A Weight Off My Mind: I’m Thrilled That I Can Be Heavy and Still Healthy | Alexandra Heminsley

OOh, you’re strong, aren’t you? Words spoken to me this summer during a trial session with a potential new coach. Words I was reminded of this week when it was revealed that 27% of women in the UK aged between 40 and 50 are categorized as having metabolically healthy obesity (MHO). Or, as they say, they are fat but in good shape.

When I read the research, made public last week by Professor Matthias Blher at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Hamburg, I saw something of myself in it. Instead of the usual gnawing anxiety I feel when I come near the word fat, I felt something akin to relief. And I’m sure I’m not alone. Finally, there is some evidence that carrying some extra weight is not synonymous with being lazy, weak or inactive, as many people, including coaches and doctors, often assume.

According to the NHS and its slavish devotion to BMI (body mass index), I am dangerously close to being statistically labeled obese. Sure, I’m heavier than I was a few years ago, particularly since lockdown and what I suspect is the arrival of perimenopause. But I’m also a size 12-14 and exercise five times a week, a combination of swimming, cycling, weight training and reformer pilates. I have a muscle mass percentage of 32, pretty decent for my age. And on my recent Zoe Gut Health Tests, I scored 92/100. I suspect that bowel expert Professor Tim Spector is proud of me, but that my own GP is a little less proud.

However, I’m also pretty confident that I’m better off at my current weight than I would be if I survived on processed diet snacks, half-assed exercise, and fit perfectly into size 8-10 jeans. By many metrics, especially mentally, I am healthier.

As Professor Blher explains, the UK is very similar to Sweden, Norway and Germany in that these fit but fat people are considered obese by their BMI score, whilst using physical activity to offset complications associated with obesity, such as high blood sugar levels, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes or other signs of heart disease. His research indicated that path Adipose tissue behavior may be a better predictor of health than BMI score alone, including whether that fat was stored viscerally (internally, around the organs) or, more positively, stored evenly around the body. And this is where exercise helps.

I must point out that Prof. Blher made it clear that weight control remains important and that there are residual long-term risks for people with MHO, even if they are currently in good shape. But this cannot negate my joy at feeling recognized as someone who, although statistically overweight, is also doing their best to lead a healthy lifestyle and reap some genuine benefits.

It’s no secret that I should fall victim less often to the temptation of a croissant after a hectic school run or leftover fish at 5pm. But I also know how miserable life can be when enslaved to a calorie-counting app or a years-long fear of carbs. Given the choice, I have and always will have the joy of regular exercise in all its joyful forms, rather than prioritizing weight at any cost.

Since I wrote Running like a girl, my book about the thrill of being a truly terrible runner, I enjoyed a decade of women contacting me to say thank you! I thought you had to look a certain way to be sporty! and I continue to be amazed at how slowly the diet and fitness industries have embraced this group of fat but fit women. Slowly, images are changing to show a wider range of body types, but still, the focus in exercise is often on how we look rather than how fit we might look.

It’s undeniably more challenging to exercise when you’re not already in athletic shape, and being bombarded by promotional and marketing images of those who are only makes it even more difficult. It’s also an uphill struggle to separate the knowledge that you would be healthier, a few pounds lighter, while trying to resist society’s exhausting prioritization of slim, elegant women who don’t take up a lot of space. Fatphobia is real, especially in the workplace. This summer the Wall Street Journal reported that 11% of human resources executives said that candidate weight was part of their hiring decision.

I long ago grew tired of apologizing for taking up more space than before, and with that came a certain giddy freedom, only to be followed by a whisper of anxiety that my health might suffer. So this news that my enthusiasm for joyful exercise will still impact my health has made my week. Comments like the one I received last month still irritate me, but now I have some data that proves I’m not lazy or a lost cause, and none of us are either. Forward.