Healthy Living

The medical community is slowly but surely coming around to Fat and Fit theory, noting that being active reduces risk for things like heart disease, even when a person is overweight or obese. While we're still a long way from the whole societal acceptance of "health at any size," judging by the pessimistic headline given the same study by MSNBC, this study proves that those overweight women who reported significant regular exercise have a reduced risk of developing heart disease than women who were overweight and considered inactive. The article does not mention the risk for thin women in the same age bracket who are considered inactive, but the Mayo states that even inactive thin people are at higher risk for heart disease than active counterparts. It should be noted that the women studied were an average age of 54 and the activity was self-reported, not measured scientifically. And there's some controversy surrounding these findings. From the same pissy MSNBC post:

University of South Carolina obesity expert Steven Blair, a leading proponent of the "fit and fat" theory, said the study is limited by relying on women's self-reporting their activity levels. That method is not as reliable as a more objective fitness evaluation including exercise treadmill tests, Blair said. These tests include heart-rate measures to see how the heart responds to and tolerates exercise. In Blair's research, overweight people deemed "fit" by treadmill tests did not face increased risks of dying from heart disease.

Intriguing! There's more on the Blair study if you're looking for inspiration, but regardless of numbers within populations, risk factors and whatnot, the only person that matters is yourself and what you are doing to keep yourself long, strong and bound to get the friction on. So I choose to take from this that regardless of your size, there are positive health benefits from physical activity. Even if you are not exercising to lose weight, you're still doing a body good.

What can you do to increase your fitness and overall health in a one-two punch? Check out these five not-too-scary options:

• Pilates aims to make you strong in mind, body and spirit. Plus, you know that all of those ladies-who-lunch wouldn't be doing it if it didn't give you a great workout.

• Old school aerobics will change things up and have you breaking out the Wham tunes. Besides, sometimes we just need an excuse to wear hot pink legwarmers.

• Swimming is easy on the joints and also will help you in the untimely event of a shark attack.

• Walking: So simple even a toddler can do it. Plus, bonus, no special equipment needed!

• Ready for a little push? Add some competition to the mix by participating in a jock version of Lilith Fair, an all-woman triathalon!

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