'Fat but fit' is a big fat myth

[mountaineer]

'Fat but fit is a big fat myth'
 By Smitha Mundasad Health reporter
    17 May 2017

The idea that people can be fat but medically fit is a myth, say experts speaking in Portugal.

Their early work, as yet unpublished, involved looking at the GP records of 3.5 million people in the UK.

They say people who were obese but who had no initial signs of heart disease, diabetes or high cholesterol were not protected from ill health in later life, contradicting previous research.

A summary of their study was discussed at the European Congress on Obesity.

The term "fat but fit" refers to the alluring theory that if people are obese but all their other metabolic factors such as blood pressure and blood sugar are within recommended limits then the extra weight will not be harmful.

In this study, researchers at the University of Birmingham analysed data of millions of British patients between 1995 and 2015 to see if this claim held true.

They tracked people who were obese at the start of the study (defined as people with a body mass index of 30 or more) who had no evidence of heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes at this point.

They found these people who were obese but "metabolically healthy" were at higher risk of developing heart disease, strokes and heart failure than people of normal weight.  ... Rest of story at BBC

[Idaho_Cowboy]

BMI can be deceiving since it lumps all weight together with height. Measuring body fat percentage is important too. You can be "overweight" or even "obese" based on BMI, but still have a low body fat percentage. 

[Joe Wooten]

BMI can be deceiving since it lumps all weight together with height. Measuring body fat percentage is important too. You can be "overweight" or even "obese" based on BMI, but still have a low body fat percentage.

Before I quit being a regular weightlifter when the only gym in the rural town I lived in closed, my doctor used to joke that by the height-weight chart at 5'10" 245 lbs, I was obese, but he could see I definitely was not. 10 years later, I was fat at 280 lbs. Now back to 230 and still dropping.

[truth_seeker]

I believe as we age, our percent body fat increases even though we are generally fit. Or even very fit.

The aging human body simply changes in composition. When I ran a few marathons each year I was about 9% body fat, but that is a distant memory.

[RoosGirl]

I never thought, regarding the term "fat but fit", that fit meant only good numbers on your bloodwork.  I always took it to mean that a fit person engaged in some kind of regular exercise and was generally able to work physically without tiring easily.  In college I my BMI was 28, on the high end of "overweight", and I definitely carried excess fat, but I lifted free weights 4 or 5 times per week, road my bike 30 - 50 miles per week, I jogged an 8 minute mile, etc.  I could never get that excess 25 lbs off, but I could easily keep up with any of my thinner friends.  That is what I would call fat but fit.

[roamer_1]

Before I quit being a regular weightlifter when the only gym in the rural town I lived in closed, my doctor used to joke that by the height-weight chart at 5'10" 245 lbs, I was obese, but he could see I definitely was not. 10 years later, I was fat at 280 lbs. Now back to 230 and still dropping.

I'm 6'3" and my cut weight is 265-275, so the indexes never worked for me either... I will get back below 300 this summer.

[EC]

BMI is BS.

I'm 6 foot 1 (used to be 6 foot 2, but a small prang left me with a permanent curve in my spine) and have never weighed more than 215 lbs. Doc tried to tell me I was overweight at 200. 

[Gefn]

BMI is BS.

 

You are preaching to the choir.   I'm five feet tall, small bones. In college I put on the "freshman ten" and my weight went up to 115. The girls in my dorm started calling me fat, but I became all curves instead. I had boobs, a butt, an hour glass figure- And was noticed by the guys for the first time in my life,

But the BMI says my ideal weight should be about 100 and 105 at the absolute highest. Yes, if I want to look like Kate Moss.

No thank you. Now that I'm um, older, my doc said my ideal weight should be about 120 but keep in mind muscle weighs more than fat.

[Smokin Joe]

BMI is BS.

I'm 6 foot 1 (used to be 6 foot 2, but a small prang left me with a permanent curve in my spine) and have never weighed more than 215 lbs. Doc tried to tell me I was overweight at 200. 

Yep, BMI is BS. When I was 14 I got a job building seawalls and piers. In a summer, I lost 10 inches from my waist (I was fat when I started), but by the end of the summer weighed 20 lbs more. Height/weight charts said I was fat, but my shirts broke in the back across the shoulders instead of blowing buttons off the front.

Another stupid indicator. I could drop 30 lbs or so now and probably will this summer, (6 ft. 260 lb) but nowhere near what I'd need to get inside their BMI numbers without serious amputation.

[mountaineer]

Yes, please!