Now we come to the claims that losing weight can actually be counter-productive. A large study of nurses reported that 39 percent of women who lost weight not only gained it all back but added another 10 pounds as well. Many experts say this is typical. Not only that but the yo-yo effect of losing, gaining, losing, gaining can throw the body’s metabolism way off balance with serious implications.
Finally, growing older with a few extra pounds seems to be beneficial. Dr. Flegal says that having a nutritional reserve seems to make people more resilient if they are hospitalized. And there is the “quality of life” factor. Many people like to eat a good meal. They enjoy going out to dinner with friends. The food tastes good and it makes them feel good, butter and all. And they look forward to watching all those shows on the Cooking Channel. It is clear that being severely overweight can be a problem. But more and better studies obviously need to be done to determine what is a healthy weight. In the meantime, pass the pie!