fitness or fatness ?

stimpsonslostson

I do 10-15 miles on the bike as my commute. Weights 2 mornings a week. 
Run 10+k twice a week. 
BJJ/mma twice a week. 

I'm in pretty good shape, but often think my main exercise is running around after my two small children. I never sit down (thinking about it, that includes at work- I have to walk around all the time). 

octatonic

strtdv said:

octatonic said:

Penn and Teller did an interesting thing on 'Bullshit!' looking at how fitness and fatness are pretty separate.
Essentially it is possible to be a bit fat and yet quite fit/athletic.
It is possible to be thin and very unfit as well.

Fatness is mostly related to the food you consume and moderately going over your total each day accumulates rather quickly, especially for those with sedentary jobs.

Exercise builds bodies up if you eat roughly the same as you expend.
You might exercise an hour or two a day at the most, but in order to lose weight you need to be watching your diet every minute you are awake if you want to lose fat.

This is only partly true, as if you are fat but have a high capacity for exercise ("fitness" as it were), it doesn't fully negate the increased mortality risk from your obesity.

Obesity is one thing- I'm not really talking about people who are in that category.
I'm talking about being slightly overweight, rather than being bang on their ideal weight.

mellowsun

I go through phases of doing no exercise for a year and then doing a fair amount for a few months: cycling, weights, 16 mile hikes etc until I get bored of it so back to the couch. Probably not the right way to do it.

snakemanStoo

I do BJJ, karate, judo and Japanese jujitsu.  About 9 hours of fighting and getting hurt a week.

tone1

I swim 3 miles a week. I don't run much anymore for joint preservation. I try to stay off the vino midweek for at least 3 consecutive days and I don't drink beer (very often) or spirits. I still Surf but not as much as I would like.
I've done several half Marathons (1hr 58 best time)and loads of 10k's (48m.52 best time) 
Im 45  and 13.5st, but paying the price for a lot of Karate, Judo, Surfing, running and living...

57Deluxe

I walk up and down my 1/3 acre semi wooded plot on a small valley side for approx 6 hours a week; pruning, mowing, hedge trimming, weeding, clearing stuff and then logging up for my wood burner. Then I lounge on the sofa in front of my hot fire watching TV. I am 5' 11" and 12 stone

Sambostar

Drew_TNBD said:

I cycle between 70 and 100 miles a week. But I drink a lot. Probably more than Sambostar does.

So why do I get all the stick for having 7 pints down the pub every night plus a few more on weekends?  I knew I wasn't abnormal in the least. Men have done this shit for decades, the only difference is I can't handle my booze.

At least I don't touch wine, cider or spirits and it's only 4.5%.  A pint every quarter hour is my general rule of thumb.  This is why I am still lean 6'2" and 13 stone odd with no gut.  At 41 I've actually grown an inch in the last ten years as well.  It must be the real ale.  It's good for you.  Suppose wine and spirits have calories in them too?

One pint of 4.5% decent stuff has about 250 calories.  Two eggs fried in oil for breakfast have about 200 calories.  A bowl of porridge without milk (euw) has about 150 calories  Who wants to eat eggs or porridge for sustenance?  It's a no brainer.

Basically I hate being inside and can't concentrate sitting watching TV and that there is the trick to keeping slim I reckon.  Do something and do it all the time, don't just sit there unless you've been doing that something all day.

Think I'II go for a walk to the pub in a half hour or so.  Obviously, being stuck in a city centre not everyone has that privilege though, but if you do and only if you want to lose weight, then you only have yourself to blame I reckon,  which I don't think is the be all of being healthy.  Octatonic is right, you can be lean and packed with muscle but still seriously unhealthy.  Also,  say cross country or marathon running, if you are heavier built, you are carrying all that extra weight as well, so working your heart even harder.

People weren't meant to be that tall or that lean.  Look at your average SAS or Special Forces, they are all proper human height of 5'8" or 10" or something.  People built like me flake out in the cold and start fitting.  We're supposed to be a little tubby, its healthy.

Besides, extremely fat people couldn't handle my level of anxiety and insanity.  Possibly with the exception of Emp.

But over 40 it's harder as your metabolism slows down.  For most blokes it starts in their 30's.

Is Wolf from Gladiators really a good look? I donno, I think the Jury is out on that one.

marantz1300

I'm 5'11" and fat ,so perfect.

Nunogilberto

Up until 3 years ago when I had a spell of Ill health (work stress, run down, dizziness and post viral fatigue), I was around 13 to 14 stone and playing football once a week. I'm about 5' 10" tall. Since recovering from the health wobble, I've not done any exercise to speak of other than occasional housework etc (generally due to certain things bringing on dizzy spells). I'm now just over 18 stone and my waist size has crept up to a 42" (was 36").

I certainly need to get back into some sort of shape, as I get breathless climing the stairs these days... Plus my diet could be better...

Placidcasual79

octatonic said:

Penn and Teller did an interesting thing on 'Bullshit!' looking at how fitness and fatness are pretty separate.
Essentially it is possible to be a bit fat and yet quite fit/athletic.
It is possible to be thin and very unfit as well.

I don't have the facts to back that but - but defiantly personal experience. I play a lot of football....a couple of lads I play with have been pro and semi pro - now they've packed on the beef through drinking and eating but can do 90 minutes in reasonable style. I've got other mates - musicians and pot heads - who have six packs and not an ounce of flab on em' but couldn't run for 5 minutes even if the late garage was closing and they were out of Rizla.

quarky

Is that not cardiovascular endurance as opposed to muscular endurance though? And cardio improves much faster than muscle. 

So your friends with the beef have built up good CVE, while the pot heads haven't, but they could do quickly. 

I scoffed half a pack of Oreo's yesterday. Being able to do that kind of thing and still be lean is why I run..

fields5069

I'm 5'9" and 47. About 12 years ago I was 13 stone, started running and eventually hovered around 11 stone. Then I took up cycling to work and back 2-3 times a week,and if anything lost a bit more weight as in a good week I was using up 6000 calories. Then I knocked that on the head and forgot to start running again, so went up to 12 1/2 stone. I'm currently running again and battling what can only be described as a mild drinking habit which nevertheless ended up contributing to the start of flab. Now it's colder I'll be able to run at lunchtimes in the office, which helps as I can run with other people. I think I've lost my morning urge to run though, which complicates life a little.

slacker

I,m 6ft 1 and 13 3/4 stone I eat fairly healthily and cycle or run. I usually do 8 miles on the bike and 1-2 knees allowing.

It's a balance, I'm slightly overweight, slightly fit and slightly happy.

ESBlonde

It is probably more important to get the food intake right than it is to expend energy on machines that do nothing. 'Modern' food contains all kinds of preservatives as well as excess salt and fat. Fat in itself is not the problem so much as what type of fat. Sugar is pretty much a poor food type. The residues of Glyphosate in todays crops is starting to increase (particulary in the last 20 years) and build up in the human body is starting to take it's toll - we are yet to see all the nasty side effects. Animals that have been consuming more antibiotics in their short productive lives that we as humans will see in out extended lives. We then eat them!
You can look hench and still drop dead from a poor diet, it's less likely than if you are a sofa slob but you probably need to put the effort 60/40 into Diet then exercise.

The more out of shape you get, the harder it is to get back but it is worth it. Value your body it's the only one you have and no amount of money gets you a new one.

Remember we are all going to fit in a same size hole in the ground at the end.

I wish I'd started 20 years earlier.

DrJazzTap

I'm pretty fat atm. Need to get back on it. More so for my mental wellbeing. 

I used to cycle about 100 miles a week and i loved it. Then i got a swanky new car and met a lady and became lazy. 

I eat so/so. I haven't eaten meat or fish in five months. And I do feel better for that. 
I really need to get back on it. My job is shite at the moment. And I know some exercise would lift my spirits  I have some kettlebells, an elliptical trainer and my bike. So no excuse. I think watching a sports film once a week may help.

siraxeman

fields5069 said:

I'm 5'9" and 47. About 12 years ago I was 13 stone, started running and eventually hovered around 11 stone. Then I took up cycling to work and back 2-3 times a week,and if anything lost a bit more weight as in a good week I was using up 6000 calories

how did you manage to clock up 6k of calories ? How far was you running and cycling for that? The reason I ask is a FB friend of mine who posts about his cycling re the fitness app he's got on his phone goes cycling for an hour and posts up 1800 calories...then one time he did almost 2hrs and posted up 3100+ calories, I know how much harder running is by comparison and a mile running is only about 85-100 calories tops. I know on the treadmill in the gym 1k = 75 calories. 5k = 375 calories.....so his cycling app must be way out of whack or he's pulling a large caravan up a steep mountain to rack his silly amount of calories burned. I don't think he liked me telling him though lol. 1 hour of gruelling cario in the gym for me is only about 650 calories. 700 if I'm feeling extra sexy n all that. You are probably doing a whole lot more to get your 6k of calories burned.

fields5069

siraxeman said:

fields5069 said:

I'm 5'9" and 47. About 12 years ago I was 13 stone, started running and eventually hovered around 11 stone. Then I took up cycling to work and back 2-3 times a week,and if anything lost a bit more weight as in a good week I was using up 6000 calories

how did you manage to clock up 6k of calories ? How far was you running and cycling for that? The reason I ask is a FB friend of mine who posts about his cycling re the fitness app he's got on his phone goes cycling for an hour and posts up 1800 calories...then one time he did almost 2hrs and posted up 3100+ calories, I know how much harder running is by comparison and a mile running is only about 85-100 calories tops. I know on the treadmill in the gym 1k = 75 calories. 5k = 375 calories.....so his cycling app must be way out of whack or he's pulling a large caravan up a steep mountain to rack his sill amount of calories burned. I don't think he liked me telling him though lol. 1 hour of gruelling cario in the gym for me is only about 650 calories. 700 if I'm feeling extra sexy n all that.

It was a 60 mile round trip cycling, a max of 3 times per week. A lot of the time it was twice a week only though. Cycling calories burned varies with speed though, whereas running calories doesn't. 1 hour 40 of cycling was about 900 calories for me, 26 miles.

siraxeman

that's sounds more like it - my FB friends 3100 + in 2hr though? ridiculous! He did I think 29 miles in just under 2hrs for 3100+ calories. I'm sure he liked posting his rides...and believed his far fetched calorie burn.

I think everyone would agree mile to mile a run is FAR more taxing on the body and thus burns many more calories. Who could run 26 miles (a marathon!) not me...well not in any kind of decent time lol But cycling that distance would be very easy. Of course how quickly you'd do it would vary from person to person but I'd guess any able bodied person could do that on a bike..unlike running.

Drew_TNBD

Calorie calculators are woefully inaccurate. Even 900 for 26miles seems on the high side to me. I've basically been calling a 1:10 13mile ride 300 calories. Doing that twice in a day giving me a surplus of 600 calories. Four times a week then being 2400.

siraxeman

exactly and it all depends on body weight. A car pulling a caravan uses more fuel. So does a persons body/metabolism...more weight = more expenditure for the same movement.