Chapter 2 - The Dangers Of Overweight

Desirable Weights for Height | Overweight Is a Health Hazard | Your Best Weight between the Ages of 25 and 30

You probably know right now whether you are overweight. If you have any doubt, turn to the table Desirable Weights for Height on pages 7 and 8. Later we will discuss the importance of this table in your meal planning, but for the moment just locate yourself by sex and height. Subtract your desirable weight from your present weight and you have the number of pounds you should lose.

This figure is vital to your life as well as to your figure. If you now weigh 10 per cent more than your desirable weight, consider yourself officially overweight. If you weigh 10 per cent less, you are underweight.

If you weigh 20 per cent more than your desirable weight you have an urgent health problem. Medical science now recognizes the intimate relationship between obesity and disease.

Strictly speaking, obesity and overweight are not the same. If you are a 5-foot 10-inch, 220-pound weight lifter with enormous arm, leg, and chest muscles, you may be over the standard weight without having an ounce of superfluous fat. In this case you would not be considered obese. However, since this book is not intended for weight lifters, we will use obesity and overweight synonymously.

Any hesitancy you may have about losing those excess pounds will disappear when you understand the dangers of overweight.

Desirable Weights For Height *
Men
 Height                                                 Weight In Pounds
(With Shoes)                (As Ordinarily Dressed)
                                                            Small                Medium            Large
Feet                             Inches              Frame              Frame              Frame
5                                  2                      121                  129                  137
                                    3                      124                  132                  139
                                    4                      127                  135                  143
                                    5                      131                  139                  147
                                    6                      134                  142                  151
                                    7                      138                  146                  156
                                    8                      142                  151                  160
                                    9                      146                  155                  164
                                    10                    150                  159                  168
                                    11                    154                  163                  173
6                                  o                      158                  167                  177
                                    1                      163                  172                  182
                                    2                      169                  178                  188
                                    3                      174                  183                  193
 
Desirable Weights For Height {Cont)
Women
 Height                                                 Weight In Pounds
(With Shoes) (As Ordinarily Dressed)
                                                            Small                Medium            Large
Feet                             Inches              Frame              Frame              Frame
5                                  o                      109                  116                  124
                                    1                      111                  118                  126
                                    2                      114                  121                  130
                                    3                      117                  124                  133
                                    4                      121                  128                  137
                                    5                      124                  131                  139
                                    6                      128                  135                  144
                                    7                      131                  139                  148
                                    8                      134                  142                  152
                                    9                      138                  146                  156
                                    10                    142                  150                  159
                                    11                    145                  153                  162
6                                  o                      147                  157                  167

*These figures are compiled from various sources. They are in line with findings of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Age is disregarded because weight gains beyond the ages of twenty-five to thirty years are considered undesirable. Weight deviation of 5 per cent above or below the figure given is not considered significant.

t Men wearing hats smaller than size 7 may be considered as having a small frame; those wearing hats between 7 and 7½ may be considered of medium frame; and those whose size is over 7½ have a large frame.

‡ Women wearing gloves smaller than size 6 may be considered as having a small frame; those whose size is between 6 and 7 are of medium frame; those wearing gloves larger than size 7 may be considered of large frame.

Overweight Is A Health Hazard

A Metropolitan Life Insurance Company study of more than 50,000 men and women revealed that the death rate of markedly overweight men was 79 per cent above that of men of normal weight and the mortality of markedly overweight women was 61 per cent above normal; the death rate of moderately overweight men and women was 42 per cent above normal.

It is estimated that weight reduction alone could prevent a substantial number of the approximately 2 million cases of diabetes in the United States. About eight of every ten diabetic persons are overweight at the onset of disease. Among overweight women over forty, death from diabetes is about three times higher than among average and underweight women.

The mortality figure for men is not much more optimistic. The diabetes death rate among overweight men is 2½ times higher than among men of normal weight.

If you overeat, all parts of your digestive system become overworked. Some experts hold to the theory that this overworking leads to a breakdown of the pancreas, the gland which supplies insulin, causing diabetes.

Obesity forges a chain in which diabetes, then arteriosclerosis can be the deadly links. Arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, occurs when the blood vessels calcify and become hard as stones. Eventually they may block a major vessel of the heart or brain, resulting in a heart attack or stroke.

Deaths from chronic diseases of the heart, kidneys, and blood vessels—by far the leading causes of death in America—increase sharply with the individual's degree of overweight.
Let's assume that you are middle-aged and weigh 30 per cent more than your desirable weight of, say, 140 pounds. This swells you up to 182 pounds. Now your chance of being stricken fatally with heart, kidney, or blood vessel disease is fully 50 per cent greater than if you were a person of normal weight.

Overweight multiplies the risk of hypertension. A Metropolitan Life Insurance Company study of 74,000 industrial workers showed that increases in body weight were accompanied by steady increases in blood pressure. This finding is pin pointed by physicians who have found that an overweight person with hypertension can lower his blood pressure by reducing his weight slowly to the norm for his age and height.

If high blood pressure is allowed to continue unchecked it can lead to cerebral blood vessel accidents which the layman may call a stroke or apoplexy. It may lead to kidney or heart failure.

No one knows precisely why high blood pressure and heart disease are associated with overweight. Some physicians ascribe the association to the fact that the increased weight throws a burden on the circulatory system and muscle structure.

It is known that extra pounds force the heart to work harder to push blood through the blood vessels. If your body attempts to burn 25 per cent more food than it requires, your heart has to pump additional blood to provide the equivalent of 25 per cent more oxygen. If you suffer from high blood pressure, your heart must work twice as hard to push blood through its valves into your circulatory system.

Whatever the reasons, the fact is that there is a definite link between overweight and heart failure. Results of one study indicated that men who are 25 per cent or more overweight have a 60 per cent greater chance to acquire heart disease than men of normal weight.

In addition to all this, consider the following facts:

Overweight women are particularly susceptible to gallbladder trouble.
 
Certain tumors of the uterus are deadlier to overweight women than to others.

Overweight women have less ability to conceive, are more apt to have complications in childbirth, and have a greater chance of bearing an unhealthy baby.

Overweight men and women are more accident-prone, have less resistance to infection, and are more likely to develop painful joints and foot troubles. They are greater surgical risks.

Your Best Weight Between The Ages Of Twenty-Five And Thirty

With these facts before you, you can understand why reduction to your desirable weight is beneficial. You know that you will look better and feel better and become more youthful in appearance.

The table of Desirable Weights for Height on pages 7 and 8 is based on a vital physiological fact: you reach your maximum normal weight when you are twenty-five to thirty years old. If your weight is normal then, you should not gain another pound for the rest of your life. The old-fashioned weight tables, which listed different poundage for different ages, assumed that you would get fatter as you got older. This was a deadly assumption. The table in this book shows you what should have been your proper weight at the age of twenty-five to thirty.

If you stay within 10 per cent of this desirable weight you decrease the possibility that overweight will lead you to diabetes, hypertension, heart, kidney, or blood vessel ailments.

But before you begin to shed those extra pounds you must understand how and why they got there in the first place. As your first step, meet the calorie.

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