Can you be overweight and truly be healthy?

[m0therofdragons]

March 2019 I’d lost 1.5 stone and started park run.

March 2020 I was 10st (healthy weight for my height) and running a half marathon.

Lockdown for me meant 3dc and nhs job. I tried to keep running etc but have over the year put on 1st. Bmi wise, I’m over weight. I ran once a week throughout but since January I’ve been running 3-4 times 5-10km distances. I’ve not lost any weight! I’m so frustrated but speed wise I’ve got faster and although I’m never going to win a race I can run 5k in 28 minutes and 30 seconds and 10k in an hour. I feel healthy but am I deluded? (I’m 38)

I would say I'm fairly healthy- vegetarian, lots cooked from scratch. But my sugar habit will do for me and I like a drink.

Isn't it true that muscle weighs more than fat? So OP, if you run, you must have built up muscle mass which might be what is contributing to the increases weight, perhaps?

I reckon you're healthy. Continue!

Health outcomes are better the higher your education so a band 5 & above usually has a bachelors degree qualification. People with a masters are supposed to have an edge when it comes to developing dementia.

Another way of looking at your question is will I get away with being over target weight but weight usually goes up with age and in the next decade you’ll go through the peri menopause and it makes it so much harder.

Of course overweight is unhealthy with the caveat of body builders but their an extreme example & I bet they’ve got higher levels of free radicals than a healthy weight person with a diet high in anti-oxidants.

You can be overweight and fit, but that’s not the same as healthy. Being overweight means that you are far more likely to suffer about 9 different cancers. Plus the extra strain that your organs and joints are having to cope with

@Fluffycloudland77 I’m an 8A but not clinical.

Interesting question OP. Just this morning I saw a 30-something girl who was, by any standards, a couple of stone overweight but there she was jogging along at a steady pace. No red face or panting!

So she was certainly fit but whether she's healthy is not for me to say. I know someone who is 10 stone overweight and has normal BP & blood sugar levels.

I think BMI is a useful tool but a bit of a blunt instrument and not totally black and white.

For context, I too am 7lbs off a healthy weight but I loathe my current figure and I really don’t look or feel fit and healthy. My stomach is huge post-kids, flabby arms, nothing fits properly and feel grim. So although my BMI is presumably v similar to yours (26.5 in my case) I don’t feel remotely healthy or pleased with my body. But there are others who weigh more than me who look much better and are no doubt much healthier. It sounds like you’re a lot fitter and more toned / better proportioned than me despite being a similar BMI. I think I’d need to lose at least a stone, probably more, to look reasonably slim and toned.

I wonder how much your weight history affects things? Until my mid 20s I was a size 8, weighed 8 stone and was technically underweight for several years despite eating what I wanted and not being particularly healthy. It’s quite alarming how much my body shape and size has changed ...

Anyway my point is that I do think you can be healthy and slightly overweight according to BMI. Not so much once you edge into the obese category IMO ...you could still be pretty fit but I’d assume your organs etc would be under unseen strain

A person who is classed as a healthy bmi could seriously restrict their food intake and have a real difficult relationship with food, but to look at them u would say that were healthy so id say healthy bmi means nothing, I have also read that healthy bmi was 27 then when down to 25 due to lobbying from a weight loss company so i not sure i really think bmi means that much anyways.

So you should be telling us what’s what then 😀 you must see the results of questionable lifestyle choices. My dh said he never thought it would happen to him but it all caught up with him & now he’s under Glenfield cardio on a waiting list for ablation, I reckon once they see his scan results he’ll have two valve replacements & a stent too.

I'd say yes you can be a bit overweight and healthy. Health is SO much more than just what the scales say. BMI is such a bad indicator of healthy weight anyway.

Compare yourself to someone who may be only 8.5 stone and not 'overweight' but who leads a sedentary lifestyle, never exercises, who lives off processed ready meals and junk food, who's stressed.
I know which one I'd rather be!

@Fluffycloudland77 huh? How can I tell you what’s what from my non clinical job? I’ve also yet to meet an orthopaedic surgeon who knows about weight and diet - they would just refer to the dieticians. Not all clinical roles specialise in weight.

An overweight runner is more likely do do muscle damage / get osteoarthritis (or joint damage) than a normal weight runner. This is part of the reason why low or medium impact activity is recommended for overweight people.

Talking about my personal experience here. I've been class 3 obese and 'normal' and everything in between over the years, now at the low end of 'overweight'

Overweight, I'd say probably pretty much - for me personally at an overweight bmi I still had decent fitness, could run, good flexibility, and top notch bloodwork

Obese, health gets more tricky for sure - talking hidden things you'll only see in fairly extensive bloodwork and things I was at much higher risk of. I was convinced I was 'healthy' til I did this

Obese class 2 and above - no, absolutely not and I'm very glad I woke up and sorted it out

it could be different for others but I certainly found obesity very detrimental to my overall health and I am never going back there. It was a dark and horrible place.

I think the problem is we act as though 'healthy' means one thing, and it doesn't and actually what is most healthy for one body probably changes with age.

I have always been a 'normal' BMI, except in pregnancy. But I'm very sedentary and eat way, way too much sugar. I'd say 50% of my calorie intake is unhealthy snacks, but my meals are healthy.

So... I'm not doing great on cardiovascular fitness. But I probably get my five a day. The weight being normal probably discounts a lot of things I might otherwise be at risk of - eg heart disease, high blood pressure - but the sugar probably doesn't help, esp re: cancer risk. The high fruit and veg intake probably offsets some of the sugar. So... it depends what you're worried about.

I suspect everyone has their own individual profile thats a mix of genetics plus exercise plus weight plus diet (as in makeup, rather than just calories). I suspect for older people, being slightly overweight is an advantage: when you're at the point where you're more of a risk of an infection or a fall and being frail could knock you back. I suspect that if your choice was BMI of 24 but not exercising vs BMI of 26 while being able to run 10k, the latter would be better. But there's no one metric.

I have a friend who works in drug development who once told me all the stuff about eating for low cholesterol is misleading as for most people, something like 70% of your cholesterol level is dictated by your genes. So there are clearly some people who can eat what they like and be fine, and some people who would have to live like monks to get by with diet alone. I think we'll see a lot more individualised healthcare in the coming decades, but it makes for more complicated public health messages.

You cannot be overweight and be healthy.

Unless you are a rare case of, you are a body builder or have large large large amounts of muscle (the rock etc).

I think some people delude themselves, it is frustrating.

BMI is a perfectly accurate tool for most of the population.

It’s not the best of questions tbh, another way of looking might be ‘would I be any healthier at a lower weight?’ 7lbs is surely almost within a normal range of fluctuations depending on menstrual cycle, time of day etc. I don’t really understand how much use population level concepts like BMI are for calculating personalised optimal weights for individuals though.

Ok I’m obviously hitting a raw nerve here. I do think most people working in the nhs have heard about healthy living though.

@Beans13

You cannot be overweight and be healthy.

Unless you are a rare case of, you are a body builder or have large large large amounts of muscle (the rock etc).

I think some people delude themselves, it is frustrating.

BMI is a perfectly accurate tool for most of the population.

So what does health mean to you then?

BMI doesn't account for body fat percentage at all, nor lifestyle choices.

Person A can be within their BMI but have a really high body fat %, never exercises, eats a refined, sugary diet, isn't happy with their body, constant yo-yo dieting.
Person B could be slightly above their BMI range but does aerobic exercise regularly, trains with weights/does yoga, has a lower body fat %, eats relatively healthily, looks after their mental health and is happy.

Are you saying you believe person A is healthier?

Too much emphasis is placed on BMI. It's an indicator yes, but all areas of lifestyle should be taken into account. Person A above is just as likely or possibly more so, to suffer health related issues from the poor diet/lack of fitness.

I think you can be fit and active if you are overweight but excess fat is not healthy especially as you get older.