Fat Geeks Healthier Than You Thought 454
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."
Cool (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Cool (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Cool (Score:2)
Re:Cool (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Cool (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Cool (Score:3, Informative)
Mod Parent: Non-Chinese +1
On-topic: Being your natural weight is what's healthy. Eat natural (i.e. traditional) food and always leave a little space in your stomach after a meal. Doesn't mean you'll be rake thin, but you'll be healthy.
Foreign "Letters" (Score:3, Informative)
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 an
Re:Cool (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Cool (Score:5, Informative)
If you have it, get to a doctor ASAP! You likely have severe endocrine problems. Make sure they find and treat those problems (likely high estrogen and low testosterone) and not just say "you're fat".
Endocrine problems can lead to diabetes (itself an endocrine problem), depression (sometimes to the point of suicide or commitment to an insane asylum), forgetfulness (sometimes permanent), anxiety (to the point of phobias), loss of concentration (to the point you are ineffective at work), rage (to the point of danger), high blood pressure (to the point of severe headaches, and possible heart attack and stroke), and osteoporosis (to the point of fractures and stooped posture - yes, this can and does occur in men too). Hot flashes can also occur.
I forgot to mention - NO SEX DRIVE!
Keeping this anonymous because I suffered from endocrine problems (only minor boobs). Luckily my endo put me on some meds which control most of the endocrine problems. Still some boobs, but hopefully those'll go away.
Re:Cool (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Cool (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Cool (Score:4, Insightful)
People with bf% >20% often look as if they have gynecomastia, but true gyno involves glandular enlargement, nipple sensitivity, and, in some cases, lactation. "Fatty gyno," as it's known, is just a result of being a fatass.
I know. I used to be fat, and I had the latter. As soon as I got off the Haagen-Dazs and onto the elliptical, it went away.
-rsw
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:All the under dead 40's I know.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:All the under dead 40's I know.... (Score:3, Informative)
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
Re:Cool (Score:3, Informative)
Simple. If you live 100 years today, there's a good chance that you may live a lot longer unless some sort of war or economic collapse makes the world go down the drain. Just imagine all the cool stuff that will be available 80 years from now.
At the moment, food is all I have to look forward to, it's all I enjo
Holy Fuck! (Score:3, Funny)
Reduce your risk of death? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Reduce your risk of death? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Reduce your risk of death? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Reduce your risk of death? (Score:5, Funny)
1. The Rapture
2. We find a way to stop/reverse aging
3. The aliens find a way to stop/reverse aging.
4. We find a way to travel back in time, duplicate our bodies, and implant our souls in the new body.
5. see #4, but change souls to neural pathways, quantuum states, and data.
6, see #4, but the aliens invent it, not us.
7. see #5, but the aliens invent it, not us
8. God decides death is now deprecated/obsolete.
9. The Grim Reaper takes himself out.
10. Entropy reverses or stops, possibly due to dark matter/anti-matter/quasi-matter/doesn't matter/the universe compressing instead of expanding/aliens/God/Cmdr Taco.
11. The bugs in the universe responsible for death and other bad things are fixed.
12. God ports the universe from Windows to Linux.
13. The Grim Reaper revokes the license for death because Andrew Tridgell reverse engineered it.
Re:Reduce your risk of death? (Score:3, Funny)
The (Score:5, Funny)
Troublesome (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Bingo. (Score:5, Interesting)
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").
Re:supersize me (Score:4, Informative)
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.
Re:supersize me (Score:5, Funny)
www.spruitje.org/euro_vs_america.jpg
Re:Troublesome (Score:2)
The BMI is really a terrible public education attempt. It's formula has _only_two_variables_, with the rest simplified and trivialized into some dimensionless coefficient. It doesn't factor in gender, age, and basic body build, for example.
Whoever came up with the BMI gets Score: -1, Retarded Oversimplification.
Re:Troublesome (Score:2, Informative)
Excellent news. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Excellent news. (Score:3, Interesting)
Look up "hormesis".
Or see this:
http://www.mccall-id.com/pages/discover/hormesis_ i s_radiation_good_for_you.htm [mccall-id.com]
Keep in mind the signs of a CRT radiation overdose.
One of them is flaming someone for reverse engineering a source control product, when your OS is itself a clone of another and uses something he reverse engineered in order to interoperate with fileservers from yet another OS. Not that anything in the news lately would be remotely like that.
P.S. V
Studies (Score:2, Interesting)
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
Siskel & Ebert (Score:5, Funny)
NOPE!
Re:Siskel & Ebert (Score:3, Funny)
Pffft. That had nothing to do with weight, and everything to do with Ebert eating Siskel.
In which sense? (Score:5, Funny)
However, fat geeks will always have another thing to consider. Darwinian death. Eat those twinkies, my pretties... just means more pussy for me!
Re:In which sense? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:In which sense? (Score:3, Funny)
Hey! There's no reason for us both to be upset. I can do a grand imitation of a girl.
A/S/L?
Re:In which sense? (Score:2)
Serendipity? (Score:5, Funny)
Heh.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I dont know... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I dont know... (Score:5, Interesting)
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.).
Re:I dont know... (Score:4, Interesting)
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!
Re:I dont know... (Score:3, Interesting)
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 exerci
i know why (Score:2, Funny)
Take my wife... please.
har
Strangely pleasent "news" .. or is it? (Score:5, Insightful)
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!
I didn't know the risk had changed (Score:5, Funny)
Last I knew, the human race had a 100% mortality rate. Being "pleasantly plump" might exempt some of us from death?
Re:I didn't know the risk had changed (Score:5, Funny)
I'm a.. (Score:5, Funny)
DNA (Score:5, Funny)
Re:DNA (Score:5, Funny)
Re:DNA (Score:2)
You'd have to be a hell of an idiot to avoid the gym because of the miniscule amount of people who happen to die in them each year.
I'd put money down that more people die sitting on the toilet than working out.
lifestyle and activity? (Score:3, Interesting)
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!
I think it depends (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Healthy Diet (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Healthy Diet (Score:3, Insightful)
This type of weight-watching mentality is what makes people think that being on the Atkins diet for the rest of their life is a great idea, simply because they lost some weight from it.
At the moment, there is no way around a normal, well-balance diet if you want to be healthy.
Oh noes. (Score:5, Insightful)
(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 (Score:5, Informative)
But experts pointed out that the study only looked at how long people lived and not at obesity-related diseases.
Let me get this straight... (Score:3, Funny)
Why wasn't I notified?
Here's what I think about all of this (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
You value your "consciousness" too much (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:Here's what I think about all of this (Score:3, Insightful)
Hell yes! Life is short, whether you live to be 40 or 60 or 80. Might as well have some fun during the brief time you're here.
Max
Guess what (Score:3, Insightful)
Quality of Life (Score:3, Informative)
Considering that the leading causes of death [wikipedia.org] 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.
Metabolism (Score:2)
I eat whatever I want to and I'm still a relatively thin guy who is staring 35 in the face. I find this surprising considering that I sit in front of computers all day for a living.
I suppose it all comes down to genetics and metabolism. Of course, I could die tomorrow of a heart attack. Inject that mayonnaise directly into my arteries, p
Heh (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
It's not just about fat (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
High Frutose Corn Syrup posoning... (Score:3, Informative)
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?
Re:Wait a minute (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Wait a minute (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Wait a minute (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Wait a minute (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Wait a minute (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:Wait a minute (Score:5, Interesting)
Example:
Shaquille O'Neal
height: 2,17m
weight: 147,4 kg
=> BMI: 31.3
Yeah, that sounds like using BMI is a good idea.
Re:Wait a minute (Score:3, Informative)
For the vast majority of the population, it is a fairly good indicator of overweight or obese.
Re:Wait a minute (Score:3, Funny)
Really? (I'm so tempted to post a goatse link, right now)
Re:"normal" is not normal! (Score:3, Interesting)
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
Re:"normal" is not normal! (Score:3, Interesting)
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 e
Re:"normal" is not normal! (Score:3, Insightful)
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
Re:you guys may be healthy (Score:5, Funny)
You: loser
Your mom: loose
Re:Can still have issues if you're not overweight (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I need to *gain* weight (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:I need to *gain* weight (Score:2, Informative)
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
Odwalla Bars, beer (Score:2, Funny)
Drinking a six pack of dark ale daily will raise your caloric intake significantly, too.
Build Muscle. Do weight lifting. (Score:2)
I weight 65kg. Maybe that's skinny for you, but before exercise, I weighted 55kg.
Then i began weightlifting, and my chest got less flat, I gained biceps (look ma, I have muscles!), and my neck stopped looking like Shaggy from Scooby Doo.
Eat more meat, and replace those empty calories with whole-wheat bread. Sugar won't make you more muscular.
Re:I need to *gain* weight (Score:3, Informative)
Good luck.
Adolfo
Re:Ha (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ha (Score:2, Interesting)
My theory is that the federal government could get tremendous bang/buck if they simply regulated non-diet soft drinks. There are many people who drink one or more cans of soda a day, and each one has 150 or more calories. That's 1050 extra calories per week, translating into 18 pounds gained per year if nothing is done to burn those excess calories.
Even a twinkie has more nutritive value than a soft drink. Sad, but true.
Re:Ha (Score:2)
Even an advertising/education campaign would work. Anything to get people to consume less soda, on average.
Re:Ha (Score:3, Interesting)
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,
Re:Ha (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:Ha (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Ha (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:Ha (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Ha (Score:3, Informative)
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.
Wouldn't that be nice? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Ha (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Ha (Score:4, Funny)
Re:You all can kiss the fattest part of my ass. (Score:2, Funny)
At the same time!
Re:what!? (Score:3, Funny)