Another study of 527,265 U.S. men and women between the ages of 50 and 71 revealed that those who are overweight have a 20% to 40 % increased risk of premature death. Of those who are obese, the risk of premature death is 3 to 4 times greater. Here is a link to an Ideal Body Weight Calculator. From the article: Overweight, Obesity, and Mortality in a Large Prospective Cohort of Persons 50 to 71 Years Old

Think about this. Your are 45 or 50 years old and you have diabetes. You want to live to be 80 or 85 years old. At age 50 you hope to live at least 30 more years. Now think about the fact you have diabetes and subtract 15 years form your life expectance. Now instead of living to 80 you are now expected to live only until 65. Wait a minute, that is only 15 short years away. Living until 80 or 30 more years seems a whole lot longer and much further away.
See what is happening. By not taking diabetes as seriously as you might, you are at risk for shortening your life by half. My hope is that all interested individuals will find some valuable tools here to begin to take massive action to control their diabetes. Please review the links to diabetes resources on this site now.

Below is a link to this story:

Diabetes Brings Earlier Heart Disease, Death

To quote the article

“Perhaps the most striking numbers in the report involved life expectancy. People with type 2 diabetes who were also classified as being at moderate or high risk for cardiovascular disease died an average of about 18 years earlier than non-diabetics, the researchers found.”