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[–] BeetJuice 0 points 12 points (+12|-0) ago  (edited ago)

This is actually a statistical error illusion. The "healthy weight" group has a disproportionately large number of sick/dying people (cancer, alzheimer's etc). The larger (tehee!) the group over overweight people is the stronger this effect.

In other words: If you take a random person from a population that is predominantly overweight/obese and that person happens to be at a healthy weight, it is relatively more likely that that person is dying. Not the other way around, where a person is more likely to die because he/she is at a healthy weight.

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[–] RapidLynx 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago 

Also to note: many athletes and otherwise well-muscled but decently lean people will likely fall into the "overweight" BMI category despite carrying less fat mass than others. Blobs love to tout this statistic around, but don't realize that all it really shows is that sick/dying people are less healthy than muscular athletes. Shocker! The scientific consensus is extremely clear that excess fat mass is demonstrably unhealthy. But I don't expect lardbrains to comprehend that fact anytime soon...

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[–] BeetJuice 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago  (edited ago)

Well, I disagree here. Athletes are required to be in peak physical condition. It depends on the sport of course, but most of the time athletes are not supposed to be overweight as that is disadvantageous in most sports. There are few athletes who are overweight outside of weight lifting, bodybuilding, football and similar sports. So even for athletes (already a tiny portion of the population), being overweight is the exception rather than the rule. That means overweight athletes are not statistically significant.

Two examples of athletes who are commonly thought of as being big/muscular:

  • Serena Williams at peak physical condition. 70.3kg/155lbs 175cm/5'9", bmi 22.9.

  • Usain Bolt. 95kg/207lbs 195cm/6'5", bmi 24.9.

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[–] Carsandsarcasm 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago 

Smokers are also in the thin group and that's what throws it off. I have an article that removes smokers from the equation and fats go back to dying earlier.

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[–] Just_Another_Exile ago 

You get a similar effect if you look at BF%, but that's because near the end of your life you're likely to have atrophied muscles, which means if you keep your BF% in what is healthy for a healthy person you have very little reserve. Essentially, being a sack of bones with a moderate amount of fat is better than being a sack of bones, even though both are worse than being well-muscled.