Why obesity is NOT the problem

It’s no secret; Over the past few decades we have been bombarded with many studies indicating that obesity is the largest health epidemic facing the United States. We have also been told that obesity greatly increases the risk of degenerative diseases such as heart failure, diabetes, and cancer. THIS IS NOT ENTIRELY TRUE! When these studies were published, the only factors they looked at were weight and body mass index (BMI). People easily fall for these figures, but they don’t really tell you much.

Your BMI is calculated by knowing your height and weight; the formula is easily searchable if you are not familiar with calculus. The BMI calculation does NOT take into account how much of your weight is fat, muscle, bone, water, minerals, etc. It also does not take into account lifestyle choices such as exercise, eating habits, use of diet drugs, attempts at crash diets, and weight fluctuations. The BMI was used by insurance companies as a general way of determining an individual’s health risk. This is a problem because very muscular people and some athletes end up being classified as obese despite being among the healthiest people in the world. The BMI system is relatively useless, but because insurance companies don’t have the time, manpower, or resources to fully screen people as they should, this is the best system they can use.

For those who are sedentary and do not have healthy habits, the BMI scale turns out to be somewhat accurate.

If obesity isn’t the problem, then what is? There are more and more studies starting to appear showing that lifestyle is a much better indicator of health and assessing the risk of developing degenerative disease. While studying Exercise and Wellness at Arizona State University, I was first exposed to this and was convinced by the overwhelming evidence. Studies show that people who are physically active and practice healthy eating and lifestyle habits, but who are considered obese or overweight by BMI standards, are just as healthy, if not healthier, than those who are in “Normal” BMI standards, but are sedentary and do not. exercise or practice healthy eating and lifestyle habits! Actual health indicators include the following elements:

• Exercise
• Nutrition
• Lifestyle clothing (smoking, recreational drug use, alcohol use, etc.)
• Use of diet drugs
• Weight cycling (gaining and losing weight several times in a short period of time)
• Attempts at strict diet

Now, this does NOT mean that all overweight or obese people are healthy. If you lead a poor lifestyle and are considered overweight or obese, then you are still at a much higher risk of health problems, but you can change that with a few lifestyle changes! If you fall into the Underweight or Normal categories, this doesn’t mean you’re automatically healthy either. If you have poor lifestyle habits and don’t exercise, you’re still at higher risk of disease than if you exercised and lived a healthy lifestyle. If you want to be healthy regardless of your weight, you need to exercise, eat right, avoid crash diets, avoid weight loss or diet drugs, and make sure you lose weight the right way. If you lose weight the right way, you should only do it once. If you need to lose weight, you should only lose 1-2 pounds per week to ensure you’re not losing too much muscle mass. I hope this encourages EVERYONE to get up and start taking care of themselves! Your weight does not determine your well-being!