A few more reasons to get in some exercise (and take the BMI with a grain of salt)!
 

I noticed this wasn't really covered, and I've noticed a few newer articles from really big sources that have finally done some really investigation on the topic. Well, I never really liked the BMI and always thought there was a lot missing, and now there are some interesting studies to prove it. While the BMI is a useful guideline, further investigation shows that it is not the weight, but the fitness level that will affect future health, and that inactive skinny people are at an elevated risk for problems, just like inactive overweight people.

http://www.neighborhood-heart-watch....icle_235.shtml

Fat vs. Muscle (really good article):

http://www.alive.com/1383a4a2.php?text_page=1

Obesity Myths:

http://www.obesityscam.com/

"Consistently, physical inactivity was a better predictor of all-cause mortality than being overweight or obese."
-Annals of Epidemiology, 2002


Fat Report weighs America on a bad scale....

"Furthermore, this month the British medical journal The Lancet published a review of 40 obesity studies which found that "overweight" (as designated by the BMI) is in fact the healthiest weight category, healthier than "normal" or "obese" weights."

http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_.../headline/3116

The point, is not slamming the BMI, but to raise awareness about what is being discovered as a more important factor for overall health, and that trying to get to a "normal" BMI, may indeed not be healthy for everyone. It's better to be a few pounds over, than to take extreme measures to get to that "normal" BMI category. The BMI doesn't take into account a lot of factors, and the results of BMI-health studies are kinda skewed. There are a lot more inactive people in the "obese" category than in the "normal" category and that isn't take into consideration by a lot of studies.

Here are the findings on BMI/fitness level:

http://www.obesityscam.com/images/ch...svsfatness.gif

Fat Report weighs America on a bad scale....

"Furthermore, this month the British medical journal The Lancet published a review of 40 obesity studies which found that "overweight" (as designated by the BMI) is in fact the healthiest weight category, healthier than "normal" or "obese" weights."

http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_.../headline/3116

Thanks for the post and links. I read with interest. Funny thing is , my Dr. goes strictly by BMI chart. (I think this is fairly common with most doctors). But, I can definitely say that when I was overweight and obese, I was not fit. Had practically no muscle mass. Many overweight people have a lot of muscle, but not me.

Yup - doctors look at the BMI. I am fairly fit. Going back to the last time prepregnancy that I had a physical I was running ~20-25 miles a week, I did yoga etc.

I was also about 10 lbs heavier than the "BMI" charts allow for my height (which isnt to say that I wasnt over weight, I was, I wasnt THAT muscular)

I have borderline high cholesterol (it was high when I was young and thin too, but different doc)

I had borderline blood sugar

Neither of them were high enough to cause them to spring into action but high enough given my family history of heart disease and diabetes to cause concern.

But I have had two doctors so far say...well....just lose that 10 lbs and then we'll think about if we need to do something else.

I'm not fat enough to treat as if I will not lose the weight, I'm not thin enough to treat as if those numbers are genetic and not lifestyle related.