[Leica] Is fat so bad?

[lrzeitlin at aol.com (lrzeitlin at aol.com)]

 The discussion on exercise vs. dieting hit me right in the gut. Strangely 
enough just as I read George's post the postman delivered the current copy 
of SCIENCE magazine, the journal of the AAAS. In it was an article by Ahima 
and Lazar suggesting that the impact of a high body mass index on mortality 
is now in question. It calls for a rethinking of how metabolic health is 
measured. Essentially, for many people fat isn't so bad. I wish it were so. 
I like to eat.


The exact citation of the article is:
Richard S. Ahima and Mitchell A. Lazar, "The Health Risk of Obesity - Better 
Metrics Imperative." SCIENCE, Vol. 311, 23 August, 2013, pp. 856-858.


For a number of years I was an exercise freak. I ran five miles?almost every 
day?and competed in at least two marathons a year. We own a time share in 
Vermont and my wife and I spent several weeks every winter XC skiing. Then I 
was forced to stop running by knee problems. But I didn't stop eating. My 
weight rose from 160 to almost 200 lbs. My waist size from 29 to 38. Finally 
my daughter complained that I started looking a bit "puffy." Here is a 
sightly unsharp picture of me in my office. The picture can be dated both by 
the spare tire around my waist and by the Apple Lisa computer on my desk.?
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Me+in+my+office+at+CUNY.jpg.html


I started biking, a lower impact exercise and gradually lost some of the 
excess weight. But real secret seemed to be not to eat so much. It's a lot 
easier to cut 500 calories out of your diet every day than it is to run five 
miles.
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Larry+biking+at+Croton+Dam.jpg.html


Larry Z