Why obesity is NOT the problem

It is no secret; Over the past few decades we have been bombarded with many studies indicating that obesity is the largest health epidemic facing us in 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 in love with these numbers, 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 unfamiliar with the calculation. The BMI calculation does NOT take into account the amount of fat, muscle, bone, water, minerals, etc. of its weight. It also doesn’t take into account lifestyle choices like exercise, eating habits, use of diet drugs, attempts at heavy diets, and weight fluctuations. The BMI was used by insurance companies as a general way to determine 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 evaluate people as they should, this is the best system to use.

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

If obesity is not the problem, what is it? There are more and more studies beginning to emerge that show that lifestyle is a much better indicator of health, in addition to assessing the risk of developing a degenerative disease. While studying Exercise and Wellness at Arizona State University, I was exposed to this for the first time and the overwhelming evidence convinced me. Studies show that people who are physically active and practice healthy eating and lifestyle habits, but are considered overweight or obese by BMI standards, are just as healthy, if not healthier, than those who conform to BMI standards “normal” but they are sedentary and they don’t. Exercise or practice healthy eating and living habits! Actual health indicators include the following items:

• Exercise
• Nutrition
• Lifestyle habits (smoking, recreational drug use, alcohol use, etc.)
• Use of diet drugs
• Weight cycling (gaining and losing weight multiple times in a short period of time)
• Attempts of 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, you still have a much higher risk of health problems, but you can change that with a few lifestyle changes! If you are in the low or normal weight categories, this also does not mean that you are automatically healthy. If you have poor lifestyle habits and don’t exercise, you still have a 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 extreme diets, avoid weight loss or diet medications, and make sure you lose weight in 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 to 2 pounds per week to make sure you don’t lose too much muscle mass. Hope this encourages EVERYONE to get up and start taking care of themselves! Your weight does not determine your well-being!