Slashdot Mirror
Fat Geeks Healthier Than You Thought
DoubleWhopper writes "Sound the trumpets! Being a fat geek may not increase your risk of death after all. According to this ABC News article, a re-examination of the available data suggests obesity is still a health risk, but the 'pleasantly plump' among us 'do not have the same health risks as obese individuals.' But, from the article: 'People shouldn't think that this study gives them a free trip to the pork rind buffet.' Believe what you want, but you'd better hope I don't get to the Twinkies aisle before you."
Great. Now I can live a long, sexless life!
Your market has a Twinkie AISLE!?
Reduce your risk of death? Let's leave religion out of this one, shall we?
Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
First Rule Of Fat Club Is You Don't Talk About Fat Club.
According to this ABC News article, a re-examination of the available data suggests obesity is still a health risk, but the 'pleasantly plump' among us 'do not have the same health risks as obese individuals.'
First off, there seems to be some number-shuffling here. This is a very politicized and personal topic for a lot of people, and different motivations are behind the different studies. This particular study has been trumpeted by the main-stream media (it's been out for a few days now) because it is different and will attract reader's interest. The scientists that told us that having a BMI over 25 will most likely still stick to their guns and say that we should be healthy. The danger of this study is the attitude that we even saw in the original post:
But, from the article: 'People shouldn't think that this study gives them a free trip to the pork rind buffet.' Believe what you want, but you'd better hope I don't get to the Twinkies aisle before you.
Come now, you may not be at as high a risk as previous studies had indicated - and may be even better off than an unhealthy skinflint, but there is no rational way that binging on the Twinkies aisle will benefit your health whatsoever. I know it was flippant and humorous, but it's still a dangerous idea to think that you can eat Joe Lois, maintain a BMI of 29 and be healthy. Indeed, it's not the BMI - it's the food you eat, the nutrition, etc.
"There's no success like failure, and failure's no success at all."
- Bob Dylan
Great! Now they just need to account for prolonged monitor radiation and celibacy.
These studies just give people a reason to keep eating badly.
But, from the article: 'People shouldn't think that this study gives them a free trip to the pork rind buffet.'
Yeah, because people really listen to stuff that they don't want to hear.
"The best predictor of obesity is being overweight," said Charles Clark, professor of medicine and pharmacology at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. "The younger you are when you become overweight the more likely that you will become obese."
Anyone gone to their local middle school recently and looked at the weight of the kdis there. I deal with them almost every day, and I can tell you, the younger they are, the fatter they seem to be getting. Even the anorexic ones.
NOPE!
I suggest you read Slashdot
"REALLY fat people are more unhealthy then fat people." Well duh. We already knew that one. Sheeesh.
Any body type can be unhealthy. No matter what kind of build you have, you can still have health problems such as hypertension and high cholesterol. Good diet, regular exercise and annual checkups should be encouraged for everyone. My best friend is skinny as a rail but I have no doubt his cholesterol is through the roof.
However, fat geeks will always have another thing to consider. Darwinian death. Eat those twinkies, my pretties... just means more pussy for me!
"You know why you do not see me styling wit my homies? Because I have no homies!!" -Mojo Jojo
It's losers, here this might help...
You: loser
Your mom: loose
DoubleWhopper writes...
Heh.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Fat Geeks get no lovin' from the opposite sex, and women are a surefire way to go to an early grave!
Take my wife... please.
har
Sure, this is great news for a good portion of the American population, a country with a ridiculously high rate of obesity and overweight individuals. However, one has to question its objectivity and scientific basis. As one poster already pointed out, the story merely suggests that somewhat fat people are more "healthy" than obese people. I for one am not the skinniest geek, but I don't really think this is the right kind of motivation for me to read in wanting to shed a few 'extra' pounds. :)
I maintain a reasonbly healthy diet, try to balance my nutrition and exercize when I can.. but in this fast-paced go-go-go environment of urban America it's very difficult to stay ahead physically, financially and maintain one's sanity. While I don't doubt that I'm relatively healthy, I also think that I could be more healthy.
We geeks tend to sit down for the majority of the day and feel our asses grow as we're emmersed in various technological endeavors. This is all fine and dandy, but as my doctor pointed out recently, it's best to shed those extra pounds while we're still young as the older we get the harder it gets to rid ourselves of them as our metabolic rate slows down. So I would suggest to my fellow geeks to do what you can when you can and take articles such as these with no more than a grain of salt. In two weeks there may be another study that says otherwise. Besides, who can believe any story about how much food we should eat that's posted on a site whose founder is some random taco!
shop.envescent.com - Computer hardware and more.
Being a fat geek may not increase your risk of death after all.
Last I knew, the human race had a 100% mortality rate. Being "pleasantly plump" might exempt some of us from death?
Last time I frolicked out in public I got arrested, maybe I'm doing it wrong.
I'm a skinny geek you insensitive clod!
Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all
Actually, according to the article, slightly "overweight" people actually have a lower mortality rate (read as: they live longer) than people in the "ideal weight" category. This actually turns conventional thinking about health on it's head. Or rather it might make the "ideal weight" a little heavier than has been pushed.
I'll never make that mistake again, reading the experts' opinions. - Feynman
Douglas Adams died exercising in the gym. I think that says something important to us all ... ;-)
Caution about this statement: being OBESE gives you a greater chance of having diseases which lead to a higher mortality rate (I.E. shorter life.) According to the article, moderately OVERWEIGHT people actually have a LOWER mortality rate than people in the "ideal weight" category as was previously accepted. Overweight and obese are very different classifications.
I'll never make that mistake again, reading the experts' opinions. - Feynman
Try weightlifting. Years ago, I was barely eating anything and I wasn't exercising (at my worst point I was eating a Reser's burrito a day (I know, that's pretty bad, but I just wasn't hungry!)), and getting dizzy occasionally. Weightlifting, through stimulating my body for growth, made me HUNGRY. Now I eat frequently, have huge amounts of energy that keeps me going all day long, and am happier.
If you weightlift, you will start getting into the habit of eating more. Just remember to drink plenty of water throughout the day (sometimes dizziness can be brought on by lack of fluids), and hopefully take vitamins.
People, the concept everyone ought to grasp is that it's EXERCISE that actually avoids obesity, not just eating right. You can eat a whole box of twinkies, yes, but it's way worse if you also don't ever exercise. The most straightforward way to do this is to just walk, jog, or bike places that you might otherwise drive to. If it's within a mile or so, and you don't really have any cargo, and you aren't late, then do the environment AND yourself a favour and get there on your own power.
Take off every sig. For great justice.
My thought is it relates more to lifestyle and fitness level than anything. For example, my mother is overweight and has been all her life. Yet she is the most active person I know. She has tremendous energy and gets an incredible amount done every day. So yes, she is quite overweight, but she's very fit.
Same goes for her father, who was a big heavy Wisconsin farmer. He used to laugh about doctors telling him to lose weight for better health and a longer life. My grandfather just shrugged and said "I've buried all my skinny friends." He was overweight all his life too, but being a farmer he was very fit.
Of course these are individual cases and anecdotal evidence is pretty worthless. I just want to say that being overweight and being out of shapeare two different things. Some fat people are in better shape and more fit than some skinny people. Not all, obviously. It must come down to genetics to some degree, but also how fit they are and how much exercise they get.
This research probably doesn't mean you can stock up on twinkies and mountain dew. It just means you can be fit and healthy even if you are fat. But being fat certainly doesn't mean you're healthy!
There are different ways of being overweight. You know those guys with the hard round gut? That's bad. You know those soft flabby guys (but not too flabby), well that's not quite as bad (IIRC).
What really bothers me is I'm starting to see teenagers who have the physique of a 45 year old man with the stereotypical beer gut. That's not just bad, it's really really sad. Their parents should know better.
-- Microsoft is the most expensive commodity operating system and office suite vendor in the marketplace.
Show me the death stats for people based upon exercise and nutrition INSTEAD of focusing on the weight of their corpse.
I'm betting that doing it that way would show a more understandable progression (ie. the healthier you keep yourself, the longer you will live).
But that kind of research won't get the headlines.
And the average person who reads that will only remember and believe what he wants to ("being fat means I'll live longer").
There seems to be a number of factors that can contribute to being skinny: smoking and poor diet offer different challenges.
If you're smoking, quit. You will soon replace your smoking with snacking and fill out in no time.
If you are young and not eating well, which seems to be the case, you've got to worry. It seems that people like this have a tendency to just go to obesity once their metabolism slows down.
So just start working on eating regular, healthy meals that are easy to make and eat. I'd stick with stuff like pork stir fry, it's easy to make, easy to store and reheat and has a lot of good fat calories. London Broils are also a good source of calories and nutrients. Don't over cook your food, use real butter, drink whole milk and stay away from prefab food -- it's all salt and no helpful calories. -- at least not the right kind.
Eat breakfast every morning, and go for a walk or some other sort of exercise daily to get your body hungry. Also work on drinking more water, this will help open up your ailementary canal to more food.
Good luck!
Odwalla sells nutrient-dense food bars that will raise your blood sugar enough to keep you from passing out all the time. I'm underweight myself and often can't be bothered to get myself some real food; these work great for those times.
Drinking a six pack of dark ale daily will raise your caloric intake significantly, too.
there's more than one way to do me.
It doesn't really matter if you're skinny, plump, or fat until you actually reach the "obese" limit. But even if you aren't obese, that doesn't mean you're living healthy. Everyone remembers that kid who ate nothing but fries, ho-hos, and mountain dew but still weighed 140 pounds at 6' tall all through high school and college (perhaps some of you were that kid). The damage done to that body is way beyong someone who eats fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole foods but weighs in at 220 pounds and 6' tall. Just watch your diet and do some exercise during the week. If your metabolism is a little slow and you hold onto a little more weight, it's fine.
And just think, before today you never got to brag about working in a convenience store.
You are so boring that when I see you my feet go to sleep.
Salt very unhealthy!
;P If you cant fit through the door frame, you dont eat there. Yeah, obscene fat and skinny are both dangerous and I believe, unhealthy. Im in the middle, and I cosider it safe.
(Let alone salt-NaCl- is used in neural ransmission and digestion)
Salt's now found healthy.
Butter found to be Unhealthy!
(Yet margarine is found to be more unhealthy due to trans-fats)
Butter is now not as bad as people think.
Eggs cause Cancer (or evil of the day)!
(Yet, eggs have many nutients found healthy to digest, along with good studies)
Eggs arent as bad as everybody thught.
Sugar causes hyperactivity!
(Yet, high glucoce levels promote higher insulin and other somnabulic factors, found to put you to sleep)
Sugar doesnt cause hyperactivity.
Of course, add this to the "X causes Cancer of the Week" and you might as well dismiss these types of (cough)scientists. Hell, for years now, thes etypes of people go after coffee and try to find some sort of demon in it.
The only bad people I see are those reallllly big people at the all-you-can-eat buffets. The best solution for that is have a regulatory door size
Overweight people may live longer
But experts pointed out that the study only looked at how long people lived and not at obesity-related diseases.
You all can kiss the fattest part of my ass.
At the same time!
They have pork rind buffets? Like... an entire buffet of pork rinds?
Why wasn't I notified?
If I want a big steak, I'm gonna have a big steak. And mashed potatoes. And gravy. And I'm gonna wash it down with some good wine, and maybe even Vodka if I'm in the mood. If I die when I'm 60, so fuckin' be it. At least I will die knowing what a good steak tastes like.
I don't want to live till I'm 100 years old, because I know with social security system the government is putting in place I'll have to live under the fucking bridge if I live too long. And I don't want my kids to spend their hard earned cash on keeping me alive or paying for the nursing home. If I'm ever not able to take care of myself, give me the god damn shotgun and go somewhere for five minutes.
Considering that the leading causes of death such as heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes still have such intimate relationships with weight, I would still rather be thin than chronically sick.
Study after study has been confirming the links these diseases have with being overweight. When you consider quality of life arguments against controlling weight (i.e. - denying yourself those delicious delicacies), also consider the huge benefits in reduced medical expenses and better overall well-being you will enjoy.
There is no knowing from the brief news article, but I wonder if they filtered out deaths from diseases that cause wasting? It seems to me that if they included a significant number of deaths from AIDS or cancer it might make it look like being underweight was unhealthy when in fact low weight and death would both be consequences of the underlying disease.
Perhaps you should check for Hyperthyrodism.
Good luck.
Adolfo
They are easier to chase down and bombard with silly surveys.
Frylock: "We should have cloned twenties, Jackson wouldn't have given a fuck."
I suppose another factor is they go off BMI in the study, which is a weight/height ratio. Well muscled people can have a high BMI and still have low body fat. A 6 foot tall person weighing in at 225 would have a BMI in the "obese" range. It is feasable for this to be a very ripped bodybuilder with a body fat of less than 10% (although being that muscled could lead to its own cardiovascular problems.)
However, I suppose a lot of very athletic people would fall in the "overweight" range even if they do not have a high body fat content. To be overweight according to BMI at 6'0" is only 185 pounds, which isn't all that much for an active person who does a moderate amount of weightlifting.
I'll never make that mistake again, reading the experts' opinions. - Feynman
When one dies, nothing happens. Only relatives of this someone let out their sigh of relief and go on with their lives.
And yeah, if I have to eat only vegetables and run 10 miles every day just to live 10 years longer, fuck it. I'd rather die sooner.
It turns out vegetable shortening is bad for us, but eggs and meat are not. (trans fat and cholesterol ratios)
It turns out Scotch is bad for us, but Vodka is not. (urethanes)
Just recently, they're starting to question the safety of Triclosan, a very common ingrediant in soap and toothpaste (chloroform inhalation)
Recently, people are starting to recognize that not all carbohydrates are created equally (e.g. the glycemic index).
The only conclusion is that science is really a long way from catching upto reality. It would be interesting to see how much of the current heart disease "epidemic" was caused by the refined-food revolution of the 20th century (sliced white bread, shortening, etc.).
-- Microsoft is the most expensive commodity operating system and office suite vendor in the marketplace.
Cities need to be more pedestrian friendly.
:)
Things within walking distance, non-car centered urban development, decent public transit (*).
People are more likely to exercise if they can accomplish something else at the same time; one of these things is transportation - it was what walking was originally for.
* By this I mean RAIL, not busses. I will and have (*) walked to a rail station, but sure as hell won't to a bus!
* When in San Jose. I got exercise walking to the station, got to see lots of places, including Mountain View, etc. Nice, nice system they had there when I went (Sept/Oct 2001), and that was before the east of I-880 extensions were built. San Jose is pedestrian friendly in general - but it is extremely expensive to live there and you have to deal with general California wackiness.
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
Sitting in front of a computer is far less dangerous.
Really? (I'm so tempted to post a goatse link, right now)
-- Microsoft is the most expensive commodity operating system and office suite vendor in the marketplace.
I can't stress how much truth there is in this statement. I was starting to get really fat, and my grades, productivity, and personal opinion dropped like crazy. Since then, I started eating healthy, lifting weights, and running as often as I can (ideally daily). In about a month I lost five pounds! :-)
I took a scientific approach. I attempted to running (~2.5-3mi) as often as I could - forcing myself to do the exercises rather than do something else (e.g. gotta do this homework assignment or research paper). Furthermore, I made sure my heart rate was within my target range so as not to tire myself out. I also lifted weights and joined the wrestling club. (Even though I wrestled in high school, I was horribly out of practice and shape by now.)
Each time I ran I would record estimates of my time, distance, calories burned, and average heart rate. However, I made it a point not to measure my weight since that depressed me in the past. The numbers recorded would probably not be accurate or precise; however, the trend would be after enough data was collected. (For the geeky, the error of an average of measurements is proportional to the rms of each individual measurement's error.)
With the exception of a small breakfast, I never ate until after running. I also attempted to balance my energy burned from running with the calories consumed during lunch after the exercise (I went to Subway). With the addition of wrestling (two times/week) and weight lifting (three times/week), I lost lots of weight without thinking about it. Furthermore, I believe that I didn't lose muscle mass since I kept lifting weights (at 80% max).
More importantly, my self confidence rose and I found I was ten times more productive than before. I programmed much more in the last month than the previous quarter year. My grades improved as well. I can hardly believe how good this exercise makes me feel too. It is so much better than alcohol (which really doesn't do much to me), food, or wasting time playing computer games to releave stress. It is great!
It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.
- Jerome Klapka Jerome
There's no guarantee that healthy eating habits will lead to painless death, either. :0)
I'm sorry if you're joking or baiting here, but I'll bite because it's 2:30 AM where I am.
That said... I very much disagree with your idea to regulate or tax soda. I personally don't drink a sip of soda myself, but government regulation isn't going to solve anything. It's the responsibility of parents to teach their children what is good for them. It's true that a lot of them suck, but where I went to school we had weekly 'health' class where we learned about the food pyramid and how everything we like is in that little triangle on the top that we should avoid. When I heard about the guy suing McDonalds for making him obese I laughed like crazy at the idea that somebody could be so stupid. Then when I heard that some state was trying to pass legislation that would require an 18+ id to buy oreos I got a bit worried. Americans are overweight, but it's not the government's fault. Having the government figuratively hold a twinkie over our heads and say "Bad hacker, not until you do one situp!" isn't going to help. I'm in the shape I'm in as a direct result of what I've eaten and how much I've exersized. If I am in shape it's because I want to be. If I am overweight, likewise. I want to be free to be fat, free to be uneducated, free to be lazy, free to smoke, free to drink, and free to do whatever else I want to my body without the government regulating, taxing, or even knowing about it.
Exactly. BMI is an absolutely rediculous way of determing if someone is overweight.
Being 6'4" and about 260 puts my BMI at about 31.8, considered "Obese". Although I may have some extra weight on me, I lift 3 days a week and do carido work 4 or 5 days a week, and have been involved in sports for 10+ years. No one I know would consider me anything even close to "Obese".
BMI does not take into account people that are actual big-boned, or have broad shoulders etc.
Strange... I drink two to four sodas a day, and we're talking bottles, not cans, so it's generally a minimum of 250 or more calories per soda. My normal lunch/dinner is a sub sandwich or burgers, fries, and more soda.
Sure, I walk to work every day, but it's less then five blocks. Other then that, I get almost no exercise.
I have gained maybe 15 pounds in the last five years. So either I've tapped into the secret weight-loss plan through playing MMORPGs and watching movies, cartoons and pro-wrestling on TV, and reading sci-fi novels, or there is something wrong with your calculations.
Kierthos
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
The fundamental Problem is that they are taking the Body Mass Index as a measure for overweight. This is ridicoulous and will seriously skew the results to "slightly overweight" people - because more athletic people doing sports which are not only aerobic/endurance dominated tend to get a relativly high BMI.
Example:
Shaquille O'Neal
height: 2,17m
weight: 147,4 kg
=> BMI: 31.3
Yeah, that sounds like using BMI is a good idea.
This is wrong. I have just finished a 9 month experiment on myself as a result of being informed by my doctor that I was clinically obese (back in July last year). My BMI had reached 30 and I was suffering from various digestion related problems.
I did a simple calorie controlled diet reducing my intake from approximately 3200 per day to under 1700 (for each 500 calories a day you cut you should lose 1lb a week) and as a result my weight dropped initially by up to 5lbs per week but eventually settled at 1-2lbs per week. My starting weight was 238lbs and my waist was 41" which made me look chunky for my 6'3" height. Anyway, I controlled my intake of calories and had a more balanced diet where I introduced more fruit and vegetables but I did not go to the gym once. The most I ever did was walk to work and back which was about half an hour each way. In 9 months I have lost 56lbs bringing my BMI down to 23.5 and have reduced my waist to 32". I feel great and have now returned to normal intake levels. I did this without increasing my exercise rate noticibly. The reason for this is that if you go to the gym and really work hard the best you are going to do is burn about 400 calories per hour. Cut out one bag of potato chips or chocolate bar and you have done yourself as much good. A bit of exercise will improve your overall fitness but it will not help you lose weight much at all.
Oh, and the best bit about this diet was that it wasn't a stupid fad diet like Atkins, it works well and I was still able to eat pizza, burgers, kebabs, curry and all that other great stuff and I still lost a load of weight. I didn't feel hungry all the time either because I knew the number of calories available to me each day and had food available that was filling and low in calories but would be finished off with a small piece of chocolate or some other treat. Losing weight is not about working yourself to death in a gym or cutting out all the food you love, it is about moderation and knowing what you are eating. Easiest diet I ever did.
"I have the attention span of a strobe lit goldfish, please get to the point quickly!"
What a load of rubbish, but I expect no less from ABC:
1) Health risk is proportional to obesity
2) Less obese people have less of a health risk than very obese people (which follows from 1)
3) Less obese people have (virtually) no health risk???
Can anyone say "non sequitur"?
The vast majority of the population in the western hemisphere is overweight, including myself. We should not try to justify our poor health habits, however, by pretending that they don't exist.
You can be whatever weight you want - after all, who really gives a damn apart from you? But kidding yourself into thinking that there will be no consequences attached to this choice will bite you in the ass in the long run.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I just burned a bunch of moderator points (stuff I already moderated but now I'm replying...oh well). The fact is here that just losing weight does not contribute to the overall healthiness of your body. Working your heart above the daily "sitting in the chair" level is what really makes the difference in fighting heart disease and giving yourself an overall sense of balance in life. Yeah, you can eat cheeseburgers, but can you run a mile? Weight isn't everything, as this study proves. I know plenty of people in great shape but that probably don't meet the rigid BMI standards. That means exercising AND eating correctly. Cutting out fast food and soda (geek staples I know, what the hell, cook for yourself ONCE, drink DIET COKE, its NOT THAT HARD!) is a start, but getting out of doors and going jogging is the other part of that. Situps, pushups, etc. Don't be satisfied with yourself just by not stuffing your maw with fatty foods. Self improvement is the way to self enligtenment.
I like plump. I guess I have normal "abnormal" image.
No you don't. The pressure on women to be skinny is huge, but it doesn't usually come from men. Yep - there are bastards who'll take the piss out a woman for being overweight, but the majority of men prefer a girl who has a little padding. This is shown again and again in surveys and anecdotally, but the fashion mags and the who's-shagging-who magazines are always full of article on weight-loss and which celebrity has (oh the Horror!) a bit of fat on some part of their body.
My belief is that it's just competitiveness. If average people could be considered sexy then where's the scope for women to put each other down? Once, pale was sexy, because if you weren't a spoilt rich woman, it was hard to avoid going out and getting a tan. Now tanned is sexy because it shows you can holiday somewhere sunny. And fat itself was sexy in leaner times. And through all these cultural shifts, men have still wanted exactly what they always want from women just the same. Best thing you can do is pay it no attention and be happy with your body. That's sexy, whining or worrying about it isn't.
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
Problem is, you people in the States are fucked when it comes to walking. Your cities have been designed around driving for so long that in most places, walking to nearby stores isn't even possible.
Sidewalks are uncommon. Freeways with no pedestrian crossing are common. Parking lots with steep edges and no entrance for pedestrians are common.
If you live right in the urban or student center of any large city, you're ok, and if you live in a small town you're fine, but most of the population lives in the enormous suburbs, where you haven't got a hope.
Biking's nice, but it takes a lot of maintenance to do safely. Vests, lights, frequent tune ups, riding only at the right hours, balancing any loads, carrying non biking clothes with you if you need to go somewhere a little more formal, finding a place to lock it safely, removing the seat to carry with you, locking both wheels...
The exercise lifestyle is no longer a reasonable suggestion for most Americans. That means exercise really is going take either deliberate concentrated effort or addictiveness. Thank god for DDR... it's not perfect, but it shows the way forward.
Oh, and as others have said, once you're already fat the kind of moderate exercise that walking errands provide won't do you any good. It's only a maintenance technique, which is hardly useful for the two thirds of Americans who already have the problem.
I don't actually have any disagreement with this, I walk to work and back which is far more exercise than most folk do but what I disagree with is the implication that some feel going to the gym will make them lose weight. It is quite likely that if you are pretty heavy as I was that going to gym is going to induce a heart attack. Start off by doing a bit of steady exercise like walking regularly which will improve your heart condition and then you can start doing more serious exercise.
Probably, now. Certainly couldn't have done so a year ago. I was heavy and out of condition such that stairs were a problem. This was down to some surgery I had a few years back that imobilised me for six months so I lost the ability to run at all and I ended up getting fat and the extra weight prevented me from being able to run or even walk well. Losing weight by dieting has made the impact of exercise much less damaging to me. I had to lose the weight to be in a position to actually be able to exercise. Just walking for an hour a day is excellent for fitness too and since last year and the change in diet my resting pulse has dropped from about 80bpm to under 60, again without all the thrashing about in a gym or jogging (which by the way I couldn't do anyway because of the surgery and the strain on my joints it induced).
Of course but when we talk about exercise and being overweight etc it is important for people to be able to start somewhere and the first thing to do is to reduce your overall weight and that really can only be achieved by dieting. The exercise will improve your fitness but the diet will reduce the damage the weight and exercise are likely to do to you.
Cutting out anything is really not what we want to do, it makes us feel rotten and that makes us less likely to continue with the diet. My attitude was that if I wanted a burger then that was fine if it was within the range of available calories. Diet soda, yeah, not had a regular soda in nearly two years now and that makes a huge difference. Don't put lots of salt in your food, don't order a large burger when a small one will do the trick, and order regular fries rather than going for the larger or supersize. Fast food is nice at times and saying you can't ever eat it is really not going to help. Just cut down the portions, have some salad too, don't have loads of dressing on there. As your weight comes down you can build in some walking into your day, gradually you will find as I have that you can run. The joy I felt the day I found I actually had a spring in my step again (go look at my web site for why) and I could sustain my weight up on my toes again, well, it has been five years since I was last able to run and the fact I can do so again is a revelation.
All these forms of exercise are pretty much impossible to do when you are very heavy and unfit. You need to lose the weight first and then you can build up to these. Like I say, I can now do exercis
"I have the attention span of a strobe lit goldfish, please get to the point quickly!"
"No you don't. The pressure on women to be skinny is huge, but it doesn't usually come from men. Yep - there are bastards who'll take the piss out a woman for being overweight, but the majority of men prefer a girl who has a little padding."
Note to both the women that read this site: This is true. Why? Because we're attracted to curves. Guys find attraction in more subtle ways than stereotypes portray.
While I'm more or less on the topic: Ladies, porn doesn't actually desensitize a guy's tastes to exclude you. I'm not cracking jokes here, I'm dead serious. Guys do not have the same sexual desires as women. Even though this is well documented (especially on TV shows BOTH genders watch), assumptions are made on both sides that often do not come to pass. As a result, one finds the other to be crazy. For example: A guy will think a woman would actually be interested in seeing naked photos of himself, whereas a woman will think that she should be so sexually satisfying that he wouldn't feel the need to look at porn. The result? Well, often it's quite amusing to a third party. Suddenly, all men are dogs and all women are bitches.
"Derp de derp."
Oops, made a mistake.
www.spruitje.org/euro_vs_america.jpg
Funny how when people poo-poo the BMI they always cite how the following categories of people show up as overweight...
1. Bodybuilders (e.g. Arnie).
2. Sub 5'7 men (Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson)
3. Really tall guys.
4. Fat stars that cinema goers think are thinner than they are (Russel Crowe, Mike Tyson).
1-3 ARE UNUSUAL CASES (4 is just laughable): If you fall into these categories, the BMI will be unrelable, but for 90% of men (I have never looked at the figures for women) if your BMI is over 25 you are overweight. Or maybe its all rubbish, but don't trust silly examples like the parent post.
Personal experience doesn't mean its the rule, its just that, personal experience.
Jonathanjk.com
"Being a fat geek may not increase your risk of death after all." i would be far more interested in the implied ability to evade death at all.
You make a good point about not believing the hype about body stereotypes; but then you fall for the culturally embedded gender stereotypes that follow with them.
Maybe it's just me, but I know lots of women that like porn better than I do. I don't send naked pictures of myself to women, nor do I ask women for naked pictures of themselves. That's all crap - it means nothing if you are looking for more than a night's hookup.
The only things that seem to be true across the board are that we are most of serial monogamists, most romantic relationships between human beings last between 4-6 years (enough to birth a child or two and rear them into early childhood), that 50%+ of us cheat given the chance, men sexually peak in their early to mid 20s, and women peak in their early to mid 40s. Everything else depends on the people involved.
That's why it's better to get to know someone than it is to receive a naked picture from them. Real compatibility is far more than skin deep. Beauty fades, people change, everybody has their flaws and good points. You have to take the time to find out about somebody to see what it may all mean to you.
Really when it gets down to it, we mistakenly use sexual attractiveness as our litmus test for relationships when it is in many ways the least important aspect of things - even sexually. Some of my best lovers are not the best looking people I know. Enthusiasm, humor, and a good attitude can means so much.
Not a problem.
Move to Europe.
You're forgetting something... this is America. We spend five minutes driving around the parking lot hunting for the closest possible parking space which will save us one minute of walking. Then when we want to go to another store in the same shopping center, we drive. At the ball park, if the stadium parking lot is $20 and the lot 2 blocks away is $10, we spend the extra ten bucks. People fight for the closest parking space everywhere... even at the gym. We drive our kids to school because the news media has convinced us there's a child molestor around every corner. We use counterfeit handicapped stickers to avoid walking 100 feet. We ride the elevator to the second floor. In case everything I said is not clear, this picture just about sums up the state of fitness in America.
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Yes, it's normally spelt 'Tao' in the Western Alphabet, and technically, the movie is called 'Tao... ,' but at least in Mandarin the word begins with a sort of sharp 'D' sound so the GP is fair in what he says.
a la "Osama" vs. "Usama", "Gadaffi" vs. "Qadaffi", I guess.
Guess this is not dissimilar to the Japanese use of the (supposed) 'r' sound, which is meant to be more like a cross between a western 'l' and western 'r'. In a reversal of the mistake many English-speaking Japanese make (mixing up ls and rs), a (supposed) stereotypical 'gaijin' mistake in Japanese is making the 'r' sound too hard (see here and here).
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BMI is not intended to be used to asess elite athletes.
For the vast majority of the population, it is a fairly good indicator of overweight or obese.
It's about lifestyle too.
Pizza and Coke is common components, along with not being very physically active... That's stuff that can be really unhealthy, for the cholesterol levels etc.
Often, obesity is a consequence of these things too, so I don't really get why they're saying it's not an unhealthy sign.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
A cheap sweetner used in many food products and mostly associated with the non-food product of softdrinks or sugar water.
Research has shown that HFCS can contribute as much as 1/3 to high triglicerides (FAT) in your blood and body.
Having never weighed above 140 in my pre 40 years, I was supprised to be scaling out at 200 a couple years ago. Both my Family doctor and Chiropractor wanted me to lower my triglicerides, lose weight. Otherwise my family doctor was going to put me on meds for that besides colesterol.
I heard about the report, took HFCS out of my diet, dropped 30 Lbs and have pretty much kept it off with any effort. Just the decision to not eat food with HFCS in them.
Good food actually taste alot better.
So it really depends on what you are eating to be a bit overweight, as to how healthy you are...
Hmmm, don't geeks generally eat the wrong foods?
I can hardly believe how good this exercise makes me feel too. It is so much better than alcohol (which really doesn't do much to me), food, or wasting time playing computer games to releave stress. It is great!
What he said.
I never really started getting in shape until a couple years ago (age 29). I was out of shape in a scrawny way rather than a fat way though.
The reason people give up on exercise and hate doing it is that for the first week or two, it SUCKS-- if you haven't been in the habit of exercising. The first time I went running I got half a mile before I nearly collapsed, and then I could barely walk 2 days later. So I can see why so many people avoid it.
Same thing with weightlifting-- delayed onset muscle soreness is a bitch and you literally won't be able to move a couple days after you first start with weights.
Once you push yourself through the initial struggle, that's when you start feeling the benefits of the endorphine release, and you learn to feel the "good" kind of muscle soreness. You start to crave exercise. (This is why some people actually get addicted to exercise, which can also be unhealthy)
It's probably harder to get through the dietary changes. You pretty much NEED to give up soft drinks. Soft drinks are 100% pure crap for your system. Even beer is better for you (and I still have beer on the weekends). Just eliminating soft drinks, drinking lots of water instead, and avoiding the deep fried stuff makes a huge difference, you don't even necessarily have to count calories.
-CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
after the film my friend and i discussed how it was that he could put on so much weight so fast and came to the conclusion it was not the high fat content of the food, but more likely the growth hormones in the meat and fat and the general overprocessing of the food in general.
Are you sure it's nothing to do with him eating 5000 calories a day?
Her take was that she could probably eat the same amount of pure fat by eating organicly reared, delicious smoked spec and fresh whipped cream and there is no way she'd put on that sort of weight.
What a load of shit. The body doesn't care where the food comes from, all it cares about is the calories. If you eat an excess of calories, your body stores it as fat, and it doesn't care whether it's processed, hormone-reared or fucking organic.
You're talking about young people. The health problems related to obesity are things that take a toll on your body over a period of time. They might make you easily short of breath, fatigued, etc. early on, but it's not until you reach your 50's and 60's that you're likely to die prematurely from obesity-related issues.
Also, just because someone is a health freak doesn't mean he knows what he's doing. Take your marathon runners, for example. Running marathons is absolutely NOT healthy. True, you have to get your cardiovascular system in good shape to be able to do it, but exercise is best in small, intense doses followed by adequate nutrition and rest.
Ever notice how marathon runners look like they have practically no muscle? Once their bodies use up their stored glycogen, to keep them going their bodies have to feed off the proteins that make up their muscle and immune system. It is extremely typical for runners to get sick after a marathon. I wouldn't be surprised if the frequently compromised immune systems of marathon runners increase their risk for things like cancer as well.
You almost certainly are gifted with a high metabolism. I have a few friends like that. Don't count on it lasting past age 30, much less 40. You will gain weight later in life on that diet. It's not a bad idea to change to a healthier diet and an exercise regimen before you habits get truly ingrained. Furthermore, you'll probably be better off improving your cardiovascular health now rather than after you get tired of buying pants with a wider waistline.
Also, with that kind of diet, I'd watch out for your cholesterol. If you're lucky like me, you may also be blessed with naturally low cholesterol, but I wouldn't count on it.
Of course, no one ever listens to this sort of advice. I don't think I personally know anyone who exercises without having gained a lot of weight first who wasn't in some sort of sport in high school. Even so, I'll still offer it.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
*AND* most importantly, BMI fails to take ino consideration: muscle mass.
A healthy trim male can do a significant amount of weight lifting, have 10% body fat and be considered obese via the BMI index because of all the muscle mass created by weight lifting.
A mumu wearing couch potato can have 50% body fat, be two twinkies away from a massive heart attack and have the same BMI as the healthy person.