I honestly can't say. I have known of very overweight brilliant people and I have known some really brilliant thin people too. I think we tend to think thin=smart though. It's defiitely the way it is portrayed in the media for certain. How many movies have I seen where the brilliant, thin and fit woman had some high profile, glam job. Likewise, how many times have I seen overweight characters (even in cartoons) being portrayed as slovenly, low-performing, stupid or ignorant.
Luckily, there is real life though. Overweight means you are overweight and nothing more or less. Being thin and fit also means you are thin and fit--nothing more and nothing less.
There most certainly is a correlation between intelligence and health.
There is a correlation between health and BMI.
Long compelling stories about indiviual fat people who can swim fast or are very bright don't change the basic trends that are identied population wide.
Is there a correlation between intelligence and BMI? I don't know, and quite frankly, I don't see anyone here with the tools to suss that out. There is a reason that the people constructing, conducting and analyzing studies spend years on statistics, how to compensate for the various problems/biases/blind spots that can occur in studies, to say nothing of their learning in their actual discpline.
There must be some correlation but not based on your personal experience. When I stayed at the college, I would go out all the time and partied, hardly studied because i did not need to.
Even now, I go out for work and occasional drinks, but i dont keep my nose in my books and still get As and Bs.
There will be fat people and skinny people that with be the life of the party equally as there will be fat people and skinny people that are homebodies.
It could be something worth studying but I think you'd have to work very hard to tease out all the variables.
The variable I'd add in there is the lifestyle of your average post secondary student. Even if you're not a partier (I wasn't) the student life can become pretty unhealthy rather quickly.
If you're spending most of your time doing readings, labs and assignments, you're probably spending a lot of your time being physically sedentary. Yes, sometimes I got reading done at the gym but that only worked if I didn't have to take notes for the reading.
You're also less likely to have time to properly grocery shop and cook healthy meals, and depending on your living situation, you may not even have resources like a fridge and stove. I joke that I got through grad school on chocolate and adrenaline - and I am not really exaggerating by that much.
One of the elements of post secondary education is that you're supposed to focus on matters of the mind - not the body.
I'm not sure if controlling for that would work for or against the potential thesis but I do know that I was obese when I graduated and I've seen a few others on this forum whose starting photo is a graduation photo.
I suppose another factor to take into account is whether one's ability to complete higher education is necessarily a measure of one's intelligence.
Nah, I don't buy it. I tied for an award that's the equivalent of being valedictorian (4.0 GPA w/ most credit hours earned) of a major state university when I was 100 pounds overweight, having been obese for the entirety of my teenage/adult life. The person I tied with? My sister -- who's never been more than a couple of pounds overweight in her life. Brains don't have much to do with what's on the outside, and a lack of discipline in one area of your life doesn't necessarily correspond to the other areas.
You're in college so you have access to scientific literature. Why don't you do some reading on the current understanding of what causes people to become obese (specific risk factors, genetics vs. environment, intelligence, etc). I don't know what you'll find but I do know all you'll find on a forum board will be people's stories, not science.
I was magna cum laude at a top 25 school when I was at my highest weight.
There is no difference. Nothing special or magical about being thin. Certainly nothing that would make a person smarter or more together than their heavier counterpart. You found new motivations and that's awesome but people of all shapes and sizes do that in many ways, every day. You probably have more energy now and are realizing the benefits of more energy. Perhaps you are feeling more positive about your life in general b/c your weight affected your self-esteem and body image so negatively?
I don't want to be negative towards you in any way. I hope post doesn't sound this way but it has to be said: People are people, there's no special thing that thinner people have or are capable of than thicker people. The only difference is some body fat. We all have our own sparkle and influence. We grow, and develop as human beings; with that comes change and hopefully for the best. When people equate making positive change in their lives solely to their weight loss, they are in danger of quite a fall should they ever have a circumstance that contributes to weight gain like: pregnancy, injury, or illness.
I recognize the line of thinking. People expect their lives to become some marvelous thing once they get their weight in an average range. The diet industry makes tons of money every year indulging this fantasy. It's kinda a head trip if you think about it but it's an effective stereotype. I think it takes away from the worth of people and what they've achieved by their own merit with their own skill and persistence, that's why it bothers me.
I honestly think you achieved so much b/c you set your mind to it and things came together nicely for you. And please don't get me wrong, I think that's wonderful. I love to hear stories like that!
You're making some pretty broad generalizations here.
I have been overweight/obese my whole life. I've also had a considerably higher than normal IQ my entire life.
If I ever acted lazy or 'stupid' at school it was because my self image was effecting my drive. Being fat didn't make me either of those things. It certainly didn't effect my intelligence.
I have always done well in school because I have always felt like I had something to prove. Before it was that the fat chick could do it... now it's that the 29 year old chick with two kids can do it .
My eating habits were deficient, not my intelligence quotient .
I am a fat non-lazy overachiever!! I believe that personality and maturity play the biggest role in intelligence and drive. I doubt that being fat determined it but maybe some lazier people aren't as smart because they not only put less effort into studying but into everyday life. The cause of being overweight varies from person to person as well. No scientific conclusion can be based on 2 subjects because you don't have a baseline for average to rule out the fact that they may be on the far ends of the spectrum.
Last edited by TiffNeedsChange; 03-14-2012 at 11:18 PM.
I personally have not noticed a correlation between intelligence, laziness and weight. Your generalization definitely does not apply to me as I have always done very well in school. I graduated high school with enough college credits to complete almost an entire year of college, got my associates degree in two semester, and am currently working on my bachelors degree. I have worked pretty much since I was 16 and for the last two years or so have worked full time while attending college full time. I also moved out on my own at the age of 19 and have been taking care of my own apartment and all other responsibilities on top of work and school. The job I've had for the last year and a half is pretty physically demanding. I stand, walk around, and lift boxes up to 60-70 pounds for a good portion of my day.. probably about 6 or 7 hours total. I don't really consider myself a lazy person and certainly not unintelligent. My GPA is a 3.5 right now.. yeah it could be better but considering everything I have on my plate right now I'm satisfied! However, judging by the way other people look at me like I'm some sort of anomaly amongst fat people, maybe your generalization does hold true? People definitely act like I'm an exception to the fat = lazy/stupid rule but I just chalk this up to more of a stereotype than actual truth.
. 
