A reasonable weight does a body good

   A week or so ago, I saw a professor who had taught a class I attended in 1999 or 2000.  I believe it was a seminar in aging.  I was completing my post baccalaureate certificate in Gerontology at the time.  In fact, the courses that I took in order to receive that 'degree' are ones that changed my personal approach to health.  I learned that what one does in their 20s and 30s has everything to do with what they will be able to do in their 80s.  I changed my lifestyle then and have never once faltered.  No periods of time without daily exercise and no yo yo dieting or weight fluctuations.  Prior to 1999, I had been pretty much like everyone else.  I went on a "diet" to lose the ten or twenty pounds I put on by eating just whatever the hell was in front of me.  I often ate enough to give myself a belly ache.  I exercised only in spurts.  I like who I am today so much better.
   Anyways, this professor was overweight 13 years ago - perhaps she was obese.  I do not remember her having any physical limitations, she was just over fat.  When I saw her recently, now in her 50s or 60s, it was as she was entering a room.  She walked in hunched over and leaning heavily upon a very large walking stick.  She was taking small, hesitant, heavy steps.  
  My reason for sharing this it to make the point that even if a person does not show evidence of metabolic syndrome due to obesity,  being overweight is unhealthy.   This woman was clearly disabled.  [of course, her difficulty ambulating could be caused by something else, but being overweight surely exacerbates it]