There’s been a number of marketing campaigns in the fashion world that are beginning to push this notion that any weight can be healthy. Plus size models are becoming the spokesperson of major brands and people in America are beginning to ask themselves if they can be healthy even though they’re overweight. While I do think it’s a good thing that any body figure can be broadcasted as beautiful, it is important to first ask yourself some key questions and then educate yourself. Bodyweight itself is not the greatest marker when deciding your health first of all. There’s plenty of professional athletes who carry A LOT of muscle mass and weigh in excess of 200 pounds at a very short stature. These people, as we know, are likely some of the healthiest individuals in the world. When’s the last time you heard of a professional football player dying prematurely of cancer or diabetes? I can only think of a handful and even those cases were rare liver or blood diseases. What you should focus on is the amount of BODY FAT you have. So, key question number 1. Does the amount of body fat you have impact your health? When I say health I mean all the things a doctor would check for with a routine blood panel or plain old country check up. Blood pressure, A1C, heart arrhythmia, joint pain. If the answer is yes, then you should probably consider losing some weight. If the answer is no, then proceed to ask yourself key question number 2.Key question 2. Does the amount of body fat you have prevent you from doing anything in your daily life? For example, is it hard walking up a flight of stairs? Are you incapable of playing a sport with your friends recreationally? Do you have trouble doing things around the house? If the answer is yes, then again you might want to consider losing some body fat. If the answer is no, then proceed to key question number 3. Key question 3. Are you happy with your appearance? Now, this is where there’s some gray area. MOST people should be happy with their appearance and if you are GREAT. However, is it LIKELY, not ABSOLUTE, but LIKELY that if you’re overweight and again I think the emphasis on this should be excessive body fat which means more than 25% for women, more than 20% for men, that you’ll end up getting sick? Yes. In this country, of the 30% of obese people that are walking around, 80% of them are sick. This means that out of every 10 people you see that are overbodyfat (I made a new word), 8 of them are going to experience some type of metabolic disease. So, does this mean that you can be overbodyfat and still healthy? Technically yes but it isn’t likely. Does this mean that ALL the plus sized models should start losing weight? No. But, should we let people know that their chances of poor health go up if they’re overbodyfat? Yes. If it hasn’t come across in this blog that total bodyweight is a bad metric of health in this blog then I’ll say it again. It’s a bad metric. If you aren’t sure if your weight is “dangerous”, then you should definitely go get a read out of how much body fat you have. The most precise method would be a dexascan. If you’re a man and above 20%, you should consider losing some body fat. If you’re a woman above 25%, you should consider losing some body fat. Simple as I can put it.Interested in learning more about your metrics of health and how to get there? We can help - virtually or in person! Holler at us - email jobie@crossfitvirilis.com or call 210.651.1047, or schedule a time HERE.
