I Should Still Lose Some Weight

[billroper]

I heard about this on the Osgood File yesterday and got this reference today from Instapundit. Apparently, obesity is not nearly so likely to kill you as had been previously announced. In fact, people who are a little bit overweight appear to live longer than people of "normal" weight.

Remembering that normal weight has been revised down during my lifetime, this makes me wonder if perhaps it's time to revise the weight charts up just a bit. Mind you, just a bit still means that I need to lose a substantial amount of poundage...

Comments

[kevinnickerson.livejournal.com]

That "normal" word bothers me. Isn't "normal" 40lbs overweight? Or is that just Michigan?

[huskiebear.livejournal.com]

People who've actually been paying attention (as opposed to the media, politicians and most family doctors) have been saying this for years. It's not the number on the scale that going to kill you, it's the numbers on the blood tests. Keep your bp, glucose, fats and cardiac muscle condition in line and you're fit no matter what your weight. Lose the genetic lottery and get any of them out of whack and you're a walking time bomb even if you're a size 2. Yes, excess weight can aggravate many conditions, but only if you're pre-disposed to them already. Obesity in itself is not the death sentence "they" want us to think it is.

Sorry. Hit several of my buttons with that one, you did! :D

[rmeidaking.livejournal.com]

And a couple of weeks ago, Science News had an article on mouse research, wherein mice who were fed a diet that was 90% (that is, 10% less) of what a similar mice who could eat as much as they wanted, lived up to half again as long. That is, Group B got X amount of food; Group A got .9X; and Group A lived about 3 years as opposed to Group B's two years...if I understood the article correctly.

Further research showed that the longest lifespans were achieved by feeding the Group A mice every other day. That is, Group A' gorged themselves every other day, and fasted every other day.

This should be the new rage diet once this gets around: eat as much as you'd normally eat in two days, less 10%, every other day, and fast every other day. Backed by scientific research!

I think the jury is still out on the boundaries of normalcy. Nevertheless, it's pretty clear where the target is, and I, for one, am no longer in the bull's eye, especially with regard to daily exercise. :-(