Advantages of being overweight

Wonderob
Wonderob Posts: 1,372 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok so we all know there are countless advantages to being around about the right weight, but I think there are advantages to being a bit overweight too. Add some more but please don't turn this into an excuse to poke fun at fat/skinny people. Nor is this a pro-obesity thing, of course we all want to be at a healthy weight!

1) Calorie burn - much higher when you're overweight. A great incentive to exercise when those calories are totting up!

2) Strength - usually overweight means extra fat, but extra muscle too. A 250lb obese 35% body fat guy has got 160 lbs of lean body mass - A great incentive to lose fat and retain that sort of muscle. Imagine what a 180 lb guy with 160 lbs lean body mass looks like!

3) Warmth - fat does keep you warmer on those cold winter nights!

4) Wrinkles - sometimes your face can look worse when you've lost weight can't it?

5) Boobs - Yeah I bet most women would love to keep the same boobs when theyve lost their weight wouldn't they?

Any more?

Replies

  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    not convinced about #1 - my fitness is rubbish and the only thing extra weight did was reduce my VO2 in ml/kg/min by adding more kg to the bottom of the equation. If I work at 100% of VO2max I burn about 10 calories a minute, that wasn't higher when I was fatter.

    A 200 lb fat guy is not necessarily a 145 lb olympic athlete wearing a fat suit !
  • Wonderob
    Wonderob Posts: 1,372 Member
    not convinced about #1 - my fitness is rubbish and the only thing extra weight did was reduce my VO2 in ml/kg/min by adding more kg to the bottom of the equation. If I work at 100% of VO2max I burn about 10 calories a minute, that wasn't higher when I was fatter.

    A 200 lb fat guy is not necessarily a 145 lb olympic athlete wearing a fat suit !

    You're missing the point by comparing fat to fit!

    1) At 20 lbs overweight I worked my butt off on the stationary bike for 45 minutes and burnt 800 calories

    20lbs lighter and after adjusting my HRM I worked my butt off on the stationary bike for 45 minutes and burnt 550 calories!

    The 200 lb fat guy is still only likely to have 30% body fat or similar - he will have a heck of a lot of muscle under that fat! If (A big 'if') he can retain that muscle with heavy weights and hard graft whilst he is losing fat, he will bit fit, strong and look good! Unless you want to dispute the maths???
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    At 20 lbs overweight I worked my butt off on the stationary bike for 45 minutes and burnt 800 calories
    My point is that I couldn't do that - 450 cals max. Being heavier didn't give me more cardiovascular power.

    Your HRM is using a calculation that assumes your fitness in ml O2 per kg per min stays the same. It doesn't. It would be higher after you lost weight. Correcting for that and your calorie burn was probably about the same - more weight doesn't require extra power on a stationary bike and you didn't get less powerful by losing weight.

    At 200 lbs I think I was easily 35% or more fat.

    I agree it would be nice if being overweight meant I could burn more calories, unfortunately it just means I have to go slower or get worn out quicker.
  • amnsetie
    amnsetie Posts: 666 Member
    I float better with more weight on
    I used to be so skinny I would sink, now I can float.
    This is the one thing I will be sad about
    back to waterwings.......

    but it is still worth it to get back to fitness.......
  • Wonderob
    Wonderob Posts: 1,372 Member
    At 20 lbs overweight I worked my butt off on the stationary bike for 45 minutes and burnt 800 calories
    My point is that I couldn't do that - 450 cals max. Being heavier didn't give me more cardiovascular power.

    Your HRM is using a calculation that assumes your fitness in ml O2 per kg per min stays the same. It doesn't. It would be higher after you lost weight. Correcting for that and your calorie burn was probably about the same - more weight doesn't require extra power on a stationary bike and you didn't get less powerful by losing weight.

    At 200 lbs I think I was easily 35% or more fat.

    I agree it would be nice if being overweight meant I could burn more calories, unfortunately it just means I have to go slower or get worn out quicker.

    Ok that's fair enough but just walking around the shops burns more calories if you're overweight - just sitting down watching Tv does!
  • jasminecandle
    jasminecandle Posts: 50
    Curves!

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