According to Hirofumi Tanaka, an exercise physiologist at the University of Texas at Austin, few direct tests of the body-weight effect on exercise have been conducted. However, the few studies on health fitness exercises and body-weight that were performed 30-40 years ago proved that putting extra weights onto people's backs and ankles made it more difficult for them to run.

These studies also showed that regardless of weight, runners don't change their form when exercising. However, extra weight slows down the running pace.

While many health fitness exercises are more difficult for people with excess weight, diet, health and exercise also impact overall health and performance. However, being slimmer is not always better for performing certain exercises, according to several experts.

In fact, everyone has a certain point where being too slim may negatively affect health fitness exercise.

What is the Ideal Weight for Health Fitness Exercise?
It is difficult to determine what an ideal weight is for a person to best perform a certain sport or exercise.

Each individual has a point at which their weight loss negatively impacts their performance, according to Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky, a muscle metabolism researcher at McMaster University. Individuals are so different in terms of their overall body composition, diet, health, and exercise. Therefore, there is no way to figure out exactly what the best weight would be for optimal performance.

When Would Less Body Weight Hurt a Person's Exercise Performance?
The general rule for runners is that for every 1 percent of body weight that is lost, exercise performance increases by 1 percent. However, Tarnopolsky explained that if people become too thin, their bodies burn muscle instead of fat during exercise.

Therefore, those who are thin must eat plenty of carbohydrates before exercise so that they don't burn muscle.

Whether or not a sport requires strength or longer endurance also affects the ideal weight of a person who wants maximum health fitness.

Athletes often have to experiment to find their best weight. If they lose weight too quickly, they don't have enough energy to perform at their best.