Dealing a blow to the “thin is best” crowd of personal trainers and other so-called experts on weight, health and fitness, new research reasserts the reality that those who are overweight do not have a higher death rate than those who are of normal weight. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute report that there were more than 100,000 fewer deaths among the overweight in 2004 than would have occurred if these people were normal weight.
This makes the obvious point that the term/description “normal weight” is pretty much meaningless. These findings provide another example of why the Body Mass Index (BMI), which is supposed to be an indicator of whether or not a person is of “normal weight,” is inaccurate and unreliable.
The fact that the overweight do not have a higher overall mortality rate serve as a great illustration of how the “Food Nazis” have been wrong, again. Anyone with a BMI of 25-30 is considered to be overweight. These findings indicated that this range could now be considered to be ideal.
Oops.
As this word trickles out – and I say, “trickle” because these results cause a problem for the health and fitness status quo – you can be sure that a parade of purported experts will still beat their drums to the wrongheaded beat of thinness. You’ll always read statements such as, “being overweight or obese increases a person’s risk of any number of diseases,” without the second half of that statement that should tell us that underweight and “normal” weight people also face risk factors for certain diseases.
For decades, people have been considered to be overweight and unhealthy, despite being physically capable and fit. These people have been taken advantage of and have spent billions of dollars and wasted countless hours of time and effort in order to meet the inaccurate expectations of diet and exercise gurus, all of whom were just trying to sell them something.
These findings should serve as a constant reminder to people who are prone to listen to the diet and fitness no-nothings who are constantly trying to sell them supplements, books and DVDs. The next time a personal trainer, diet expert or any other kind of fitness type tells you that you should – or have to – lose 10 pounds, ignore them. You’ll be happier and healthier.
