Fat and Fit

“Symptoms of obesity.” Isn’t that phrase interesting, “symptoms of obesity.”

Sumo wrestlers eat up to 7,000 calories a day and weigh 300 to 400 pounds[.]

…Normally, people with obesity store a portion of their extra fat deep inside the abdomen, where it wraps around the pancreas, liver, and other vital organs. We call this visceral fat. It pollutes the blood with molecules that can cause inflammation, and this is why obesity can lead to health issues like high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, and heart attacks.

But sumo wrestlers don’t usually suffer from these symptoms. So what’s their trick? CT scans reveal that sumo wrestlers don’t have much visceral fat at all. Instead, they store most of their fat right underneath the skin. That’s why scientists think sumo wrestlers are healthy. They have normal levels of triglycerides, a type of fat in their blood, and unexpectedly low levels of cholesterol, both of which lower their risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.

So how did they hit the jackpot on fat? …Studies show that intense exercise may prevent the buildup of visceral fat. Basically, it has to do with how exercise increases a hormone called adiponectin. Adiponectin guides glucose and fat molecules out of our blood stream, where they could build up as visceral fat, and instead puts them underneath the skin.

It’s almost as though “obesity” itself is only representative of a person’s weight, and not of their actual health.

It’s almost like people can be fat, active and healthy all at the same time. That fat people can actually have lower risks of heart disease, heart attack and stroke than the average. That someone’s appearance does not inherently depict their health.

Here’s where I think @squashgiant miscalculated - You keep repeating “400 pounds” as though trying to shock or insult me. But there is nothing negative or bad about “angry 400 pounders.” Is that meant to be something shameful? Is it meant to hurt me? It does neither, but rather just demonstrates that you don’t actually have a clear idea about what fat bodies look like, move like or are capable of.

Because yes - As a fitness blog, I am absolutely going to defend Lizzo. She has the right to exist within the public sphere without having complete strangers criticize her health. The fact of the matter is that we don’t know what her health is like. Nor should we care. It’s not our business! It doesn’t matter to us! We can enjoy her music without making assumptions about her medical situation!

Lizzo is a wonderful, positive, effervescent person who deserves to have her talent celebrated around the world. And if she chooses to include her body in some of that positivity, then yay! Perhaps that will help other women feel comfortable in their own skin too! Nothing about that is negative, because it has absolutely zero implications regarding her diet, activity level, sleeping habits, stress levels, medication prescriptions, mental health, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, resting heart rate, etc. Those are markers of health, not her weigh or positive body image.

Did you know that in post-mortem examinations there is zero correlation between weight and levels of arteriosclerosis and related diseases found?

Did you know that people with an overweight BMI have the longest life expectancy, that those with an “ideal” and an “obese” have about the same life expectancy, and that being “underweight” raises mortality rates more than being “morbidly obese”?

Did you know that losing weight and then gaining it back is worse for your heart than remaining at the weight you started consistently?

Did you know that 95% of people who lose weight do gain it back, and there has never been a single documented weight loss program that has been demonstrated to keep the weight off for five years or more in the majority or even a significant minority of people? Like, telling people to lose weight isn’t much use if we don’t know HOW to make that happen.

Like I have read The Obesity Myth by Paul Campos and Rethinking Thin by Gina Kolata and Big Fat Lies by Glenn A Gaesser (Ph.D!) And Fat!So? and several other books that I don’t own and so don’t remember all of their names I spent like four years reading every single study coming out and looking at the methodology and noting which ones had huge holes or terrible methods and which didn’t (the holes were almost always in the pro-weight-loss studies) and like

Big Fat Lies has 27 pages of bibliography. 27 pages worth of scientific citation. The book content itself is only 197 pages. That’s a page of references for every 7 pages of book. Reading the book is just reference after reference and study after study. Most of these doctors (like Linda Bacon, author of Health at Every Size) started out the same way. They wanted to use the scientific method to find a real weight loss program or health solution that worked and could be proven to work, and so studied everything they could about weight and fitness only to find out that we didn’t need weight loss in the first place. That all the studies calling for it were lacking or nonexistent. That weight and underlying metabolic health have very little relation. That the history of our relationship with health and obesity has little basis in fact and a LOT of basis in capitalism, politics, and fashion. No, really, the association between weight and health was first proposed by insurance companies looking for ways to charge people more by claiming risk. They also charged tall and short people more. And people with different skin colors. When they got in trouble for charging people for things they had no control over and had no bearing on their health, they set out to prove that weight was controllable and that fat was unhealthy to make money. 

These are also a lot of the same people who went on to invent the President’s fitness program, so if you went to public school you probably already hate them. 

Because why not? ;-) 

Waddle.

Waddle waddle.

*rolls across the floor*

Clearly I am immobilized by my own mass.

Clearly she is performing a saute arabesque, chasse, step-step, assemble devant with arms in fifth. 

And as a teacher too, I can’t find much technically wrong with it at all. 

Which means not only is she a gifted dancer, she has a wonderful technical foundation that she is executing properly and with lovely mannerism.

Being a ballerina isn’t about how much you weigh. Give me this girl ANY day for a student or dancer to work with. Clearly she has the knowledge and the passion, which means she will be a joy to work with. 

Also, for those of you criticizing, you clearly have NO idea how difficult it is to execute a develope ecarte derriere the way she is at the barre in one of her later photos. This takes YEARS of dedicated training, as well as extensive natural facility, such as turnout, which she clearly demonstrates here. 

I could be at any weight and I will never be healthy, because I am chronically ill. Someone might be chronically ill and fat, or they might be chronically ill and not fat, and it really doesn’t matter.

I’ve been seeing more body positive fitness apps released over the past few years, which is great. Check these out for some sustainable (although fairly generic) workout routines to get you started:

the be.come project

Zombies, Run!

Superfit Hero

Daily Yoga

Sworkit

Aaptiv

Pear

In terms of more trans-centered resources, my knowledge is pretty limited - As a cis woman, I don’t personally know which of these resources might be most effective or accessible, and sdon’t specifically know of any apps that might fit your needs. I can only make broad recommendations and hope that something hits home for you. So check these links out, and I’d like to encourage my followers to add more if you know of anything!

Decolonizing Fitness has a transmasculine training series that you may want to check out.

Trans-Health.com has many articles dedicated to fitness and training.

RiverRunsWild shares his experience with a 12 week program and offers two programs for sale.

FTM Fitness World is several years old, but has some fitness articles that you may want to check out.

I could be at any weight and I will never be healthy, because I am chronically ill. Someone might be chronically ill and fat, or they might be chronically ill and not fat, and it really doesn’t matter.