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Obesity Danger May Have Been Overstated

 

Tue Apr 19, 7:37 PM ET   Top Stories - AP

 

 

By CARLA K. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer

 

CHICAGO - Being overweight is nowhere near as big a killer as the government thought, ranking No. 7 instead of No. 2 among the nation's leading preventable causes of death, according to a startling new calculation from the CDC.

 

Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that packing on too many pounds accounts for 25,814 deaths a year in the United States. As recently as January, the CDC came up with an estimate 14 times higher: 365,000 deaths.

 

 

The new analysis found that obesity ? being extremely overweight ? is indisputably lethal. But like several recent smaller studies, it found that people who are modestly overweight actually have a lower risk of death than those of normal weight.

 

 

Biostatistician Mary Grace Kovar, a consultant for the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center in Washington, said "normal" may be set too low for today's population. Also, Americans classified as overweight are eating better, exercising more and managing their blood pressure better than they used to, she said.

 

 

The study ? an analysis of mortality rates and body-mass index, or BMI ? was published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

 

 

Last year, a CDC study listed the leading causes of preventable death in order as tobacco; poor diet and inactivity, leading to excess weight; alcohol; germs; toxins and pollutants; car crashes; guns; risky sexual behavior; and illicit drugs.

 

 

Using the new estimate, excess weight would drop behind car crashes and guns to seventh place ? a ranking the CDC is unwilling to make official, underscoring the controversy inside the agency over how to calculate the health effects of obesity.

 

 

Last year, the CDC issued a study that attributed 400,000 deaths a year to mostly weight-related causes and said excess weight would soon overtake tobacco as the top U.S. killer. After scientists inside and outside the agency questioned the figure, the CDC admitted making a calculation error and lowered its estimate three months ago to 365,000.

 

 

The new study attributes 111,909 deaths to obesity, but then subtracts the benefits of being modestly overweight, and arrives at the 25,814 figure.

 

 

CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said because of the uncertainty in calculating the health effects of being overweight, the CDC is not going to use the new figure of 25,814 in its public awareness campaigns. And it is not going to scale back its fight against obesity.

 

 

"There's absolutely no question that obesity is a major public health concern of this country," she said. Gerberding said the CDC will work to improve methods for calculating the consequences of obesity.

 

 

CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said the agency will probably start using a range of estimates for obesity-linked deaths.

 

 

Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said she is not convinced the new estimate is right.

 

 

"I think it's likely there has been a weakening of the mortality effect due to improved treatments for obesity," she said. "But I think this magnitude is surprising and requires corroboration."

 

 

The analysis was led by Katherine Flegal, a senior research scientist with the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. The study that had to be corrected was conducted by a different arm of the CDC, the Division of Adult and Community Health, and its authors included Gerberding.

 

 

One major reason for the far lower number in this latest study is that it used more recent data, researchers said.

 

 

"This analysis is far more sophisticated," said Kovar, who was not involved in the new study. "They are very careful and are not overstating their case."

 

A related study, also in Wednesday's JAMA, found that overweight Americans are healthier than ever, thanks to better maintenance of blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Diabetes is on the rise among people in all weight categories, however.

 

Flegal said the two studies raise questions about what definitions to use for obesity and "where to draw the line." Under current government standards, a BMI, or weight-to-height measurement, of 25 or higher is overweight; 30 and above is obese.

 

In recent years, the government has spent millions of dollars fighting obesity and publicizing the message that two out of three American adults are overweight or obese, and at higher risk for heart disease, arthritis and diabetes.

This is actually quite interesting, considering the media has taken the risks of obesity and gone crazy with it, striking fear into the hearts of every person who feels they need to shed 10 lbs (read: almost everyone) all over the country. I always had a feeling it was overstated, as I had the ability to walk on a treadmill for 60 minutes when I weighed three hundred and fucking eighty pounds, and now, over 150 lbs later, I'm still overweight by government BMI standards and I'm not exactly marathon ready, but I can do anything I want to do. I also come from what most would consider a "fat" family, on both sides, and there has been no major cases of heart attacks, diabetes or high blood pressure. In fact, even when I was at my heaviest, my blood pressure was still 130/70. I'm hoping maybe people will calm the fuck down about this now. Yeah, being overweight isn't the best thing one can do for his body, but it's not as deadly as it's been made out to be.

Sadly, I have a student right now battling bulemia. HE is so gaunt that you could easily mistake him for someone coming out of a concentration camp. Supposedly, he used to be obese and lost an enormous amount of weight. According to the nurse, someone called him fat and now he is throwing up his food. The pressures from society and this image-conscious culture do pose a health-risk for obese people... although it is more mental than physical initially.

 

With that said, being too big can make it a burden on the body over time. My mother-in-law is huge and, as a direct result of carrying that weight, she can barely walk since her knees are shot.

The new study states that obese people who exercise, eat right, and get their blood pressure checked tend to live longer than people who are not obese. I can understand that because a) they are more in tune with their bodies and 2) when it comes to cardio, they are in better shape than inactive average sized people. HOWEVER, you still have the majority of obese people who sit on their asses day after day, eating whatever their heart desires. That being said, I think if you are the healthy kind of obese person, you are probably better of than most of us, but that doesn't go for the rest of them.

With that said, being too big can make it a burden on the body over time. My mother-in-law is huge and, as a direct result of carrying that weight, she can barely walk since her knees are shot.

This sounds like my girl's mom. She was like a rail as a teenager, but since then, she has periodically continued to pack the pounds on and is now tipping the scales at around 300 pounds. I shudder to think about how a quick gauge at the mom could be a sign at what the daughter will eventually become, but they're completely different when it comes to what they eat and the mindset about health and everything related to it (she exercises and eats well while her mom has more or less banked everything on qualifying to get the surgery, even though she's been denied several times already).

That is also the dal with my wife. My wife was very petite prior to preganacy and I told her flat out, "If you ever get as big as your mom, we will not be married". It isn't so much about the weight as it is about the mindset that would allow someone who was 95 lbs to gain 250 lbs. That person would be sick... at least mentally if not physically.

I agree completely. Call me shallow if you will, but I think that there's really no excuse for someone to let themselves go to that extent. It's disrepectful to themselves and to their significant other. When you get married, you vow to be in it for better or for worse, but I don't think that should be a clause that lets one person involved say, "Well, now I can be a fatass because I'm married and don't need to maintain." Fuck that noise.

 

As people get older, it gets tougher to keep the pounds off, but again, it's not a copout to just let yourself go. I feel terrible for her father, who's basically stuck. He can't say anything, because she's the type of person who doesn't want to hear any of it. As a result, he questions Christine anytime she really eats anything that isn't salad or perhaps pasta. And thus, I get to hear about it. So you see, being a fatass can disrupt not only your life, but most people connected to you.

Sadly, it is my father-in-law who is partially, if not fully to blame... add a little Hispanic mashicmo and male chauvinism and you have a recipe for disaster. Basically, my father-in-law didn't allow my MIL to have friendns and she was forced to stay home. She was taught to be subservient and to wait hand and foot on her husband. She wasn't allowed to work. So, it wasn't as if my MIL was naturally big. She ate and ate, maybe out of depression or boredom, but enough where someone should have seen the signs and intervened.

Am I imagining things, or did I read somewhere once that Latino women are often genetically predisposed to low metabolism, especially as they get older?

I agree completely.  Call me shallow if you will, but I think that there's really no excuse for someone to let themselves go to that extent.  It's disrepectful to themselves and to their significant other.  When you get married, you vow to be in it for better or for worse, but I don't think that should be a clause that lets one person involved say, "Well, now I can be a fatass because I'm married and don't need to maintain."  Fuck that noise.

...

 

Yeah, you're shallow.

I just want to say the genetics and having kids do play a part in those who are obese later in life. My grandma and mother were both skinny as rails when they were younger. My mom was so skinny that she constantly bruised her hips on everything. But as they started to age, they put on the weight. And it wasn't from lack of exercise or eating too much. They were constantly moving...mowing an acre+ by push mower, doing other yard work, waitressing, and rasing their kids (4 for my grandma, and 8 for my mother) by themselves. It was very rare to see them sitting down and eating, but they still started to gain the weight.

 

I have read in several books and on several websites that a woman will gain, on average, 10 pounds per child they have. My mom had 8, and her mom had 4, so...that explains some if their weight.

 

But everyone, not just women, will gain weight as they age. Metabolism slows as you age. And chances are that if your parents/grandparents/other relatives became larger when they got older, you will too.

 

Me?

 

I am a bigger woman. I won't lie. But I have always been a little bigger than the average woman my age. I have never been skinny. I will never be the Penthouse pet my mom was when she was 16/17. And part of my problem is from not exercizing like I should. But I don't just sit there and eat. I chase after my son, I do housework, and I don't eat a lot. Just how my body is. I have a low metabolism. Always have been.

 

 

I do have to say that if someone would leave their spouse because they got fat....that is just sad. I understand that the extra weight is not good for a person, but still....it may not be their fault they gained ALL of the extra weight. And to leave because the spouse gained weight... Would you leave if your spouse had cancer?...if they had thyroid disease and had no control over their weight?...had diabetes?...had a heart attack?

Damn, Loss. You weighed three-hundred & eighty pounds? After dropping one-hundred and fifty pounds, can you do push-ups or pull-ups yet? What about shopping at stores other than Wal*Mart to find clothes that fit? Most places around here don't even carry 2XL shirts, let alone 3XL.

 

How'd you lose all that weight? You give up any foods that you liked...say, for example, all restaurants?

Your mom was in Penthouse at 16/17?

 

Damn, Loss. You weighed three-hundred & eighty pounds? After dropping one-hundred and fifty pounds, can you do push-ups or pull-ups yet? What about shopping at stores other than Wal*Mart to find clothes that fit? Most places around here don't even carry 2XL shirts, let alone 3XL.

 

How'd you lose all that weight? You give up any foods that you liked...say, for example, all restaurants?

Arm strength is still the roughest area for me. I can do push ups, but not pull ups. I have good stamina though, and can jog for 45 minutes, and walk at a brisk pace twice that.

 

I yo-yo'd a lot along the way, and it took me about four years to drop it all and keep it off. I still struggle with it, and sometimes fluctuate up and down 20 lbs. My goal is to eventually be under 200 lbs without having to bust my ass to stay there.

 

I can shop just about anywhere now. I wear an XL (sometimes an XLT because I have a tall torso). Even when I was heavy, I could shop at nice stores though (at least the ones that have a big and tall section). Problem was that I sometimes had to dress like I was 50, but it was easy to find work attire.

 

It's hard to explain to someone who's never been THAT overweight, but basically, the rules are a little different the more weight you carry. You can't jog or run if you have more than 100 lbs of excess weight, for example, because you'll absolutely destroy your knees. You also can't go from getting 5000-6000 calories a day to getting 1200 without your body going into shock. To anyone who needs to lose 100 lbs or more, I wish you the best of luck, and I also advise patience if you want to keep it off. It will probably take years to get it off and keep it off, just as it probably took years to put it on.

 

Ironically enough, I started losing weight after coming out of the closet. I guess the motivation was there to get laid and have a social life and be "the real me", but motivation for every person will be different. I still struggle, and I sometimes go months without caring about it and pack on weight again, only to give a shit again and go work it off. You just have to make up your mind that it's a permanent thing and not just a "diet". A diet implies that you're going to drop the weight and go back to your old habits.

Am I imagining things, or did I read somewhere once that Latino women are often genetically predisposed to low metabolism, especially as they get older?

I've never seen that printed anywhere but having been around my share of latinas I can tell you it is, almost in all cases, very very very true. I wish I could post before-and-after pictures of all my female in-laws. SCORCHIN' in their youth and twenties...once they hit thirty? Not even the same people; big as houses.

 

There was a thread that referenced this phenomenon in a joking sort of way at ADT (Sun can vouch for this) where there was a guy that was trying to figure out what happened to Hispanic women in their 30's. He jokingly offered to donate money towards research to find out what made this genetic timebomb go off in these women at that age. I'd pony up the dough. Because latinas are GORGEOUS, the epitome of hotness in their younger years (think: Salma Hayek, Eva Mendes, etc.) and then suddenly they're just...gross.

 

I look at my ex now as compared to how she looked when I met her when she was 18 years old and I'm glad I got out when I did.

Your mom was in Penthouse at 16/17?

 

Yah. She was in....September 1967, I think. (I guess she had to have been 17.) She did the pictures during the summer to get money for school clothes/supplies, and told my grandma that she did modeling work. My grandma never found out about it...not even before dying.

 

But yah, she was in Penthouse as a teenager. It was in a school girl issue. I have been looking for YEARS to find it....just to have it.

So, Loss, what about food? You start eating nothing but like tuna and celery? Drink nothing but water? If you can't jog being that big how do your drop the beginning weight? Simply walking, even if it's like three miles a day and you're eating a lot less, it doesn't seem like it'd be too effective.

If you go from no activity to some activity, you will lose weight, and typically, the bigger you are, the faster you lose weight, at least initially. I haven't given up anything as far as food, but I do control the portions and I try to eat more variety -- I used to not eat lettuce on anything, and now I do, because it's more filling, for example. There's really no reason to not eat anything you want. Restaurant portions are normally huge; if you go to Olive Garden, for example, get a to-go box before you even start eating and put half of it in the container and have it for lunch the next day. That's better than eating it all at once. If you have a sweet tooth, have a spoonful of ice cream and then eat some fruit or something. If you want pizza, have two pieces instead of four. Cut corners wherever you can; doing that alone will make a big difference. You don't want to cut out your favorite foods completely because you'll only serve to make yourself miserable, but you have to control how much you have of them.

 

Let's, for example, say you weigh 300 lbs and want to get down to 200 lbs. You're currently taking in 3000-4000 calories a day and getting almost no exercise. If, in the first month, you cut your caloric intake down to 2000 calories (no more, no less) every day, start drinking eight 8 oz glasses of water per day PLUS another 8 oz glass for every 10 lbs you want to lose and start getting an hour of exercise a day, you'll lose at least 12 lbs in that first month. I can pretty much guarantee that. Probably more. That's a conservative estimate. The more weight you lose, the harder you have to work. You should never do weights early on if you're morbidly obese. Your body is heavy enough that it provides its own weight training, and you'll gain muscle just by having some activity. The healthiest thing you can do is use your own body weight against you.

 

But yeah, I didn't watch carbs, or go on the Atkins diet, or anything like that, because that's actually a rather ridiculous premise. Who can honestly go their entire lives without eating any sugars and expect to be healthy and not have digestive problems? Any weight loss plan that you can't see yourself following forever is not a good weight loss plan.

 

You can't jog starting out, but you can walk. I started out doing 30 minutes because I was afraid of overdoing it. By the end of the first week, I discovered I could do 60. And yes, walking three miles a day will make an enormous difference.

 

I have old menus that were made with the help of a friend of mine who had lost roughly the same amount of weight before me that I can forward to you if you like. They're Excel documents, and they're two-week menus.

IN reference to Latinas gaining weight. It isn't thier metabolism... it is their diet. Everyone's meatabolism starts to break down after awhile. I am as white as white can be and i am feeling the effects i.e. getting fat. Lets face it, people who eat Mexican food (some of the fattiest foods out there) for their entire lives are going to gain some weight. The inactivity and lack of exercise also contributes. My MIL's sister is 60 and still petite. For every fat middle-aged Hispanic woman I have encountered, I have seen a skinny middle-aged Hispanic woman.

Might I also suggest crystal meth. If you want to lose the weight without putting forth the effort, and make a ton of new friends, meth is the way!

Might I also suggest crystal meth. If you want to lose the weight without putting forth the effort, and make a ton of new friends, meth is the way!

 

The big problem for me is that all of my favorite foods are pasta or pizza. They're all terrible for you. Even in smaller doses. I mean, I worked at a pizza shop. I made the sauce and the dough. That's not counting the toppings. It's awful.

 

I don't have insurance, so I can't go to the doctor for any check-ups or anything. I'd like to see what he'd have to say about some sort of daily plan. It's like, I eat bananas and drink milk and get told that neither is good for me. Nothing but sugar and carbs. :-/ My feeling was that when a glass of milk and a banana is my meal it's not bad. My brother made the point that when the glass of milk and banana is my meal it won't be enough food so it'll just compound on top of what I eat later. Of course, he was on Atkins for awhile.

 

I mean, I'm a big dude. I feel awkward when going into places and ordering healthier. Maybe it's because I'm too worried about what other people will think or because it's so awkward to break old habits. When I got to a steak house, I don't want a dinner salad or fresh cooked veggies with my cow. I want a baked potato with sour cream or french fries.

 

I've been walking three miles a day, every day, with a friend for close to a month now. I'm not seeing a change, so I'm assuming it's not enough exercise.

 

I drink a TON of water. Probably close to a gallon a day. I'm burnt out on it. It doesn't have a taste to me. I've been looking for something new to drink. All juices are nothing but sugar. I've been recommended Crystal Light and I've been drinking Diet Rite when it's not forty-five dollars for a case.

Will's right, the food has much to do with it. Next to Mexican food, Italian foods are absolutely horrible for you. With all the pasta and bread that's consumed on a daily basis, there's a LOT of the wrong kind of carbs in the traditional Italian's diet. Then you've got all the sauces that are so good now, but hell on your waistline. And of course, their desserts are top-notch and a sure way to ruin any strides in weight loss.

 

Bottom line is, I know genetics can play a role in your weight, but so can your environment. You eat fatty foods and shockingly, you will probably gain weight. I get tired of these people from obese families talking about how it runs in their family. Just remember, huge portions of the wrong kinds of food surely does, too.

I feel your pain on favorite foods. I'm Southern, and everything here is fried or drowned in cheese. So, most of my favorite foods are those things as well. If your favorite foods are pastas and pizzas, that's fine. You could conceivably have one or the other every day. If you have pizza for lunch, let's say, but have some fruit for breakfast and a large salad and small pasta for dinner, your cravings are still being satisfied, but you're not overindulging in them. I'm telling you -- the secret to losing weight is NOT cutting out foods you like, but rather adding other stuff in and limiting your portions.

 

Going to the doctor for checkups is good, if for no other reason than you're held accountable to someone, but if you can't, ask your friend that's on the Atkins diet to stay on you. He knows how hard it is, so I'm sure he'd be willing.

 

Milk is not bad for you, but there are two things to remember:

 

(1) Three a day on dairy DOES help burn fat, but more than that will make you put on weight very quickly.

(2) If you're going to drink milk, drink it in the morning.

 

If you drink milk after 5PM, it will create a phlegm in your throat that will only agitate you when you're trying to exercise. Load up on dairly early in the day -- it'll give you protein to get through your morning and afternoon.

 

Have you lost any weight doing this? It's possible that you're exercising more, so you're eating more. If that's the case, you're undoing the work you put into it. Typically, exercise will cause you to be more hungry than you would be otherwise, just because your body needs fuel to stay going. You just have to find things that may not be your favorite things that you can tolerate that aren't loaded in fat or calories. I found tangerines to be my new favorite afternoon snack, and that's not something I ever thought I'd love as much as I do now.

 

As far as going into a restaurant and ordering healthy, what would you rather people think?

 

(1) "Oh, he's huge and he's eating a bacon double cheeseburger dipped in hot fudge. No wonder."

 

(2) "Oh, he's huge, but at least he looks like he's not eating anything ridiculous, so I guess he's trying to fix the problem."

 

Both of those are extreme cases, because most people are too preoccupied with themselves to give a shit what you're eating. And losing weight requires losing a certain victimized mindset as well -- there comes a point in time where you either decide to make changes you want to make or you allow your life to be dictated by strangers. I chose the latter for many years, but I'm much happier focusing on the former now.

 

PS -- If you like orange juice, try freshly squeezing it instead of buying it pre-processed. Any sugar that's in it will be natural, and much healthier as a result.

Might I also suggest crystal meth. If you want to lose the weight without putting forth the effort, and make a ton of new friends, meth is the way!

For the record, I was totally joking.

 

Loss makes a good point about what others think of you in public in regards to eating. When I see an obese person eating a ton of unhealthy foods, I think to myself, "Well, they have no reason to complain about being fat because they're doing nothing to help the situation."

 

When an overweight person is eating better foods, you can at least think they're trying to make things better. It's the same principle with exercise. Fat people make the excuse of not wanting to join the gym because they'll be out of place and people will gawk at them. I don't think this is the case. Whenever I see a bigger person working out, I think "Hey, at least they're making an effort to right the ship." Avoiding exercise because of being concerned with what others think is ridiculous. There are some immature people out there, but staying home and eating more isn't going to correct anything.

 

From the age of eight on, I was the chubby kid. Things didn't get bad until I was probably 13 or so. I hit the proverbial rock bottom shortly before I turned 15. I was tipping the scales at around 210-213 and was only 5'9". Starting with the New Year in 2000, I made a strong effort to finally do something about it.

 

I didn't stop eating fast food or start a vicious workout regiment. What I did do was start drinking more water and limiting myself when it came to drinking pop. Pop's one of the worst things for you. It doesn't matter what your ethnicity is, chances are, most people in your family drink their fair share of it. It's something that's a part of probably two meals a day and maybe a few other times throughout the course of each day. But so few people even think about it when they have weight issues. Just cutting that out can make a big difference not just in your weight, but how you feel.

 

So it was more water and less pop for me, in addition to trying to get some exercise every day. I was in my basement pretty much every day doing some sort of cardio exercise and it really made a difference. Over the course of two years, about 50 pounds came off. It helped that I grew a couple more inches, but the minor modifications I made to my daily life made a significant mark.

 

I was probably at my skinniest in recent years during the summer of 2001. It's no coincidence that it was the same summer I had two jobs where I was actively moving around and where most of my days were spent doing something physical.

 

The weight's fluctuated since then from time-to-time, but I doubt I'll ever return to my worst form. I just bought one of those pedometers for $4 at Wal-Mart. I've made it a point to at least hit 10,000 steps daily, and so far, it's helped a lot. May be another thing to look into, since it can really be a wake-up call. You'd be surprised how few steps you take on some days. But staying active and making small changes to your diet is really the way to go.

I'm probably 10 lbs overweight but that's mainly so I can take body shots a little more comfortably. I also usually enter competitions and compete in the lower weight class, so I have an advantage as I can drop 10-15lbs weight easily over the course of 3-6 weeks just through training and watching what I eat.

 

Quite simply, being overweight is not a problem. An extra 10-20 lbs is not going to kill you. An extra eighty to two hundred will stress your heart, muscles, joints, ligaments, bones, spine...

 

I think people confuse being overweight with being obese. Being overweight is better than being underweight, however being obese is never good.

 

Dieting is not good. Eating right is. Cutting back on the regularity of eating will just see your body retain more of what it does process.

 

I think having a reason or goal for your change of ways is important too. Joe Riggs in the UFC went from 300+ lbs to a lean 185 because he wanted to compete and be one of the best in the world so that served as added motivation.

 

I also think a lot of people try to exercise in ways that they don't enjoy so then they end up eating post work out anyway to feel better. My friend Mike does that. He'd go to the gym for a couple of hours then come home and scarf tons of unhealthy food. Wasted effort, I thought. I don't enjoy jogging so I have a Bas Rutten MMA workout tape set and punchbag I use and those keep me in decent shape in terms of cardio and physique, I can use them at home and I enjoy using them as well.

 

Over all, if you are at risk of dying because of what you eat, there is a problem and if people choose not to address it, no one is to blame except for the individual. There are people out there starving to death because they have no food while others are dying because they have so much it kills them. Crazy shit, in my opinion.