Extra pounds could make your body feel older than it is

NBC
Published: November 19, 2008

How old are you?

Are you sure that’s your “real” age?

Doctors say that answer can depend, in large part, on your weight.
On the NBC show “The Biggest Loser,“ contestants not only lose a lot of pounds, they also lose years.
“Biggest Loser” Doctor, Robert Huizenga, author of “Where did all the fat go?“ teaches contestants how fat is cutting their lives short.

To find out how he does it, we followed San Diegan Chris Norris to his Beverly Hills office.
The 36-year-old former college athlete is the first to admit he should lose weight.

Here, he’ll undergo several tests to find out just how old those extra pounds are making him.
First, Chris gets into the “bod pod”.
It’ll calculate how much of his weight is actually fat.
Next, they scan his body.
Then, he’s hooked up to an ekg.
Finally, Dr. Huizinga crunches the numbers, taking into account Chris’ weight but also fitness level, diseases, family medical history.

Of huge concern?

Chris has gained most of his weight around his waist.

And Dr. Huizenga says that is a big ager even in people as little as 15 pounds overweight.

“That’s the stuff that hurts you cause you’ve got fat infiltrated around your liver, around your intestines and that’s the stuff that does bad things in terms of markedly increasing your risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer,“ said Dr. Huizenga.

The “biggest loser” test is extensive, and can be expensive.

But “real age” also uses a complicated formula, based on thousands of scientific studies, that helps people assess their biological age online.

It looks at dozens of factors, but:

“Weight in America right now is probably the number one ager. It just is,“ said Val Weaver of realage.com

Editor-in-chief Val Weaver and the real age doctors also say even a little weight can take off a lot of years, especially if it’s in the wrong place.

They say your waistline measurement should be less than half your height.

Otherwise, fat there can start to make you physically really old.

Dr. Huizenga says that’s a real danger for Chris.

So what is his biological age?

“We probably would put your biologic age, remember you’re really 36, I think your body if we had to age you right now is 46.
“You might have just throw away by being that overweight, a quarter of your remaining life.“