Health is more than body size. Don't use the scale to measure health.
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I can run. I can eat donuts. Neither have any direct correlation between the number on the scale. CICO does.
Besides the point..the article is bs..of course CICO..but if you eat donuts all the time, what benefits is that doing for your body in terms of recovery? Nothing wrong with treating yourself to donuts occasionally though..0 -
SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage wrote: »http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Health+more+than+body+size+Dont+scale+measure+health+experts/11257544/story.html
"We live in a society where people who happen to carry a few extra pounds are looked down upon and face a lot of bias and discrimination — especially as you come to higher BMIs — and that makes their lives miserable. It's not that they actually have health problems."
Totally disingenuous. First, people who are urged to lose weight aren't carrying around "a few extra pounds", but a significant amount of weight that current medical opinion says is unhealthy. Second, they often do have health problems, or if they don't at present in time they will have weight-related problems.
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oh god reading some responses I felt like jeez I have to say sorry for being obese for the first 25 years of my life and sorry that during that time I didn't actually hate my self
, felt disgusted with my body or didn't wrote a post like many people do "oh I'm 20 lbs overweight, I look like a whale, I don't want to get out of my house".
so while she possibly choose to lose the weight or not, she can't be photographed? look good? promote exercise/clothes? be on the cover of the magazine?
oh yesss we have to wait until she is fit and healthy enough to fit the role model so she can even dare to speak about running #SMH
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okay, so you finally decided after 25 years of your life to change..awesome...some of us didn't wait that long.oh god reading some responses I felt like jeez I have to say sorry for being obese for the first 25 years of my life and sorry that during that time I didn't actually hate my self , felt disgusted with my body or didn't wrote a post like many people do "oh I'm 20 lbs overweight, I look like a whale, I don't want to get out of my house".
so while she possibly choose to lose the weight or not, she can't be photographed? look good? promote exercise/clothes? be on the cover of the magazine?
oh yesss we have to wait until she is fit and healthy enough to fit the role model so she can even dare to speak about running #SMH
Quit being so sensitive.0 -
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williamwj2014 wrote: »
okay, so you finally decided after 25 years of your life to change..awesome...some of us didn't wait that long.oh god reading some responses I felt like jeez I have to say sorry for being obese for the first 25 years of my life and sorry that during that time I didn't actually hate my self , felt disgusted with my body or didn't wrote a post like many people do "oh I'm 20 lbs overweight, I look like a whale, I don't want to get out of my house".
so while she possibly choose to lose the weight or not, she can't be photographed? look good? promote exercise/clothes? be on the cover of the magazine?
oh yesss we have to wait until she is fit and healthy enough to fit the role model so she can even dare to speak about running #SMH
Quit being so sensitive.
wait? what? quit doing what? this is freaking hilarious, I don't do anything just because you feel like it pal
pss and some didn't have to start anything, cause they manage to always be in perfect healthy weight> are they like in more awesomeness level than you?
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williamwj2014 wrote: »Trying to justify being fat and saying that its not about the number on the scale..okay. When it comes to running, that number on the scale matters, a lot. It might be mean to say but the girl in the picture in that article is not healthy as much as she'd like to believe she is. She's overweight. Let's be realistic, please. 10 years of running..wtf? Did it ever occur to her that being lighter would be easier on her joints..I'm so tired of society trying to have acceptance about everything..society is too sensitive. She's not healthy. She's not fit. She's overweight for crying out loud. The article screams "HEY, YOU CAN RUN AND EAT DONUTS TOO!" Running is a good way to lose weight but this article is bull sh8t in the sense it screams acceptance...
Agree. Thank you.
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There is some difference between "perfect" and "morbidly obese". Healthy does not mean "perfect". We are all here for a goal and hopefully will not fall off after some 2 months fad diet.0
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If an overweight person has healthy stats and can do the normal activities that he or she needs (and wants) to do, then I'm not going to say that person is unhealthy based on his or her weight. Being a little overweight isn't a problem for most people. Being morbidly obese often is, but that's between an individual and that person's physician.0
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lithezebra wrote: »If an overweight person has healthy stats and can do the normal activities that he or she needs (and wants) to do, then I'm not going to say that person is unhealthy based on his or her weight.
That doesn't change the reality that they are, in fact, unhealthy.
Not all damage is immediately visible, even with bloodwork.
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As I have mentioned before, if you look around, obese people are missing from the population of 70+.0
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That comment I made was a response to karyabc's last post.
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And you know it's not encouraging anyone to exercise how? I know a number of people who were inspired to exercise by such things as the book "Short, Fat Triathlete." And exercise, as well as falling in love with a particular athletic endeavor is a good way to inspire out of shape people to get into shape, which will involve losing weight.
Also, picture says "you can be fat AND be fit, if you exercise."
Person who thinks (wrongly, of course) that she's just genetically fat thinks "it would be fun to be more fit and do something athletic and I might feel better." So she starts working toward some goal. Worst case, she gets more fit and healthy but eats more so maintains her overweight status. More likely, she gets more fit and healthy and loses some but stalls out at some point because she needs to focus on diet too. In some cases, she gets more fit and healthy and as she gets serious about training she changes her diet or consciously starts focusing on losing more weight and does so.
IMO, all 3 of these are better than being overweight and inactive if one has the capacity to be active.
I don't get your need to be negative about it.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »
And you know it's not encouraging anyone to exercise how? I know a number of people who were inspired to exercise by such things as the book "Short, Fat Triathlete." And exercise, as well as falling in love with a particular athletic endeavor is a good way to inspire out of shape people to get into shape, which will involve losing weight.
Also, picture says "you can be fat AND be fit, if you exercise."
She is not fit.
Sorry.
It's one thing to start running on a weight loss journey - I was 270 when I started running, I get it. But what she is doing by running and staying obese is just irreparably damaging her internals.
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Yes, obese people can be healthy, just like some smokers live well into their 80s. I know a woman who is a 350 pound frame on a 5' body, who has diabetes and sleep apnea, yet she's in her 80s alive and kicking actively involved in social life. outliers exist. No one is debating that (although in this particular case we really don't know since she is still young). Heck, one of the oldest women in the world was interviewed and she revealed she believed smoking was the secret behind her extraordinary ability to survive time passing.
Seeing her active is sure inspiring and beats the alternative. The practice needs to be praised, not the look. She is fit despite of her weight, not because of it. This is what actually fascinates me when I read the popular media. Now in her case she may not want to lose the weight because her job depends on it, but in general sometimes people with excuses tend to get praised for "embracing their curves" and treated like heroes for doing something any health-conscious person should pay attention to. A thinner model running would not make the news because it does not sound interesting or sensationalized, that's all.
What's funny is that just 3 years ago I was a happily morbidly obese 300+ pound person, and I thought I was invincible. Until I got diagnosed with prediabetes and it ripped off my security blanket, forcing me to change my outlook on several issues.
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lemurcat12 wrote: »
And you know it's not encouraging anyone to exercise how? I know a number of people who were inspired to exercise by such things as the book "Short, Fat Triathlete." And exercise, as well as falling in love with a particular athletic endeavor is a good way to inspire out of shape people to get into shape, which will involve losing weight.
Also, picture says "you can be fat AND be fit, if you exercise."
She is not fit.
Sorry.
Why are you apologizing to me? Nothing I said was about HER fitness. I don't have any interest in whether she's fit or not, I just find it bizarre that instead of embracing the positive message that even fat people can and should exercise, that some seem to prefer that fat people stay inactive so we can better criticize them for being unhealthy.
I should have phrased the point better, though--the photo says: you can be fat NOW and yet work on becoming fit, if you exercise. I agree that while you will be MORE fit even if you don't lose any weight you won't be entirely fit so long as you are obese. Where you and I differ (among other things) is that I DON'T think it's that important that someone be thinking "I will run to lose weight" in order to end up becoming fit (including losing weight) as a result of exercise + other changes. It's one positive change that's better than nothing and may well start a chain of position changes.
The point is that some who IS fat can BECOME fit--she is not doomed to stay as is or to stay inactive. As I have said several times now (including in what you quoted), I believe that part of getting fit will involve losing weight.
But obviously you don't immediately lose the weight. It takes time.
I have a photo of myself after I'd lost about 40 lbs from my heaviest riding a biking in a local ride. I don't much like the photo--I still am obese, and I don't like how I look obese--but I'm proud at the progress between how I was when I started and how I was then. And I think there are definitely people who could be inspired to think they can get healthier and do things like bike and run and exercise in other ways by the fact that someone who is as fat as I still was is able to.
I would not argue that I was at some ideal weight when I was still obese, like I said--I was trying to lose weight. But your posts on this board seem to suggest that if someone isn't constantly apologizing for being huge and disgusting and is instead working on increasing her fitness through exercise without directly talking (or perhaps focusing on) the weight loss aspect, that she's somehow leading others to become fat, which is frankly ridiculous.
What I see is that lots of people feel unable to lose weight and terrible about themselves and that the latter feeling tends to result in them not doing what they need to do to lose weight. Realizing you can focus on fitness even if you don't yet believe you can lose the weight encourages positive behavior changes vs. staying the same, and likely helps empower people to believe they can lose the weight too, in many cases. I know focusing on fitness and exercise was really helpful for me, again.It's one thing to start running on a weight loss journey - I was 270 when I started running, I get it. But what she is doing by running and staying obese is just irreparably damaging her internals.
Didn't someone say she's 18? I don't think we have reason to assume that she--or that anyone inspired by seeing her running--will stay obese. Most people don't want to be obese, and getting active is a really positive lifestyle change, as you and I both know.0 -
Would you say this lady is unhealthy? I am smaller than her yet no way near her fitness level. I don't think she promotes fat (like the running woman) myself.... I just see strength of mind and body. Strong men competitors aren't always the ripped kind (from what I have seen - I'm no expert).
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/the-swimming-blog/2013/aug/09/how-i-swam-english-channel0 -
One of the things I liked the most about the last marathon I went to (as a volunteer medic) was that it wasn't full of people who looked the same. Some of them were old and some were fat... and the marathon was still for them. They trained for it and they ran it, whether they came in at the front or the rear. I was super inspired by all of them and talked to as many people as I could to find out why they were there.
Nobody was celebrating being old/overweight/obese - they were celebrating the fact that they were runners who just completed this crazy awesome challenge. I wasn't inspired to get any fatter by talking to the overweight/obese runners and listening to their stories, but I did register for a color run and tried to get back on the c25k thing.
I LOVE seeing people who look like me do things that I wish I could do. It IS inspiring.
Most of the time, my fat just makes me wish I was invisible. I can't go out of the house and run because people are looking! People might see me jiggle! I *need* to see people who get out there and do it anyway.
TL;DR: Yes to more fat people on fitness covers, please.0
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