Cardiowell supported · human data
Being unfit is a bigger heart risk than being overweight
Pooled data from eight prospective studies show unfit people carried two to three times the cardiovascular death risk at every weight. Fit but overweight people paid a far smaller penalty, 25% above their fit, normal-weight peers.
For you: If you train consistently, that fitness looks more protective than a lower number on the scale; being unfit at a normal weight offered little cover here.
What it shows: Persuasive but not proof: pooled from eight studies that followed people over time rather than testing changes on them, so fitness and weight were not assigned. The extra risk seen in fit but obese people became non-significant when single studies were removed, so that particular number is shaky.Meta-analysis · Prog Cardiovasc Dis