Weight isn't the absolute indicator of health article
"But that doesn't mean exercise isn't important. In fact, it turns out that physical fitness is a far better barometer of your long-term health than weight is - and that holds true even for thin but inactive people who thought their fabulous metabolism meant they didn't need to exercise at all.
In fact, he says, obese people who are physically fit are half as likely to die as people of normal weight who don't exercise.
This message is particularly crucial for people who start exercising and soon get frustrated - and perhaps quit - because they don't succeed in losing weight. As long as they're meeting basic exercise goals such as 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise each week, Dr. Blair says, they're gaining important health benefits no matter what the scale says.
Seen in this light, the Statscan results are less surprising - in fact, they closely mirror the results of a similar U.S. study from 2005, which also found that those carrying a few extra pounds lived longer."
Here was a recent article on my blog along similar lines: There is Such a Thing as being Too Thin - a study done viewing results from Statistics Canada population data.
"But that doesn't mean exercise isn't important. In fact, it turns out that physical fitness is a far better barometer of your long-term health than weight is - and that holds true even for thin but inactive people who thought their fabulous metabolism meant they didn't need to exercise at all.
In fact, he says, obese people who are physically fit are half as likely to die as people of normal weight who don't exercise.
This message is particularly crucial for people who start exercising and soon get frustrated - and perhaps quit - because they don't succeed in losing weight. As long as they're meeting basic exercise goals such as 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise each week, Dr. Blair says, they're gaining important health benefits no matter what the scale says.
Seen in this light, the Statscan results are less surprising - in fact, they closely mirror the results of a similar U.S. study from 2005, which also found that those carrying a few extra pounds lived longer."
Here was a recent article on my blog along similar lines: There is Such a Thing as being Too Thin - a study done viewing results from Statistics Canada population data.