Fat Chick Works Out

I dislike these threads

I can understand why it can come across as patronising, and why obese people might not want to see themselves as needing "special treatment". I imagine the truth is that most DON'T need special treatment. But for some others, and myself, I felt that my size was an issue. I found "normal" exercise classes really hard at my heaviest. However, at the same weight, I didn't have any problems with lifting weights, or yoga, for instance. I would love to have been able to talk to somebody about what types of exercise worked best, given my size and fitness level. And there are some minor issues, such as not being able to fit into workout clothes! Also "obese" spans quite a range: when I was just in the obese range, no, I didn't feel I needed special treatment, but at my biggest weight it was a different story.

The thing is, that's not special advice for fat people.... it's the same advice as for anyone who's unfit to get back into shape. I have no issues at all with exercise types and routines marketed at beginners and people with limited mobility - I think they're fantastic. Why make "fat" or "not fat" a part of it at all? Water aerobics is a good choice for people who are obese to the point that it limits mobility, but I've never seen water aerobics as being marketed as a special exercise for fat people... it's marketed as a more gentle form of cardio that's for anyone who happens to like it and is especially suitable for beginners and people with limited mobility, joint issues and so on.......... A beginner is a beginner, and not all beginners are fat and not all fat people are beginners, and so fat people really don't need to be singled out and assumed to be some extra special category of incapable and unwilling.

So you're mad at the woman for putting "fat" in the name of her workout?

mad is WAAAAAAAAAAY too strong a word... let's just say that when I was obese, I would have rolled my eyes at it and not bought it.

I don't like coddling people and I hate being coddled. Coddling holds people back, makes them believe that they're less capable than other people.

FTR I don't like workouts aimed specifically at women either, if they're marketing the same workouts as they do for men but the marketing is directed at women (like NROLFW) that's not so bad but this whole "special workout for women" smacks of "women are fragile and can't do what men do"......... it's kind of the same thing with this, i.e. "fat people are fragile and can't do with thin people do" - it's not true. Fat people are capable people who may or may not be unfit at the present time, and are not fragile. Some of the most impressive people on this site are those who've gone from extremely fat and unfit to a healthy bf% and athletic. Not overnight (that's impossible) but through persistence, tenacity and determination.

I mean come on, here we are already talking about it way more than all the dozens or hundreds of low intensity workouts that already exist (walking is the only more talked about one that comes to mind). Sounds like sheer genius to me. Even the workout clip from the video posted above seemed to show mostly thin people in the class, if I recall correctly

beginners workouts are already very well established and well known and pretty much anyone can go into a gym or sports centre of exercise video show anywhere and ask whether a particular workout is suitable for beginners, people who are unfit who need to get in shape etc... it's not talked about on threads so much precisely because it is so well established. But if someone posts a thread saying that they're unfit and can't do much in terms of exercise, they'll get plenty of people giving advice like start slow and build up, and suggesting all kinds of more gentle exercise or workouts that are good for beginners.

Also, it's like planet fitness... it's marketing. I am totally within my rights to dislike products based on the way they're marketed. I find this whole "fat chick works out" thing patronising and would have done just as much (maybe more so) when obese and that would put me off from ever buying it. Maybe the people who are marketing care about that, maybe they don't. But it's a fact.

What always blows my mind about these stories is if you're going to be doing all that cardio (like presumably a fitness instructor would), how hard can it be to achieve a caloric deficit? A lot of cardio at her weight is going to give her a very high TDEE - to maintain her weight, she must really love to eat rich food, but I can't help but thinking it would be pretty easy for her to lose the weight if she put in a modicum of effort towards doing so.

Not necessarily. According to a TDEE calculator, my TDEE at my morbidly obese weight (including exercise), was around 1800 calories. Bump that up the exercise to 5 times a week and it would be around 2000. It's pretty easy to eat that much if you're exercising and cooking healthy meals. I wouldn't call it a "very high" TDEE, or say you need rich food to achieve it.

What always blows my mind about these stories is if you're going to be doing all that cardio (like presumably a fitness instructor would), how hard can it be to achieve a caloric deficit? A lot of cardio at her weight is going to give her a very high TDEE - to maintain her weight, she must really love to eat rich food, but I can't help but thinking it would be pretty easy for her to lose the weight if she put in a modicum of effort towards doing so.

Not necessarily. According to a TDEE calculator, my TDEE at my morbidly obese weight (including exercise), was around 1800 calories. Bump that up the exercise to 5 times a week and it would be around 2000. It's pretty easy to eat that much if you're exercising and cooking healthy meals. I wouldn't call it a "very high" TDEE, or say you need rich food to achieve it.

I'm horrible at estimating weight, but for the sake of argument assume the lady in the OP's video is 300 pounds and 50 years old. Exercising 5 times a week (and if she's a fitness instructor, that doesn't seem unreasonable), her TDEE comes out to around 3000 calories per day. That's a good amount of food - I know male bodybuilders who gain weight at 2600-2700 calories/day. If she simply cut down to 2000 calories/day (which isn't really that hard), she'd drop weight very quickly - and that's what blows my mind about these stories. Good on her for staying active, but you're telling me she can't get by with only 2000 calories/day? And the sad part is that if she cut her calories, lost the weight and became a healthy fitness instructor, the story probably wouldn't make the news.

Yes, we feel the same about Fox here in the US. Nobody with a brain is a republican.

I'm not sure if it's the same in the US, so I don't mean to be offensive... but in the UK clips of 'Fox news' are only shown for comedy purposes, not as a legitimate foreign news source... (same kind of comedy thing as Sarah Palin clips...)

And basically they don't want to lose weight or face up to their heath issues, so if you do it shouldn't be relevant for you.

Is the thread for the 1 person I would like to punch still going I think I made my pick

While the idea being happy with yourself and having a strong sense of acceptance is important I would not accept being morbidly obese any more than I would having a broken leg. Neither define me, but I'd want to get better, if possible from either condition. Being morbidly obese does limit life activities. Period.

No sweating, don't call it a workout. While you can walk to get a little exercise and burn some extra calories, no one refers to walking as a workout.

No sweating, don't call it a workout. While you can walk to get a little exercise and burn some extra calories, no one refers to walking as a workout.

Excuse you? :huh: I do, and I've lost 40 lb. so far. Yeah its a workout to me.:bigsmile: