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Comment by anonymousiam | Hacker News Reader

The idea that type 2 diabetes is related to obesity has been around for a long time, and probably has merit.

The idea that I am at risk because I cannot fit into jeans I wore at 21 is a joke. I weigh 32% more now than I did at 21, but my BMI is healthy. I was VERY skinny at 21, almost to the point of being unhealthy.

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This is such an HN comment to take a statement that's broadly true and a good one-liner that's understandable for most people, point out an exception, and conclude that the whole thing is false, pointless and they should have phrased it super precisely to account for edge cases that people with any amount of common sense get immediately.

* If you were underweight when you were 21 you probably shouldn't strive to be underweight again.

* If you were overweight when you were 21 you probably shouldn't strive to be overweight again.

But if you're in that HUUUGE in-between where you have that pair of jeans you wore in college and really liked but now don't fit into anymore and rationalized it as "well I'm not young anymore" you are the target of this messaging. Because if you want stay healthy as you age and "slow down" putting on weight is the worst thing you could do.

I'll go one more: if your waist is bigger than your chest, you're not in good shape.

There are ways to use and abuse this rule, but it holds pretty true.

There are bound to be a lot of people who don't WANT this to be true and will look for any possible evidence that it might not be.

Can't say about your particular situation, but I think that, in general, our view of what is "normal weight" is very distorted due to the fact that most people around us are kinda fat. The same goes for exercising habits; people who don't move much often see twice a week jogging or something as a good amount of exercise. While it is certainly better than nothing and probably more than many people get, it's still much, much less than an average person exercised a hundred years ago by just living a normal life.

A person who doesn't provide any kind of stimulus to maintain their muscle mass can have low BMI too much body fat at the same time.

This has nothing to do with particular dimensionality of jeans.

This is US Political Correctness gone wild. Cant say "People who got FAT risk developing diabetes", it could hurt someones feelings! Just google "all shapes and sizes" and be bombarded with stuff like https://www.bostonmagazine.com/health/2020/01/24/health-at-e...

    Accept your size.
    Trust yourself.
    Embrace size diversity.

Generalizations have ruined science/media/reporting

My first thought... This might be a true statement for people with the same path.

I was ridiculously athletic at 21, I can't maintain that index forever

Why do you think you can't maintain that index forever? Were you extremely heavy with muscle, or extremely skinny and low-muscle?

Super duper lean, never was able to hold onto much muscle.

Probably more to do with my activities of choice though, mostly 'cardio' from skateboarding/swimming/running I'd wager.

This has completely fallen on its face though, admittedly way too sedentary for my own good anymore...

There's a useful article that was posted on HN recently about how metabolism doesn't change from years 20-60. Except for legitimate health conditions, the only reason for weight change from 21 years old is lifestyle and diet. Hence this thread's original topic is entirely plausible: there's no biological reason one shouldn't wear the same jeans one wore when they were 21. In your case it also holds true: it doesn't take extreme athleticism to be lean, just a healthy and moderate diet. That may not seem normal today where obesity is becoming an everyday thing, but the average weight today is what's unhealthy, not being able to wear the same jeans you wore at 21.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-58186710

Here's the BMI chart: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmi...

My weight at 21 was below the "Normal" range for my height. Today (at 59) it is at the upper-end of "Normal".

I think what is happening is that when we increase our weight, at some point our internal organs are storing the fat. "Fatty" liver or pancreas. Not sure how the body decides where to put the excess fat.

Getting the body to lose the fat inside the organs is the goal. Starving ourselves, for example, would cause muscle to burn first.

Starving ourselves, for example, would cause muscle to burn first

Incorrect. Fasting is very muscle sparing.

Indeed, strength training during fasting will also further protect muscle tissue from breakdown during fasts.

Starving works fine to lose weight

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