There are greater health risks associated with obesity, it’s just a fact. Alcoholics have greater health risks as well. Heavy D and Amy Winehouse wore their health problems on their sleeves, so to speak, so it’s easy to point the blame on these issues.

Thin people who are not active or eat unhealthy foods are also at greater risk, but these health characteristics are less obvious to see. If Megan Fox had a heart attack in 10 years I wouldn’t be shocked either, since she’s bragged that she never, ever works out. But it’s assumed that thin people take care of themselves unless they announce otherwise, whether it’s fair or not.

Obesity and health problems run in my family, and it doesn’t benefit anyone to pretend the two aren’t tied together. Unfortunately, my wake up call was after my cousin died at 500 pounds. It’s in my genes to gain weight very easily, so I keep that in check and have lowered my blood pressure to a healthy level. America is an unhealthy nation, and we must all strive to do better.

People do assume that fat means unhealthy. Sure, but skinny doesn’t mean you ARE healthy. I know plenty of stick skinny people that eat far worse than I ever have, and they are thoroughly convinced that they are still healthy because they are skinny, and I am not. It is definitely something to think about.

The media is always looking for a story. Everywhere we turn there are messages to lose weight for your health and half of it is a business. Not that I don’t think we could all use some veggies and work outs, but come on already.

Athletes have been known to literally drop dead as well, because they pushed their bodies too hard and they are considered to be in “perfect health”. Yes being overweight can lead to health problems for some, but I feel the media makes a bigger deal of it than it is in some cases. I’m not talking about the 300+ people. But those who are considered overweight to slightly obese aren’t necessarily going to drop dead walking up the stairs as much as someone who is thinner. If you’ve been overweight since youth, your body has already been adjusted to maintaining/carrying your weight around. Where as the yo-yo dieters and those who drop massive amounts of weight are putting their bodies through literal shock.

I was reading an article in Woman’s Health about the growing number of cases of Type 2 Diabetes developing in moderately healthy women. Basically the ones who may hit a pilates class twice a week but don’t necessarily watch the scale and eat normal, reasonable amounts. A huge part of it is genetics but another large part I’m sure is the utter crap we’re putting in our bodies, and no I don’t mean McDonalds or stuff like that. The majority of our food is modified and made in a lab. We weren’t meant to eat produce that grows out of season, but because we can ship foods, we can eat strawberries, tomatoes and bananas everyday of the year. How do you think that stuff stays so ripe during shipment and then sitting on your shelf? It’s all chemically altered to create super foods. Organic is a meaningless term nowadays, there is no real regulation for what we the public think organic means. A local farmer will not be labeled as organic simply because he doesn’t follow certain guidelines and yet his food will be healthier for you in the long run. Look at factory farming, that lean piece of chicken is not nearly as healthy as you think.

I am 5’7″ and 240 lbs. I’m currently losing weight, but doing it really slowly because I don’t feel a rush about it and want to make sure that I’m maintaining it, as I’m comfortable like that, and most of all, I’m in perfect health. I went to a doctor because people kept talking about obeses dying really young, etc. The doctor of course agreed that I should lose weight, and made me run a complete check-up, and he had to admit that my Arterial pressure, diabetes, etc etc are all within the Optimal range, and my heart is healthier than some really skinny girls. He still advised me to lose some weight, but after mesuring my body fat percentage, he came to the conclusion that I wasn’t really 100 lbs overweight like the BMI scale would suggest, but more like 60lbs, because I have larges bones.
I know that my health is mostly due to the fact that I’m still young, and this is why I intend to lose weight (10 lbs so far!) but I hate when people act like as long as you’re big, you better be prepared to die at 40 of a heart attack. Heavy weight has an influence on poor health, but it does not necessarily cause it, not all the time, not on everyone.

I recently gained a lot a weight after a lifetime of struggling to be “normal.” I weighed very close to 400lbs for a few months and my mother, who has nagged, berated and shamed me about my weight since I was eight years old, became obsessed with the notion that one day I would just keel over. I am prone to anxiety and fighting depression dealing with my mother’s distorted vision of my future only made me feel more hopeless about my situation. It’s not fair that every health situation faced by a larger person is attributed to their weight. Heavy D died from a pulmonary embolism. A blood clot traveled to his lung. He did have heart disease but he didn’t die from a heart attack.