Thin=Unhealthy?

[CR400]

Muscle begins to degrade after 3 days of non-use. You can't gain muscle by sitting around. Gaining 7 pounds of muscle in a few months without lifting weights is impossible. Heck, gaining 7 pounds of muscle in a few months is impossible unless you're on steroids.

Ok, then explain why I can suddenly lift 120lbs (410) or more, I stopped there afraide I may hurt myself before a big ride? Because I was truely shocked and mystified as to why this happened. My thought is it can only be muscle mass gain. And I don't just sit around my job requires me to stand 8 hours a day. When I rode my bike I had done lots of climbing, sprint over short hills and grind out long ones, work at trying to maintian speeds over 20mph even on long false flats.

As far as some of you ladies don't be bothered but what other people say about your size, truth is you are blessed to be small and have worked hard to stay there. People, especailly big people like myself, are usually actually jealous. It irritates me that I'll always be big even at a size 8 I have broad shoulders and the body even at its smallest to go with them.

[Dogmama]

Below is a link explaining exercise and its affect on muscle growth (or atrophy.)

http://sportsci.org/encyc/adaptex/adaptex.html

of note is the quote from the article:

Muscles will atrophy as a result of disuse, immobilization, and starvation. Muscles adapt to increasing levels of stress by increasing their function. Disuse leads to decreasing strength and muscle mass. Atrophy results in a decrease in both contractile and sarcoplasmic protein.

It is interesting reading if you like to learn about the science behind muscles.

[RoadRaven]

It irritates me that I'll always be big even at a size 8 I have broad shoulders and the body even at its smallest to go with them.

I've always had broad shoulders (thanks dad ) and my partner thinks them very sexy...

I think of them as strong and useful for friends who need something to cry on.

I like them in summer, cause I can show them off - in fact - I think replying to your post has just made me recognise something I really like about my body...

I like my shoulders!

Thanks CR

[Lenusik]

I like them in summer, cause I can show them off - in fact - I think replying to your post has just made me recognise something I really like about my body...


Thanks CR

Yes, thank you CR. Because I finally see something here. I know that I stirred some unconfortable discussion last week. But when a woman realizes that there is so much to like about yourself, it is great. It does not matter what size you are. What matters is what you do for yourself to feel better and look better. "Better" is your own definition. Just do what's best for you and there is no need to please anybody else. Be proud of your effort if you make one and kick yourself if you don't make it. Just be happy with who you are!

[Dogmama]

I'm going to get raked over the coals - but here goes...

Not including genuine metabolic disorders and things out of our control...

I really shiver when I hear people, mainly women, who are overweight say, "Oh it's OK because I like myself." Then they complain because airlines make them purchase two seats. Or XX sizes cost more. Oh, God forbid, they have to use stairs because the escalator isn't working. It isn't politically correct to point out that a few less Big Macs and a few laps around the track might be a good idea.

Here's the bottom line (pun intended.)

It doesn't affect just the overweight people, it affects all of us in terms of strain on the health care system which we all pay for. When a smoker gets lung cancer, we all point to their bad health habits. When an overweight person has a heart attack (diabetes, cancer, arthritis, etc.), it is not politically correct to point out that they probably bear as much responsibility as the smoker for their health problems.

Health care premiums are skyrocketing and experts agree that most of our health problems are preventable with lifestyle alteration. I, for one, am becoming resentful of paying for people too lazy to get to the gym or too undisciplined to make a salad rather than call out for pizza.

Lots of my friends are overweight. I still love them and I don't harp on their weight problems. They know that if (when) they decide to make the change, they can come to me for support. They also know that they can't complain to me about how hard it is to find a cute skirt in their size.

OK - let the flame wars begin! But I won't be here - I'm going to the gym.

[bikerz]

This is all very interesting - so many different perspectives and experiences!

DM - you're right that there are broader sociological and economic considerations and consequences bound up in this issue - and clearly these are big topics that are being talked about at a societal level. And as individual members of this society, we all have our own specific metabolic and emotional reactions to food, exercise, and self-image.

Maybe it's the use of the word "happy" that's part of the problem - does it mean content, numb, settled and safe (as it used to for me), or does it mean challenge, stretch, discovery and change (as it does now). Of course, I'm only speaking for myself.

[allabouteva]

I think DM makes a very valid point. Obesity is an epidemic, particularly in developed countries. It's no coincidence that this is so in countries like the US and Australia.

And I agree with Bikerz, there are a lot of factors, in this being so, including lifestyle lifestyle lifestyle. The way we plan our cities where we are encouraged to drive everywhere, the crime factor where we're too scared to walk down the street (in some communities we don't let our kids walk to school), the jobs that seem to demand 40+ hours a week, the material goodies we want to accumulate, and of course the list goes on....

We can do our small part to counter these trends, by being cycling evangelists! And promote the buzz we get in cycling and all the other great benefits we get including our health etc.

[betagirl]

DM, no flame here from me. I agree with everything you said.

[mtkitchn]

I agree with you too, Dogmama.

[caligurl]

no flames from me, dogmama!

[Grog]

I tend to agree with Dogmama.

However, from my training as a sociologist, I can't help but have a look at cross-tables showing obesity rates and socio-economic status levels.

[SOAPBOX]

First, let's note that there is a general trend toward getting heavier, in all groups of the North American society. Of course we all know rich people who are big and poor people who are thin as a rail. The general correlation though is that the less socio-economically privileged, the more chances there are of being overweight or obese.

Now this is open to different explanations, but I really think that it's a bit easy to says that it's because poor people are lazy. I have really enjoyed reading Barbara Ehrenreich's book 'Nickel & Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America' and found her insight into the working-poor life extremely enlightening. In particular, I appreciated how she described her relation to cooking and food when she was working two jobs or just crazy hours, and how constituting a base for eating well (getting the basic ingredients that actually make what you cook taste like something, buying fresh fruits and produce, etc.) was expensive or plain difficult. I personally shop for groceries at small markets and I realize how much more expensive it is. When I go to other parts of town (when cycling for example) and stop at grocery stores, I am always surprised at the narrowness of the selection of fresh food and broadness of the selection of junk. I also happen to have a "food culture": I was raised on a farm, always ate fresh produce (I still cringe pretty badly at eating tomatoes and asparus in the Winter!) and basic ingredients (using almost nothing that was prepared in advance by some industry), and was taught how important it was to have three balanced meals a day. Not everyone, or, dare I say, not many people were raised like that. Hence most have a lot to learn about healthy life habits, and few have the means to make them come true.

And I won't get started about exercising.

In what I picture as an ideal world, people would not have to go to gyms or consciously 'exercise' to stay fit. They would live close to their work place and walk or bike there, run errands on foot, carry their babies on their backs, etc. I always lived in a medium-size city (Montreal) where doing this was possible. Most people around me did not exercise on purpose, but most were pretty fit and we had among the lowest obesity rates across Canada. Of course, on a nice Sunday, those who feel like going for a 100 km bike ride can do so, but others might rather stick to a good book and take a walk in the park at sunset, and stop for a few minutes to dance at the drumfest if they felt like it.

But I was a middle-class student with the means to afford such a lifestyle, in a very particular city. Most people in America life in very different circumstances, and such a lifestyle is absolutely not accessible for most.

So I tend to agree with Dogmama that obesity is a public health problem and should be treated as such. But I know we have to keep our eyes open for social and economic determinants to this public health problem. The way our cities, lives and societies are arranged at this moment do not give many chances to less privileged people to eat well and live healthy lifestyles, let alone exercise.

It is our responsibility as individuals to take care of ourselves, eat and live with care. But it is also our responsibility as individuals to work towards healthier cities and lives for all by getting involved as citizens for better cities and societies where resources of all sorts are more accessible to all, not just in principle but in fact.

[/SOAPBOX]

[bikerz]

I have really enjoyed reading Barbara Ehrenreich's book 'Nickel & Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America' and found her insight into the working-poor life extremely enlightening. In particular, I appreciated how she described her relation to cooking and food when she was working two jobs or just crazy hours, and how constituting a base for eating well (getting the basic ingredients that actually make what you cook taste like something, buying fresh fruits and produce, etc.) was expensive or plain difficult.

That book made a huge impact on me too. I used to live in a kind of down and out neighborhood in oakland, and there were no grocery stores within walking distance. I was lucky enough at the time to have a somewhat reliable car, but many of my neighbors were on the bus, and the only places to buy groceries without making a long excursion out of it were the mom-and-pop liquor stores on every corner. Not much in the way of seasonal produce there, but plenty of inexpensive junk food.

I live in a different neighborhood now, and I went to my local farmers market Sunday - the produce was beautiful, varied, organic - all good stuff. But I had forgotten my wallet - all I had was $5 in my pocket and I literally could not buy enough for a meal. It was definitely the opposite extreme!

In some ways, a healthy lifestyle is sort of luxury now. It's like the way being tan used to be bad - it meant you worked outdoors. Then tan was good, because it meant you had leisure time to bask in the sun at some beach.

It is our responsibility as individuals to take care of ourselves, eat and live with care. But it is also our responsibility as individuals to work towards healthier cities and lives for all by getting involved as citizens for better cities and societies where resources of all sorts are more accessible to all, not just in principle but in fact.

Very well said!

[caligurl]

i did notice... when we first started eating healthier... we were spending more money on groceries.... frest produce is NOT cheap! i'm used to it now.... plus have my shopping down to a science, for the most part....

it is cheaper to by a .99 frozen tv dinner than to fix a healthy meal though!