How Much Is Too Much: Is the President Too Chunky?

[RamboLiberal]

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Diet/story?id=2282895&page=1

Last week President Bush underwent his annual physical. It revealed he was in pretty good health, except for one thing. According to his body mass index, he's overweight.

His BMI was 26, putting him in the lower range of the overweight category. He weighs 196 pounds, meaning he has gained 5 pounds since last year and his percentage of body fat has increased to 16.8 percent, which is, overall, pretty good for a man who just turned 60. (To calculate your BMI, go here).

Still, the appropriate body weight range is 157 to 192 pounds for a 5-foot, 11-inch man. Is there cause for alarm? Should the president go on a diet?

Possibly, dietitians say.

"When you're 60 and your BMI is 26, it's a risk," says dietitian Cathy Nonas, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. "As you get older, you are more prone to other ailments — diabetes, arthritis and cardiovascular disease. It is helpful to not add another BMI point each year."

[Buzz Clik]

1. It's the excessive fat content between his ears that concerns me.

[soothsayer]

2. Not too chunky---too monkey!

[Deb]

6. lol, maybe too much Ben&Jerry's Chunky Monkey? n/t

[Atman]

3. Can we start the fat jokes like they did to Clinton for eight years?

Time for SNL sketches about Bush bycling through the drive through at Mickey D's -- asking to speak to Mayor McCheese about security measures. Giving the Hamburglar a Meddle of Freedom. Assigning Grimace as UN Ambassador Of Fast Food. LOL!

[Nikki Stone 1]

4. Of ALL Junior's problems, weight is the least important !

Good Lord. And the BMI is actually problematic, but I won't get into it except to say that some girls from some ethnic groups would have to be practically anorexic to comply with the BMI.

I would prefer Junior to weigh 300 lbs and be a smarter and more ethical guy.

[Lisa]

18. is there any way we could swap him for President Taft?

I suspect he actually was in the 300-lbs range, and he was definitely smarter and more pleasant than Junior.

[napi21]

5. I don't really GAS about his weight or BMI!

His problem is what he does...or doesn't do...with his brain!

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

7. I could say a lot of bad things about that asshole

But being overweight isn't one of them. Seriously folks, this whole thing is getting way out of control.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Who cares?

Slow news day? :)

[pooja]

9. Well, I think it points to the possibility that the its coming from

alcohol. Budweiser packs a bunch of carbs

[emald]

10. it's not his BMI that matters

It's his intelligence. Dumb fuck could have a bmi of 600 for all I care.

WORST pRESIDENT EVER. BTW, "...Is there cause for alarm?". Duh, yeah. Great cause for alarm. We have a certifiable lunatic running the country put there by false advertising and outright lying. GWBushit is a cancer on the world, a quickly metastasizing untreatable lump of a man. He actually believes he is worthy of the job, voted in with great political capital because of his wonderful leadership.
Our country is in peril.

[Crankie Avalon]

11. I've always thought he was a pear-shaped little man, but...

...that was mostly because his people insist on making it such an issue by always trying to sell him as some sort of super specimen no matter how pudgy and thick-waisted he looks when he's wearing anything other than a suit.


"Later gators...gotta go see where I put my girdle."

[calico1]

12. he is an asshole but he is also

probably the leanest president since JFK (my apologies to the Kennedys). He is not fat. Good grief. Perhaps the weight gain is due to the fat between his ears but he is not overweight!

[RamboLiberal]

13. I agree with you on this one - if Bush is fat I'm doomed

Our problem is his intelligence is less than his BMI!

[Lisa]

19. only if you're running for public office, RamboLiberal!

Have you noticed -- it's only the Dems they go after, for allegedly being obese and unfit.

[peekaloo]

14. Jon Stewart did a nice little "meet me at camera three" bit last week

and addressed him as "Fat F*ck". Then proceeded to show recent clips of Boo$h slobbering over/about food. My favorite was where he discussed how he and Jeb ate stone crabs AND members of the '72 Miami Dolphins. :rofl:

For me BMI is his bowel movement index which clearly indicates he is full of shit.

[MemphisTiger]

15. The BMI is a bullshit scale that needs to be removed from our

vocabulary. It doesn't take into account those that are athletic, by that definition I'm "overweight" The proper scale would take into consideration body fat percentage and bone structure.

[mcscajun]

16. I don't care if he is fat or not. I care what he does. Always.

I don't give a rat's ass about his health, either, so long as he out-survives Cheney.

[Lisa]

17. hmm. In 2004, he was "6 foot" -- more recently, 5'11.5" ... now 5'11"

At this rate he will be shorter than I am, by the end of the decade! (I wasn't aware that supposedly-healthy men showed that much spinal compression or bone loss, at 60 and younger.)

Perhaps the main issue is that he isn't so much overweight, as "undertall"? (It seems that adjusting the guy's height up or down according to his handlers' wishes can have some interesting effects.)


By the way -- his spin people, and Bush himself, put so much effort into his "fit" image (he even brags about it to visiting world leaders) -- this is bound to cause him some humiliation. And of course he has nobody else to blame, since from day one, he's the one who pushed "I'm fitter than Clinton/Gore" in the media. They made fun of Clinton's weight, and then they went after Gore, implying that he was weak and undisciplined (even after he had left public office. They held Bush up as some kind of paragon of health, and equating that with mental/ethical purity. (Others at DU have noted that he doesn't seem to exercise enough to be in truly peak physical condition, despite what his PR flacks might say ... also, at times his waistline has expanded considerably.)

[TahitiNut]

20. Manure settles as it dries.

:evilgrin: