NationStates Jolt Archive

NOTE: For as long as I can remember, doctors and other health care professionals have been fussing at us about being overweight. Now it turns out that wasn't accurate. Seems being "a little overweight" will actually help you live longer! :)


You Can Be Too Thin, After All (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/22/opinion/22fri3.html?th&emc=th)

Published: April 22, 2005

he latest study of obese and overweight Americans upends much of what we thought we knew about the health dangers of excess poundage. After decades of dire warnings to slim down if we want to survive to a ripe old age, it now turns out that a modest amount of "excess" weight may actually be good for you, while being too thin can be dangerous.

This perplexing message comes from a study that looks like the most authoritative analysis yet of the relationship between mortality and the "body mass index," a measure that correlates weight to height. The study was conducted by highly respected statisticians and epidemiologists with no visible axes to grind at two federal agencies: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Cancer Institute. It was published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

I thought that was well-known for years. It's simple common-sense. If you have extra fat on you (not too much, obviously), it protects you from falls (something like 2/3 of OAPs who break their hips die within a year from complications or pneumonia) and gives your body the energy to fight off infections.

are anorexics healthy? no, kind of intuitive really.

So whats the ideal height/weight ratio then?

I myself like to keep myself at a svelt 335lbs, that's about one million metric tons for you Europeans.

I saw this in The Independent today. My first thought?

I bet the scientists that 'found this out' were overweight.

;)

I'll keep being borderline underweight, thanks. :p

w00t! *does the chubby dance*

are anorexics healthy? no, kind of intuitive really.

So whats the ideal height/weight ratio then?

about ten pounds of weight per inch of height

i am 71 inches tall and weigh 710 pounds

hehe

I saw this in The Independent today. My first thought?

I bet the scientists that 'found this out' were overweight.

;)
Well they are American, so that goes without saying.

about ten pounds of weight per inch of height

i am 71 inches tall and weigh 710 pounds

hehe

*Note to self*

No piggy back rides for Frang

w00t! *does the chubby dance*
*chubby dances*

I myself like to keep myself at a svelt 335lbs, that's about one million metric tons for you Europeans.
ROFL! Uh huh. Right! :D

wait wait wait, a red flag just went off.

Body mass index? They're still using this thing?

This supposed study doesn't hold much water if they used the body mass index. By their calculations I'm overweight.

ROFL! Uh huh. Right! :D

I'm horrible with metric conversions :(

lol

BMI is stupid because it assumes that everyone as uniform muscular and skeletal structure. Acording to the BMI, Arnold Schwarzenegger was dangerously obesse thoughout his career.
According to the BMI chopping off an arm and a let are just as good, if not better, than a healthy diet and exercise.

Hallelujah!

But just how 'little' is little? Is being 20 kilo's my recommended bodyweight little? :D

Yeah, this study mostly shows how poor the BMI is.

However, people have been following that thing religiously for years. I wouldn't be surprised if people on the low end of its scale were actually underweight.

We forget that our ideals of who is fit and who is not have changed over the years. Am I the only one who remembers that Marilyn Monroe was a size 14? By today's standards, that's chubby.

The BMI is fundamentally flawed. There's that other one that's much more accurate, but I completely forget what it's called.

The BMI is fundamentally flawed. There's that other one that's much more accurate, but I completely forget what it's called.

Do you mean the body fat percentage calculations? There are special scales that do that for you these days.

Do you mean the body fat percentage calculations? There are special scales that do that for you these days.

That sounds right. BFP. It shows that I'm slightly overweight, rather than dangerously obese. I didn't think I was dangerously obese.

We forget that our ideals of who is fit and who is not have changed over the years. Am I the only one who remembers that Marilyn Monroe was a size 14? By today's standards, that's chubby.

Yes, but in a good way.

Whether you're are healthy or not is not based on your body size. Thin vs. over-weight. It's based on your BMI (Body Mass Index) If for your height and weight you fall into the BMI range of normal. You're healthy. (Basically)

*Note to self*

No piggy back rides for Frang

hehe

i *slightly* exaggerated my weight.

Strange, this article states that you can live longer (we're talking 120-180 years old) by being on the edge of starvation, like eating every other day. But it's not to do with the reduced risk of heart attack etc, but to do with genes and how if you're very skinny this changes how your body works in a way that causes you to live longer.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/medicine/1281131.html

i am 5 foot 4 and 104 lbs... i'm underwait, i'm positive on that, i used to be 95, i take back my statement about being 104, i just weighed myself and i am 100 lbs, i can't help my weight really, i have a very high metabolism and as my mom used to explain it to me "where most people have to run to burn calories you can sit and read and burn just as many calories"

which is unhealthy in my opinion because although i may look like i work out and watch what i eat, i don't, i eat junk and sit on my butt all day, the other day i went rollerblading for uinder 30 minutes and could barely breathe, my legs turned to jelly, and my chest hurt. i am so out of shape it's not funny, i hate it.

i hate my weight because people clal me anorexic all the time, people don't understand why i am the way i am and people are always saying they are jealous of me. i am one of the few people that will say i wish i weighed more than i do.

_________________________________________________________________

I'm an Atheist Goddess!!!
Hecate

I fit that description too in some ways, I've been filling out a bit recently but I'm still pretty skinny, I wouldn't worry about it though because even though you think you will always be very skinny you tend to put on weight as you get older because of dropping metabolism and the halt of growth etc (I assume you are under 18). My dad was skinnier than me at my age but now he is 6'1 with a bit of a belly so make the most of being underweight.

stuff
Never mix medium turquoise with plum. I just forgot how to ask for the bathroom in Egyptian Arabic, because that section of my brain got physically burned out by ocular trauma.</hijack>


What this study says to me, is we've defined "overweight" at too low. A healthy weight is a healthy weight, and I'm apparently obese (at 5'6" [a bit below 170 cm], my weight's generally within 5 lbs of 180lbs [80-85Kg]), but women can't get off me (men, only when my hair's nice).

I'm convinced that shifting the range down more than 5 lbs'd be dangerous. My body burns through food obscenely fast, so a week of almost not eating (mono) made me drop 10 lbs (4.5 Kg), so there's no doubt that I could, but my body's not used to it, and jumping into bed, I started to overshoot by about a foot.

Whether you're are healthy or not is not based on your body size. Thin vs. over-weight. It's based on your BMI (Body Mass Index) If for your height and weight you fall into the BMI range of normal. You're healthy. (Basically)

Actually your body size determines your basic health, not the BMI. The BMI is a way for society to deem what is healthy by giving it a weight limit.

I'm healthier than 90% of people, yet the BMI will say I'm overweight because it doesn't fall into their weight limit.