A Question for the Ages

An obese child 6 to 9 had a 37 percent chance of being an obese adult if neither parent was obese. But if at least one parent was fat, the child’s change of growing up to be fat nearly doubled, to 71 percent.

The work fits well with current thinking about adult obesity, medical experts say. The condition appears to have a strong genetic component — most fat people are thought to inherit genes that keep them fat, despite their best efforts to reduce.   — NY Times

If fat people are so universally unattractive … how do so many fat people have kids?  They can’t all be adopted/from insemination, can they?    Do fat people reproduce asexually?  What?

;)

Thankful Thursday

1) Three-day weekend!

2) My in-betweenie friend, who makes me laugh and keeps me sane.

her: why does all this spam offer to help me gain inches?
me: because Penises are Even More Important than Dieting?

3) A fun evening catching up with friends.

4) New capris & walking shoes.

5) The man of the house brought home salt-and-pepper cashews for me.  Yum.

Quotes to Think On

“Since it has been established that the rate of metabolism, or exchange of food into energy, of the obese is normal, some physiologists have tried to account for the surplus of fat on the grounds of heredity…”
— “Fatness May be Hereditary.”  The Science News-Letter, Vol. 8, No. 260 (Apr. 3, 1926), p. 4, quoted here.

“Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favor.”
— Robert Frost

Things to Read

I liked this article on solitude vs loneliness.   I lived alone, or with a cat, for most of 9 years.  I learned a lot about self-reliance during that time, and also about how often the difference between solitude and loneliness is attitude.   I worked on alleviating loneliness with friends, my cat, and activities — and enjoyed the solitude.

Now I don’t live alone.  Avoiding loneliness is easier…but I still seek solitude.

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I haven’t seen much South Park, but I know enough about Cartman to enjoy this parody of the song “Bitch”.  It could be interpreted as making fun of him for being fat, but when I’m on the treadmill it’s like “Fat Pride”:

Son of a bitch, I am Cartman, and I am a work of art,
Give me Cheezy Poofs galore, I am BEEFCAKE, hear me roar!
I’m a child of the Nineties, I’ll kick your little hinies,
And I wouldn’t want it any other way.

It’s on the walking playlist I’ve been using lately and it tends to give me enough “umph” to keep going for another 10-15-20 minutes ;)

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You probably saw this article on how a bit of extra weight (”but not too much”) is good for you.  Sandy Szwarc over at Junkfood Science bought a copy of the actual study and has some interesting notes on what isn’t in the press release:

• [The only risk with a tenable association to mortality was age.] At age 65, the relative risks of dying rose to44.35 times compared to age 25; and by age 75, relative risks are 119-fold.
• Being overweight (BMI 25 up to 30) was associated with a 25% lower risk of dying
• Being obese (BMI 30 up to 35, which includes about 80% of all obese people) was associated with a 12% lower risk of dying.
• And the risks associated with the most ‘morbidly obese’ (BMIs 35+) — the uppermost 3% of this Canadian cohort— were statistically the same as those with ‘normal’ BMIs. [RR=1.09 (0.86-1.39, 95% CI) versus RR=1.0.]
• The most significant relative risk they found was among underweight men (BMI less than 18.5) associated with a 2.5 relative risk of mortality….

Sandy is careful to point out that all the varying risks among the different weight classes are small enough (yes, even the 2.5 relative risk for underweight men compared to normal-weight men) to be attributable to random chance or unknown factors.  Why, it’s almost like body size alone doesn’t dictate mortality!

Friday Fluff: Dream PE

The Onion had a story about the majority of Americans forgetting their physical education skills.  Naturally, being The Onion, there’s a fair amount of ridiculousness:

Many Americans claimed that once they finished high school, skills such as increasing joint mobility and building muscle strength were no longer necessary.

“If something needs to get from one place to another, I can just use my cell phone, or hop in the car. And I know they say that physical education promotes balance, but that’s what my cane is for,” said Miami, FL resident Keith Monahan, 32. “The only thing I still use from gym class is that occasionally I’ll throw on some sweatpants while I’m sitting on the couch watching television. So I guess I learned that.”

Omaha insurance salesman William Haylor, 43, said that when his 8-year-old son asked him how to do a chin-up, he realized that he had simply forgotten.

“I know I used to be able to do that, but for the life of me I can’t remember,” Haylor said. “They’re really hard to do. I think that’s why I stopped.”

On the other hand, I’m wondering what kind of PE class would encourage people to be active.  I don’t mean “make everyone into the cast of Baywatch” or “everyone should be able to breeze through boot camp”, either — more like reducing things like back pain, increasing mobility within one’s current limitations, and Health at Every Size.

What makes movement / exercise / fitness fun for you? If you’re a parent, do you try to encourage your kids to move?

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Here’s a start:

My favorite PE class was in high school. The teacher stated at the outset that he graded on effort and participation, and he restated this after some varsity starters complained about getting Cs.  We rotated through different sports and activities, spending 2 weeks on pickleball, 2 weeks on volleyball, 2 weeks on soccer, 2 weeks on basketball, and so on, so at least we got a good variety.  The teacher also pointed out skills that transferred across sports, such as the similarity between defense in soccer and basketball.  He also used a variety of ways to divide us up into teams, including counting off and picking captains who would pick teams (but always intervening and dividing the last 6 himself).   For sports where he knew some people were very practiced, like basketball, he’d have everyone who regularly played on a team (school or recreational) play together on half the gym and have the people who were new to playing the sport play against each other on the other half.

Most importantly, he told us that he didn’t take the PE job as a way to coach football, but because he loved to play, and he wanted us to play too.   That attitude came through in how he ran his class and made us happy to be there.

How would I have improved that?  I wouldn’t have minded a yoga segment.  :)  But another would’ve been to do some weight lifting and discuss muscle balance and how to prevent things like back pain — it’s a scrouge among desk types, but that’s because crunches are seen as punishment, not as the back equivalent of flossing.

Returning to Fitness World

(I think that’s my new name for the gym, and not just when I’m doing a body fat test.  ;)

Yes, I’ve been putting it off.  Partly because I’m easily the largest woman I’ve seen there, partly because dealing with the tech during the body fat test did rattle me a bit, and partly because I had a fairly serious asthma attack Monday night.   I’d used my inhaler in prep for going for a walk.  Walking uphill I was gasping and stopping to catch my breath for over a block, not sure if I wanted to use my inhaler again.  Then the tightness in my chest got tighter and painful.  I  remembered that it’s a symptom of asthma too, and used my inhaler.  Almost immediately the pain subsided and I could breathe better.

But still.  Chest pain?   Scary.   Tuesday I got my 2nd preventative asthma prescription filled and contented myself with my home weight routine (there’s a lot you can do with dumbbells and an ankle weight.)

And tonight I stopped by the gym on my way home.

If Curves is very “girls work out” and the Y has a “family vibe”, my gym is more “serious workout” — partly due to the wide range of free weights and different lines of weight machines.   That variety is one of the reasons I joined this particular gym, in fact.  Each manufacturer makes their machines for particular body types; more lines and manufacturers makes it more likely I’ll find machines that fit my body.

So, tonight, I used my inhaler 20 minutes before exercising, as recommended.  I walked on the treadmill for 20 minutes to warm up and moved onto weights. Usually I start with leg presses, but today I tried a new machine that more closely approximates a squat.  I ended up deciding that it has me crouch at a bad angle for me, at least right now, but that’s a good thing to learn.  I moved on to the seated leg extension, leg curl (basically the opposite of the extension), seated row, shoulder press, and pulldowns.

Not the world’s biggest workout, but I feel comfortably tired and glad I went.

Thankful Thursday

1) Being able to work remotely.

2) Noise-dampening headphones to keep me from killing the lawnmowers.

3) Summer solstice has passed.  The days aren’t actually shorter yet, but knowing they won’t get any longer helps.

4) My knee doesn’t bother me walking down and up hills as I go around the block.  (For those who haven’t been here: The flat parts of Seattle are man-made.)

5) More asthma meds — early days yet, but adding Singulair seems to be helping.

Spotted at the Bellevue Barnes & Noble

Sorry for the crappy cellphone photo, but I was thrilled to see it FACING OUT.   :)  Yes, it was in the diet section.

Yes, in the Diet section...

I reviewed Lessons from the Fat-o-Sphere here.

Fluff: The Onion on Family Visits

Nothing about weight per se, but my, how many times have you had this experience?

KALAMAZOO, MI–A full 95 percent of the opinions held by Justin Wilmot, 26, were kept to himself Sunday during a Father’s Day visit with his family.

“No one in my family really gets my worldview, so I find it easier just to smile and nod and agree with everything,” Wilmot said Monday. “When I’m with them, I tend to be a lot quieter than when I’m hanging out with friends.”

Read it at The Onion.

Overweight Without My Fat

Hydrostatic weighing:

• Get weighed on dry land.
• Get weighed underwater, after breathing out all the air you can.*
• Do math.

Result?  An approximation of how much of one’s body is fat and how much is muscle / bone (”lean body mass”).    It’s considered more accurate than bioelectrical impedence or using calipers.  There are now several mobile testing units scattered around the US that offer this at a low cost, often visiting gyms and/or company “Wellness Events” and “Health Fairs”.  The hook, of course, is that you can find out how much of your body is fat and then focus on adjusting it “for optimum health”.

So why would I consider doing this?  Curiosity, mostly.  Partly because I’d done the biolectrical impedence at a gym a few years ago and wanted to compare.  But mostly because I’ve generally found when I start working out regularly without dieting, a certain progression happens:

1. Deal with muscle soreness.
2. Gain 5-10lbs, possibly go up a bra size.
3. Speed / strength begins to improve.
4. Muscle soreness decreases; feel more alive, less enervated.
5. Continue to improve speed / strength.
6. Lose 10-15lbs, possibly go down a bra size or 2.
7. Eventually reach a speed / strength plateau.

Generally this has driven relatives crazy.**  I go to the gym but I’m not losing weight?  I only lost a little and then stopped?   How is this possible?  If I’m getting stronger, aren’t my muscles getting bigger?  Doesn’t muscle weigh more than fat?  What is going on?

The question “Does it really matter that I’m not losing weight?” was not asked.   (I suppose I should be glad that “But women shouldn’t add muscle!” didn’t come up. )

I do know, for some people, this sort of measurement lets them justify their weight to themselves or to a doctor or to an employer.  An acquaintance in the Army was well over official Army weight, but because the caliper tests estimated his body fat was under a certain amount, he was given an automatic waiver.   The idea being, of course, that it’s fat that’s bad, so if your weight isn’t due to fat, then it’s okay.  In my case this isn’t relevent.

But still, I was curious.   If I got tested now, would I get the same results in 6 months or a year?  Or would I at least get a post out of it?  ;)

So I did the test, which was also a trip into Fitness World, where fat is an enemy, working out is sacrament, and food is a tool to be used for the great god of Fitness.   I’d gotten there early enough to know the tech was asking people if they had a personal trainer (he used to be a personal trainer) and that he was urging a diet book that “wasn’t really a diet, it’s a lifestyle change”.   Many folks were being re-tested after several months; if they’d lost weight, the tech would congratulate them.

With me, the tech was friendly and welcoming when I asked if there was an upper limit to what his equipment could handle.  I was pleased that his scale didn’t go “ERR”.   The test itself wasn’t hard; I got into the tank/scale, tucked my toes under a railing that’s about an inch from the bottom, held the railing with my left hand and my nose with the right.  Breathe out—all of it—and when he gets 2 identical readings in a row, we’re done.

(My first impression of the tank was that it looked like an immersion baptismal font. Again with the religious analogies.)

Naturally, this being Fitness World, I also played verbal judo with the tech.  He asked me if I was working with a personal trainer; I said I’m following a program my physical therapist came up with after a knee injury.  He asked if I knew how many calories I eat a day and didn’t seem too surprised when I said that the last time I tracked it, weighing and measuring, it was about 2000.***  (He said that was “a lot” .)  He also asked if I’d had blood tests or a physical lately.

Me: Yes, that’s all fine.
Tech: Well, not really fine, right?   (Implication: Prediabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and other Markers of Early Death Due To Lack Of Fitness)
Me: Actually, yes.  They did find one problem—my B12 level was really low. I don’t absorb enough of it from food.  It used to be called pernicious anemia, pernicious because it was always fatal.   (Judo: Redirect from the Typical Fat Diseases to something weird.)
Tech: But they can treat that now…
Me: Yep.  Right now, I’m lucky enough I don’t need shots, just lots of vitamins. (Get into water, busy with procedure.)

I did manage to grab my printout and leave, afterward, instead of having him explain the results to me. (I’d heard him explaining them to another new guy while I was waiting, and he didn’t say anything I hadn’t heard before.)  And while I’m not entirely certain this is Absolutely Accurate, I did find it interesting.

For the curious:

Body Fat:	232.85lbs (57.8%)
Lean Body Mass:	169.95lbs (42.2%)
Lean Body Mass BMI	25.8 (overweight)

This wasn’t too surprising, given that I do have lots of visible body fat and the bioelectrical impedence test I’d done about 5 years ago had me at 67% bodyfat. (I don’t think I’ve gained that much muscle since then—the methodologies are probably a big part of the difference.)

I do find it hilarious that, according to this test, I’m overweight without my fat.  ;)

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*In a lab, there’s a breathing apparatus to help figure out how much air is left in your lungs.  This is to correct for the air in your lungs making you appear to have more bodyfat.  The mobile unit just has you breathe out all you can.

**My reactions have varied depending on whether I was then in a dieting mindset or a fat-accepting mindset.

*** The last time I tracked calories I used a diet website which insisted I would lose weight eating between 2960 and 3310 calories per day.  Meanwhile the tech’s printout says my “base metabolic rate” was calculated to be 2171 calories.

Thankful Thursday

1) Friends and family who listen to me whine about work and general stress.

2) We are at the peak of sunlight here … so it won’t be getting worse, and I will be (hopefully) getting better sleep in a few weeks.

3) Continuing fun with weightlifting.

4) Getting faster at walking.

5) I’m sitting by an open window and there’s a nice, soft rain starting outside.  It smells wonderful. :)

Fun with Search Terms

WordPress tracks what people searched on that led them to this site.  ”Living 400lbs” is probably the most common one and one I find amazing (people are looking for me!)  But some are a bit weird, anothers, well, deserve an answer.

“i weigh 350 and i cant work” — Weight is not a disability.  Most of the time that I weighed 350 I was working at a major software company.  Now I weigh ~400lbs and I work at a small software company.   If you mean the Telegraph story, Fatistician dissected it over here.

“lemonade mix without splenda or nutrasweet” — Water, lemon juice, sugar.

“what is fat people diabetes called?” — The type of diabetes most commonly associated with being fat is type 2.  Most fat people actually don’t get it. Oh, and thin people are not immune.

“hamstring stretches for the obese” — Are not that unlike hamstring stretches for the thin. I do tend not to use the bars attached to the walls at my gym since I’m not sure they’re up to supporting my weight.  My footboard is though.  I also bend over and stretch that way (yes, I can touch my toes).

“large belly chafing heat rash” — I use baby powder.

“danger of weighing 400 lbs” — Most people actually can’t, because their bodies resist gaining that much weight.

“super sized women clothing catologs” — Stef has quite the list here.

“men who have gotten fat from yoga” — Wow, yoga is the reason I’m fat?  Gee.