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Location: Back in Melbourne.....home of road rage and aggression
402 posts, read 1,159,860 times
Reputation: 526
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dogmama50
No matter how healthy your labs indicate you are at the moment, gravity will inevitably take a toll on your joints. It really is simple science that the less weight on your joints the less stress they will be under.
When I was in my 20s and 30s I didn't really think about what my life would be like in my 70s and 80s. Now that I have more perspective I choose to maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle to try to make my elderly years more enjoyable. In the end it's your choice about how you want to live your life, but for most overweight and healthy don't go together for the long term. Hope you beat the odds.
No doubt, of course time, gravity and other things will take their toll on EVERYTHING. For everybody. Yes, even thin people.
And yes, it is simple science that less weight on joints is preferred over more weight on joints. But that explains nothing about the 60 year old woman who's never had a weight problem in her life that has had to have both knees or hips replaced. Genetics, anyone?
What's not simple science is how to reduce the amount of weight to protect those joints, among other health issues. Like I keep saying, if it's so easy to lose weight and maintain it, then why are there so many fat people? Why are there so many fat babies, growing into fat children and teens and then into fat adults? It used to be that people GOT fat. Clearly an indicator of less than ideal lifestyle choices. But what about these people that have never known anything but being fat? The 10 lb babies, the incredibly chubby toddlers who never lose their "baby fat". What about them? As reports and data indicate, there are more fat infants and toddlers than ever before. The blame for overweight and obesity goes far beyond lifestyle choices. If you don't have a choice, then it's not your doing, and these babies, toddlers and children can't be held accountable for their weight, anymore than they can be held accountable for their hair or eye colour.
Personally, rather than looking at weight loss as the optimum goal, why not focus more on making more healthy choices and general improved fitness? Perhaps the weight will lower, but if it doesn't there are still health benefits. Studies show that health conditions can be improved without weight loss.
I'm all for HAES, and I think that is far more beneficial to be focused on in schools than Michelle Obama's Childhood Obesity Innitiative. for one thing, HAES applies to ALL children (actually it applies to all humans regardless of size, age, gender etc). It's much more sensible, and and easier concept to grasp, than just telling a child--in front of their peers no less--that they're fat and need to lose weight.
But regardless, fat or thin, people are still people, and have as much right to exist as the another.
Location: Back in Melbourne.....home of road rage and aggression
402 posts, read 1,159,860 times
Reputation: 526
Quote:
Originally Posted by naturesdreams
Gosh... so many great things here...TOTALLY AGREE
I am now a size 4 and workout almost daily... NO I hated it at first and had the "swiss cheese" excuses... "I don't have time".
I now get up 2 hours before I have to go to work and walk, dance use yoga or "zumba workouts", join outdoor activities... in general keep myself as active as possible.
I was very healthy and hiked and could keep up with most of my thinner friends but I was 270 at one time in my life.. mis-diagnosed for years and found I had a thyroid disease (that is why weight watchers and other diets NEVER worked). I'm finally on thyroid replacement and I now eat 6 times a day (not full meals) but tiny nutrional snacks. I avoid sugar because for me... it is like an addiction (like an alcoholic taking a drink). It took me many years to get down in weight but was always the "welter weight". It is when I finally got the results of working out and the great feeling it can give you is when I am now thinner, considered body type "athletic" and smaller then when I was 20. By the way... I'm 57 so age has not hampered by progress.
It has not been an easy road TRUST me... but I was like you and thought I was content with my body size... now that I am so much smaller... I believe I just came to terms with being larger (people would say "you're big boned") funny now people say "you have such a tiny frame" LOL ... I don't ever repeat EVER want to go back. By 60... I will be even better
that's great that you've been able to get to the real source of your inability to lose weight. However I applaud more heavily that you accept that even at your higher weight you were still by other evidence healthy.
Health issues, regardless of weight, are never an easy road. But I think you're mistaking me for the OP when suggesting that I'm not content with my body size. I've not talked about my size or weight or how I feel about myself in this particular thread, but now that you bring it up.......
My generalised tangent regarding weight loss as a panacea for most healthy woes:
My whole life I've struggled with being fat and overweight--literally my entire life: fat baby, fat toddler, fat kid and teen, fat adult. And it's only been this past year (I'm 38) that I've found what works for me. I'm now almost to goal (incidentally is MY goal, that my sports trainer, dietician & nutritionist and GP in Perth are fine with--just not the local GP's up here where I live. According to them, I'm still grossly overweight....because they are using good ol' BMI, the bull$hit-est of the bull$hit tools in the war on weight).
Aside from being smaller, lighter, and shaped differently than ever before, I don't feel any better or worse than I did when I was fat. I don't feel more fit. I don't feel more healthy--but then again, I never felt all that bad physically. I still feel like me, only in a smaller body. At first I did feel differently--but I think that was more the euphoria of seeing the weight come off and the number on the scale go down and knowing that I was 'almost as good as everyone else'. But, I've been in counseling for disordered eating and distorted self image for a little while now, and I've come to see that my size and weight never did have anything to do with my real value as a person in the world. Losing weight and changing my appearance hasn't changed anything else unsavory in my life. I still have bills; I still have a job that makes me want to pull my hair out; I still get annoyed by the same things that annoyed me when I was bigger.
Losing weight didn't fix all of my health issues either. My blood pressure is no better or worse (but it wasn't high even at my highest weight). My cholesterol, was never in the bad zone, but is only marginally lower. And I still have Type II Diabetes and am still have Impaired Insulin Sensitivity (according to my fasting glucose tolerence test about 2 weeks ago, so I'm still on Metformin, damn the luck ) so losing 33% of my total body weight didn't "fix" that. (26% of that 33% is fat loss, according to the comparing of my first and most recent body comp scans).
I never want to go back to my higher weight either, and don't intend to--because I can't tell you how much money I've spent on a new wardrobe! lol Then again, neither does anyone else ever intend to, not after all that hard work, but it happens a lot!
Still, if I someday do get back up to that weight, it will not mean that I have lost value, or that I'm less of a person because there is more of me. I wish that everyone could, would, realise that they don't have to sew up their self worth in a neat little package labeled with the number on the scale. In particular I wish kids were completely unable to be influenced by such things, and grow up with a healthy attitude towards themselves and others with regards to body shape and size.
Last edited by tigerlillydownunder; 02-05-2011 at 08:45 PM..
Reason: Clarifications
I'm really not sure what you read in my statement that makes you think that I personally have any prejudice against fat people. How my personal perspective on how I choose to live my life set you off on a tangent I'm truly unclear. I hope the OP stays healthy well into her elderly years.
Location: Back in Melbourne.....home of road rage and aggression
402 posts, read 1,159,860 times
Reputation: 526
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dogmama50
tigerlillydownunder
I'm really not sure what you read in my statement that makes you think that I personally have any prejudice against fat people. How my personal perspective on how I choose to live my life set you off on a tangent I'm truly unclear. I hope the OP stays healthy well into her elderly years.
Apologies, as I didn't intend to imply that you had prejudic against fat people. And you didn't set me off on a tangent--I was on a tangent about this long before your first response in this thread.
So again, apologies for singling you out, as that was not my intent.
But I think you're mistaking me for the OP when suggesting that I'm not content with my body size. I've not talked about my size or weight or how I feel about myself in this particular thread, but now that you bring it up.......
Still, if I someday do get back up to that weight, it will not mean that I have lost value, or that I'm less of a person because there is more of me. I wish that everyone could, would, realise that they don't have to sew up their self worth in a neat little package labeled with the number on the scale. In particular I wish kids were completely unable to be influenced by such things, and grow up with a healthy attitude towards themselves and others with regards to body shape and size.
I for one applaud anyone that has struggled their entire life with obesity... I AM ONE OF THEM by the way. I have to think about what I do and eat everyday... being thin now by no means gives me the "get out of jail free" card. It is impairative that no matter what size any of us are... we walk with purpose and know our worth. From a size 22 to where I am now at size 4 I've maintained (for the most part) my worth and knew that no matter what prejudice I faced, I NEVER judged anyone for their size even the horrible "too skinny" people. (by the way that is not healthy either!!)
You go girl.... you are daily trying to make a difference not only with yourself but others. I am extremely blessed with finally finding the right combination to get me where I am today so no insults from me just hoping, like you that someone will read these comments and it might help them. I DO NOT think that everyone should be in a "cookie cutter" size... I love the differences in all of us and hope we all live well into our golden years with health no matter what size.
No matter how healthy your labs indicate you are at the moment, gravity will inevitably take a toll on your joints. It really is simple science that the less weight on your joints the less stress they will be under.
When I was in my 20s and 30s I didn't really think about what my life would be like in my 70s and 80s. Now that I have more perspective I choose to maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle to try to make my elderly years more enjoyable. In the end it's your choice about how you want to live your life, but for most overweight and healthy don't go together for the long term. Hope you beat the odds.
What kind of of life is that,to think about food and being thin when there are more important things to do?
My foreign born coworkers from impoverished nations at the job were talking about why in America we are always talking about dieting and weight loss,while in their countries they want to gain weight. They also stated the alternative isn't better at all(not having enough food) and that there are more important things to worry about then food and counting calories all day.
I for one applaud anyone that has struggled their entire life with obesity... I AM ONE OF THEM by the way. I have to think about what I do and eat everyday... being thin now by no means gives me the "get out of jail free" card. It is impairative that no matter what size any of us are... we walk with purpose and know our worth. From a size 22 to where I am now at size 4 I've maintained (for the most part) my worth and knew that no matter what prejudice I faced, I NEVER judged anyone for their size even the horrible "too skinny" people. (by the way that is not healthy either!!)
You go girl.... you are daily trying to make a difference not only with yourself but others. I am extremely blessed with finally finding the right combination to get me where I am today so no insults from me just hoping, like you that someone will read these comments and it might help them. I DO NOT think that everyone should be in a "cookie cutter" size... I love the differences in all of us and hope we all live well into our golden years with health no matter what size.
Keep on keeping it up
Reading the comments won't help.
Have you seen some of these horrible,nasty comments?
No doubt, of course time, gravity and other things will take their toll on EVERYTHING. For everybody. Yes, even thin people.
And yes, it is simple science that less weight on joints is preferred over more weight on joints. But that explains nothing about the 60 year old woman who's never had a weight problem in her life that has had to have both knees or hips replaced. Genetics, anyone?
What's not simple science is how to reduce the amount of weight to protect those joints, among other health issues. Like I keep saying, if it's so easy to lose weight and maintain it, then why are there so many fat people? Why are there so many fat babies, growing into fat children and teens and then into fat adults? It used to be that people GOT fat. Clearly an indicator of less than ideal lifestyle choices. But what about these people that have never known anything but being fat? The 10 lb babies, the incredibly chubby toddlers who never lose their "baby fat". What about them? As reports and data indicate, there are more fat infants and toddlers than ever before. The blame for overweight and obesity goes far beyond lifestyle choices. If you don't have a choice, then it's not your doing, and these babies, toddlers and children can't be held accountable for their weight, anymore than they can be held accountable for their hair or eye colour.
Personally, rather than looking at weight loss as the optimum goal, why not focus more on making more healthy choices and general improved fitness? Perhaps the weight will lower, but if it doesn't there are still health benefits. Studies show that health conditions can be improved without weight loss.
I'm all for HAES, and I think that is far more beneficial to be focused on in schools than Michelle Obama's Childhood Obesity Innitiative. for one thing, HAES applies to ALL children (actually it applies to all humans regardless of size, age, gender etc). It's much more sensible, and and easier concept to grasp, than just telling a child--in front of their peers no less--that they're fat and need to lose weight.
But regardless, fat or thin, people are still people, and have as much right to exist as the another.
You hit the nail on the head...there are still health benefits to excercise and eating right even if the weight scale doesn't budge. That's what I have been trying to say.
Yes, health problems can catch up with them later, but so can they with thin people too!
I'm not saying that being fat isn't unhealthy, I'm just saying it's not ALWAYS unhealthy. I don't say that it doesn't indicate other health conditions, but it doesn't ALWAYS indicate other health conditions.
ONE CAN NOT LOOK AT A FAT PERSON AND DETERMINE JUST BY LOOKING AT THEM WHAT THEIR CURRENT HEALTH STATUS IS.
What is it about this concept that people don't understand?
Fit and thin are also not necessarily interchangeable terms. when hiking up some of our mountains up here, it's not terribly unusual to see thin people being out paced by someone who is fat. I just look at that as one person being more fit than the other, regardless of weight.
.
Cos the stats indicate that on average normal weight people have far less risk of the health problems of overweight people.
As for the bit in bold, when I used to do cross country running frequently, the fatter people were ALWAYS coming last. Surprise? Just carrying the extra weight will slow you down! The weight itself and extra mass itself means more work for the heart and lungs before we come to exercise. Most thin people are fitter than most fat people. Yes not all, but there's just no need or health benefit in carrying excess flab.
The overweight fit people (if they do exist) would find they will have more fitness still if they lost excess weight. And conversly, me being a slim person, I can't imagine that with extra weight in just fat, I and others like me would maintain my current high level of fitness. More muscle, of course, is always good.
Last edited by Weatherfan2; 02-06-2011 at 07:55 AM..
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But, I've been in counseling for disordered eating and distorted self image for a little while now, and I've come to see that my size and weight never did have anything to do with my real value as a person in the world. Losing weight and changing my appearance hasn't changed anything else unsavory in my life. I still have bills; I still have a job that makes me want to pull my hair out; I still get annoyed by the same things that annoyed me when I was bigger. 
) so losing 33% of my total body weight didn't "fix" that. (26% of that 33% is fat loss, according to the comparing of my first and most recent body comp scans). 
Never go by the Government Scales!!
