Overweight and general weight problems are everywhere in modern America, and even in the modern world. You see a lot of diets, where you cut things out of what you eat and watch calories. You also see a lot of concern for health problems associated with weight – overweight people have a lot more heart, joint, and diabetes problems. What a lot of people don’t consider is that these health problems – heart, joint, diabetes – affect overweight animals just as much, or more, as humans.

Consider a human that is twenty pounds overweight, and their optimal weight is one hundred and fifty pounds. This means that while their optimal weight is one hundred and fifty pounds, they are actually one hundred and seventy pounds. That human has added on thirteen percent of extra weight onto their body (twenty pounds is thirteen percent of one hundred and fifty pounds).

Now, what does this mean? It means that while twenty pounds is a significant weight addition for a one hundred and fifty pound human, it is less than a fifth of their optimal body weight.

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