Overweight people live longer?

From this US News article A Few Extra Pounds Might Bring Extra Years:

“In the study of more than 11,000 Canadian adults, overweight people lived longer than normal-weight people, while those who were either extremely obese or underweight died at an earlier age than normal-weight people.”

Body Mass Index (BMI) was used to determine whether one was overweight or underweight. BMI does not take into account how muscular a person is. Mike Tyson at his prime fighting weight with 5.5% body fat was obese according to BMI measurements. One researcher described the BMI as crude inaccurate, but easy to use and useful. How can something that is near meaningless be useful? No skin folds to measure, no need for body immersion, no need for expensive equipment - just weigh them and take their height measurements and then head for the golf course.

BMI does not differentiate between fat and muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat therfore muscular people register higher on the BMI scale. Extrapolating from the study, less muscular people (underweight according to BMI measurements) die younger, and more muscular people (overweight according to BMI measurements) live longer. That makes more sense.

More muscle means more longevity. Strength training will increase muscle and reverse many of the bio-markers of aging. This does not require hours in the gym. Your life can be transformed in just minutes a week with the right exercise program.

With a high intensity strength training program you can work the whole body in less than one half hour, and it only need be performed once or twice a week to see continuing results. We have such a strength training program at both our locations - Austin Personal Trainers and New Orleans Personal Trainers. An active lifestyle and a little strength training is a program most people can stick to, and it can have profound effects on one's fitness and health.