In the news: Better to Be Fat and Fit Than Skinny and Unfit

This week’s story comes from Tara Parker-Pope’s Well blog in the Health section of The New York Times. It originally ran online August 18th…

Better to Be Fat and Fit Than Skinny and Unfit

I appreciated this article greatly, especially in light of last week’s AP story on Patrick Deuel that focused mainly on the perceptions of fat as unfit. This isn’t to say that I necessarily agree with it, but I appreciate the varying perspectives presented.

Ms. Parker-Pope poses a question all of us have surely asked ourselves, “… is a person’s weight really a reliable indicator of overall health?”

If we’ve asked ourselves that question enough, most of us have probably answered in the negative…weight is not necessarily the most reliable indicator of overall health…but I believe it’s an indicator nevertheless. I have a couple of friends who are larger than I am, and are in better health so to say. One friend in particular (let’s call him Freddy) weighs in at about 380, does not exercise regularly, and to my knowledge does not have high blood pressure or cholesterol problems. I, on the other hand, last weighed at 346, am on medication for high blood pressure, and received an e-mail from my doctor last week to “renew [my] mission to get in better shape.”  He’s a great doctor, but I hope he realizes that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do. Perhaps he hasn’t noticed my weight loss as much as I would have hoped.

But that’s just it.  I’ve dropped some pounds, and yet I’m clearly still at risk. My “comorbidities” have definitely manifested themselves in one form or another. The one thing that I think I can attribute to weight-loss and exercise is that my cholestorol has gone down considerably, and I no longer have to take medication for that.

Last week, my wife told me that weight-loss is not an exact science. I believe she’s right. No two people are the same. Parker-Pope’s story uses a lot of statistical information, and also points out that some of the data used in studies sparked the ire of many readers and bloggers. If I look at it statistically, I can’t help but think that the error term–the “unobservables” that somehow may or may not factor into our weight–is always too great to ever provide a definitive, uniform method of weight-loss.

Or, you could be like me, who after having tried every diet from here to the moon lives by the mantra “Eat better, move more.”  Some people might phrase that “eat less, move more,” but we all know that less is not always best.

Later on in her post, Parker-Pope noted a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association that found that “fitness level, regardless of body mass index, was the strongest predictor of mortality risk.”  Of the test used for fitness, she wrote:

During the test, the treadmill moved at a brisk walking pace as the grade increased each minute. In the study, it didn’t take much to qualify as fit. For men, it meant staying on the treadmill at least 8 minutes; for women, 5.5 minutes. The people who fell below those levels, whether fat or thin, were at highest risk.

The results were adjusted to control for age, smoking and underlying heart problems and still showed that fitness, not weight, was most important in predicting mortality risk.

OK, then…so, last week I discovered I can run 20 minutes straight now. Does that mean I’m fat and fit?

And, may I just point out that these “underlying heart problems” were never specified. In my opinion, there are probably myriad threats to the validity of this study.

It’s not the most inconceivable thing to be overweight (and for all purposes intended in the article, obese) and be somewhat fit. But the vast majority of people who struggle like I do…they definitely don’t make the case.

Your thoughts?

In the news: Former half-ton man endures hard times in Nebraska

Most of you probably don’t know that I’m a recovering journalist. In my formidable* formative years (not that I’m entirely out of them, I guess ) I wanted nothing more than to be a print journalist. I attended a great j-school (at least I thought it would be) and my experience led me to realize that journalism was not my business (this is an entirely different story altogether that I’ll spare you of…but if you really want to know, just ask). Despite writing for a few newspapers, including my favorite stint as a columnist for my college newspaper, I have came full circle and realized it wasn’t my thing. Nevertheless, I read several papers daily and have decided to look for articles of interest to share with you.

I would have failed newswriting for that laboriously long lead….but anyway, I think I’m going to pick Thursdays for my “In the news” segments.

***

This week’s story comes from an AP article published August 15th in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It’s headline:

Former half-ton man endures hard times in Nebraska

Now, I realize there are numerous happenings in the world that lead to news coverage, but I initially failed to recognize the entire point of this story, until I re-read it a few times. Stay with me here… First, I would encourage you all to click on the link and read it…it’s short, but maybe some of you will also see that there’s either not entirely too much story to the story, or it’s all a matter of reading between the lines.

I have read a great deal lately, especially on other blogs, about the great divide between those promoting fat acceptance and those promoting slimmer waistlines. As for myself, I am caught in the middle. I have been fat for most of my life, and for the most part, felt accepted by friends and family and most strangers.  There are occasions when I have felt ostracized about my size, but for the most part, I was able to let it go. Because I’ve been in a position where I’ve felt I’ve been discriminated against, I can certainly empathize with the fat acceptance camp. However, the past two and a half months have made me realize I can accomplish my health goals. I am eating better, I am moving A LOT more, and I am losing weight. I do not want to be fat anymore, but that does not whatsoever mean I would have any disdain for those who promote fat acceptance.

But, let me categorically state that I am entitled to my choices, and my choice is to improve my health. As for myself, many of my health problems have been linked to my obesity. I’m tired of a poor immune system, I’m tired of high-blood pressure, and I’m tired of being on the verge of diabetes.

So, what can we learn from Patrick Deuel in the story? Here is a man who is in clear need of help. I cannot fathom a human heart being able to take on over 1,000 pounds of body weight, and I feel, in a sense, that Mr. Deuel has been given a second chance at life with the gastric bypass…and I somewhat wonder if that chance is slipping away yet again. I don’t know what exactly to feel in terms of Deuel’s situation. I am glad that he is doing his best to not be glum…and I admire him for allowing the press to expose his situation given this country’s exceptionally polar views on the subject of obesity. Yet, there is no ultimate happy ending to this story in my opinion, unless he finally decides to do more about it.

I am glad that he is evaluating his employment options, but I think that if he’s currently unemployed, that perhaps he should capitalize on the opportunity to focus on his health and nothing but his health until he finds gainful employment again. We all have weaknesses for chips and salsa, Patrick, but chips and salsa and smoking alone are not the only reasons you find yourself in this situation. And I hate to pontificate, but time was my perpetual excuse…it is very cliche to say “if there’s a will, there’s a way,” but I now live by it. I don’t believe I’m walking proof…I have a very long way to go.  But the profusion of examples of people who have taken initiative and done something about it are all around us.

I could go on and on about the dozen or so paragraphs of Patrick Deuel’s story, but I won’t.  I have my opinions, and I hope you will let yourselves think about the situation as well. What do you see that is positive from this story? Perhaps someone could enlighten me to where I might be missing the mark.

Again, I’m not impermeable…I just have opinions, and my final one is this: Patrick Deuel has been given second chances that many people don’t get.  I hope he realizes that and does something about it. Like everyone, he too deserves his chance at living a long, healthy life.

* = feel free to look up formidable