Ping Barbara Hirsh re: Obesity Myth

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Dally - 15 Aug 2004 00:53 GMT

Barbara, have you read Paul Campos's book? The central premise appears
to be that being fat in itself is not a problem, that the illness
associated with weight/BMI is from eating poorly and not exercising.

Is he right? I guess what I really want to know is, as someone with a
healthy diet that exercises vigourously most days, is there any benefit
in limiting calories to lose weight? I'm currently at about 26-27% body
fat with a BMI (due to unusually high LBM) of 28. (This translates to
174 at 5'6".) I run, lift weights and eat a Zone-ish diet.

I'm finding this book to be either very revealing and disturbing or
slick quakery and disturbing. Disturbing in either case.

What do you think? I'm working pretty damn hard to get my body fat down
now - all my remaining fat is sitting on my upper thighs going "nyah
nyah, bet you can't move me!" Is it for naught?

Dally

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Barbara Hirsch - 15 Aug 2004 03:22 GMT

>Barbara, have you read Paul Campos's book? The central premise appears
>to be that being fat in itself is not a problem, that the illness
>associated with weight/BMI is from eating poorly and not exercising.

Unfortunately I don't have time for mainstream literature.

The association between weight/BMI and illness comes from the ratio of
body fat to lean mass. This is why male weight lifters, who generally
will place out of a normal BMI but have body fat of less than 10
percent don't have obesity related illnesses. On the other hand a fat
person, with body fat of 35 percent or more is likely to have obesity
related comorbidities.

Eating poorly and not exercising lead to high BMI and high body fat.
so in a round about way he's right.

>Is he right? I guess what I really want to know is, as someone with a
>healthy diet that exercises vigourously most days, is there any benefit
>in limiting calories to lose weight? I'm currently at about 26-27% body
>fat with a BMI (due to unusually high LBM) of 28. (This translates to
>174 at 5'6".) I run, lift weights and eat a Zone-ish diet.

There are a lot of benefits. For one, you put less weight on your
skeleton, and you're less likely to get sick as you age. In addition
to metabolic diseases, many kinds of cancer are related to a high body
fat content.

Some of the risk depends on where you're carrying your weight in your
middle or on your thighs. What does your blood work look like? Do you
have high cholesterol? Glucose intolerance? Are you hypertensive? If
you have any of these conditions, then losing more weight is
definitely indicated.

If not, you may be able to stay where you are, at least until you get
older, when body fat normally shifts towards the center in women.

>What do you think? I'm working pretty damn hard to get my body fat down
>now - all my remaining fat is sitting on my upper thighs going "nyah
>nyah, bet you can't move me!" Is it for naught?

Upper thigh fat is probably not going to hurt you. And if you feel
good, and don't have any health problems it's probably not an
emergency right now.

FWIW, when I lost weight the first 58 pounds came off in 6 months. The
last 28 pounds took 9 months. The closer you are to goal weight, the
harder it is to get there. I wound up having to change my diet a lot
more, and exercise a lot more than I anticipated to reach my goal. And
when Marty got sick, my body fat shot up to 25 percent even though I
didn't gain an ounce. None of my clothes fit. It took me over 5 months
with a trainer to get it back down to my normal 20 percent.

However, the most important thing is to remember that you've already
improved your health dramatically with the diet and exercise program
you are currently on, and I bet you feel 1,000 percent better for
having done it. So pat yourself on the back, keep up your present
routine, and if you get the extra ambition to try for a higher level
of fitness you can always do that later. Don't let the extra fat on
your upper thighs get you down. The health benefits are much more
important than the cosmetic outcome.

Barbara

Barbara Hirsch, Publisher
OBESITY MEDS AND RESEARCH NEWS
The latest in obesity research and weight loss drug development
http://www.obesity-news.com/

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