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“Healthy obesity” doesn’t exist. It is unequivocally bad for you

bigthink.com

151–160 of 397 posts

Re: “Healthy obesity” doesn’t exist. It is unequivocally bad for you

#151

I think the article is arguing that there is such a thing as being healthy with a high BMI? It's just that those people generally don't have an excessively high body fat %. But if we are going by BMI, there are plenty of people who have "healthy obesity", on account of muscle mass. I've been working out for many years and I think I have a healthy body fat percentage but since I'm not very thin its hard to tell withou…

> most men who go to the gym frequently are in the category of "healthy obese" Healthy obese because of muscle mass is the size of an NFL linebacker, not “most men who go to the gym” ETA: yea, just checked. TJ Watt has a BMI of 30.7 (barely obese BMI). BMI only matters here if you’re TJ Watt lmao

Overweight BMI is 25 and above, and you can reach that pretty easily if you're a man and you weight lift consistently for a couple of months.

Re: “Healthy obesity” doesn’t exist. It is unequivocally bad for you

#152

The old line goes > Your BMI tells me your overweight. > But rugby players BMIs are high, and they aren't overweight! > You don't play rugby though do you. I'm glad that "fat acceptance" may be turning a corner and will be banished hopefully and there can be a semblance of rational discourse. Ideally you should be a BMI 22, non smoking, non drinking, long distance runner living in the countryside eating a perfectly b…

> I get to eat what I want and sit around all day? Hell yeah! I am naturally thin. That statement ("i get to eat what i want and sit around all day") is true of my body. Is it such a strange idea that there are as many people who are naturally thin as there are that are naturally fat? Those people aren't making a choice to be fat any more than i am making a choice to be thin. Why should they feel bad about their body…

Almost everyone I met (incl me when I was younger) who think that way never realized just how much food obese people eat at home. It's wayyy more than you think. They never tell the truth about it out of shame because they know how bad it looks to others.

Re: “Healthy obesity” doesn’t exist. It is unequivocally bad for you

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can eat real food instead of processed garbage, for starters. Nobody's getting fat eating vegetables.

There's a popular internet myth that junk food is cheaper than veggies. Of course it isn't true; junk food is more expensive by weight than anything in the produce aisle, with possible exceptions for exotic imported fruits. How this myth survives people wandering around a grocery store looking at price stickers is beyond my comprehension. A 5lb bag of potatoes costs less than a half pound bag of potato chips.

The myth isn’t a myth. It refers to the price of calories, not the price of food by weight.

You end up with the cheapest calories being lightly processed grains like rice and flour, then you end up with more processed grains like white bread and ramen, then move to things like peanut butter, before hitting junk food. The point is that the cheapest calories aren’t exactly healthy.

The produce aisle tends to be pretty expensive per calorie, potatoes excepted, since veggies aren’t calorically dense, and are sold mostly by weight.

Re: “Healthy obesity” doesn’t exist. It is unequivocally bad for you

#154

What interests me is how anybody could ever come to believe otherwise. The contrary belief flies in the face of all common sense, popular experience and medical science. It seems to come entirely from propaganda on social media telling fat people what they want to believe.

i think the article explains that the BMI is misleading. there are ways one can be healthy and not actually overweight while having a bad BMI. the laymans conclusion: BMI says i am overweight, but actually i am healthy, therefore i must have this healthy obesity.

Re: “Healthy obesity” doesn’t exist. It is unequivocally bad for you

#155

Did they control for anti-fat bias? Unlikely. Especially in the medical system, fat people don't get their body issues taken seriously. The stress of being treated poorly by everyone in your life undoubtedly has a huge impact on your lifespan. Did they control for efforts to change you body? Most fat people are trying to be thinner. Plenty of ways that people are told to change their body involve extreme stress to yo…

That podcast is good for a cringe chuckle as they openly wonder if being fat is even bad for you ("what's the evidence for that???" -- well, did the hosts even look?). That show is pure cope for fat people. My girlfriend and I listen to it for fun.

This NEW research found a tenuous link that debunked the previous studies that found the healthy obesity DOES exist. So if we're talking about episodes made before this new research came out, this article directly refutes your "did the hosts even look?".

Ok so now this research is out - there is a link between obesity and poor health, but how strong is that link? As someone else pointed out in another thread, look at the error bars... ALL of that difference could easily be explained by the the well-documented factor of anti-fat bias in healthcare.

But the more important thing here is: if being fat is unhealthy - why would we compound that with stigma, shame, and anti-fat bias? Can you prove those things make people skinny? Because I can prove that those things make people MORE UNHEALTHY. Why would we do something that makes unhealthy people more unhealthy?

Re: “Healthy obesity” doesn’t exist. It is unequivocally bad for you

#156

What interests me is how anybody could ever come to believe otherwise. The contrary belief flies in the face of all common sense, popular experience and medical science. It seems to come entirely from propaganda on social media telling fat people what they want to believe.

It’s because American society doesn’t let being unhealthy be an affirmative choice. You either need to demonstrate some kind of shame for your unhealthiness or some kind rationale that explains how its actually healthy. The honest facts that “I like to eat tasty good” and “I don’t really enjoy too much physical activity” are only permissible if you also say “and I can’t help myself” or “and it’s actually not unhealth…

> It’s a social dance that makes people hide the personal truth that health isn’t the only thing that matters in life.

How do this claim make you feel? "Alcoholism isn't objectively bad because for some people boozing matters more than health."

Remember that being obese effects the people around you. Particularly, obese adults teach bad lifestyle lessons by example to their children, who in turn are more likely to be obese than other kids because of it. Having obese parents is even worse for a child's life expectancy than second hand smoke from chainsmoking parents.

Re: “Healthy obesity” doesn’t exist. It is unequivocally bad for you

#157
post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I get to eat what I want and sit around all day? Hell yeah! I am naturally thin. That statement ("i get to eat what i want and sit around all day") is true of my body. Is it such a strange idea that there are as many people who are naturally thin as there are that are naturally fat? Those people aren't making a choice to be fat any more than i am making a choice to be thin. Why should they feel bad about their body…

Almost everyone I met (incl me when I was younger) who think that way never realized just how much food obese people eat at home. It's wayyy more than you think. They never tell the truth about it out of shame because they know how bad it looks to others.

My guy, i do those things.

edit: parent comment was edited to remove the examples of eating behaviors they believe are the cause of fatness. Their examples were all things that I as a naturally skinny person do or have done regularly.

Re: “Healthy obesity” doesn’t exist. It is unequivocally bad for you

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can eat real food instead of processed garbage, for starters. Nobody's getting fat eating vegetables.

Actually, cutting potatoes and other starchy vegetables is a major part of weight loss for a lot of people. High-starch vegetables are a major contributor to obesity.

I call bullshit. The average cooked potatoe has 25% less calories than rice or pasta. You'd have to eat 3kg of cooked potatoes to get 2100kcal. I am pretty certain it is near impossible to get fat from eating potatoes. Go give it a try.

I bet that it is the "frying" part or the sauce or butter that comes with it, that leaves a lasting impression on the hips.

Re: “Healthy obesity” doesn’t exist. It is unequivocally bad for you

#159
IMO the fat acceptance movement is pushing more for people to think about obesity like alcohol consumption: not "healthy", but potentially part of a sustainable approach to life. Of course, each deviation from "perfect" health has impacts - but learning to order them productively is what you want.

It's not really that you want to be fat, it's that weight is only one of many lifestyle choices and we'd give people better medical treatment if we were less obsessed with it. Also: People should try to move towards a healthier body weight! But it's a question of balancing effort and focus and not some moral imperative.

Re: “Healthy obesity” doesn’t exist. It is unequivocally bad for you

#160

The old line goes > Your BMI tells me your overweight. > But rugby players BMIs are high, and they aren't overweight! > You don't play rugby though do you. I'm glad that "fat acceptance" may be turning a corner and will be banished hopefully and there can be a semblance of rational discourse. Ideally you should be a BMI 22, non smoking, non drinking, long distance runner living in the countryside eating a perfectly b…

> I get to eat what I want and sit around all day? Hell yeah! I am naturally thin. That statement ("i get to eat what i want and sit around all day") is true of my body. Is it such a strange idea that there are as many people who are naturally thin as there are that are naturally fat? Those people aren't making a choice to be fat any more than i am making a choice to be thin. Why should they feel bad about their body…

You might be genetically blessed, others might be genetically cursed.

Some are genetically predisposed to becoming fat. Its still a fact that they are fat. And being fat comes with associated health risks.

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