The health risks of body fat are commonly grossly overstated. The fact is we're living longer, and happier than ever before.

If you're fat that's fine, if you feel out of shape get in shape. Don't diet, or take pills, or buy useless exercise equipment. Don't worry about an irrelevant number on a scale or index.

And for the love of god don't be so vain that you lose weight to satisfy ridiculous social norms.

In the immortal words of Chef from South Park: "Fudge 'em!"

Sent by Jody Sol | 4:35 PM ET | 07-24-2007

Thanks for your comment. But I have to disagree about your lifespan comment.

The problem is that we're not talking about a little extra weight. We're talking about dangerous levels of body fat in a significant percentage of the population.

A report published two years ago in the New England Journal of Medicine said the obesity rate would result in a shortening of the U.S. life span by 2-5 years. Here's a link to that story: http://health.dailynewscentral.com/content/view/000518/63/

Sent by Tom Regan | 4:47 PM ET | 07-24-2007

If people are happy being fat, then that is certainly their right. However, I don't understand how they can love life, or their families, when increased blood pressure, heart disease, increased medical costs, lack of mobility and/or flexibility, and an ultimately shortened life span are almost inevitable results. Our health plan at work charges more, and covers less, for people who are over-weight, or have other risk factors, and the fat people are quick to cry "it's unfair".

Sent by Dave | 4:52 PM ET | 07-24-2007

As Jody Sol pointed out we are living longer. This is because of increased medical advances that are able to "fix" problems that otherwise would have led to death. Before this, antibiotics and sanitation increased life expectancy.

The fact is, body fat kills. It increases the risk for heart disease, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes as well as other diseases. The 3 mentioned here are killers. This does not even take into account the reduced mobility and function that obesity causes.

I agree, don't lose weight for vanity. Lose it for life.

Sent by Brian Wilson RD, LDN | 5:02 PM ET | 07-24-2007

What is a "dangerous" level of body fat? It's going to be different for every individual, and I bet you anything they don't take it into account when they calculate their obesity rates.

Also, many studies about the risks of excess body fat are so poorly conducted that they can be just as correctly read as stating that LOSING weight will heighten your risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and and a shortened life span.

Being fat doesn't inherently lessen your mobility, and heightened health costs are arbitrarily dictated by con-men.

BOO-YAKA!

Sent by Jody Sol | 5:12 PM ET | 07-24-2007

Being overweight puts numerous stresses on your body. Did anyone see "Bodyworld"? It shows the diseases, organ displacement and joint issues that occur when someone is obese. Being obese shortens your life, and
reduces quality of life.

Sent by Charisse | 7:59 PM ET | 07-24-2007

The human body is an amzing machine and it's built to move, to walk all day and run when it needs to. That's one reason why we have such prodigious appetites--our bodies haven't caught up to our switch from active days to mostly sedentary ones. I look at my father, who basically stopped moving much after he turned 45, and is now, at 75, ailing, aching, sleepless, uncomfortable and unhappy--and overweight. He was a healthy active guy--it didn't have to be that way.

I'm 46, I sit in front of a computer to make my living and I'm no athlete. But I walk every day, I go to our YMCA four times a week and lift weights and take classes and use cardio machines and it feels GOOD. It isn't going to make me beautiful (the genetic lottery missed me on that one) but I feel strong!

The thing about costs is important: my husband and I are self-employed and have individual health insurance. We're healthy (knock wood) but our premiums keep going up and up. Why do we have to pay more to cover the costs of people who won't take care of themselves? There are certainly people who by circumstance or genetics are unable to be as fit as they'd like. But for most people (like my dad) it's a choice.

Sent by Susan D-L | 9:15 PM ET | 07-24-2007

and the cost of being obese is not only a burden to the individual, but also a hidden tax to the general public. as in many cases, obese people use larger portion of the health care resource because of all the chronic, if not "killing", diseases.

Sent by bing | 10:29 PM ET | 07-24-2007

I think that the "increased medical costs" are actually part of the problem. A recent study in Scotland reported huge weight gains by patients on prescription drugs. Link to the story,
http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article2701322.ece

Sent by Steven Wentworth | 5:39 AM ET | 07-25-2007

The comment by Jody indicates part of the problem we have in America-DEEP DENIAL of problems staring us in the face. Not only in health, but politics, consumption of natural resources, and many other areas where our personal decisions are dictated by advertising indoctrination and the unreasonable and naive faith in a medical system based on profit from sickness. As a clinician, I have treated people who are sedentary, who smoke, who make poor dietary choices based on bad habits, and they are not, as they claim, going to "die happy" doing what they want. They die slowly, in misery and pain, causing unnecessary grief and financial distress to their families and society in general. Insurance companies now increase rates for smokers and the sedentary, and those willing to die for their bad habits must understand that they will shoulder a proportionally greater share of the burden of paying for our dysfunctional medical system. They are the greatest consumers of medical care (not "health care"-our system has no incentive to promote health, since it is profit motivated), and insurance providers are slowly beginning to shift costs onto the demographic which consumes the most resources. Just as we look at a smoker and see one who is inevitably giving him or herself emphysema and/or lung cancer, an overweight person will inevitably develop coronary artery disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, gastrointestinal cancers, and on and on. All research points to the cold hard fact that our bodies are evolved to move, to eat small amounts of animal products (if any) and large amounts of plant products, and we ignore this at our peril. The advertising and fast food industries have much to answer for when we lament the state of health in America, but personal responsibility can not be avoided, especially when children are involved. It is essential for parents to provide good role models for their children in all aspects of behavior, not least in personal choices related to health. There is no excuse for feeding children fast food and allowing them to remain sedentary. They will develop coronary artery disease (CAD) just as their parents do. Autopsies on children as young as eight years old discover early CAD directly related to poor diet and lack of exercise. Smoking, lack of exercise, and poor dietary choices are the primary killers of Americans, and that will not change until Americans mature beyond denial and self-gratification and take responsibility for their own health.

Sent by Mark O'Neal | 9:59 AM ET | 07-25-2007

I shadowed an emergency medicine physician this spring. He said that in over twenty-five years of practicing medicine, he's never seen anyone over 300lbs be successfully resuscitated. The body already has too much working against it.

Sent by Sally | 12:23 PM ET | 07-26-2007