How does fat hurt you?

Need a little more encouragement to get out on your bike and work off a few more pounds?

Wired Magazine has a fascinating article summarizing recent research into how excess fat changes our bodies, hurting and, in some cases, ultimately killing us:

Research into the biology of fat is turning up some surprising new insights about how obesity kills. The weight of the evidence: It's the toxic mischief of the flesh itself.

Experts have realized for decades that large people die young, and the explanation long seemed obvious. Carrying around all those extra pounds must put a deadly strain on the heart and other organs.

Obvious but wrong, it turns out.