So this guy's never read a medical journal article? He doesn't know
about the relationship between obesity and diabetes, heart disease,
cancer? Just the fact that 90 percent of type-2 diabetes is related to
body fat and resolves or improves with weight loss is enough to tell
you that.

The man is delusional.

Most studies show that weight loss, especially when maintained, is
associated with lower mortality. This is what Gregg, et. al had to say
in Intentional weight loss and death in overweight and obese U.S.
adults 35 years of age and older. Ann Intern Med. 2003 Mar
4;138(5):383-9.:

"The effect of weight loss on mortality has been controversial. Many
observational studies have found that weight loss is associated with
increased rather than decreased risk for death. In this national
sample of overweight and obese adults, we observed three key findings
related to this controversy. First, mortality rate was 24% lower among
persons with intentional weight loss than among persons who did not
attempt to lose weight and whose weight did not change. This
association was largely driven by persons who reported a weight loss
of 1 to 9 kg. Mortality rate was 30% lower in this group than in those
whose weight remained stable and who were not trying to lose weight.
Second, attempted weight loss may be a more important predictor of
longevity than weight change itself. Third, the previously reported
associations between weight loss and increased mortality rates may be
explained by unintentional weight loss. As in previous epidemiologic
studies, we found that overall weight loss was associated with
increased mortality rate. However, this effect depended on whether the
weight loss was intentional. The relationship between weight loss and
death was explained by persons with unintentional weight loss, among
whom the mortality rate was up to 77% higher."

"Our finding that intentional weight loss is associated with reduced
mortality rates is consistent with previous findings from several
studies. In the Cancer Prevention Study I, intentional weight loss was
associated with 20% to 40% lower all-cause, diabetes-related, and
cancer-related mortality rates among women and 33% lower
diabetes-related mortality rates among men. A more recent study of men
and women with diabetes-associated weight loss reported approximately
a 25% reduced mortality rate. Similarly, a 12-year follow-up of the
Swedish Malmö Prevention Trial, a nonrandomized lifestyle intervention
with a net 2.8% decrease in BMI, found that risk for death from heart
disease and all-cause mortality were reduced by 50% among the study
sample. In other studies and study subgroups, such as men in the
Cancer Prevention Study I, middle-aged and older women in the Iowa
Women’s Health Study, and the Cardiovascular Health Study, intentional
weight loss was not consistently associated with all-cause mortality
or with death from cardiovascular disease."

There are some issues in the fat acceptance movement that have merit,
like job discrimination and respect, but others don't. The big don't
is that being fat is just as healthy as being thin for people who are
genetically predisposed to be heavier. They are not talking about
people with a BMI of 27 or 28 who have relatively normal body fat
percentages, but very, very overweight people.

Ask how many NAAFA members are active, and don't have at least one
problem related to body size. Not to mention that very fat people have
problems with skin and personal hygiene that others don't have.

The only super-sized people I know are in terrible health. And the
problems become worse with aging. I don't know one without severe
osteoarthritis, yeast under skin folds, and poor mobility even while
young. One friend has had endometrial cancer, severe lymphadema, and
congestive heart failure -- she's around 8 years younger than me.
Another one has severe skin problems, several of which have required
surgery to remove infected fat pads, sleep apnea, unreparable hernias,
hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and a bizarre life-threatening tumor --
she's 4 years older than me. In the time I've known each of them,
they've spent significant time in the hospital, whereas I've not spent
one day in a hospital (except with Marty).

I know this is anecdotal, but it is a rarity to find a very overweight
person in good health.

Barbara

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