clipped from www.guardian.co.uk Being fat is ok as long as you're fit A study that followed 2,603 people over 60 years of age in the US for an average of 12 years found that those who were very unfit were most likely to die - regardless of whether they were overweight. "Certainly obesity is a public health problem but...so much attention gets focused on it that people think it is the be-all and end-all and that's not true," said Professor Steven Blair from the University of South Carolina in Columbia, who led the study. The message, said Blair, is that we shouldn't obsess about our weight but instead make sure we exercise regularly. "There are in fact thin people who are sedentary, unfit, smoke and have poor health and there are fat people who eat a healthful diet, don't smoke, are regularly physically active and therefore fit and enjoy better health. So you can't tell by looking at someone whether they are healthy or not," he said.