For blood pressure, can you be fit but fat?

Another reason to lose the weight bronto sapiens - you cannot be fit and fat, just as we have been saying at Fitness Watch for years.

If you're trying to bring your blood pressure to healthy levels, a new study suggests that how much you weigh is more important than how fit you are.

As expected, the study found that overweight or obese people were more likely to have a high systolic blood pressure - the top number in a blood pressure reading. But for those with a high body mass index (BMI) - a measure of weight versus height -- how in shape they were only had a small impact on their blood pressure.

The results suggest that people who are trying to decrease their risk for high blood pressure should focus on losing weight however they can most effectively do that, the authors say, and that increasing physical fitness should be a secondary goal.

"Obesity is such a strong predictor of blood pressure or hypertension risk that having a normal body weight is really what's going to drive your blood pressure" rather than your fitness level, Dr. Susan Lakoski, a cardiologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and one of the study's authors, told Reuters Health.

At least in terms of lowering your risk for high blood pressure, she said, "it's not realistic to be fit and fat."

Yup.