To ask who is healthiest?

[SerenDippitty]

Someone slightly overweight, BMI less than 30, but eats healthy food, generally healthy lifestyle, exercises moderately

Or

Someone of a healthy weight who lives mostly on crap and does no exercise?

YANBU for first option YABU for the second.

Of course the first. My friend and I had our fat levels measured and she is super skinny and eats junk I’m average and eat moderately healthy. Her fat % was higher. The woman actually said that skinny fat is worse as the fat is around your organs whereas on mr it’s blatantly jiggling around under my skin (I can blame my genetics for that)

Dunno

I am skinny with high cholesterol and vaguely high BP
My good friend is fat with v normal cholesterol and low to normal BP

I think fat is often a stick used to beat people

Define healthy.

I want to see metabolic reports!.

Person B sounds more sensitive to insulin. So therefore healthier despite unhealthy choices.

Most overweight people are resistance to insulin. It's rare for an overweight person to remain sensitive to insulin.

In my opinion, ''healthy'' as in, you seem healthy but who knows what's around the corner is so inextricably entwined with this metabolic issue.

Almost certainly the first one. I've known a couple of people like the second example and they both had terrible sick records at work, were always tired or a bit under the weather and had no stamina for anything active - if they had a slightly longer or more active working day than our normal office job, they'd moan as if you'd just asked them to do the SAS selection day.

WellI I am the first person, 59, BMI 27.5 my b/p is 110/70, cholesterol is low normal and blood sugar normal not even pre-diabetic.

Someone slightly overweight, BMI less than 30, but eats healthy food, generally healthy lifestyle, exercises moderately

The fact is you would be healthier if you were less overweight and still eating healthily and exercising. How healthy another person is at a normal weight is irrelevant.

My friend and I had our fat levels measured and she is super skinny and eats junk I’m average and eat moderately healthy. Her fat % was higher.

How is that possible?

Being overweight is terrible for health. I think people kid themselves, to be honest.

Depends on your definition of healthy really!
Person A is clearly more likely to consume a wider variety of essential nutrients, while not consuming nutritionally empty calories but may already have pre-existing health problems related to being overweight etc.
People also need to remember that BMI and a person's weight etc are actually indicators of PAST consumption not current!

Of course it's the first person, but no one on MN will agree because they all live off caffeine, fags and fresh air. But of course they are healthier than all these shameful fatties.

@HermioneMakepeace

My friend and I had our fat levels measured and she is super skinny and eats junk I’m average and eat moderately healthy. Her fat % was higher.

How is that possible?

Because a lot of people store fat viscerally, so they do not appear outwardly overweight but are actually at higher risk of health issues because of large fat deposits around their organs.

Weight is not always directly related to health

It depends what's making you heavy. Some people have denser or larger bones or more muscle mass, which makes a person heavier but not unhealthy.

A very fine boned person who is inactive so doesn't build and maintain muscle mass won't be as fit and could well have more body fat while at the same time being lighter.

Both are equally unhealthy. Person A needs to lose weight to get into proper BMI range. Person B needs to look at their food choices.

But dependent on hight isnt there a bit of difference between BMI over just over 25 to BMI of just under 30?

I agree that you should not compare yourself to someone else as there are too many variables. Everyone is healthier than someone else. It doesn't necessarily make you healthy.

Because a lot of people store fat viscerally, so they do not appear outwardly overweight but are actually at higher risk of health issues because of large fat deposits around their organs.

Yes, viscerally, that’s the word she used, I couldn’t recall.

@HermioneMakepeace

Being overweight is terrible for health. I think people kid themselves, to be honest.

Given the BP cholesterol and blood sugar indicators I mentioned above, could you tell me exactly in what way my weight is damaging my health? I do strength exercises and Pilates. Went to the gym when it was open, swam did weights and cardio. Should add I am hypothyroid which means weight gain is easy and weight loss hard.

@IceniSky

But dependent on hight isnt there a bit of difference between BMI over just over 25 to BMI of just under 30?

I agree that you should not compare yourself to someone else as there are too many variables. Everyone is healthier than someone else. It doesn't necessarily make you healthy.

I’m 27.5 which is slap bang in the middle of those two. Not “Just under 30”.

I'd say both are probably pretty unhealthy.

According to my BMI I could gain an extra 1 and a half stone and still be just within healthy range, but honestly I would be actually fat at 5ft 3" and 10stone 1lb and I don't think my joints would cope with too many years of that.

@SerenDippitty I see nothing wrong with what you are doing and I wouldn't get too caught up in BMI as it is not always the most reliable indicator. Have you measured your hip to waist ratio? this can sometimes be a more important indicator of risk.

It sounds like you are living an active life and eat moderately, the hypothyroid is always going to be against you unfortunately but sounds like you are proactive about balancing its effect.

My partner is the first and I'm the second. Eat what I want and don't put weight on which means I eat a lot of rubbish. He's definitely healthier than I am.

Do you know your body fat percentage OP? If that's well down in the healthy range, it may help illustrate your point for those who can't see past your collosal BMI

BMI is outdated and should be treated as such, a 6ft 6 rugby player is going to register as obese. Look at it, use it as a guide perhaps, but it’s not gospel and should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Depends on too many factors and I'm not sure how the comparison between the two helps anyone.

There is no point comparing yourself to others if your ultimate aim is to be as healthy as you can be yourself. So what if someone else is colossally obese or if they are skinny but have loads of internal fat? Neither of those things are going to make you any healthier, so it's a waste of time trying to make it be relevant.

If you are just interested from an academic point of view, then I'd say both A and B have issues that they need to address for their own health.

[quote 3ismylot]@SerenDippitty I see nothing wrong with what you are doing and I wouldn't get too caught up in BMI as it is not always the most reliable indicator. Have you measured your hip to waist ratio? this can sometimes be a more important indicator of risk.

It sounds like you are living an active life and eat moderately, the hypothyroid is always going to be against you unfortunately but sounds like you are proactive about balancing its effect.[/quote]
My hip to waist ratio is 0.77 which is below the healthy maximum for women which is 0.85.

Heigh ho just sitting down to my greedy bastard lunch of fat free cottage cheese with red pepper, mushrooms, tomatoes and cucumber and berries with fat free Greek yogurt.