The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[VictoriousNat]

I'm a good example of what "healthy overweight" means. I went through my 30's and early 40's telling myself that I was healthy. I didn't have any health issues except that I was fat. I held on to that....telling myself it was ok to be fat because I was healthy.

Well, let me tell you......I was so wrong! Carrying around all of that extra weight works on your joints, causes extra stress on your heart, stretches your skin out of shape.....on and on. I developed high blood pressure, sore knees to the point that it was almost too painful to go up or down steps, acid reflux that required daily medication. All of these things just creeped up on me and my denial kept me from believing that the fat was the reason......alot of people have high blood pressure, right? Guess what, mine is gone and the sore joints are gone, and the acid reflux is GONE! All due to weight loss.

You may be "healthy" now, but given time, your excess weight will wreak havoc on your body.

I agree 100% - During my 20's and 30's I always had a good health report - normal BP, super cholesterol ratio, yadda yadda yadda. As I approached 37 everything came to a heart-breaking toll - the hypertension, anemia, the stretched skin, and my face changed in a way I did not like and on and on. Thank God I am only on one medication and I know it could be worse. I truly wish I never allowed myself to believe my "I am fat but healthy lie" because I cannot get back those years.

[mackinac]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the forum and enjoying reading the posts. DogMa, I like your take on this issue. I also believe that "unhealthy" and "fat" are NOT synonymous. Body weight (whether one is "too thin" or "too fat" according to current standards) CAN affect one's health, esp. in more extreme cases of people being "over" or "under"weight, but health is also affected by a whole host of other factors (such as genetics, stress, amount of regular sleep, etc). A heavier person with "good" genetics and low stress might be healthier than a 100-pound woman who eats very little and gets very little sleep, for example. (In fact, I have even read that yo-yo dieting can be more detrimental to one's health than maintaining a steady weight that is higher than standard weight charts recommend.)

I think that people can be healthy, vigorous, energetic, and--overweight. I guess it's up to each of us to decide what is "right" and "healthy" for us in terms of body weight and lifestyle.

I'm going through that process right now myself.

Heather

[DogMa]

Welcome, Heather!!!