mmmmm,....I would say obese. They'll both eventually kill you though.

Neither, both will shorten your lifespan. There is a healthy weight range and both of these descriptions are outside of it. Underweight just has different life threatening problems to obese. Life threatening is life threatening - thick or thin :)

Hmm... interesting. I've personally heard of far more complications with obesity than anorexia- but either way it's a pretty bad deal. And anorexia has the mental issues along with it, which could cause depression, the whole nine yards. Then again, obesity I guess could come with a certain level of insecurity- ya know... the fat kid jokes. Not being able to find a guy/girl, being excluded. Interesting question. One thing I have noticed is that the two are sort of battling each other. In the world of models, the anorexic ones wanted to be skinny because the general belief was that skinny was pretty, obese was not. Now that so many girls are becoming anorexic, it has triggered the retailiation of obese girls who maybe feel put down by this trend, and health fanatics who are determined to set an example for girls and let them know that you don't have to be sticks n bones to be pretty. So now, what was seen as top notch, the skinny models, are being put down by the plus sizes who are finding it safer to poke their heads out at the world and are becoming a big trend in the entertainment world.

Neither are better, both are mental disorders

Neither is healthy, both will cause serious health problems. You must aim for something in between the two. Both of these deseases can eventually lead to an early death

hmm both are unhealthy, but on a survival standpoint. In times of famen the person that is overweight is going to last a little longer then the anorexic with no fat or muscle for their body to get energy from.

Anorexia would likely kill one more quickly, because the body is so deprived, literally starving. Obesity would likely be much slower at killing an individual.

It's like asking is it healthier to have Heart Disease or a Kidney Disease?... The answer is BOTH ARE UNHEALTHY! Both have complications.

Neither is a healthier choice Anorexic has more long term affects. When you can overcome the illness and you can/do gain weight, you are likely to feel the affects of malnutrition for ever. http://www.mamashealth.com/anorexia.asp http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-strateg-hlthwt-obesity.htm

That's like asking; which is better a heart attack or a stroke. Neither

Well, there's a lot of gray area there. I guess if you're talking about the absolute skinniest of the skinny anorexics and the most obese of the obese, i would go with anorexia for one reason only- that being that anorexics have a better physical chance of recovery than the extremely obese. (Although just barely).

Most of it really depends on the person. There are some aneroxic people that have died, and others have lived. There were obese people that have died, and others still live today. It really depends on your body structure.

Choose your poison: die from malnutrition; your stomach will bloat as it attempts to digest itself, hair and nails start to fall off, teeth become perforated and deteriorate, various internal organs begin to fail etc... Or, be soo huge that breathing is difficult, moving requires a lot of time and energy, and oxygen wich is already hard to come by, sores on your body from lack of movement, in extream cases skin will rot from either poor circulation or become easily deseased, higher risk of stroke/heart attack... Helthier? more like, wich evenly set of problems would you rather have? Just out of curiosity, whats the basis of this question?

Really thin you might break if you fell down, really big and if someone stabs you you won't feel a thing. If I had to choose I would say thin, so that I can at least go outside of my room.

well... Anorexia Is pretty bad, but i'd choose it over extremely obese. I'm already 50 pounds overweight and trying to lose it. I'd say putting on weight is MUCH easier than getting it off. :)

I think being aneroxicly thin is much better then being obese. Unless you are like Dr.Laura who is so thin she makes an aneroxicly thin person look obese. That is way to thin.

**edited for clarity** health noun 1. a healthy state of well being free from disease; "physicians should be held responsible for the health of their patients" [ant: illness] 2. the general condition of body and mind; "his delicate health"; "in poor health" With the textbook definition of Health being "free from disease" I would, in my opinion, say that being obese is less healthy then anorexic. This is due to the fact that being obese can and will kill you with more ailments faster then anorexia ------------------ In Canada during 2004, 71 people between the age of 12 and 44 died from eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. On the opposite side of the scale, there was over 10,000 deaths (10,271 to be exact) from heart disease, diabetes, stroke, fatty liver disease, blood clots, hearts attacks and a host of other obesity-caused illnesses in overweight/obese patients, in 2004 alone. Oh, and that last statistic, was just for people between the ages of 12 and 44. So if you really want to compare and say which illness is more deadly, then being overweight/obese is definitely more deadly. According to Statistics Canada, anorexia/bulimia is 22% deadly, being overweight is 57% deadly and obesity is 89% deadly. Obesity is two times more deadly than cigarettes, alcoholism and drunk driving put together. And thats just Canada! The United States is even worse! In Canada, 36% of teenagers are overweight or obese. 59% of adults in Canada are overweight/obese. In the United States 44% of teenagers are overweight/obese and 71% of adults are overweight/obese. The statistics for anorexia/bulimia for both countries is a stable 4% of adult women and less than 0.5% of adult males. In Canada, 1 in 4 teenage girls have an eating disorder (whether its compulsive eating, binges, anorexia or bulimia). In the United States its 1 in 3 teenage girls. http://www.lilith-ezine.com/articles/health/Anorexia-Vs-Obesity-in-North-America.html

think of it this way if you are realy fat if you run out of food you could live for awile

The answers you have received are already good. I would propose that it takes obesity longer to kill you than anorexia. That can break down all of your organs quickly and decisively. Both are related to eating disorders and neither is recommended.

i would choose neither

I think being anorexic is less healthy, because anorexics die at a faster rate than obese people do. Like if a girl is super obese at 16 and stays that way she'll be dead by 40, if a girl is anorexic at 16 and her weight doesn't change she'll be dead by 25.

I did a science project on this question! Basically, they both do awful things to your body and both can be fatal in extreme cases- but I'd have to say that anorexia is the worst. Unlike obesity, it's a mental condition as well as a physical one, and while you can't really generalise which is worse for your body, anorexia is most definitely worse for the mind, and that's just as important for your health. I mean, you see happy fat people all the time right? I know I've never seen an anorexic who isn't miserable :( awful disease

They are both equally unhealthy, although anorexia is accepted more.

It's like asking is it healthier to have a spade in your face, or a rake in your chest?

It's better to be anorexic and recover, than obese and not recover. Anorexia is completely reversible. A Fat person will always be fat because there's a point where a fat person will develop more fat cells which cannot undo once made. Those cells will therefore be able to absorb more of the weight you couldn't fit before. in the case of a famine, an obese person can last for more then a year on water and vitamins, while an anorexic person probably would starve a lot faster. Both are extremely unhealthy because obesity and anorexia will shorten your life, and for good reason. Just take care of your body.