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> ...studies estimate that moderate obesity takes about 2-3 years of life expectancy

This is really hard to believe. Moderate obesity has to shave at least 10 years off life expectancy.

A 70 year old man 6' tall with a BMI of ~35 weighs 260 lbs. That is pretty overweight.

Anecdotally, I just don't see many people that overweight or heavier making it into their 80s.

On the contrary. Conditional on living to your 60s, being moderately overweight is positively correlated with lifespan, not negatively.

When you're old, setbacks that cause you to lose your appetite are much more common and much bigger threats to the health of skinny people.

I don't know where you live, but I've met tons of moderately fat people in their 70s and 80s.