Body Positivity With a Side of Health Sensitivity

Fewer people are trying to lose weight than in the past. According to some studies, a significant portion of both men and women who are overweight or obese consider their weight to be healthy. People are shifting up the number of pounds that they think are acceptable for good health. This is not a positive health trend for the medical community. More than 60% of Americans are now considered to be overweight or obese.

Some medical professionals are cautious about advising patients who weight too much as they don’t want an overweight person to suffer humiliation or fat shaming. We are not advocating fat shaming, and we understand that each person’s body has a different weight that’s healthy. Some bodies are just not meant to look all Twiggy.

Here’s some good news for those exercise, but might feel they are carrying around a few extra pounds. Research shows that a fit body is healthier than an unfit body regardless of weight/BMI. Or so says this article:

“Low cardio-respiratory fitness may pose a greater risk to health than obesity.” The team, headed by Ann Blair Kennedy of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, cited a 2014 analysis showing that, compared with normal-weight people who were physically fit, unfit individuals had an increased risk of death regardless of what they weighed, and those who were fit and overweight or obese did not face a significantly greater mortality risk when compared with normal-weight individuals.

-Shane M.