That's in line with some morbidly obese guy telling me that "the doctors said my numbers are good, so I'm fine!" You can't get it through their heads. Dude was like 29 years old. I'm sure the moocow commenter in the NYT article was also young. The body will do its damnedest to persevere, that doesn't mean it's a good idea to habitually abuse the shit out of it.