants?

Someone who's obsessed and needs professional help.

I agree. Everyone at home can figure out their BMI, or their doctors can do that in the office -- it's just a quick and dirty screening tool. If they fall into the overweight or obese category, further investigation (like body composition measurements) will either tell that that person is truly overweight or obese, or it will tell that they simply have more muscle than average.

Everyone needs someone to feel superior to. It's just the fat people's turn, now that it's no longer PC to be openly racist or chauvanistic.

Recdude, your quote "but this hatred of the overweight with terms like: gross, disgusting, stupid.... needs to stop."

Sorry dude, but severly overweight and obese people are certainly "stupid" for being that unhealthy, and it is "disgusting" to see people shovel in food like a hog or ravage an all you eat buffet, and it's certainly gross to see fat folks load their grocery carts with crappy food. You want to change it?, then do something positive for your body and your health, and stop eating so much food. Until then your gross, stupid, and disgusting!

I've known many people who are smart, hardworking, considerate, generous, kind and with many talents... some of them are also overweight...some even obese but to tar them as gross, disgusting and stupid really shows an ugly bias. There is more to life than the pages of Peolple magazine!

Everyone actually does have identical bone and muscle weight. 1 pound of my bones or muscles weighs exactly the same as 1 pound of anyone's bones or muscles. What we have are varying densities. Take the article at face value and stop being narcissistic. It's not about you ... it's about people in general.

We also have varying amounts of bone and muscle. A taller person will have more bone and muscle than a shorter person, for example, since their bones are longer, so Jason's statement is correct.

I agree with you Jason, I’m one of those BMI falsely "Obese" people too. I'm 6'2" and about 228 lbs. I didn't break 200 lbs until well into my 40s. Of course if you go by the “BMI” charts, I’m at the very bottom of the “Obese” range, even though I have less that 8% body fat by other test methods. According to the “Chart”, I shouldn’t weight more than 168 lbs at my height. I’ve been that weight as a teenager and looked like one of those photos of Nazi/Japanese concentration camp survivors. Had a 28 in. waist and 36 in. inseam.

The “BMI” charts they still use today were developed from population samples taken in the 1920s through the 1960s, and mostly in Europe, Asia and Africa. Now anyone that knows anything about history knows that during that time period most of those populations were one step away from starvation, so body fat levels would have been artificially lowered. The reason you don’t see many “fat” people in pictures from that times is they hadn’t had a chance to get that way yet, it took everything they could get to eat just to keep from starving. Balance nutrician?? Ha! Don't even think about it. Starting in the 1960s in the US, and the 1980s in Western Europe and rest of world, this trend started to reverse as Agricultural production increased through use of pesticides, modern farm machinery, irrigation, etc. As food become more abundantly available and more affordable, average "BMI" percentages have naturally gone up, even in “Third World Countries”.

During this same time period our society has changed, over the last 50 years, from a physical “Working” to “Information” economy. 50 years ago most people had jobs that required hard physical labor all day, as did most “household chores”, even housewives had physically demanding work. Now we have washing Machines, dishwashers, dryers, riding lawn mowers and string trimmers, etc. Even “Factory” jobs are full of “labor saving/assisting” devices so that anyone can do the job regardless of strength. We don’t let our kids “go out and play” anymore. All the child molesters and such, make it too dangerous. When I was a kid, we would be gone all day to play, and no one thought twice. Can’t do that today, with the drugs and gangs that the lazy, welfare-dependant class people have let take over their neighborhoods. Less physical activity plus more food = weight gain.

Is it a surprise that places that have wealthier populations which have more “leisure” time and recourses would have lower obesity rates?? Duh!! If I was a CEO that could take a 2 hour lunch to go to gym and “work-out” or “out of the office” on the golf course/tennis court/gym/etc. with my buds while on the clock all afternoon, I’d be in better shape too.

I'm at the opposite end, my BMI is around 24 but my body fat is around 35%, which isn't healthy. I really don't need to lose weight, maybe 5 or 6 lbs, BUT I really need to get the fat% down. I'm not trying to look "pro-ana," but I would like to get rid of this thick waistline! At the same time, I'd like to increase muscle mass, or at least not lose any more. The article correctly stated that women tend to get thicker waists, but it didn't mention that we lose that muscle tone. You should see my arms - no, it's probably better you don't. Does anyone have any ideas about this?

As for me and all my knowledge , I won't even comment on a topic like this because we still don't understand enough to come to a definitive conclusion

I was all set for some pompous know-it-all remark, and then you type this. This is one of the most intelligent statements I've ever read on here. Kudos.

Say Gary, do you have any ideas about how a 50-year-old female could lose body fat AND keep/increase muscle? I don't necessarily want to lose any more weight, I'm down around 20 lbs but still have a high body fat percentage. I've heard that in order to gain muscle you have to eat MORE than you burn, is that true? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

You don't have to be a scientist Gary. If I weigh 170lbs and lift weights with a strict diet regimen and gain ten pounds of muscle with no fat gain, the BMI chart says I'm more obese. This is wrong.

T Bourlon.

Well , based on my personal experience,the answer is hard work and discipline.

I'm a 55 year old male 5'6'' and weigh 136.I've been on a strict diet for 45 years and I've been running 3 to 6 miles a day for 42 years.Insane right.Well,I love doing it, that's important,you can't think of it as work and I refuse to look like most people especially people my age.But the most important thing is I feel great.Lately,I've been doing a routine of 40 minutes on an exercise bike then 30 minutes of running.I hate the bike but my feet are starting to show the effects of about 60,000 miles.

As for Diet,eat everthing. Eat slowly. Americans eat too fast and too thoughtlessly.

Weigh yourself everyday,same time.

Work out every day, mix it up.Do the exercises needed for you to obtain the type of body you want. The info can be found all over the place.NOT ON TV.

Establish a manageable balance between energy in ,energy out that will enable you to reach and maintain your desired health level and body type.YOU WILL DO IT.That's a given.

gary-340950#19 & #19.4:

Your posting is the most informative. Most of these people have not studied what we have. Have you studied pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics? A PhD friend of mine started this area after I urged him to in Washington, D.C. in the early 1980's. This area of pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences is based on biology.

So pull yourselves away from the table, and get out of those scooters at stores, you lazy fat people. Walk for a change, take the stairs, and for damn sure stop eating all the time.

Why? If someone else chooses to be out of shape, take health risks, and be lazy, what's that to you?

flibikerchick, because IT IS MY BUSINESS now that Obama's healthcare plan has taken on the fact that we must all buy health insurance. So you being a fat person means my insurance goes up. And when you affect my wallet, which you in fact are doing, then it damn sure is my business. Your clogged arteries, your diabeties, your strokes, your knee replacements cost ALL of us money, and it's not fair that I have to pay for your excuses, your self loathing, your laziness. You should pay more, but under Obamas plan you won't, and that too is not fair! I subsidize your fatness, which pisses me off.

What is it to me? Money. Look at all of the overweight and obese people and ask yourself where all of the money comes from to provide health benefits to them. Part of that comes from higher rates for everyone. I want a non-obese health insurance discount ... just like a nonsmoker discount or a good driver discount for auto insurance. Ever see a skinny person who looks like they are on the verge of starvation using food stamps in a grocery store. Nope ... those food stamps, courtesy of my tax dollars, are buying Twinkies and Doritos.

Yes it matters to me that we are approaching the hump in the curve --- less than 50% of eligible Americans actually pay income tax and more than 50% of Americans are obese.

"What is it to me? Money. Look at all of the overweight and obese people and ask yourself where all of the money comes from to provide health benefits to them. Part of that comes from higher rates for everyone."

And most of it comes out of THEIR pockets, in the form of higher premiums and more frequent visits to the doctor. Even IF they only pay 20% of the knee-replacement surgery, that's still a chunk of money, and it's a chunk that YOU don't have to pay.

T Bourton,

You hit on the main point that really bothers me.I wouldn't care at all about how other people in this country abuse their bodies if it didn't cost me money.Lots of money.

Like I tell my girlfriend, who likes to play the lottery.I say,I don't care about the stupidity of others if it doesn't affect my life. Like playing the lottery.No skin off my nose.But when it affects my life,such as in the obesity epidemic and pathetic lifestyles of the majority of people, then I care.

Well I just think that our insurance rates go up because of people who don't pay their bills, more than people who have lots of medical problems that can pay their bills. I know that hospitals are very clever about padding their bills, to make up fo the people that stiff them. I'm not crazy about the government-mandated heath insurance (after all, right now I'm paying into retirement instead of my company's health insurance), BUT if everyone HAS to pay then there should be more money in the system and fewer bill-stiffers, which might help a little. But because the new mandate will add people who couldn't get insurance before because of pre-existing conditions, which may or may not be weight related, I'm not really expecting premiums to go DOWN, I'm just hoping they don't go UP too much!