# Happy, Healthy and Heavy **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 15, 2009, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233 "2009-09-15T21:16:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/61 "2009-09-16T18:34:57Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > How true is this? I’ve heard lots of people say that being obese in and itself isn’t necessarily a health issue–is that so? Its pretty true. The issue is that there are so many problems that obesity seems to be a contributor to, that it is in itself a health issue. Fair skin increases your risk of skin cancer. Obesity is linked to increase risk of some cancers, diabetes, stroke, heart attack, arthritis, sleep apnea, problems during pregnancy… And obesity, barring some conditions, is believed to be controllable. I’ve come to believe that really really difficult to control for someone who has been overweight their entire life…but most of us don’t start out overweight and “normalizing” obesity isn’t doing any favors to a Cheeto popping toddler. (My daughter’s softball team this year almost made me cry - seven, eight, and nine year old girls and several of them weighted more than 100 lbs) Being a healthy overweight person will help lower the risk. Getting regular exercise is part of that. And risk is a statistical game - any ONE individual may escape all these things, live a healthy life, and die at 103 having never had a stiff joint. And someone who has a BMI of 22 can drop dead of a heart attack or get diabetes. ---
**Author:** ![Algorithm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/algorithm/32/12204_2.png) [@Algorithm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algorithm)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/62 "2009-09-16T18:51:11Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > A skinny woman might hear negative comments about her weight a couple times in her lifetime Or if they click the link in the OP. But that’s OK, because fat people have a lot of built up hostility and bitterness and promoting negative stereotypes of skinny people is the best way to express those feelings. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/63 "2009-09-16T18:59:27Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > It seems to me that the loudest voices in the “scrap the BMI” campaign come from those who would be considered obese by any measure, BMI or no BMI. The fact that a bodybuilder might erroneously receive a high BMI measurement also does not mean that you’re suddenly considered fit despite your\* cascading terrace of fat-rolls and hyperventilating duck’s waddle. > > - In the general sense, of course. I’ve no doubt **Shodan** ’s sporting a G.I. Joe six-pack and can bench-press 600 lbs. without breaking a sweat. Bull and shit. Take a look at #7. 5ft and 130 pounds isn’t fat. I’m 5.3 and I’m between 135-145 usually. According to the BMI, I THINK it said I’m supposed to be around 110. And yet, my doctor told me that if I were to go any lower than 120 at the absolute minimum, I’d be in trouble. I think people are more annoyed that it’s too “one-size-fits-all.” [Besides, I don’t think I’m fat.](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Guinastasia/Family/meforcbswed.jpg)😉 ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/64 "2009-09-16T19:00:18Z")
> [@Algorithm](#): > > Or if they click the link in the OP. But that’s OK, because fat people have a lot of built up hostility and bitterness and promoting negative stereotypes of skinny people is the best way to express those feelings. Yeah. That quote pretty much screamed insecurity to me. ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/65 "2009-09-16T19:05:35Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Yeah. That quote pretty much screamed insecurity to me. Yeah, I think that’s why I picked up on it. The rest were all “I’m fat (or supposedly fat), but I’m still awesome!” They didn’t have to say anything negative about anyone else in order to feel good about themselves. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/66 "2009-09-16T19:08:45Z")
One or more of our resident MDs can correct me if I’m wrong, but my layman’s understanding is that the more fat you have, the more insulin resistance you have, generally speaking, which seems to be a pretty direct health consequence of obesity from my perspective. I say this as someone who is type 2 diabetic and has also been overweight for most of her adult life. I wonder if I would be diabetic if I had been at a normal weight all these years. I am guessing probably not, although of course there’s no way to know for sure. I do know that since I started running and losing weight (the latter not actually a major consequence of the former, although I’m sure the exercise is helping somewhat) I feel a lot better, and part of that is just being _lighter_. I’m more flexible, can move more quickly, and am just carrying around a lot less weight than I was before. I can’t imagine that doesn’t have a positive effect on my health in a variety of ways. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/67 "2009-09-16T19:12:20Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Those of you who are not cartoonishly fat but not slim- guess what? You are overweight! You would be healthier if you ate less or exercised more! How do you account for the fact that being in the “overweight” category is [associated with reduced mortality](http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/293/15/1861) in stating that the overweight would be healthier if they could get themselves into the “normal” category? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/68 "2009-09-16T19:13:51Z")
> [@badbadrubberpiggy](#): > > Yeah, I think that’s why I picked up on it. The rest were all “I’m fat (or supposedly fat), but I’m still awesome!” They didn’t have to say anything negative about anyone else in order to feel good about themselves. Yeah. It definitely elicited an “Excuuuse me, princess, but I don’t want to look like any more than you want to look like me” from me. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/69 "2009-09-16T19:17:53Z")
I remember my college roommate, star of the cross-country ski team and competitive in national trials among our age group, being told by his doctor that at 5’10" and about 185 pounds he was overweight and should lose weight. This to the guy who ran marathons every weekend for kicks even in the offseason. To the guy who, in training season, spent more than thirty hours a week working out in one way or another. This to the guy that half the girls on the floor had crushes on. He was madder than I’ve ever seen him. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/70 "2009-09-16T19:22:20Z")
> [@badbadrubberpiggy](#): > > Yeah, I think that’s why I picked up on it. The rest were all “I’m fat (or supposedly fat), but I’m still awesome!” They didn’t have to say anything negative about anyone else in order to feel good about themselves. I think her quote is not about how horrible thin people are, but in direct response to the intro to the article. It says, “When we ran our article Fat and Healthy: Why it’s Possible, a lot of angry readers demanded to see one fat person who could climb a mountian or run a marathon or show any signs of athleticism. (Fat people, they seemed to think, spend all their time at buffets and sitting next to you on an airplane.)” I can see where, if someone approached me about my physical activity and said, “We are trying to provide proof to all of those people who said you never move except to roll your ass from the couch to the bed that you are actually pretty active” I might respond with a little bit of sass. Kind of the way **Algorithm** responded to Nicole’s quote in the article. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/71 "2009-09-16T19:22:23Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Black people in America didn’t instantly start loving white people the second segregation ended either (and if you think my comparison is over-the-top, I submit to you that fat people in North America are currently being treated like second-class people). I don’t think it’s just over-the-top, I think it’s one of the most moronic things I’ve read\* on the internet. I really wasn’t aware that being fat is something you literally are born with, 100% of the time. That being fat is something you _can’t do anything about_! Wow! I didn’t know this! How awful! If only there was some way for me (a fat chick) to become not fat. Man, I wish that eating less, working out and dealing with my psychological issues with food\*\* were possible! ☹ [QUOTE=Freudian Slit] I got it, too. He was saying that the woman in the article’s remark about how she can carry more hay than a 100 pound woman starving herself is just as mean spirited as making fun of a fat person who stuffs themselves with cupcakes and can’t run fast [/QUOTE] Exactly. And that if the overweight woman was only talking about that subset of thin women who starve themselves, than what’s wrong with the thinner poster only talking about that subset of overweight women who stuff their faces? If one is wrong, the other is, too. - I think the most moronic thing was the girl who was pissed that Johnny Cash covered “Hurt”, because there was _no way_ that Cash could _ever_ understand the pain and suffering that Trent Reznor has gone through. \*\* I understand I have these issues, but I don’t use them as an _excuse_. It’s another thing I have to deal with in order to lose weight, but I’m not going to mope around saying that I _can’t_ lose weight. If I don’t lose weight, it’s because I’m not doing the right stuff and I probably don’t feel motivated enough at that point. But I don’t fool myself into saying it’s IMPOSSIBLE. ---
**Author:** ![Algorithm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/algorithm/32/12204_2.png) [@Algorithm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algorithm)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/72 "2009-09-16T19:35:42Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > I might respond with a little bit of sass. Kind of the way **Algorithm** responded to Nicole’s quote in the article. I think you missed the point. For clarification, please see posts #13 and #16. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/73 "2009-09-16T19:35:46Z")
> [@ENugent](#): > > How do you account for the fact that being in the “overweight” category is [associated with reduced mortality](http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/293/15/1861) in stating that the overweight would be healthier if they could get themselves into the “normal” category? Because mortality risk is not the only factor involved in being healthy. Being in the overweight category increases your risk for diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, which are themselves risk factors for cardiovascular disease. [Cite.](http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/119/25/3263#R3-192574) ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/74 "2009-09-16T19:36:03Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > One or more of our resident MDs can correct me if I’m wrong, but my layman’s understanding is that the more fat you have, the more insulin resistance you have, generally speaking, which seems to be a pretty direct health consequence of obesity from my perspective. This is only true if you’re a diabetic. There’s plenty of fat people out there who have no problems with their blood sugar. Of course, if you _are_ diabetic, then in general, if you can manage to get to a non-overweight weight, chances are you’ll be able to decrease or go off your meds. But I know plenty of thin, active Type 2 diabetics who still struggle quite a bit with their blood sugar levels, so it doesn’t work for everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/75 "2009-09-16T19:36:04Z")
> [@Discipline](#): > > News to the self-righteous fatties [not directed at anyone in this thread]: some people are small, some people are thin, most of them don’t starve themselves to be that way. For as much as we rail against the “she’s fat therefore she must eat constantly” stereotype, it seems to remain OK to denigrate people on the other end of the scale. It’s exactly as ignorant an argument, just in the opposite direction. Thank you. I was about to post something that sounded a lot like this, but you did better than I would have. I am a female, 5’ 2", weigh approx 127 and my BMI, according to the Wii Fit, is about 22.3ish. My sister is 5’ 9" and morbidly obese – no idea what her weight or BMI is, and even if I thought she’d tell me, I’d be too mortified to ask her such a rude question. Point being: My cholesterol is in the 275-300 range. I’m an active gardener and work out on my Wii 5-7 days a week, minimum 30 minutes a day. My sister is a couch potato and can barely get up the stairs in her own house (it takes her a while). Her cholesterol is slam down the middle healthy at 140ish and her blood pressure is low, nor is she a diabetic. I am at a higher risk of heart attack than she is. I know, go figure, right? My doctor actually called me a “fat skinny person” which I found offensive on several levels. My sister and I are amused by the irony of the whole thing. Based on her body, she looks like she should be the one who is half a bacon cheeseburger away from a heart attack, yet I’m the one taking statin drugs to reduce my cholesterol… I quit eating meat ten years ago (because of my cholesterol) and I get to be the one who is accused of being anorexic or bulimic and I get to endure being called a “skinny bitch” by fat chicks who are jealous. I would no sooner walk up to them and call them fat bitches to their faces, but that prejudice (borne of jealousy) is still prevalent. It’s okay to insult someone who is thin if you are not. I call bullshit on that as well. And that equestrian chick might be surprised to meet a 127-pound gardener who routinely hauls heavy stepping stones and large bags of mulch, or rocks, or potting soil, all over the yard. I could probably keep right up with her and her 80-lb. bales and I probably eat as much as she does. I suppose this all boils down to not judging books by their covers. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/76 "2009-09-16T19:39:14Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > [Besides, I don’t think I’m fat.](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Guinastasia/Family/meforcbswed.jpg)😉 I don’t think you are either, and btw, great dress. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/77 "2009-09-16T19:40:27Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Take a look at #7. 5ft and 130 pounds isn’t fat. Maybe; it’s hard to tell from the photo. But except for that one and the runner, which is an obvious anomaly, most of the people in those photos look pretty fuckin’ fat to me. It’s nice that they’re fat and active, but they’re still obese. A high BMI in those cases would be a pretty accurate indicator they’re carrying a lot of excess weight. And no, you don’t look fat. Could you lose a few pounds without putting yourself at risk in the other direction? Again, hard to say for sure from the photo, but probably. Would there be any health benefit? Who knows. I’m a polymerized root vegetable, not a doctor. Hearing people who are 300 pounds deride the BMI scale and moan about “America’s unhealthy obsession with body image,” however, has always mildly irritated me. The solution to our rapid devolution into a nation of lazy fat fucks is not, in my humble opinion (myself long teetering at the border between “Normal” and “Overweight”) a P.R. campaign to reclassify obese as normal. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/78 "2009-09-16T19:41:09Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > This is only true if you’re a diabetic. There’s plenty of fat people out there who have no problems with their blood sugar. > > Of course, if you _are_ diabetic, then in general, if you can manage to get to a non-overweight weight, chances are you’ll be able to decrease or go off your meds. But I know plenty of thin, active Type 2 diabetics who still struggle quite a bit with their blood sugar levels, so it doesn’t work for everyone. Yeah, I know a few of those people, too. Thanks for the correction on insulin resistance/fat, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/79 "2009-09-16T19:50:42Z")
> [@Algorithm](#): > > Or if they click the link in the OP. Or if you hear comments about your diet, like “why are **you** watching what you eat?” when you turn down a dessert in the workplace. Watching what I eat is how I keep my weight in the normal BMI range! :smack: (I can still stand to lose 10 lbs.; it’s right at the top end of the normal range, too.) ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233/80 "2009-09-16T19:57:48Z")
I also get the sense that people don’t really know what normal is. Not so much here but on other boards or blogs people will post about really high weights and then act as though they’re normal or on the smaller end. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-healthy-and-heavy/510233.md?page=5)