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Too skinny or a little chubby: What's better?

Posted on Oct 12th 2008 11:00AM by Kristen Seymour

Filed Under: Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness

We're constantly hearing about the health issues associated with being overweight or obese, and while I think we're all aware that being way too thin isn't a good thing, you might not know that being underweight brings with it more health problems than being slightly overweight.

Being too thin can weaken your immune system because you don't get enough nutrients, and you could also experience hair loss, osteoporosis, and anemia, not to mention fertility and menstrual issues.

The problem is, what exactly constitutes underweight? Theoretically, a BMI of under 18.5 is underweight, but that can vary depending on your build. And what's overweight? A BMI of over 25 is considered overweight, but muscular athletes often find themselves over 25 but with a low percentage of body fat. And so, I think the lesson is that keeping yourself at a healthy weight -- not starving yourself, but not indulging in every treat you happen upon, either -- is the goal.

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Tags: health, obese, overweight, underweight, weight

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

... 10-12-2008 @ 1:34PM

I think the lesson is to keep in mind that weight and BMI are shortcuts, not goals. To get an accurate picture of health, people need to be measuring many variables, including body fat percentage, blood pressure, blood sugar, liver efficiency, lung efficiency, mental functioning, social adjustment, etc. Even financial health can be important: apparently, some study claimed that poor people get health problems more often. Concentrating on just weight isn't anywhere close to the whole picture. Worse, nobody else -- not even doctors -- knows for sure what's the best weight for any particular person. The recommended numbers are just statistical averages of what has been healthy for other people in the past, not what will make any particular person healthy today and in the future. Aiming for the recommended weight or BMI is a theory based on the oldest fallacy in statistics: it's not valid to apply a generalization to an individual. Some people do well being a little thinner, other people do well being a little overweight, and many might do well across a large range of weights all the way from what is considered "underweight" to what is considered "overweight", depending on what's happening with all the other factors in their lives.