They’re on the covers of all the popular magazines and on television daily. They are the models, movie stars and celebrities our society tends to idolize and they are mostly very thin. Some of these celebrities have been the featured in the gossip columns because of speculation they were now anorexic. One star recently announced her new line of clothing that will only be produced in sizes 0 to 6. We tend to assume that those among us who are thin are healthier than those who are obviously heavy.
      New evidence shows that assumption may be off the mark. One study conducted with nearly 22,000 men who were followed for eight years showed that weight was not a good indicator of the risk of death from all causes or the risk of death from heart disease. These men were all given a standard treadmill test and exercised to exhaustion. Those men who were able to walk the longest on the treadmill were labeled “fit” by the authors of the study. The lean men who were unfit (they became exhausted on the treadmill early in the test) had double the risk of dying from all causes and from heart disease. The obese men who were “fit” had only slightly higher risk of death over those men who were of “normal” weight and fit. The obese men who were fit had a slightly lower risk of death than the “thin” fit men.
       Another study published in 2004 in the Journal of the American Medical Association enrolled 900 women with an average age of 58. The women were categorized as obese and non-obese. The same treadmill test was administered to all the women and they were separated into two groups, “fit” and “unfit.”  The women who were non-obese and unfit had a 43% risk of having a heart attack while the women who were obese and fit had a 28% risk of a heart attack. Clearly weight status was not associated with heart disease risk but fitness certainly was.
       We know that being overweight carries health risks, but physical fitness seems to be a trump card that can reduce health risks.  If you are carrying around some extra weight and you have tried diet after diet, perhaps incorporating daily physical activity is a good place to start. Exercise has many benefits besides calorie burning. It is a great way to reduce stress and many of the clients I work with eat more when they are stressed or upset. Walking, swimming, biking, dancing, or aerobics will all improve fitness levels and get your heart in better shape.
       Society places lots of value on being thin and the pressure to be thin can cause development of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. Perhaps our emphasis should shift to encouraging fitness and healthy eating in all age groups. Health is not defined by any single factor but a combination of many behaviors. We can all take some small steps to take us closer to a healthy lifestyle.