Can You Be Fat and Fit?
Friday May 16, 2008
Over the years, there's been much debate about whether you can be overweight and still be fit. There are certainly plenty of overweight people who are active and exercise regularly but, if their weight is too high, does that cancel out the benefits of exercise? Researchers look at someone's fitness as a measure of their risk for things like diabetes and heart disease and one thing they know is that weight does matter, even if you do exercise. But, remember, it's more about body composition - how much fat you have as opposed to how much muscle, so the number on the scale won't always tell the whole story.
How Exercise Helps
Whatever your weight, exercise does offer tremendous benefits and protection, including:
- Lowering blood pressure
- Reducing the risk of diabetes
- Lowering bad cholesterol
Still, you can't tell by looking at someone whether they're fit or not. Even a person who looks overweight could have normal levels of cholesterol and blood pressure, a low resting heart rate and not a whiff of diabetes. Just a reminder that what's going on on the inside isn't always reflected on the outside.
What about you? Are you overweight and fit? Leave a comment and tell us about your experience.
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Comments
According to the scale I am overwieght, but I am in the gym 5 day’s a week 2 hours a day. I box for an hour and then train with a personal trainer 2 days a week. Everyone tells me that I look fit and am very musculer, I personally feel I am constantly fighting the scale.
Just because someone is overweight and fit now does not mean being overweight will be considered fit in the long run.
This one was interesting, but once again, not a lot of detail. Are we promoting being overweight?
I have been at both ends of this debate. I was overweight, excercise regularly and ate all of the bad foods we have liked over the years. I still had back pain and joint pain in my legs. I have dropped 70 pounds by eating properly and I am now running 3 miles everyday of the week. I have no back pain, no joint pain, my bad (LDL’s) cholesterol is very low with no hint of heart problems. Carrying fat is not good for your body, joints, heart and pancreas works much better for a thin lean body. Trust me!
According to the scale I am overweight by 25LBS. The last time I was “Ideal weight” I was still growing at 15. The way we are told to calculate our BMI and so forth is ridiculous. I am 5′10 and 180. I am solid with large boobs and hips to match but I got a flat tummy, muscular arms and have been doing Jujitsu for 5 years. I eat really well, run 3 miles a day, have great cholesterol, blood pressure and am one of the healthiest people my Doctor sees. But then I am the biggest girl in my group and my trainer says I am “flabby” in spots. It’s too much about IMAGE these days and not health.
My husband looks like a picture of perfect health and looks like he works out. he hates gyms, drinks tons of soda and has high cholesterol. You would never guess this and most of the time, people think I am the one that has health problems.
Same as many here. The number on the scale says that I am overweight. However, I too go to the gym 5 days a week for about 3 hours a day doing much cardio, strength training, and spinning. When it’s nice enough out to go for a jog, I will do 7-10 miles. I also am a very healthy eater, no fast food and look at all nutrition labels. I also research different restaurants nutrition info on the web when my husband wants to go out to eat, or just choose chicken or a salad if I can’t find the info. So, as much as I would like for the number on the scale to reflect all of what I do, it doesn’t seem to budge very much.
As many here, according to the scale I am overweight but at 53 years old I exercise regularly eat very healthy. I have a resting heart rate of 56, blood pressure is well below what is considered normal, good cholesterol and no diabetes. I also take no medication for anything and never miss work due to illness. I am working on getting rid of the excess weight but I don’t see the condition of my health being any different once the weight is gone.
there are many factors to BMI and numbers on a scale. muscle is much denser and takes up less space then fat so even though you may have 25lbs overweight on the scale you may be ideal size in clothing great muscle defintion and more lean muscle mass then body fat. i think ultimatley a doctor that can use great tools for measuring body fat make how “fit” you are more accurate then by looking at somebody or reading numbers on a scale that doesn’t look at the whole picture. i have a little weight to lose in body fat but at 148 pounds i am nearly 125lbs of lean muscle. i hope this helps those that aren’t seeing the numbers budge on the scale.
Very interesting article. I must say that you are one of the best fitness authors out there.
i also exercised 5 or 6 days a week. 3 days of 1 hour weight lifting, on those days 1/2 hr cardio, and 2 days a week 1 hour of cardio and on the 6th day yoga or bike riding. i founght weight gain the whole time. i just looked muscle bound with fat on top. my joints are horrible and can’t take any exercise at all. today i rode a bike and i had to take a pain bill it hurt so bad. i’m 53 and ready for death.
BMI does not work. It does not take into account either muscle mass OR bone density, both of which can drive up body weight and neither of which contributes to being fat.
Also, even in the apparently skinniest people, fat can build up around the bodily organs, and this is the most dangerous fat of all because it is more active metabolically and hormonally than subcutanous fat. It’s been discovered, however, that the fat in the human body is not just sitting there passively — larger amounts of fat effect bodily function, and not just by being there, but by actively altering them.
It is smaller amounts (eg; ten pounds) of subcutanous fat that don’t appear to cause negative metabolic effect, such as insulin resistance leading to diabetes or joint degeneration. It is this fact that has spawned the “fat and fit” concept. Ten pounds of fat on an adult human is not “fat”, however, except perhaps in the eyes of the media or fashion industry, both of which skew the true meaning of being a healthy, fit human being until the cultural outcome is eating disorders (including overeating) and the inability to differentiate between “fit” and “fat”.
I exercise 3-5 times a week, alternating between running, playing Ultimate Frisbee, and doing weights. In fact, I recently ran a 10 mile race, despite being 38 lbs overweight. I’d say that I’m both fit and fat.
For most of my life I’ve been around 25 pounds overweught according to the medical charts. When I don’t excersise in 6 months I become around 50 pounds overweight. The few times when I lost an enough weight to be consider in my weight range, it is very much more difficult to excersise. I leave my sessions very tired and light headed. Now at the age of 43, I learn I feel better when I exersise everyday maintaing a weight 20 pounds over the chart. I’m slow but I either run over 6 or 7 miles or on the weekends go on 60 to 80 mile bike rides.
Two years ago I ran a half marathong in 2:44 and i weighed 280 at the time. I also had no major medical problems during my training. The only negative thing was that my bad cholesterol was a bit high.
I am a 51 year old female; 6′1″ weighing 265 lbs. Knowing I was overweight, I started running (very slow) after giving it up for 23 years. I was hoping to lose weight; things are shifting but I’m not seeing much on the scales yet. In the meantime, I have since gone from a 17 minute mile to a 13:50 mile since February. What topped it off was getting my results back from my insurance company - nonsmoker, preferred!
I am the opposite. I am exactly at a normal “BMI”: 5′6” at 125 lbs at 21 years old, but only exercise a couple days a week. I have genetically high cholesterol ( I eat no dairy or much fat, so it is not diet), however my mother, who is about 25 pounds overweight has a much better resting heart rate and endurance than I do, at age 46! Looks can be deceiving…
personally i think the BMI scale needs to be revised and improved
my results from a fitness test:
according to the BMI scale i am overweight, yet i can do 60 proper form push ups in a minute
, and 30 situps
i ran 1.5miles in 10mins 18secs (but normally i am running 4 miles every two days)
at the same test people with a normal bmi could not reach the passing grade of 20 pushups and looked generally weak and unfit
BMI does not take into account a wide skeletal structure, or a large muscle mass
in fact i think adding a shoulder to shoulder measurement would increase accuracy greatly
The numeber on the scale is pretty meaningless. Consider this, my ideal weight for my height/age/build is 170lbs. I could be 170lbs of fat, or 170lbs of muscle. One is clearly healthier than the other, but according to the scale, both are ‘ideal’. Dont agonise over weight this and weight that, count your calories so that you match your individul sustainable amount , break a sweat 3 times a week and you will be fine.