Fitness Versus Fatness
Society has steadily been increasing its collective belt over the last 2-3 decades (due to increasing waists or visceral fat). As a result, questions have been raised as to how we should best tackle the issue at large (excuse the pun). The benefits include potentially reversing diabetes and metabolic syndrome rates as well as reversing heart disease rates.
A Lifestyle Medicine approach highlights that it comes down to good nutrition, increasing and maintaining an appropriate level of activity and reducing your waist or staying lean if your waist is in the healthy range (<80cm for women and <94cm for men).
This is where the debate begins. Some areas of the research community have put forward the idea of accepting that some level of fatness may be OK for our health as long as we work out how to offset the negative consequences that occur as a result of the increased fat. Exercise that increases our fitness may be just the thing.
What does the research say?
Over the years research has shown the following benefits when it comes to physical activity and fitness:
Exercise does indeed reduce the risk of dying from certain lifestyle related diseases.
Being physically inactive can be a greater predictor of negative health problems occurring than being overweight.
Harvard University showed that physical activity was associated with lower death rates for lean, overweight and obese groups (lean had less death than obese though).
Nurses who were overweight but physically active had less risk of death than inactive lean nurses but….
A lean active nurse was less likely to prematurely die than an overweight active nurse
The important thing to take from this is that physical activity alone didn’t completely eliminate the risks that came with being overweight or obese. Research has also shown that even putting on 4-9 kg’s during adulthood results in an associated higher chance of early death.
A recent study into the benefits of physical activity, fitness, weight loss and metabolic risk provides a nice summary of the above. They found the following for those who are overweight or obese (in order of greatest benefit):
If you’re fit and get lean you get the greatest reduction in risk (Assess your fitness)
Achieving a moderate level of fitness will only reduce your risk if you are lean (Assess your fatness)
If you don’t lose any weight there is not additional benefit between moderately and highly fit
If you cant exercise but lose weight you still get some protection but not as much as improving your fitness as well
If you’re overweight and unfit then you have the greatest risk
What does it all mean?
It appears that if fatness is present, then fitness will blunt the negative effects of the body’s response to excess energy (the fat). However the key word in this debate is "blunt". The health effects from exercise alone can’t deal with the overload on the system, especially in today’s environment of excess. There needs to be some change in what’s coming in as well as what’s going out in order to get the best protection of all.
Therefore it’s not the argument of fit vs fat that’s important but more importantly whether or not we are active along with achieving exercise that will increase our fitness. This is where the National Physical Activity Guidelines (NPAG) becomes so important. They get even better with a little fine tweaking by Professor Garry Egger, one of the original authors of the guidelines as well as being responsible for the National Weight Management Guidelines.
Garry proposes that along with achieving the NPAG there are some additions that will help improve our fitness, reduce our fatness, dampen the inflammatory process and help us be active long into old age. Let s have a look:
So the bottom line for long term good health is being active combined with exercise that increases your fitness.
What type of exercise?
Use the Lifestyle Medicine The Exerselector Questionaire to seek the most appropriate forms of exercise for you and the family.
Enjoying Physical Activity
It is important to pick the most appropriate exercise from the start that keeps you motivated. Thus the activity you choose needs to be something that you enjoy. Complete the Lifestyle Medicine Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale to seek the most enjoyable exercise for you.
For more information
For more information on preventing weight gain and maintaining an ideal body weight check out the Lifestyle Medicine article Preventing weight gain through the ages .
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