(Post being entered by Jay)
The good news is that if you're over 70 it is healthier for you to be overweight:
LINK: Overweight septuagenarians live longer 
Weeeeeeeeeeell, doesn't this just fly in the face of conventional wisdom. Admittedly, the study said you can't go too overboard, and that moving around is still a good idea. But it's one of those things to make ya go hmmm.
Now that I have broached an uncomfortable subject, let's ponder it a little longer. Like lots of other people, I (Jay) am on a personal quest toward fitness. What I keep encountering though is that good science seems to be in short supply. If you watch one of the many TV shows about weight loss, you will be told the ageless mantra that the only way to lose weight is through extreme exercise and caloric restriction. While this works, I also think it is approaching the issue with tunnel vision.
Perhaps because it won't fit into a sound bite for radio or TV, we don't often hear about how the Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes ratio of stomach bacteria may just prove to be the biggest cause of weight gain. Or that some colds and respiratory infections contain the adenovirus-36 strain which can trigger weight gain. Or that bisphenol A (BPA) can disrupt endocrine function to the point of forced fat cell accumulation. Even if these things are shown to be of only marginal effect, or exceptions to the rule, I would still like to see the media gurus acknowledging them.
[sarcasm mode]
NAW, let's just revert back to reductionist thinking and do things the way they've always been done. 'Cuz that's always right, right? That is why these guys cut their grass the way it's been done for thousands of years, using scythes:
You wouldn't dare tell those guys there is a more efficient way to cut grass, would you? Let's totally eschew anything revealed by science. Let's make sure to do everything like the olden days. The older the better. That's the way it was, and we liked it. And by the way, why doesn't my new-fangled doctor treat illness the way they did it in the good old days, through bloodletting? That was also used for thousands of years, and we liked it.
[end sarcasm mode]
I realize in my journey I am still gonna have to eat my veggies and hit the bricks. But while the "experts" keep trying to give everyone guilt trips about eating, I have a sneaking suspicion that one day they will receive a major guilt trip of their own. If it doesn't hit them from the grassroots side of things, it will come from empirical studies in laboratories. Prepare to watch them eat a steaming helping of humble pie. 
