As if the warnings about being overweight aren't dire enough, now comes a new study that says being even a few pounds heavier can kill you. Baby boomers who were even just a tad pudgy were more likely to die prematurely than those who were at a healthy weight, U.S. researchers reported yesterday.

This is one of the first major studies to account for the factors of smoking and chronic illness, which can complicate efforts to figure out how much weight itself is responsible for early death, according to an Associated Press report.

A separate large study of Korean patients, also released yesterday, reached the same conclusion. Both are being published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine.

However, those trying to lose weight may fnd the research confusing. The latest studies contradict controversial research by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year that suggested being a little plump isn't so bad.

And I must admit, the research is more than a little depressing. Even if I keep losing weight, I will never be skinny. I'm just not built that way. In fact, "a little plump" would actually make me happy, daggone it.

To me, the biggest danger is that these messages will prompt folks to give up the weight-loss battle. You've got to feel like your goals are obtainable and being thin isn't for most seriously overweight folks.

After all, despite my passion for losing weight and the fact that I'm not a baby boomer, my first thought upon reading the article was: If I am going to die prematurely anyway, then why am I struggling so much to lose weight? I could go back to cake, cookies and chocolate....nah, no way!

Anybody else understand my reaction?

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com