Is it more dangerous to be 5 pounds underweight or overweight?

[Whatthefluff]

5 pounds underweight is more dangerous

5 pounds overweight is more dangerous

Results

[Idonthaveausername]

While 5 lbs isn't much of a difference and probably won't cause any significant health problems or shorten your life, it's more dangerous to be underweight than overweight. There have been many studies done on this, but here's a link to a good article that describes it:

www.webmd.com/.../underweight-even-deadlier-than-overweight-study-says

Underweight people are 1.8 times more likely to die than healthy people while overweight people are 1.2 times more likely to die than healthy people, making it more risky to be underweight than overweight. Severely obese people are 1.3 times more likely to die than healthy people, still better odds than being underweight

Fat is healthy and a necessity of life when kept in moderation. Women need more body fat than men, so it's even worse for women to be underweight, and it causes many health risks for developing fetuses. When your body doesn't have enough fat, it eats your muscle tissue and bones, causing permanent damage if chronic while the health risks of obesity are almost entirely reversible if weight is lost. Many risk factors that lead to being underweight such as drug abuse, malnurishment, poverty, and mental health issues such as anorexia and bulimia also play a factor into quality of life

[xXiTacoXx]

This for MHO! ^

[LovelyFlower]

Technically being slightly underweight is worse for your health than being slightly overweight from doctor's perspective because being a bit underweight can affect you by having hair loss , Low muscle mass, along with weakening the immune system.

[adab_]

Underweight, because when you lose more pounds than the healthy amount, you start to notice the side effects immediately, dizziness, lack of energy.

[Wonderer89]

At a 5lb increment neither is "dangerous"

[Whatthefluff]

Good point.

[Wonderer89]

Thanks for MHO 😊

[Whatthefluff]

No problem

[EpicDweeb]

Five pounds overweight means very little in the grand scheme of things, it may cause a few very minor issues. Five pounds underweight means you'll have too little energy if you don't keep eating, you'll get exhausted easily, you may experience headaches and such. Fat is a good thing in correlation with exercise. Fat is only a negative if you don't exercise. If you're exercising, your body begins to develop your muscles and will feed on your fat for energy. If you just let yourself go you will keep building up fat and your body will feed on your muscles for energy... in other words, without any fat your body has nothing BUT your muscles to feed on. (Well you muscles and whatever you're eating, hence you'd need to keep eating). It is far better to be a little overweight than to be too underweight.

[EpicDweeb]

Hey, thanks for the MHO :)

[Whatthefluff]

No problem

[capturemyheartnow]

5 pounds underweight is more dangerous than 5 pound overweight. pounds underweight can have effect on health. But 5 pounds overweight is usually allowed and is healthy. If a mildly overweight person exercises he can get to normal weight. But if an underweight person does the same exercise , he will become more underweight. Underweight peoples bones and ribs start showing when there is not enough flesh on their bodies and they start to look ugly.

[MrMysteryMan]

I don't think 5 pounds is that much of a danger either way. It's such a small increment that it's negligible.

[worldscolide]

neither is all that dangerous, but if it were say 20 pounds under weight vs 20 pounds over, the under is far more dangerous.

[Ben_Dover]

I used to be really skinny and I almost died I was 40 something lbs. at 10 years old I could see my ribs at the top of my chest and yea... not good times... so I chose underweight

[MindYourEyes]

I'd rather be 5 pounds under weight. Only cause I've worked too hard to maintain where I'm at so underweight. XD

[Peachman]

it depends but in most cases overweight would be more dangerous but if you were a pro athlete etc overweight would be better

[dogdogdog]

5 pounds is what 2.25kg? that's so little I don't think it would matter at all

[Pomegranate139]

It's only five pounds. That's not much in either direction.

[D_Bone_Steak]

I love this question... the answer is so obvious yet all the fatties hate it.

[Tricialicious]

I picked underweight... because I'm a bit under and everyone seems to always have a comment on it.

[ATuairiscean]

Underweight because a lb underweight is like the equivalent of 5lbs overweight maybe even more

[JDavid25]

Overweight of 5lbs don't matter much.. LOL.. I'd say 5 lbs underweight is a little more worrisome...

[KungFury1989]

a person's weight can change by five lbs easily in a day. it's not dangerous at all that's actually normal.

[yashjoy]

I'm skinny af n need to gain
5 pounds over or under won't matter at all

[geonator]

I'm no medical professional but my guess is that neither are really all that dangerous because it's only 5 pounds

[NightOwl8801]

Underweight is a concern , a few pounds overweight isn't anything to be concerned about

[KyleeStar]

You can be overweight and healthy. Same for underweight.

[ColoradoChick84]

Both would not be very dangerous either way

[Arya_Christ]

underweight but it doesn't matter much.

[apple24]

Underweight

[blondfrog]

5 pounds overweight.

[Decentguy]

overweight

[jesusnicolas97]

Neither

[Thevampire]

It's not dangerous

[Anonymous]

both