Although there is a good correlation between being slim and being healthy, being slim does not automatically guarantee that you are healthy.

Being naturally slim most of my life, I experienced this fact first hand. There were long periods where I was not involved in any active training and ate large amounts of unhealthy food. I did feel unfit, less healthy, and much more lethargic; fall asleep in classes, etc. Being slim, people assumed I was naturally fit and healthy. I tried to explain to them that I was not, but they would not listen, saying “oh, but you’re much more fit than <insert a fat guys name here>”. Well that wasn’t always true!

Of course, being overweight is not a good thing either, but improving your fitness is of even greater importance.

According to a report on MSNBC:

Men and women who were fit, as judged by a treadmill test, but were overweight or obese had a lower mortality risk than those of normal weight but low fitness levels, the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed.

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