The Fat Trap (NYT pop review): Overweight individuals in Western nations (and, increasingly, beyond) face interpersonal and institutional stigma for their bodies*. Oftentimes, these stigmas are predicated on the belief that being overweight is a moral failure, that being overweight is usually a result of laziness, decadence, and/or characterlogical poor impulse control. However, an emerging consensus among obesity researchers points toward strong, common physiological and individual genetic factors as causative for heightened BMIs in the modern world and the general failure of dieting to produce BMI outcomes. A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine (paywalled) adds to this body of evidence, suggesting that chemical messengers held to contribute to altered "efficient" metabolism and increased hunger in the wake of low-calorie dieting are (on average) significantly elevated up to a full year (if not longer) following a substantial drop in weight from dieting. [more inside]
posted by Keter on Dec 28, 2011 - 173 comments

Virtual Age and Life Expectancy Calculator "Your Virtual Age is a reflection of your health and vitality. The lower your Virtual Age the better shape you are in. It is used to calculate the Life Expectancy of someone of your current physical age." [more inside]
posted by paduasoy on May 4, 2008 - 69 comments

When Is It OK To Lie To Your Doctor? Legislation to deny first class medical assistance to those who persist with an unhealthy lifestyle is now being seriously discussed in the UK. Can lie detectors be far behind? Will smokers, heavy drinkers and couch potatoes now have to add the art of lying through their teeth - as if their lives depended on it, which they may soon do, to their solitary, sedentary and increasingly melancholy skills? More importantly, will doctors be able to help them, if the information they get from their patients is all wrong?
posted by MiguelCardoso on Jul 27, 2003 - 46 comments

Heart surgery in our family has triggered something of a crisis of fitness with everyone vowing to loose weight. Ironically its the runner in the family that has suggested the most sensible solution: buy a pedometer and increase the number of steps per day you walk to 10,000. (Although some say to just increase.) The idea supposedly started in Japan. The idea is to add a bit of activity here and there (the first site recommends going to a restroom on a different floor) rather than trying to lump the 30 minutes per day all ot once. So far with a desk-potato lifestyle 3,000 is easy but adding the extra few miles every day will require some extra work. Less social than a Volksmarch but compatable with a mall walk. And definitely less hazardous than freestyle walking.
posted by KirkJobSluder on Feb 21, 2003 - 24 comments