Is a Thin Body Always a Healthy Body?

Your Setpoint and Maintaining an Ideal Weight

Sep 6, 2009

What is the best way to determine whether or not you need to lose weight? Height/weight tables, body mass index, comparison to Hollywood stars of movie and television?

In his book, Big Fat Lies (2002), author Glenn Gaesser observes that “Perhaps it's becoming clear that...thinner is not necessarily healthier or longer lived, and the height-weight tables don't measure anything meaningful." What does Gaesser mean? If you're overweight aren't you automatically unhealthy? No - Gaesser proclaims, "thinner is not necessarily healthier," and studies support his thesis. But all health experts do not agree.

Body Mass Index

Individuals with a body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 are considered overweight, and if the BMI is higher than 30, the individual is classified as obese. The Department of Human and Services, in reference to obesity and being overweight, declares that, “carrying this extra weight puts you at risk for developing many diseases, especially heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer." The Department of Health and Human Services, however, recognizes that factors such as smoking, heredity, and inactivity are also risk factors to health.

Indicators of Health

Gaesser and research experts such as Gina Kolata, Paul Campos, and Linda Bacon (among others) have written books which reference studies refuting the assertion that “fat” individuals are necessarily unhealthy. Of particular note is the Obesity Paradox Study. The lead author of the Obesity Paradox Study, Carl Lavie, states that “there is solid evidence to suggest that being overweight or obese may improve survival, not just in heart failure, but also in diseases like hypertension, coronary artery disease, and peripheral artery disease” (Wood & Barclay, 2009). Studies are still being conducted to explain this paradox.

Seek to be Healthy not Just Thin

The paradox leads one to ask, "Is it possible to be overweight according to height/weight charts but still be healthy/fit?" – Yes. Sumo wrestlers and 300 pound football linemen are two examples of this phenomenon. Being thin is not equivalent to being healthy or fit; a thin individual who smokes cigarettes, drinks excessively, or engages in other insalubrious habits is not a paragon of fitness or health (Kolata, 2004, pp. 201-204). Strive for good health, not just a thin body. Weight alone does not determine one's level of physical fitness or health. Total health is dependent upon many factors; weight is only one of them.

Individual Set Point and Individual Weight

Is weight a reliable indicator of health? According to one theory, each individual has a set weight that his/her genes determine he/she should weigh, so one absolute specific weight cannot be applicable to everyone. The theory of a setpoint has been recognized since 1982 when William Bennet and Joel Gurin published The Dieter's Dilemma, Why Diets are Obsolete-The New Setpoint Theory of Weight Control.

The setpoint theory basically claims that just as genes determine one's height, hair color, and other individual characteristics - genes also determine one's (setpoint) weight. A setpoint weight can be altered like an individual's hair color or eye color (via contact lens) can be altered; however, changing one's weight setpoint requires a prodigious increase in exercise and activity.

Writer Alice Park notes in her 2008 Times article, "Can Exercise Trump Genes?" that with enough exercise individuals can influence their genetically predetermined weight. But, any attempts to go above or below the genetically programmed weight, are met by extreme physiological resistance from the body, and an additional 900 calories (the equivalent of three hours of moderate exercise) must be burned to change one's inherited weight (Park).

According to Paul Campos, author of The Diet Myth, the metabolism will actually increase or decrease to maintain an individual's setpoint weight (pp. 176-177). The individual who aspires to a new setpoint faces a challenge, but authors Bennet, Gurin, and Park conclude that the inherited setpoint weight can indeed be altered through exercise.

If you were/are actually successful at changing your setpoint weight and essentially could design your own body, what would be your wisest course of action? – developing an impressive musculature, a well-defined “six-pack” of abdominal muscles, bulging biceps? To make a wise decision you need an accurate definition of health.

Bacon, L. (2008). Health at every size: the surprising truth about your weight. Benbella Books. Dallas, Texas.

Bennet, W., Gurin, J. (1982). The dieter's dilemma, why diets are obsolete-the new setpoint theory of weight control. Basic Books. New York, N. Y.

Campos, P. (2004). The diet myth, why America’s obsession with weight is hazardous to your health. Penguin Books. New York, N.Y.

Gaesser, G. (2002). Big Fat Lies, the truth about your weight and health. Ballantine Books. New York, N.Y.

Kolata, G. (2004). Rethinking thin, the new science of weight loss and the myths and realities of dieting. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. New York, N.Y.

Kingsbury, K. (2009). The NFL’s behemoth linebackers: healthier than you think. Time. May 27.

Wood, S., Barclay, L. (2009). The obesity paradox probed in new review. Medscape CME.

The copyright of the article Is a Thin Body Always a Healthy Body? in Weight Loss is owned by Marian Henderson. Permission to republish Is a Thin Body Always a Healthy Body? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.