Can You Be Fit and Fat?
YES: In fact, it's a worthy goal. Steven Blair, PED, professor of exercise science, epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of South Carolina It's better than being thin and unfit. Overweight people who exercise just 150 minutes a week have half the risk of mortality of normal-weight people who don't exercise at all, according to research I conducted. That's not true once you move from overweight (meaning a body mass index, or BMI, of 25 to 29.9) to obese (a BMI of 30 or more). But being fit and a little fat seems to be fine. Weight alone doesn't raise disease risk-lack of fitness does. In one study, half of overweight adults and one-third of obese people who were active had normal blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar, putting them at normal risk for heart disease and diabetes, which are both supposedly caused by weight. Getting fit is more realistic than getting slim. For most people, diets don't work in the long term. W...