Can You Be Fat and Fit?

It seems like a silly question, some say that heavy people who exercise can actually be healthier and live longer lives than their skinny but sedentary friends.

Well, maybe. Adam Bean of Runner's World asked two experts what "fit" really means:

RW: Do the benefits of exercise matter more than losing weight?
YES: Physical activity can lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, regardless of your weight. Whether you're talking about boosting good HDL cholesterol, lowering bad LDL cholesterol, reducing blood pressure, and so forth—all these can be improved with exercise, even if you don't lose weight. And this results in a lower cardiovascular-disease risk. Physical activity seems to have a profound effect on overall mortality risk as well—again, regardless of your weight.

NO: Exercise can improve your health, but you can list more than 50 medical conditions—from diabetes to arthritis to acid reflux to sleep apnea to certain cancers—that result from complications from carrying excess weight. Even losing five or 10 pounds will lower your risk of developing these issues and improve your health.

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/1,7120,s6-238-267--13891-0,00.html (Photo: Shutterstock)


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@Fata Morgana, it is a strawman argument to accuse people of treating science like a cult or religion when scientists do no such thing.

I believe hmm... was intending to express that a person thinking scientifically shouldn't believe in a paranormal being when there is no evidence to support its existence. You may say there is no evidence that it doesn't exist but because it is scientifically impossible to prove a negative, and the religious are the ones making the claim, the onus of proof is on those who argue that god does exist. If and until such proof arises, the scientific thing to do is to say that there is not enough evidence to support the existence of a god/s.

As for the argument that god cannot by its very nature be observed, well then the claim that god does exist is not a scientific one. As such, the scientific thing to do again is to say that there is not enough evidence to support the extstence of a god/s.
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@hmm... Do *you* know about the scientific method? It involves observation and conclusions drawn from observation. If something, by it's very nature, cannot be observed in a physical way, one cannot use the scientific method to either prove or disprove it. A true scientist would know this. Someone treating "science" like a cult or religion in itself would not.
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A lot of scientists are religious, which is something that I don't quite understand. If you are a scientist you should know about the scientific method. If you know about the scientific method you should come to realize that religion is hogwash.
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@ Vonskippy, lol. I would however argue that you can be smart and religious. Francis Collins is an Evangelical Christian who was the head of the human genome project for 15 years and is a prominent advocate and defender of evolution. He provides an admirable example of how people can be religious without letting their faith compromise their scientific views, or trying to push their religious views on others.
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