John Gerald Y.

Manalo
School of Medicine-Brokenshire College
History of Medicine
Persuasive Essay
Topic: Are there health benefits to being overweight?
How does it feel to have a crackling bite of a crunchy pork skin? How about a sumptuous turkey
for dinner with a glass of wine? A quarter pound of chicken. Would you like it to go with rice or
pasta? After a festive heavy meal and celebrations, you feel that you gained some pounds. You
would then feel guilty of eating those food. After that, you would go anxious about gaining a
little weight for it will be causing you some health issues. Worry no more! Just look at me. No,
dont look at my belly. Look up here. Look at my face. This face will tell you something that will
cause a paradigm shift in your beliefs. This face will give you another perspective towards your
body, another standpoint on your health and lifestyle. It is okay to be slightly overweight as long
as you are physically fit. You dont really have to reach or achieve your ideal Body Mass Index
(BMI). Confusing? All you have to remember is fitness rather than fatness.
I know that what you are thinking right know. I know you think that I am absurd and silly for
considering having an extra weight and being fit better than being on the ideal body mass index.
Digesting and internalizing unconventional information is not that easy. Let me help you
understand better and give you clarification on why being slightly overweight has health benefits
as long as you are physically fit.
According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (2012), Body
Mass Index or BMI is one way to tell whether you are at a normal weight, are overweight, or
have obesity. It measures your weight in relation to your height. The NIDDKD also made a
category based on your BMI:

normal weight: BMI of 18.5 to 24.9

overweight: BMI of 25 to 29.9

obesity: BMI of 30 or higher

Overweight and obesity are two different things. Overweight simply means that you were just a
bit beyond your normal or ideal BMI. However, being obese means that your weight is far
beyond what is set for you height (Houghton, 2011).
Obesity can lead a person to acquire some illnesses and diseases. It could cause diabetes, high
blood pressure, coronary heart diseases, stroke, cancer, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, fatty liver
disease, kidney disease, and pregnancy problems for women (National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute, 2012; National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, 2012).

There are many factors that can affect our weight. It could be our genes, our surroundings, our
body metabolism and eating and lifestyle habits. Though genetic factor cannot be altered, other
factors such as eating and lifestyle habits can be changed (National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute, 2012). Having physical activities can help you in not reaching the obesity category. As
what I have said earlier, you do not need to worry if your weight is slightly beyond the ideal BMI
for your height as long as you are fit. According to Lavie (2016), The mildly obese, or those
with BMIs of 30 to 34.9, actually had a 5% lower mortality than did the normal BMI subjects,
which wasnt quite statistically significant. More important, the overweight people, or those with
BMIs between 25 and 29.9, had the lowest mortality and a significant 6% lower mortality than
the normal BMI subjects, according to the researchers, who analyzed 97 studies involving nearly
2.9 million adults. In addition, having more fat, more muscle mass and more BMI will help you
to have a better survival rate (Srikanthan et al, 2016). Harvard Health Publications (2005) states
that even if you are big and heavy, you can also be fit. Many studies according to the publication
tackled that many overweight people are doing fine on the activities that require physical
strength such as running on the treadmill. People who were on their ideal BMI or lean but not fit
has a high chance on mortality than people who were overweight but fit. In the same publication,
they identified the Journal of the American Medical Association to have the same findings. Their
research established that physical activity is a good predictor for survival and acquiring diseases
rather than weight.
To wrap it up, according to the researches and studies mentioned, it is better to be considerably
overweight but fit rather than lean or in your ideal BMI but unfit. Physical activity helps a person
reduce risk of acquiring chronic diseases and lessen its chance on mortality. Now, look at me
again. No, dont look at my belly. Look up here. Look at my face. Think of this face and recall
that it is okay to be slightly overweight as long as you are physically fit. All you have to
remember is fitness rather than fatness.

Literature cited:
Harvard Health Publications. 2005. Is it okay to be fat if youre fit?. The Family Health Guide.
20 August 2016. <http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/is-it-okay-to-be-fat-ifyoure-fit>.
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. 2012. Health risk of being
overweight. 22 August 2016. <https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/healthtopics/weight-control/health_risks_being_overweight/Pages/health-risks-beingoverweight.aspx>.

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. 2012. What are overweight and obesity?. 23 August
2016. <http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/obe/#>.
Houghton, K. 2011. The big difference between overweight and obesity. 23 August 2016.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristen-houghton/overweight-and-obesityth_b_779446.html>.
Lavie, C. 2016. YES: Being fit is more important than being an ideal weight. 21 August 2016.
<http://www.wsj.com/articles/are-there-health-benefits-to-being-overweight1460340290>.
Srikanthan, P., T. B. Horwich, C. H. Tseng. 2016. Relation of muscle mass and fat mass to
cardiovascular disease mortality. American Journal of Cardiology. 17(8):1355-1360.