"Is It Possible to be Obese and Healthy?"

Interesting article that addresses that question:

https://www.livescience.com/15578-obese-healthy-weight-loss. html

Interesting.

Recently I've learned that as we age, we are actually in need of a little weight cushion so we can keep going if/when we become seriously ill. Not sure that we need as much of a cushion as we'd have if we are in the "obese" category maybe. *****ally knows? Body weight is such an individual thing.

After my surgery, the "obese" category felt like something I could live with. At least it would get me out of the SMO category. I've blown past that now, but it still seems livable to me. And definitely preferable to where I was at 5'6" and 347 pounds. But it's no longer an acceptable goal for *me*. Everyone being different, this should be an interesting thread.

Looking forward to seeing the other's comment.

As sort of a postscript, I do note that there have been many notable very large people in history that have made it to a ripe old age, despite the usual medical odds. The first one that comes to my mind is Winston Churchill who, despite his copious girth (and even being a smoker of cigars) made it to age 90. Another is Leon Askew, the actor who portrayed General Burkhalter in the Hogan's Heroes T.V. series. I thought for sure that, due to his morbid (super?) obesity - always the subject of jokes in the show - he would not live more than a few years after the series ended in the '60s (which turned out to be the case, sadly, for plus-sized John Banner, who played Sgt. Schultz). However, I read an article the other day about the cast members of the series and was totally stunned to learn that Askew, incredibly, lived to the age of 97! Maybe both these gents beat the odds b/c they in fact did abide by the principles listed in the cited article (?)

from what I've read, many of those physicians *****commend that older adults have a bit of a cushion to protect against illness mean somewhere in the 23-27 BMI range - so basically the high end of a normal BMI to maybe 10 lbs or so overweight. So not obese. But yes - I'm interested to read this thread....

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4882675/

This might be worth reading. The short version is that being overweight and older is fine. Being obese and older is unhealthy. Assuming you have no mitigating factors, "carefully planned and supervised weight reduction in obese older adults yields clinically important benefits with regard to improving Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, osteoarthritis symptoms, and physical function." Weight loss should be slower, nutrient intake should be monitored, and exercise must be included.

Unintentional weight loss, however, is a big problem.

(Note that this article was published in 2016 vs. the article in the original post, which is 2011. It also seems like the original article posted only focuses on mortality and not morbidity.)

of course you can, here I am for example