OT: otherwise fit heavy people

DG511 said:

Yesterday, I went hiking with my SO in a nearby national park. To condense a
very long story, we set out to return up a very steep 4-mile trail at the same
time as a woman who was probably 70 to 90 pounds overweight. She arrived at
the parking lot just a few minutes after we did, and didn't seem winded or
tired or anything. Despite her not having the physique we usually associate
with hard-core hikers, we realized she probably was one. After some
conversation, it turned out that not only was she a hiker, but she'd also
visited a lot of the same places we did, along with her husband, who was also
heavy. They struck me as being fit people who just happened to be overweight.

Not meaning to poke fun at your phrasing here, but have you noticed how
the "just happens to be" expression is always reserved for things that go
against commonly-held prejudices like, "he's a great auto mechanic who
just happens to be gay" or "she's a mayor who just happens to be (insert
ethnicity of your choice)" or "he's a political science professor who just
happens to be a Republican"?

Sadly, I've noticed that fat people are not even allowed to use the word
'fit', as though it were reserved for exclusive use of people who can
count their abs. We can't count ourselves as 'healthy', either, even
though every test and every indicator might say we are. The scale has the
last word no matter what.

I've been fat most of my adult life but, except for downtime due to
illness unrelated to my weight, I've always considered myself fairly fit.
Even when I weighed in the high 200s, my doctor was surprised when he had
me on the treadmill during a stress test because my pulse was hardly
rising from its usual 64 bpm even at a brisk walk.

My dad, an unretired farmer, has never been under a somewhat portly 230
all his adult life (except, according to him, "when Patton marched it off
us"😉. He would be be up at dawn and working through to dusk year-round
with only the occasional cold every ten years or so. He's a hearty,
active 86 now, he's still stacking hay and mending fences, although he's
turned over the heaviest chores to my brother and his kids and he's
finally taking vacations. Fit and healthy. And fat.

The moral of the story is that you can get moving and achieve a pretty
respectable level of fitness as measured by strength, endurance, and
flexibility even if you're carrying quite a few excess pounds. If you're
starting from a weak and debilitated state (been there, done that) or if
you have other health problems, it may take a while and you may have more
modest goals, but it's doable. Don't give up ownership rights to the
words 'fit' and 'healthy' just because of the reading on the scale.

Dan
325/211/180
Atkins since 1/1/02 (yeah, it was a New Year's Resolution)
Besetting sins: good beer, German bread, and Krispy Kremes

"DG511" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Yesterday, I went hiking with my SO in a nearby national park. To

condense a

Quoted message said:

very long story, we set out to return up a very steep 4-mile trail at the

same

Quoted message said:

time as a woman who was probably 70 to 90 pounds overweight. She arrived

at

Quoted message said:

the parking lot just a few minutes after we did, and didn't seem winded or
tired or anything.

Not winded? That seems odd. When you are carrying 70 to 90 pounds more
weight, you have to work a lot harder to get up that hill--whether that 70
to 90 pounds is solid muscle or solid fat. The extra work means your cells
are using up oxygen and producing carbon dioxide a lot faster. If you have
a large lung capacity and good blood, that can partially make up for it, I
guess. Being in shape doesn't necessarily mean you huff and puff less
during exercise, it means you recover (return to normal breathing) more
quickly after exercise.

It also goes to show that exercising more does not equate to "burning
off the fat". Someone that active should be thin if you buy into the
"calorie is all that matters" nonsense. The math of the calorie theory
makes this very clear, yet they were still overweight.

TC

[email hidden] (DG511) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Yesterday, I went hiking with my SO in a nearby national park. To condense a
very long story, we set out to return up a very steep 4-mile trail at the same
time as a woman who was probably 70 to 90 pounds overweight. She arrived at
the parking lot just a few minutes after we did, and didn't seem winded or
tired or anything. Despite her not having the physique we usually associate
with hard-core hikers, we realized she probably was one. After some
conversation, it turned out that not only was she a hiker, but she'd also
visited a lot of the same places we did, along with her husband, who was also
heavy. They struck me as being fit people who just happened to be overweight.

I had several thoughts about this. First, that woman could have been any of a
number of the regulars here. As a matter of fact, she resembled someone in
particular, a woman with an impressive weight loss who still has a way to go
before she hits goal. Second, on the trail she had said something about knee
problems and getting winded. I don't doubt her, but she wasn't struggling to
recover or anything like that afterwards. And finally, it took me back to the
thread in which we were discussing our impressions of fat people now that we've
all gone low-carb. I realized that I had stereotyped her as being
out-of-shape, whereas she was just heavy. It's possible -- my SO had some nice
solid muscles beneath the fat when he was overweight. Anyway, I felt I'd been
a bit unfair in my initial assumptions about her, although I'm not kicking
myself too hard since I never actually said anything to indicate what my
assumptions were.

Most of the posters here have yet to reach goal, but most also exercise. So I
really did feel as if I could have been talking to any of you.

Daria
166/under 145/under 145
sugar-free since 2/1/04
low-carb since 2/17/04

Ernie Sty said:

"DG511" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Yesterday, I went hiking with my SO in a nearby national park. To

condense a

Quoted message said:

very long story, we set out to return up a very steep 4-mile trail at the

same

Quoted message said:

time as a woman who was probably 70 to 90 pounds overweight. She arrived

at

Quoted message said:

the parking lot just a few minutes after we did, and didn't seem winded or
tired or anything.

Quoted message said:

Not winded? That seems odd. When you are carrying 70 to 90 pounds more
weight, you have to work a lot harder to get up that hill--

Yuppers. But our sargeant didn't feel the least bit sorry for us and made
us do it again and again and again until it didn't seem like so much work
and it felt like walking on the moon whenever we got to put those @#$@%
packs down.

;-)

Dan
325/211/180
Atkins since 1/1/02 (yeah, it was a New Year's Resolution)
Besetting sins: good beer, German bread, and Krispy Kremes

tcomeau said:

It also goes to show that exercising more does not equate to "burning
off the fat". Someone that active should be thin if you buy into the
"calorie is all that matters" nonsense. The math of the calorie theory
makes this very clear, yet they were still overweight.

Someone that active "should be" thin only if you buy into the exercise
is all that matters nonsense. Nothing in the post mentioned how much
the woman ate, so just what calorie math are you claiming to refute?
There are people who are overweight and active, who still eat more
than they burn.

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] (DG511) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Yesterday, I went hiking with my SO in a nearby national park. To condense a
very long story, we set out to return up a very steep 4-mile trail at the same
time as a woman who was probably 70 to 90 pounds overweight. She arrived at
the parking lot just a few minutes after we did, and didn't seem winded or
tired or anything. Despite her not having the physique we usually associate
with hard-core hikers, we realized she probably was one. After some
conversation, it turned out that not only was she a hiker, but she'd also
visited a lot of the same places we did, along with her husband, who was also
heavy. They struck me as being fit people who just happened to be overweight.

I had several thoughts about this. First, that woman could have been any of a
number of the regulars here. As a matter of fact, she resembled someone in
particular, a woman with an impressive weight loss who still has a way to go
before she hits goal. Second, on the trail she had said something about knee
problems and getting winded. I don't doubt her, but she wasn't struggling to
recover or anything like that afterwards. And finally, it took me back to the
thread in which we were discussing our impressions of fat people now that we've
all gone low-carb. I realized that I had stereotyped her as being
out-of-shape, whereas she was just heavy. It's possible -- my SO had some nice
solid muscles beneath the fat when he was overweight. Anyway, I felt I'd been
a bit unfair in my initial assumptions about her, although I'm not kicking
myself too hard since I never actually said anything to indicate what my
assumptions were.

Most of the posters here have yet to reach goal, but most also exercise. So I
really did feel as if I could have been talking to any of you.

Daria
166/under 145/under 145
sugar-free since 2/1/04
low-carb since 2/17/04

--
jamie ([email hidden])

"There's a seeker born every minute."

"Daniel Hoffmeister" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Ernie Sty said:

"DG511" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Yesterday, I went hiking with my SO in a nearby national park. To

condense a

Quoted message said:

very long story, we set out to return up a very steep 4-mile trail at

the

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

same

Quoted message said:

time as a woman who was probably 70 to 90 pounds overweight. She

arrived

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

at

Quoted message said:

the parking lot just a few minutes after we did, and didn't seem

winded or

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

tired or anything.

Quoted message said:

Not winded? That seems odd. When you are carrying 70 to 90 pounds more
weight, you have to work a lot harder to get up that hill--

Yuppers. But our sargeant didn't feel the least bit sorry for us and made
us do it again and again and again until it didn't seem like so much work
and it felt like walking on the moon whenever we got to put those @#$@%
packs down.

Heh. Reminds me of when I learned about the Voyageurs, the fur traders.
They used to run through the woods with 90-lb pounds of beaver pelts. They
stopped to rest for 20 minutes at a time, and spent the whole rest time
smoking their pipes.

Daniel Hoffmeister wrote:
|| DG511 <[email hidden]> wrote:
||| Yesterday, I went hiking with my SO in a nearby national park. To
||| condense a very long story, we set out to return up a very steep
||| 4-mile trail at the same time as a woman who was probably 70 to 90
||| pounds overweight. She arrived at the parking lot just a few
||| minutes after we did, and didn't seem winded or tired or anything.
||| Despite her not having the physique we usually associate with
||| hard-core hikers, we realized she probably was one. After some
||| conversation, it turned out that not only was she a hiker, but
||| she'd also visited a lot of the same places we did, along with her
||| husband, who was also heavy. They struck me as being fit people
||| who just happened to be overweight.
||
|| Not meaning to poke fun at your phrasing here, but have you noticed
|| how
|| the "just happens to be" expression is always reserved for things
|| that go against commonly-held prejudices like, "he's a great auto
|| mechanic who
|| just happens to be gay" or "she's a mayor who just happens to be
|| (insert ethnicity of your choice)" or "he's a political science
|| professor who just happens to be a Republican"?
||
|| Sadly, I've noticed that fat people are not even allowed to use the
|| word 'fit', as though it were reserved for exclusive use of people
|| who can
|| count their abs. We can't count ourselves as 'healthy', either, even
|| though every test and every indicator might say we are. The scale
|| has the
|| last word no matter what.
||
|| I've been fat most of my adult life but, except for downtime due to
|| illness unrelated to my weight, I've always considered myself fairly
|| fit.
|| Even when I weighed in the high 200s, my doctor was surprised when
|| he had
|| me on the treadmill during a stress test because my pulse was hardly
|| rising from its usual 64 bpm even at a brisk walk.
||
|| My dad, an unretired farmer, has never been under a somewhat portly
|| 230
|| all his adult life (except, according to him, "when Patton marched
|| it off
|| us"😉. He would be be up at dawn and working through to dusk
|| year-round
|| with only the occasional cold every ten years or so. He's a hearty,
|| active 86 now, he's still stacking hay and mending fences, although
|| he's
|| turned over the heaviest chores to my brother and his kids and he's
|| finally taking vacations. Fit and healthy. And fat.
||
|| The moral of the story is that you can get moving and achieve a
|| pretty respectable level of fitness as measured by strength,
|| endurance, and flexibility even if you're carrying quite a few
|| excess pounds. If you're starting from a weak and debilitated state
|| (been there, done that) or if
|| you have other health problems, it may take a while and you may have
|| more modest goals, but it's doable. Don't give up ownership rights
|| to the
|| words 'fit' and 'healthy' just because of the reading on the scale.

Very good point, Dan.

Being fit is not the same as being healthy. Overfat doesn't imply unfit or
unhealthy.

tcomeau wrote:
|| It also goes to show that exercising more does not equate to "burning
|| off the fat". Someone that active should be thin if you buy into the
|| "calorie is all that matters" nonsense. The math of the calorie
|| theory
|| makes this very clear, yet they were still overweight.

What a minute. You don't have enough information for your claims. You have
no idea who much she was eating, so your assumption that she ought to be
thin is nonsense. Obviously, she was eating plenty and the bottom line is
that exercise doesn't burn nearly as many calories as you can eat in the
same amount of time. Hence, exercise - in and of itself - is not a good way
to lose weight and/or control weight. Proper control of diet should be the
primary means for weight loss and control. Exercise has several benefits,
but it is useless for weight loss if you don't properly control diet.

||
|| TC
||
|| [email hidden] (DG511) wrote in message
|| news:<[email hidden]>...
||| Yesterday, I went hiking with my SO in a nearby national park. To
||| condense a
||| very long story, we set out to return up a very steep 4-mile trail
||| at the same
||| time as a woman who was probably 70 to 90 pounds overweight. She
||| arrived at
||| the parking lot just a few minutes after we did, and didn't seem
||| winded or
||| tired or anything. Despite her not having the physique we usually
||| associate
||| with hard-core hikers, we realized she probably was one. After some
||| conversation, it turned out that not only was she a hiker, but
||| she'd also
||| visited a lot of the same places we did, along with her husband,
||| who was also
||| heavy. They struck me as being fit people who just happened to be
||| overweight.
|||
||| I had several thoughts about this. First, that woman could have
||| been any of a
||| number of the regulars here. As a matter of fact, she resembled
||| someone in
||| particular, a woman with an impressive weight loss who still has a
||| way to go
||| before she hits goal. Second, on the trail she had said something
||| about knee
||| problems and getting winded. I don't doubt her, but she wasn't
||| struggling to
||| recover or anything like that afterwards. And finally, it took me
||| back to the
||| thread in which we were discussing our impressions of fat people
||| now that we've
||| all gone low-carb. I realized that I had stereotyped her as being
||| out-of-shape, whereas she was just heavy. It's possible -- my SO
||| had some nice
||| solid muscles beneath the fat when he was overweight. Anyway, I
||| felt I'd been
||| a bit unfair in my initial assumptions about her, although I'm not
||| kicking
||| myself too hard since I never actually said anything to indicate
||| what my
||| assumptions were.
|||
||| Most of the posters here have yet to reach goal, but most also
||| exercise. So I
||| really did feel as if I could have been talking to any of you.
|||
||| Daria
||| 166/under 145/under 145
||| sugar-free since 2/1/04
||| low-carb since 2/17/04