Can one be obese and still healthy?

As I am trying to lose weight and doing regular workout I kind of fell healthy. Not sure if I will get to Bariatric Surgery one day, so far trying with natural ways: exercise, fitness, healthy food and trying not to eat anything after 6:30PM.

While losing some extra pounds could make me feel better and move faster, I feel kind of healthy. Today stumbled on this research from the Medical University of Vienna,  which kind of explains why so.

http://www.emaxhealth.com/1275/can-you-be-obese-and-healthy

Have you felt that you are kind of healthy while being overweight? 

Can you be a cigarette smoker and not have lung cancer?

Of course you can.  But for how long?  Is it worth the gamble?  Should we wait to get lung cancer to quit smoking?

That's how I look at it.

Very good point K. White

And I agree.  Sure you can be healthy.  For awhile. 

Then all those years of dragging around excess weight take their toll on your joints, heart, liver, feet, back, etc., and you end up taking a variety of prescriptions to just get through the day.  Not to mention the increased risk of cancer and other diseases related to obesity. 

I certainly didn't worry about these things in my 20s and 30s.  Then you feel your body start to break down and you just can't keep the weight off no matter how many diets you try. The final straw for me was that I was sick and tired of being sick and tired.  I never wanted to have WLS, but I felt it was my last option. 

And I don't regret the decision for one second.   It was the most loving thing I could do for myself. 

Yes, I think you can be obese and healthy.  However I think it probably depends on how obese you are.  I imagine at some point, at some weight, one would become unhealthy.

Thank you poet-Kelly. I think you are right. I am thinking this may be relevant to people who are slightly overweight. 

I was a very healthy  MO person. With a bad back.. My back got bad before I got MO.. But after that - and steroids and pain pills... I knew I juts need to get the weight off . My back is still bad - but at least I can move better.

Certainly obesity puts a stress on back because of the extra weight. Thanks for sharing. 

That's some interesting information.  As far as I know, pre-surgery I did not have any metabolic disorders and I'd been pretty healthy with low cholesterol and normal BP.  Both of my parents developed type 2 diabetes as their weight went up, however, so it was very easy to see myself in their place as I got older.  So, I was healthy for now, but I could see problems coming down the road.

Jen

I felt healthy for years - except for high blood pressure and back pain.  Then I started to experience some pain in my foot - and since that day it has been downhill for me.  Neuropathy, tendonitis, sleep apnea, congestive heart failure. Back pain is much worse now, as well as hip and knee pain.

I think for a while your body can handle the weight -- then it gives way and the problems surface.  Big problems.