BrewBooks/FlickrPosted on 08/30/2012 12:37:39 PM PDT by neverdem
Having a normal overall BMI and a beer belly ("abdominal obesity") was found to be more dangerous than having a BMI in the obese range.
BrewBooks/Flickr
PROBLEM: While the relationship between obesity and cardiovascular health is well understood, less is known about the risks associated with "central obesity," or excessive fat concentrated around the abdomen. A gut, if you will. Are those with fat primarily in this region at higher risk of death due to cardiovascular problems than those who are obese?
METHODOLOGY: A representative sample of 12,785 American adults was culled from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Study, which took place between 1988 and 1994, and matched to National Death Index. The subjects were grouped as normal, overweight, and obese based on their BMI, and then were further grouped as having a normal or high waist-to-hip ratio. In analyzing the risk of death, the researchers adjusted for age, gender, and race and for confounding factors like smoking, hypertension, and diabetes. The data was followed up this year.
RESULTS: Of the 2,562 subjects who have passed away since this data was initially collected, 1,138 deaths were cardiovascular related. The risk of death for people of normal weight with central obesity was 2.08 times higher than for people with both a normal BMI and a normal waist-to-hip ratio. The risk of cardiovascular death, specifically, was 2.75 times higher for the former group. Both total and cardiovascular mortality were also higher in the group with normal BMI and a high waist-to-hip ratio than even in those with BMIs in the obesity range.
CONCLUSION: Having a pot belly, even if you have a normal body mass index, is associated with significantly increased -- even doubled -- mortality. It's even more dangerous...
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
We do have an obesity problem. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a political agenda behind this study, and most others. Telling people that the govt. will decide what size coke you can drink is just the beginning.
It’s only become worse. Now they wear skinny jeans and cutoff shirts. So now you get to see their fat hanging over their jeans. Worst of all, they act like they’re hot stuff.
That is absolutely untrue and quite rude, frankly. Perhaps you are referring to huge beer bellies?
Once an apple, ALWAYS an apple. The apple shape is inherited, as is a huge mouth, nose or rear end. An apple is always able to trim down, but the mid-section will always be slightly out of proportion from the rest of the body.
But if you have a higher than 25 BMI and have sufficient physical activity, you don’t have increased risk of a cardiovascular event. Those who are lean but have little or no physical activity have a higher rate of cardiovascular events than chubby physically active people.
I was an apple, I’m not anymore. It’s not a one way trip, you just have to make changes. Your genes set certain minimums, but they do not doom you. My genes say I’ll never look like Brad Pitt, but they don’t say I have to look like John Candy either, they say I need to put a lot of work into maintaining a basically thin physique.
Uuumm No. Most people just don't have the long term discipline to lose the pear/apple shape. Here is a women's section of BB.Com. Thousands of women have changed their body's from that shape..but it is not easy... you need to do 1.5-2 hrs of both hard weight training and cardio every day and most importantly eat "clean" 24/7 365 with very little cheating..but most people don't have that kind of willpower to change. Women go on the treadmill for 25 minutes and wonder why they don't lose their pear/apple shape..that is gonna cut it.
Read up on Holly2710 on the bb.com site. She fought the pear/apple shape her entire life. There are thousands of stories of women changing their bodies...but again 99.9% of women(and men) can't cut that lifestyle..
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/forumdisplay.php?f=14
Before:
After:
All my uncles, grandfathers, and father had belly fat, and died in their late 80’s to early 90’s. These doofusses can KMA!!!
Damit! I bet he was that hot 25 year-old girl I was texting with!
You are lucky..you came from good longevity genes but the fact is belly fat leads to problems for most people.
No, that was me.
And I still want to go on that cruise.
Official? Is there like a referee running up and down a sideline calling bacon fouls? Or a rule book in case there is a piling on of mayonnaise? And what if someone cuts a blue darter when everyone is making their sandwich at halftime? Do you have to start over?
Yeah, they were doing that then. Except they weren’t allowed to wear cut off shirts to school, so they wore those spandex tops that rode up over their fat bellies and were pulling them down all the time. When I told them, “THAT is not in dress code, you cannot show your stomach.” they would pull the shirt down and argue with me that it wasn’t really out of dress code, etc. It was a constant thing. Of course, it didn’t look very good anyway, with that spandex trying to hide those bellies and muffin tops. Do guys think that’s sexy?!
Ummmmmm, whatever. And no thanks, I won't be visiting your website.
Not my website but it is the largest fitness website in the world with millions of posters worldwide and it is w/o a doubt the very best source of fitness/nutrition and weight loss out there.
BMI/Waist to Hip Ration Calculator
My W to H is .9125
It’s part heredity, the other part is...carbs.
Books like “Why We Get Fat”, “Wheat Belly”, and “Good Calories, Bad Calories” lay out the link.
High carb diets cause you to maintain an increased insulin level. Increased insulin levels cause you to store visceral fat (on men, this is usually deposited in the abdomen—a beer belly, on women this is usually deposited on the thighs and buttocks—the pear-shaped woman).
The typical American in the past only got about 1/3 of their calories from carbohydrates. Today, the typical American gets about 2/3 of their total calories from carbohydrates. The “belly fat” epidemic can be directly traced to this diet change of most Americans over the last few decades.
Sugar is a carb (did you know that?) Grains and potatoes are high in carbs. Avoid things that are high in carbs (like beer, bread, pasta, and candy) and you can get rid of the belly/pear shape.
As a man, I can say I find it repulsive. Just yesterday on FR, there was an article showing woman working in color pictures from the 40’s. They all looked thin. Whatever has changed since then, needs to change back.
My genes say I will always have larger arms and extra weight in my upper body. Mooochelle has slender arms, a huge ass and piano legs. She may lose some of that ass, but her proportions will ALWAYS be the same because it is inherited.
So did my mother and grandmother have larger arms and slender, lovely legs, and now my daughter, as well. I have been an overweight apple, an underweight apple, and a just-right apple. When I am a just-right apple I have a small waste with an upper body that is larger, proportionately, than the bottom. Still an apple.
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