A preprint analysis of 6,309 people in a British birth cohort found that formerly overweight participants who lost at least 5% of body weight in midlife and maintained it had blood-pressure, lipid and inflammation markers at 62 resembling those who maintained normal weight. This observational comparison does not prove a causal effect of weight loss or fewer heart-disease events. It can inform sustainable diet and activity goals for overweight middle-aged adults, but should not be generalized into weight-loss advice for normal-weight or frail older people.