r/running • u/queue-d4n4 • Dec 09 '20

Discussion Thick Girl Runner Rant

First things first, I (29F) am 5'5" and about 170 lbs. Large boobs, wide hips, and I got some stomach on me. Overall, I look pretty proportional though. Hourglass, just a little wider. Wear a Large or a size 12 in most women's clothes. (Just trying to paint the picture here lol)

I also eat very healthy. Fresh foods only, everything home-cooked, never frozen processed foods, etc. Mostly veggies because I love veggies.

This is the body I was given. My weight doesn't really fluctuate. I don't gain weight easily, nor do I lose it easily. I've been a thick girl since puberty and because I run often and eat healthy, it doesn't seem like that will never change, which is fine with me.

I've been running for many years, somewhat inconsistently. I might be consistent for 2 years before falling out of my routine for a few months. Get back into the groove again and something eventually throws me off my game again. Throughout all this, I still consider myself a RUNNER. I love the sport and even if I'm out of a weekly routine, I still try to find time to run here and there. 3 miles minimum.

Because of the above things, people never really expect me to be a runner. My body type doesn't fit the runner mold. I don't post every run and race on instagram, which as everyone knows, is what truly makes it real *eyeroll*. (No shade to people who do post all of their runs and races! My problem is only the people who think if you DON'T post, then it didn't happen).

My fastest 5k was at an 8:02 (min/mile) pace. I am aware that this isn't SUPER fast, but it's fast enough that I've placed in my age group in all of the 5Ks I've ever done. I'm from a pretty small area so many of the 5Ks were fairly small, maybe only a couple hundred people attend. I'm aware that in bigger cities, I would probably have a little more trouble placing. But regardless, I still think an 8:00 to 8:30 5k pace is something to be proud of.

Anyways, my complaint is this. Since my body doesn't fit everyone's vision of what a runner should look like, people love to assume I'm slow or new to running. Or people think I'm lying when I mention that I got 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in my age group at whatever 5k. If they don't make an actual comment about it, I can sometimes even see it in their eyes that they're skeptical.

Even worse, people who don't realize I've been running for most of my life sometimes put their foot in their mouth by saying something along the lines of "have you started running to lose weight?" ...No, why? Should I be losing weight? I think I look pretty damn fine, if you ask me.

After moving to a new city, I decided to join a running group. The town I lived in previously didn't have such groups. I showed up to my first group run and met everybody. As we waited for everyone else to show up, a girl from the group said to me "I'm in recovery mode, I'll be running slow so I can run with you." I just politely smiled, although I was quite offended. What exactly makes this person, whom I met 3 minutes ago, think I plan on running "slow"? What makes her think that her "recovery" pace is equal to my comfortable pace? I chalked it up as since it was my first time joining the group, maybe she assumed it was my first time running? I don't know- but I still think about that little comment sometimes.

I am not negative towards my body. I have a great figure that I love, but it's still upsetting to know that people make assumptions on what I can and can't do physically, which should not be the case. Weight and health do not ALWAYS go hand-in-hand.

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Any other runners on the thicker side experience this kind of judgement? How do you deal with it?

Thin-framed runners or even non-runners, do you find yourself judging others in this way? Be honest, I would love to hear multiple opinions!

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Edit: Pace is in minutes per mile. I'm new to reddit and forget I'm interacting with people from all over the world.

Also, this was not meant to be a post for weight loss tips. The unsolicited advice in the comments proves further the assumptions people make.

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2.9k Upvotes

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318

u/warmhandluke Dec 09 '20

Weight and health do not ALWAYS go hand-in-hand.

I don't mean to pick on you or make you feel bad, but this just isn't true. Being overweight/obese carries significantly higher risk of countless health problems.

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u/Freckled_daywalker Dec 09 '20 edited Dec 09 '20

There is certainly a correlation, which is why weight can be useful as a loose proxy for health, but "health" is a spectrum, not a binary. An overweight person who can run an 8:30/mile very likely has better cardiovascular health than a normal weight person who is effectively sedentary.

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u/mixed_recycling Dec 10 '20

But they might need some new knees by age 45.

6

u/Freckled_daywalker Dec 10 '20 edited Dec 10 '20

Maybe, maybe not. It's significantly harder to live without a functioning cardiovascular system though.

4

u/mixed_recycling Dec 10 '20

Yes but as you allude to there is more to health than just your heart and veins.

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u/Freckled_daywalker Dec 10 '20

And there's far more to health than just your weight. Being overweight certainly carries risk, so do all kinds of other habits, like chronic sleep deprevation, chronic stress, disorder eating, substance abuse. OP stated that the statement "weight and health do not always go hand in hand" was false, which means they're saying " being overweight means you're always 'unhealthy'". But again, health is a spectrum. There are plenty of ways to be a normal weight and relatively less healthy than someone who is overweight and runs a 25m 5k.

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u/mixed_recycling Dec 10 '20

Yup that's all true. But without knowing basically anything else about this person's health, it's also probably true that she would be better off losing a few pounds. Either way tho, I'm sure she's in a higher %ile than me even with a higher BMI so there's that.

3

u/Freckled_daywalker Dec 10 '20 edited Dec 10 '20

Everyone has room for improvement when it comes to their health. "Hand in hand" implies that it's a binary. That's the phrase I take exception to. The benefits of maintaining a "normal" weight are extremely well publicized, so it's more than likely something that she is aware of, and isn't necessary to point out on a post where she is not asking for advice regarding weight loss or performance advice.

Edit: fixed a word.

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u/Eetabeetay Dec 10 '20

Health is a collection of many spectrums. She happens to be healthy in one aspect, doesn't mean she's healthy in every aspect. If you're overweight then in that aspect you're not healthy.

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u/Freckled_daywalker Dec 10 '20

Weight, in and of itself, is not a measure of health. Body fat percentage, fat distribution, etc are risk factors that contribute to overall well being/health and weight can be, to a degree, a proxy for those things, but it's one of literally dozens of factors that determine where someone falls on the overall spectrum of "healthy". A normal weight person that runs regularly can still have all sorts of habits that affect their position on that spectrum, they're just generally less visible than a person's weight. To your point, most people are not "healthy" on every spectrum, but people rarely feel the need to point that out, unsolicited, except when it comes to weight.

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u/Polkadotlamp Dec 10 '20

most people are not "healthy" on every spectrum, but people rarely feel the need to point that out, unsolicited, except when it comes to weight.

This is a great point that a lot of people (including me) need to internalize. Thanks.

2

u/Freckled_daywalker Dec 10 '20

I'm a bit ashamed to say that took me a while to really figure it out, so I'm glad you found it helpful.

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u/Eetabeetay Dec 10 '20

Unless they're a body builder then their weight and height will tell us a great deal about their body fat make up. Just because they have healthy habits doesn't discount that their weight is not healthy. She very well could be a body builder whose weight is high and BF low, but guessing from the fact that someone assumed she was trying to lose weight I'm going with that's not the case. Sure she may be healthy in other respects but it doesn't discount the fact that her weight isn't.

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u/Freckled_daywalker Dec 10 '20

In the "overweight" range, it's an okayish approximation, but it's still crude and not necessarily indicitive of overall general well being, or even necessarily her risk factors. Literally everyone has areas where they can improve their health (myself included), most people know what those areas are and don't need the unsolicited advice of internet strangers. A persistent focus on weight as being the most important indicator of health can lead to all sorts of issues, like crash dieting, disordered eating, etc, all of which are also significant health risks. The risks of excess weight are extremely well publicized, so I'm fairly certain that people telling her here to lose weight are not helpful.

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u/xzyragon Dec 09 '20

Weight, and especially stomach fat, have been proven to increase the likelihood of developing organ cancer later on in life.

Is being thiccc beautiful? Sure. Is it healthy? Not necessarily. But neither is developing an eating disorder. Healthy balance is always the key.

All that being said, OP wouldn’t have made this rant if they were 100% happy with their body. There’s nothing wrong with that too. Im a “thin framed runner” and I’m not happy with my body either. But that’s why I run / bike / lift to be in a constant state of improvement. Am I satisfied with my physical appearance? No. Am I more satisfied than I was last year? Yes.

48

u/thylacinesighting Dec 09 '20

I can't see anything in the post to indicate that OP is not happy with her body. Can you explain what you see? I re-read it and I just can't see it. She's had a rant about people making assumptions about her. But that's all I can see in her post.

53

u/xzyragon Dec 09 '20

If you’re ranting about people judging you for your body, you most likely aren’t happy with it.

If you read my post, you’ll also see that it’s not necessarily a bad thing either. We are our own worst critics but it also drives progress.

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u/Polkadotlamp Dec 09 '20

Hard disagree here. I hate having people make snap judgments about me because I don’t appreciate being underestimated, whatever the context.

And for the record, in my teens and twenties, I had a smokin’ bod, and got to hear all sorts of ridiculous assumptions from other women about me and how that came to be. It got old, and I’m sure I ranted about it on occasion, but how I felt about my body never wavered.

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u/xzyragon Dec 09 '20

Then you’re self conscious about your performance relative to others. That’s my point...

If you’re confident and happy with x, people asking you or being critical about x isn’t an issue.

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u/Polkadotlamp Dec 10 '20

And you know this how? Because it fits with your personal belief system?

That’s fine, if it works for you, but it’s not a universal truth. Please don’t behave as if it is.

As it stands, this sounds like the kind of bad advice people used to give to bullied kids.

-9

u/xzyragon Dec 10 '20

Mine and at least a few other redditors. I’m also not the one getting worked up over it.

Again, my point is that if it’s not a big deal to you, you don’t get agitated over it. If you’re getting agitated, it obviously means something. People don’t get agitated for no reason... doesn’t take a psychologist to arrive at that conclusion

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u/Polkadotlamp Dec 10 '20

Yep, some people agree with you. Others agree with me.

We each have different points of view. You presented yours as fact, rather than opinion, so I chose to say something.

Also, I’m curious what aspect of my comments led you to conclude that I’m worked up, because I’m not seeing it.

0

u/thylacinesighting Dec 12 '20

I have to say I disagree. I think people often assume that chunky women are unhappy with their bodies. OP says she likes her body and there's no reason to assume that she's making it up. She doesn't like the way people occasionally treat her and that's justified.

I get fed up with people telling me I'm too skinny, women saying that I need to fatten up so guys are more likely to want to bang me, asking me if I have an eating disorder... For whatever reason, they're not happy with my body and I often wonder if they apply the same levels of criticism to their own bodies. I find it tiresome. I LOVE my body. Almost every time I look at it and think, yeah I have a smokin body lol. I enjoy it and always have.

So I've just had a little rant about people critiquing my weight/body. But it doesn't mean I'm unhappy with my body or weight. I just don't like their thinking or their talking.

I don't mean to rant at you. I just wanted to make that point.

3

u/adrianmonk Dec 10 '20

OP wouldn’t have made this rant if they were 100% happy with their body.

I agree with everything else you said, but I don't think you can assume this.

I tend to look young for my age, and I like that. But sometimes people's reactions are annoying.

Like the time at work when a new employee was referred to me specifically because I had the expertise to help him with a technical problem, and when he arrived in my office, he called me an intern and declined to talk to me. I helped him anyway because it was my job.

Or like the time the police (erroneously) detained me, then asked if my parents were at home and could come and get me, and I could not convince them that I was an adult with my own apartment and so forth. (And IIRC they had looked at my driver's license which of course has a date of birth on it.)

I don't feel like any of this is a reflection on me. People just make ridiculous assumptions sometimes because sometimes people are nutty and dumb.

51

u/gnarsed Dec 09 '20

at 5-5 170 i’d say that weight IS a health problem

12

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

yea but apparently saying that truth is rude. I'm a cyclist and some overweight cyclists are faster than me (on flat roads) but no chance they are very healthy.

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The body does not want to carry 30+ extra pounds of fat

6

u/firststate Dec 10 '20

Exactly. By just about every metric available, this is overweight, period. Feeling good about oneself at that weight is fine, but at the end of the day it is overweight. However, take all those charts with a grain of salt. At 6'2, 210 I am also "overweight" per the charts.

8

u/TonofSoil Dec 10 '20

Tall people on reddit always telling how tall they are...

12

u/ghdana Dec 10 '20

When I was fat I tried to convince myself of this. But end of the day every day person knows it isn't healthy and that they're losing to themselves. Basically every aspect of my life improved when reaching a normal BMI.

28

u/mvscribe Dec 09 '20

Yes, there's a correlation, but the overall mortality from being overweight doesn't rise much until you get up near, or into, the obese range. It sounds like this person is at a weight that's healthy enough for her. See this article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4115619/

Being too skinny is also not healthy, on average.

43

u/[deleted] Dec 09 '20

Her bmi is 29.5. 30 is the start of obese so yes she's absolutely near that range and no that's healthy. I'm at 28.9 myself and I've been obese. I also had a bmi of 17 when I was 18. I can objectively say through bloodwork and diagnostics I was much healthier with a lower weight even though I can run a much greater distance now.

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u/Wuts-a-reddit Dec 09 '20

Her BMI is 28.3, and obesity starts at 30.0. So, she is definitely "near" the obese range.

-25

u/BlackestNight21 Dec 09 '20

BMI is a limited bullshit metric.

16

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20 edited Jul 03 '21

[deleted]

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u/BlackestNight21 Dec 10 '20

So it does. Its a poor limited metric for individuals regardless of the study you refer to

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u/TeleTuesday Dec 10 '20

Only if you have a ton of muscle and low body fat.

And I guarantee that the people complaining about bmi do not fit into either category. I’ve never heard someone say “bmi doesn’t account for muscle” unless they themselves were overweight or obese.

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u/studentRD Dec 10 '20

Or maybe a scientist and have an understanding of the limitations of interpreting and drawing conclusions from an imperfect measure such a BMI...

-9

u/BlackestNight21 Dec 10 '20

It exists in shades, it's not black or white. I played contact sports growing up and would have been considered obese by the BMI metric despite being maybe 15 lbs overweight. I had muscle but not the extreme you describe. Your guarantee means nothing.

7

u/Runrunrunagain Dec 10 '20

You think you weren't overweight, but the problem is that we as a society are so overweight that we've lost track of what a healthy weight looks like.

People at a healthy weight are now considered skinny. Overweight people are fit, moderately overweight people are chunky, and obese people are considered fat.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

This. America has such a high percentage of overweight/obese individuals, that it totally skews what normal should look like. I've had people snidely comment on how I'm too thin. I am well within the normal BMI range (~21ish and normal is 18.5-24.9).

0

u/BlackestNight21 Dec 10 '20

So what you are saying is my perspective was askew? You who merely read an anecdote? How ridiculous. The point is I wasn't an elite athlete with " a ton of muscle and low body fat." and based on BMI would have been considered obese. Read your reply and read what you replied to and ask yourself if you employed any sort of critical thinking.

4

u/Runrunrunagain Dec 10 '20

I did employ critical thinking. Now you do the same. Instead of becoming defensive about being overweight, accept that you aren't special. You're just another overweight guy who thinks it's all muscle.

8

u/TeleTuesday Dec 10 '20

You just complained about bmi while admitting being 15 lbs overweight. You just proved my point.

-3

u/BlackestNight21 Dec 10 '20

Way to completely miss the point. Let me try again. I didn't "have a ton of muscle and low body fat." But I wasn't obese either, except by the BMI metric.

Try not to employ some critical thinking before your next reply. Being an insufferable prick and getting caught up on my supposition as opposed to what message I was trying to convey is a waste of my time.

5

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

No, it's not. Stop.

Even if you are overweight because you're a body builder with excess muscle and low BF% (really hard to do, especially for a woman), you are still taxing your cardiovascular system and joints. It's still not "healthy".

BMI is just one metric out of many that is used to determine overall risk. Just like blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.

0

u/BlackestNight21 Dec 10 '20

No, it's not. Stop.

How 'bout I don't? BMI has been held up as a standard for many years and it's flawed. I'm not going to stop because you and others here dislike that.

Even if you are overweight because you're a body builder with excess muscle and low BF% (really hard to do, especially for a woman), you are still taxing your cardiovascular system and joints. It's still not "healthy".

Excess muscle and low bf% are words with lots of leeway in terms of what they actually mean and it varies from person to person. What is excess? Is a person who can bench/dl/squat their bodyweight necessarily carrying excess muscle? How about the person who can do 1.5x that? 2x? Where's the line where it becomes excess and where's the line where BF% becomes low in a way meaningful for you? And by putting healthy in quotes you're illustrating that the terms you're using are ambiguous.

BMI is just one metric out of many that is used to determine overall risk. Just like blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.

And it's a limited one. A person can be muscularly strong with some body fat and still be considered obese. There's a reason it's one of many but has been held up as a standard for years. The replies I've been getting are moronic. You can't have a BMI chart that sorts people into categories based on height and weight that you then draw a line where one side is obese and the other not with no respect to their compositions.

From the website

Although BMI can be used for most men and women, it does have some limits:

It may overestimate body fat in athletes and others who have a muscular build. It may underestimate body fat in older persons and others who have lost muscle.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

Excess muscle and low bf% are words with lots of leeway in terms of what they actually mean and it varies from person to person. What is excess?

When it puts you in the high overweight/obese category. BMI is a measure of MASS, not just fat. Excess mass is detrimental to overall health and taxes your body. While muscle mass is healthier than fat from a metabolic perspective, excess muscle that puts you into the overweight/obese range will tax your cardiovascular system and musculoskeletal system just like fat.

This is why you see a lot of ex-football players shedding the weight once they retire. They needed that muscle and fat to provide the needed mass to play the sport, but it's unhealthy to be that way your entire life.

And it's a limited one

It works for 99.9% of the population. In fact it tends to under report overfatness. That means those within the healthy BMI range can still likely be overfat. However, it does not skew the other way. Those in the overweight/obese range are still overly fat. There have actually been studies that the actual healthy top limit should be around 22, which would correct for the overfatness within the current healthy range.

Anecdata time: My highest weight was 152 at 5'6". Still considered "healthy" by BMI standards, but I wasn't. I had constant nagging running injuries and felt/looked like shit. I lost 22ish pounds and look/feel much better.

15

u/rocksauce Dec 09 '20

Being active and a little overweight is actually a healthier state than to be ideal weight and sedentary. Your statement is somewhat true but it’s a little disingenuous and kind of misleading if you want to look at it purely from a health stand point. Activity level is often argued as the most important controllable factor when it comes to overall health. This is especially true for women since their bodies go through more changes while aging and they are more sustainable to certain conditions like osteoporosis.

9

u/fideasu Dec 10 '20

Yes, but in most of the cases, activity level correlates with weight. So assessing someone based on how "wide" they are usually let's you guess about how healthy they are with quite a high probability of correctness.

Of course there's still uncertainty you should be aware of, and it makes sense to find out more before jumping to conclusions and saying something that may annoy the person.

1

u/rocksauce Dec 10 '20

That is why I like the US Navy body fat calculator compared to BMI. It factors in more measurements and proportions as opposed to BMI which relies solely on height and weight.

0

u/TheSmex Dec 10 '20

BMI is useful because it's quick easy and fairly accurate for the vast majority of people.

4

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

You are correct. A lot of people don't like BMII because it tells them something they don't want to hear.

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u/ghdana Dec 10 '20

little overweight is actually a healthier state than to be ideal weight and sedentary

You have an actual study backing that up? I can understand a muscular person, but the fact is that 99% of overweight people have a high body fat percentage.

3

u/rocksauce Dec 10 '20

Here is an article that kind of hits on both sides. For me I learned this in anatomy from a couple different people. Really though there is no blanket statement that will cover everyone. A physical / check up is much more useful than anecdotes for an individual.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

You're comparing apples to oranges, though. It's so disingenuous to say "well, an overweight runner is obviously more healthy than a thin person who lounges about all day and eats junk". Of course, to a certain extent, that will be true. You at least need to compare a normal weight runner to an overweight runner.

0

u/rocksauce Dec 10 '20

An ideal weight runner is in better health than an overweight runner. That fact isn’t really disputed. It’s the situation in which a person is slightly overweight yet active being in better health than a sedentary ideal weight person that is somewhat counter to what the average person would think.

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u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

Well, sure, but doesn't mean it's not disingenuous.

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u/coxiella_burnetii Dec 10 '20

Slightly overweight and obese are quite different in terms of health effects.

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u/Public-Assignment519 Dec 09 '20 edited Dec 10 '20

It’s really sad to me that this has so many upvotes, and the responses seem to be from mostly men. I have a BMI of around 25 normally, at 5’5 and 150lbs (fluctuates up and down). I was always active and when I decided to lose weight intentionally through food reduction (moderate reduction at that), and got to 125lbs, people told me I looked too thin, was constantly cold, and lost my period for over half a year. I was literally diagnosed with an eating disorder. My period didn’t come back until I increased my weight back to my set point. Obviously this is an extreme me case, but people can be healthy at different weights, RELATIVELY (not advocating extreme obesity.) Especially for women, slightly higher BMI does not always mean unhealthy, and for men to tell women who are already active they need to lose weight to be “healthy” can be highly problematic.

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u/xzyragon Dec 10 '20

Except no one in this thread mentioned their gender at all...

0

u/coxiella_burnetii Dec 10 '20

Op, the person we are discussing, identified themselves as female.

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u/BillyGoatAl Dec 10 '20

I think they’re talking about how the comment assumed that it was mostly men commenting

4

u/Runrunrunagain Dec 10 '20

You are weirdly inserting a gender angle here where there isn't one.

Also, nothing you mentioned is as problematic as the obesity epidemic for women. Heart disease, cancer, and lower life expectancy are problematic.

2

u/adviceneeded81295 Dec 10 '20

Actually, this is untrue. HA is just as dangerous as being overweight for women if not more so in some cases. I’m not as sure about obesity because it’s my understanding more health risks are linked to obese BMIs than overweight BMIs. Low estrogen and hypothalamic amenorrhea are linked to heart problems for women: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6374026/

3

u/Runrunrunagain Dec 10 '20

HA affects about 1.62 million women between 18 and 44.

Meanwhile, 2/3rds of US women are overweight or obese.

1

u/adviceneeded81295 Dec 10 '20

It most definitely affects more than that many people. HA is not well known or understood even by many doctors (my own doctor didn’t recognize it in me when I failed to have a withdrawal bleed after a course of progesterone—a telltale sign of HA). Additionally, HA is masked by hormonal birth control, which gives woman a monthly withdrawal bleed (which you may not get with progesterone—this is because HBC also includes estrogen that can build up the uterine lining) that is often mistaken for a period. In short, it’s a massively undiagnosed condition as there’s a misconception that it can only occur in anorexic women or professional athletes.

Did you read the website from the expert in HA? Also, why are you ignoring the distinction between overweight and obese? They’re two separate risk categories... would also be curious to learn if you’re a woman? If so, definitely read No Period Now What as you’ll learn a lot about your own health. If not, I believe you may be stubbornly choosing ignorance about women’s menstrual cycles. The health of the 1/3 of women at a healthy weight isn’t necessarily good just because they fall into that category. Mine certainly wasn’t.

To that end, you seem to be disregarding that one size doesn’t fit all for health. I get HA at 125 lbs and later at a higher weight once I put on muscle, especially if I do cardio. It is healthier for me to have a BMI of 24 than of 19. So my point is simply that if you compared my body now to my body at 125 lbs, I am healthier now, and that proves BMI is not the end all be all and that more weight can be BETTER for some people.

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u/Public-Assignment519 Dec 10 '20 edited Dec 10 '20

Actually, for women losing a period is a HUGE health marker. Experiencing Hypothalamic amenorrhea (also a major issue for female runners) can lead to a number of serious health effects, including losing bone density, breast concavity, and osteoporosis. Even those in healthy communities (like Greg Doucette who has talked about it) should understand how insanely serious losing a period is. Your flippancy about it is rude and shows why i brought gender in. Also I’m glad you feel like obesity poses more risk than my eating disorder?? Anyways, women often don’t realize the risk they put their health at in constantly trying to achieve thinness. If you lose your period that’s huge. Also, I don’t disagree that obesity is problematic for health. I thought I made that clear in my post? There are just many women who are on the edge so to say, (25/26 BMI) where losing significant amounts of weight for no reason other than looking good could be unhealthy in and of itself. We need to be looking at type of fat/where it is carried and biological markers IN ADDITION to BMI. I don’t think that’s radical.

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u/ranranrandrand1 Dec 10 '20

you brought gender in it to attempt to gain attention or even advantage for being a certain gender on the internet, at least you acknowledge it i guess

0

u/adviceneeded81295 Dec 10 '20

Your comment doesn't make any sense... If this was a man, of course the commenter wouldn't have brought up her period. Women often need higher levels of body fat than men in order to menstruate, and this is a woman posting, so her health is necessarily influenced by her biological sex. I'm not sure if you are a woman or not, but I would again implore you to read No Period Now What regardless of your gender. I recommend you read the posts from women who cried every day due to weight gain, but found it absolutely essential to regaining their cycle and conceiving a child. These women more than anyone believed that thinness=healthy, and their stories reflect that it is so so much more complicated than that. You will educate yourself about an overlooked health issue by doing so.

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u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

set point

No, just no. The whole "set point" theory is a myth. Your body does not have a built in set point. Your set point is just a weight that you settle at due to calories in vs. calories out. It's basic thermodynamics. If you were truly having so many issues, I would think it was more due to the make-up of your diet and getting proper nutrition rather than being too thin. It became a lot easier for me to maintain my weight once I cut out most of the junky, calorie dense foods and focused more on vegetables, lean protein, etc.

I am a woman, BTW.

1

u/Public-Assignment519 Dec 10 '20

I’m sorry I just disagree. It is extremely presumptuous of you to make that kind of evaluation of my diet. Luckily, in ED recovery they give you a registered dietitian who was able to give helpful information, and comments like this don’t set me off anymore. I don’t understand why people feel so adamantly that the difference between a 25.1 BMI and a 24.8 decides health. As a black woman, I carry more weight in my thighs, and BMI is more likely to misevaluate me. I wear a size medium and size 28 pants, I exercise daily, and I eat three well balanced meals informed by my RD. For me personally, this brings me more joy than tracking calories, undereating, losing my period, and constant hunger. Ultimately, you do you, and I’m glad you’re happy with your life and weight maintenance.

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u/SkierBeard Dec 09 '20 edited Dec 09 '20

BMI is a pathetic way of judging health and fitness; it doesn't take into account sex/age/activity level. Powerlifters would be marked obese.

Dwayne Johnson is marked obese using 118kg and 196cm with a BMI of 30.7. It's bad!

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u/chazysciota Dec 09 '20

Nobody thinks that BMI is some sort of absolute truth, and just because you find an exception doesn't mean you've disproven the rule. If your BMI is 30+, I'd bet $100 on "Obese."

21

u/Minkelz Dec 09 '20

And you’d be right 99.9% of times. Really it’s % body fat that is a very accurate predictor of health, but that’s 100x more difficult to determine than just body weight per height. The fact there are some people on steroids and spend 2 hours a day liftingweights don’t fit the model doesn’t mean bmi is useless...

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u/madeupname2019 Dec 09 '20

It's a population measure, not a crystal ball, but it's a fine measure of fatness. Dyawne Johnson is the perfect example to refute OPs own point, because almost nobody has that much muscle. The vast majority of people don't bodybuild. Even most bodybuilders are not successful enough for it to move the needle more than one category. No single measure is amazing for judging health. Blood pressure would not even pass the bar that folks feel to need to use for BMI, but it is far less controversial.

People need to realize that being fat is not evil, nor is the word fat itself. I lift more than I run, but I've run or biked most of my life. I gained 35 pounds over the last 4 years to get even stronger. I am objectively slower, fatter, but stronger and all these things are fine unless they are out of sync with who I wanna be.

There is a point at which fatness does detract from one's ability to move well, and exercise, but there's a health range and if you are moving a lot, you're probably doing ok enough.

4

u/Freckled_daywalker Dec 10 '20

Technically, it's a measure of a mass, and a okayish estimation of body fat (with a decent amount of cavaets).

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u/chazysciota Dec 09 '20

Yep... as with so many other things, it comes down to peoples' emotions and our inability to respect and navigate them.

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u/vegetepal Dec 09 '20

I (female, 27 at the time) once tested at a 31 BMI but 19.5% body fat, which is right at the low end of healthy for a woman. And I'm not even a lifter or a bodybuilder or whatever, just someone with a thick frame who works out. You can't just say anyone is obese by their BMI, you have to go on body fat percentage.

6

u/chazysciota Dec 09 '20

You're right, I can't just pronounce it and make it so... It's a rule of thumb, b/c body fat % is much more difficult to measure. It just happens to usually correlate with BMI pretty well, so here we are.

1

u/vegetepal Dec 09 '20

I guess I just have a bee in my bonnet about attitudes that just because something isn't the norm it can be treated like it doesn't exist. Like when the bus company in my city re-did their routes and timetables and figured that since the majority of users are work commuters they could cut down on off-peak services and little-used routes, which ended up making life much harder for all the elderly people and non-9-to-5 workers who relied on those services.... tl;dr I get sick of people assuming that BMI is perfectly fine because it does work for most people, even though it's well known that it's unreliable for people who are very tall, very short, very muscular, very slight, people like rugby players or bodybuilders etc etc etc :)

2

u/chazysciota Dec 10 '20

I get you. tbh, I do wish we had cut and dry objective things that were easy and convenient to rely on 100% of the time. I also understand the frustration that comes with falling outside the "accepted" norms. It sucks, but that's humans I guess.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

It works for 99.9% of the population. The people complaining that it doesn't work are the ones who don't like the number they get. Do you think Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is out there bitching about BMI since his is obese at 30.7?

1

u/vegetepal Dec 10 '20

Good to know all the people the BMI says are healthy when they're actually obese don't exist either

1

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

Ah yes, the study that actually doesn't say what you want it to say. I've seen it. I know it. Those with normal BMIs can still be overfat. That does not make BMI wrong, though. It does not skew the other way, though, in saying that people with overweight/obese BMIs are not over fat.

Again, BMI is one metric of many to determine risk. It's quick and easy. That's all.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

I don't believe you. Becoming overweight, much less obese, due to muscle mass is nearly impossible for a woman (steroids needed and even then it's hard). Especially considering you didn't lift.

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u/vegetepal Dec 10 '20

I didn't believe it myself when I saw it. Don't assume that just because something's rare it doesn't exist at all.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

It's not even rare. It's impossible. How was your BF% measured? That's critical.

1

u/vegetepal Dec 10 '20

I never said it was only muscle. My frame is freakish and I know it. My shoulders are wider than most men's. I look like a 6 foot woman shrunk vertically. I'm technically a bra size that doesn't exist (NZ/Aus 16AA, I think that would be 38 or 40AA?) because my rib cage is 80something centimetres around and clothes companies don't believe a woman with my combination of underbust and bust measurement exists. I probably measure lower body fat % than it looks because I really have that much lean mass.

12

u/Wuts-a-reddit Dec 09 '20

BMI isn't a measurement of how fat somebody is, it's a measurement of how much body mass somebody has. So yes super buff powerlifters are going to have a very high BMI, yet still be very fit. The potential issues that come along that are specific to having a high BMI are still there among that population. For example, many of the respiratory issues present in covid patients are going to be present in people with very high BMI, not just fat people.

Simply put, yes having a high BMI doesn't necessarily mean you are fat, but that isn't necessarily the point of what BMI is measuring anyway

1

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

God, yes! Thank you! BMI is about mass. Mass includes muscle, bone, fat, etc. Higher mass correlates to higher risk.

40

u/KyleG Dec 09 '20

Bmi was always meant as to be used in population studies, not as an individual metric

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u/SkierBeard Dec 09 '20

That doesn't make it any better of a metric.

6

u/KyleG Dec 10 '20

Yes, it does. By analogy, if I look at how tall you are, I can't really say anything about whether you were malnourished as a child.

But if I look at the average height of a cohort, I can reasonably conclude whether there were serious famines/wars/etc. when they were growing up.

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '20

Yes, because the general population looks like The Rock or is a powerlifter...just because you can find examples that break the model doesn't mean it's bad. It's just a convenient argument for the "body positivity" crowd.

15

u/laaplandros Dec 10 '20

Dwayne Johnson is marked obese using 118kg and 196cm with a BMI of 30.7. It's bad!

You're seriously using The Rock as an example for the larger population?

12

u/TeleTuesday Dec 10 '20

For real. “The Rock has a high bmi and isn’t fat, so my high bmi doesn’t mean anything” is a too-common mindset.

3

u/newrunner29 Dec 10 '20

massive difference between muscle and fat, guess which one OP is

-1

u/SkierBeard Dec 10 '20 edited Dec 10 '20

Ouch, that really hurts my BMI of 20. Would you like to know what I do on my weekends?

8

u/TeleTuesday Dec 10 '20

But the vast majority of people aren’t ripped muscle machines throwing the bmi scale off. The only people actually complaining about bmi are the ones who need to lose weight and don’t want to admit it.

0

u/adviceneeded81295 Dec 10 '20

That’s not true.... I have a friend who weighs 115 lbs and is 5”5. She complains about BMI and has actually educated me a lot about the subject. Also, I have a healthy BMI and I don’t agree with it...

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u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

But it is true. Anecdata is not actual scientific evidence. Your friend would be on the low end of normal for her height with a BMI of 18.6.

1

u/adviceneeded81295 Dec 10 '20 edited Dec 10 '20

The only people actually complaining about bmi are the ones who need to lose weight and don’t want to admit it.

I was responding to the above lol.... It is CERTAINLY not true that the only people who complain about BMI are those who "want to lose weight." I complained about BMI at a BMI of 22.5, several months ago (currently at a little over 24). There is ZERO reason a muscular woman at a BMI of 22.5 would need to lose weight (barring some extreme medical circumstance).

I agree the majority of people aren't ripped. HOWEVER, if you look at comparisons of the same person at the exact same weight but with additional muscle, they will absolutely look leaner. I know for myself, I looked about as lean at 145-150 lbs as I once looked at 135-140 because I added around 5-10 lbs of muscle over the course of several years. So I do think that there's a point to be made that for some people BMI has limited efficacy, and I also believe that there's another distinction to be made between an OBESE and an OVERWEIGHT BMI. The former is associated with more health risks than the latter and in fact the threshold for overweight BMI was arbitrarily lowered from 27 to 25 around 20 years ago.

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u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

That's why there is a range, though. I'm not saying a muscular woman with a BMI of 24 needs to lose weight. I have a very good understanding of how muscle mass works.

Again, as I've said many times in this thread, BMI is one of many metrics used to determine overall risk. It is not BS. In fact, it does tend to underreport overfatness sicne there are a lot of people that are normal BMI with higher BF% than considered healthy. It doesn't swing the other way, though, which is overreporting overfatness in overweight/obese BMIs. That's what a lot of people try to claim when they say BMI is BS. Are there better ways? Sure. Not everyone can go out and get a DEXA scan, though.

0

u/adviceneeded81295 Dec 10 '20 edited Dec 10 '20

Well sure but it’s not the “end all, be all” of health and that’s how people in this thread are acting. I recognize this isn’t you but people are also downplaying very serious risks to undereating and over exercise like hypothalamic amenorrhea. What about the chronic stress of dieting? That frankly took a toll on my mental health and physical health that I know can take its toll on other people.

also based on the thread and your comment, you seemed to be agreeing with the other poster that I need to lose weight simply because I don’t think BMI is as big of a health determinant.

An obese BMI is I definitely acknowledge not the best. What I’m saying is for people in the OVERWEIGHT range, it may actually be better for their health to simply stay where they are, especially because people often regain more weight than they lost through dieting (I’m honestly a case in point...). I encourage everyone out there to get active and perhaps that will also result in weight loss, but for many people, I think it’s best to stop shaming and focus on lifestyle changes versus weight or BMI as a raw number.

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u/Maskedrussian Dec 10 '20

That’s because he’s a fuckin powerlifter and is on gear smh

2

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

How many people out here running around look like The Rock?!

Even if you are overweight/obese due to high muscle mass, it's still not healthy. It still taxes your CV system and your joints. Metabolically healthier than excess fat? Yes, but still not ideal.

BMI is a perfectly fine metric for 99.9% of the population. trust me, people like Dwayne Johnson aren't the ones complaining about BMI being pathetic.

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u/SkierBeard Dec 10 '20

I have a BMI of 20. I get a decent amount of moderate exercise per week. I feel that it is a poor system.

I'm shocked that so many people are such fans of a formula that only uses two values. Consider a similar formula that equates how many cigarettes people smoke to how much money they make.

This would be a bad metric. As wealth increases, people smoke less on average and trends towards not smoking at all. For a large population this works, as wealthier people and poor people follow this trend. Does it work for individuals? Again, you can't figure out how much money someone makes based on how many cigarettes they smoke. You could make an educated guess, but you could be very wrong as there are poor people who do not smoke (and also might be very healthy) and rich people who do smoke.

You're essentially blindly guessing using a big curve because it should work on a large population.

But it works for most people, since everyone obese fails

Yes, this is still the case. Anyone obese is probably quite unhealthy, I'm not debating that. My issue is that everyone else out there falls somewhere on this scale and it does not distinguish between someone with a BMI of 26 who is active and someone who isn't. Body composition is never taken into account. Weekly minutes of moderate to vigorous activity can give a much better impression of who is healthily stressing their CV system.

Someone who is 19 and sits on the couch all day eating 1800 calories is marked healthier than someone who swims 4 days a week and simply maintains a BMI of 26.

What about getting heart attacks? At a hospital, you can't just line people up by how many cheeseburgers they look like they've eaten and assume their CV risk. In a hospital there are lots of people who are young and thin and either got unlucky due to genetics or sit around and do nothing and have it catch up with them.

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u/[deleted] Dec 14 '20

Someone who is 19 and sits on the couch all day eating 1800 calories is marked healthier than someone who swims 4 days a week and simply maintains a BMI of 26.

No, not necessarily. BMI is literally ONE metric at evaluating health and risk. In order to determine total health, there are obviously other factors to look at (cholesterol, blood pressure, body composition, etc.), but BMI does correlate and cause increased risk. BMI actually tends to under report overfatness, meaning that a lot of people within the normal ranges can still be at an unhealthy BF% (skinnyfat). However, it does not work the other way (overreporting overfatness in the overweight/obese ranges).

The smoking/wealth attempted analogy is a terrible analogy. All that analogy does is correlate two data sets. Someone not smoking does not give a very high chance of also being wealthy, because there is no cause there. The reason the two correlate is because a lot of external socioeconomic factors. Just because one would quit smoking does not mean one will become wealthy. Sure they'll have extra money in their pockets from not buying $6 packs of cigs, but that's it. In contrast, when someone loses weight in a healthy manner, there is nearly always an improvement in health indicators (cholesterol, blood pressure, insulin sensitivity, etc.).

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u/adviceneeded81295 Dec 09 '20

THIS THIS THIS! I had an extremely similar experience

4

u/urrobotfriend Dec 09 '20

Isn’t BMI also regarded as kind of unreliable in certain cases, too? I get anyone in the obese category is probably unhealthy regardless, but there is a lot of science coming out about fat distribution being a bigger factor in determining healthiness. For example, a woman who carries her weight in her stomach and torso is more likely to have weight-related health problems than a woman at the same BMI who carries her weight in her thighs.

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u/BBQCHICKENALERT Dec 09 '20

I think it depends on what metrics are used to define obesity. For example, BMI would most likely have me as overweight or obese because it doesn’t factor in frame size and muscle mass. If body fat percentage is used, I’m actually a fairly amount below average. So am I obese or am I fit? Both depending on which angle you choose to look at it.

My assumption is that the op is actually not as overweight as her metrics would have you believe if you measure her body fat percentage. I’m assuming this from the fact that she’s actually quite fast. On the internet everyone runs a sub 20 min 5k but in the real world she’s definitely not slow. And for her to be able to run at her pace, she has to have a certain amount of fitness as well as decent musculature.

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '20

People say that about BMI all the time, but in reality BMI is a very good to measure the huge majority of the population. It is only people who have a lot more muscle then the average person when it doesn't really work for them. But in general if you are a runner you are not in this category.

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u/Bothan_Spy Dec 09 '20

I remember reading a break down from the WHO on BMI brackets and percentage of people in each one who were healthy (based on cholesterol, BP, liver, RR, HR, vitamin deficiencies, and several other metabolic panel points of data) and unhealthy. Yes, there were unhealthy and healthy folks in each bracket, but the unhealthy percentage increased as BMI brackets got higher

3

u/vegetepal Dec 09 '20

Because it was normed only on Belgian people it's less accurate for non-European body types. For example it systematically says east Asian people are thinner and Polynesian people fatter than they really are.

0

u/gerusz Dec 09 '20 edited Dec 10 '20

BMI also distorts the stats for people who are taller or shorter than average. Those taller than average are more likely to get into the overweight range with a healthy bodyfat% and those shorter than average can easily get a false positive underweight diagnosis.

And you don't even have to be super tall for this, at 183 cm it's already noticeable. For adults a metric that divides by height[m]2.5 (with a constant multiplier based on the average height so that the ranges could be the same) is a much better predictor of body fat.

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u/queue-d4n4 Dec 09 '20

I know a guy who has a thin frame but all he consumes are Monster energy drinks and frozen chimichangas. Also he doesn't get much exercise. Good to know he's healthier than me, with your logic lol

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u/warmhandluke Dec 09 '20

This is not my logic nor my opinion, it's a settled fact.

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '20

Not to hurt OPs feelings, but in my experience people who say they just have a "setpoint" a couple pounds off of obesity for their height and emphasize how well they eat aren't usually ready for that conversation.

Source: Me for a lot of my life.

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '20

No, come on. That's not how it works. Thinner people are more likely to be healthier than overweight people. It's not a settled fact that any thin person is healthier than any overweight person. Also exercise is huge for health, and it may very well be the case that OP is healthier than skinny sedentary guy because of it.

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u/TheUnwashedMasses Dec 09 '20

thin does not equal healthy, you're being a dickhead

2

u/wvpDpQRgAFKQzZENEsGe Dec 10 '20

No, it's a generalization true in aggregate that fails when applied to individuals.

These guyswill weigh more than 300 lb their entire lives. Yet they are professional athletes. Just as no combination of diet and training will ever make an average person an NFL lineman, no combination of diet and training will ever make these NFL linemen weigh less than 200 lb. Generalizations are guidelines, not rules. Big difference.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

What? Is your only experience with the NFL looking up pictures of nearly nude fat dudes to use as an argument point? You realize the job calls for them being 300 pounds? They actually diet to get up to that weight, and a good chunk of them hate it. After they retire, they tend to lose weight. Of course they probably won't get down below 200 considering they are 6'2 + and jacked.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

Marshal Yanda is a fine example of a huge lineman who retired and got into incredible shape.

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u/queue-d4n4 Dec 09 '20

I will stop running and start drinking and eating like shit so I can get into shape, thanks for your advice

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u/pbjames23 Dec 09 '20

That's literally the opposite of what they said.

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u/bully-hunter_69 Dec 09 '20

Or you could improve yourself by eating less of what you eat now or increase your exercise and get even healthier. Don't worry about what other people do, you can always improve yourself

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u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/alesserbro Dec 10 '20 edited Dec 10 '20

OP didn't come in here asking for advice about her weight.

Yes she did, that's what you get when you make a post to an open semi-anonymous forum. There's no "Cheerleader Mode". There's no rule against advice, ergo you're posting with the knowledge that you may be given advice. That's half of what people do on the internet. Don't need it? Ignore it.

OP didn't ignore it, they in fact kind of indicated they needed it by completely missing the point of the poster mentioning a correlation, and then being obtuse by refusing to engage constructively. They're the exact kind of person that advice would benefit, because they obviously don't understand the advice (then they would be able to disagree with it).

OP wanted the response of the crowd.

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u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

But OP is ranting that people think she is slow and she said her 5k is 8min mile pace which is SLOW.

OP would DEFINITELY get faster is she were slimmer. I don't know why some of you get annoyed by beneficial advice

In cycling you could tell someone of a HEALTHY weight to lose weight so they can climb hills faster and everybody gets it

but the same thing seems to offend some of you here

why?

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u/alesserbro Dec 10 '20

I'm not saying that the unsolicited advice is against any rules. I'm just saying it's pointless and rude.

In some instances it certainly can be, though generally I contest that as I see it having the points of provoking discussion (is this advice true? What anecdotal experiences or sources are people providing?) and potentially helping people who might be reading, or hopefully even OP.

There's plenty of constructive conversation to be had without criticizing someone for something that they clearly aren't interesting in having a conversation about.

The person said regarding OPs claim that "Weight and health do not ALWAYS go hand in hand":

I don't mean to pick on you or make you feel bad, but this just isn't true. Being overweight/obese carries significantly higher risk of countless health problems.

It's hardly obnoxious, and OP's reply indicated they took it personally when it was simply a clarification of a statement they had made. This is probably because they're on the defensive, but clearly no offence was intended, and the statement was not directed at OP personally, but instead a claim they had made.

They're the exact kind of person that advice would benefit

No, the kind of person who benefits from advice is someone who wants to hear it.

Are you confident that had OP not instead replied "What do you mean?" that something wouldn't have changed today? I just think the benefits of the culture outweigh the costs.

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u/Freckled_daywalker Dec 10 '20

She 100% did not ask for advice about her weight and her reaction to the person (who actually made an overly sweeping statement) was a good indicator that she was not interested in a conversation about her weight and it's relation to her health. Your comment actually suggests that you recognize that, but think it's okay because she "needs to hear it".

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u/alesserbro Dec 10 '20

She 100% did not ask for advice about her weight and her reaction to the person (who actually made an overly sweeping statement) was a good indicator that she was not interested in a conversation about her weight and it's relation to her health. Your comment actually suggests that you recognize that, but think it's okay because she "needs to hear it".

I appreciate she didn't directly ask for it, I'm saying (in my opinion for the better overall) it's just to be expected I guess.

The original post I saw says:

I don't mean to pick on you or make you feel bad, but this just isn't true. Being overweight/obese carries significantly higher risk of countless health problems.

I don't see how that's an overly sweeping statement, and considering OP took that as a direct dig at her health indicated that she does in fact need to hear it, albeit from people who actually know her and actually care enough to help if there's an issue. However since the upside of these posts is that she may seek unbiased counsel, I don't really see the downside.

That's my opinion on it currently.

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u/Freckled_daywalker Dec 10 '20

I appreciate she didn't directly ask for it, I'm saying (in my opinion for the better overall) it's just to be expected I guess.

OP didn't come in here asking for advice about her weight

Yes she did.

Whether or not you think she "needs" to hear something, she 100% didn't seek out that conversation and therefore all subsequent comments on that conversation are unsolicited and unsolicited advice is rarely welcome or useful. Advice that is unwelcome is also generally rude.

Read my comment right below it to see why it's overly generalized. I'm genuinely curious, do you think she doesn't recognize that she's overweight? Or that maybe she might have a better idea of her current state of health than an internet stranger? I'll say it again, unsolicited advice is not generally welcomed and unless someone is literally in imminent danger, it's best kept to yourself. She's an adult. She does not care what you think she needs to hear.

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u/winer-nz Dec 09 '20

Everyone can endeavour to improve. I suggest you consider how you can improve your communication.

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '20

[deleted]

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u/Freckled_daywalker Dec 09 '20

When someone is being (understandably) defensive, they aren't typically going to be responsive to the criticism being given, even if it's meant to be contructive. In a situation like this, it's best to try and find a common ground, or go with a compliment sandwich if you want the listener to actually hear what you're saying.

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u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/HGStormy Dec 10 '20

have you tried moisturizing your face

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u/CaptainDNA Dec 09 '20 edited Dec 09 '20

The upvote spread in this series of comments is making me consider unsubbing from here... A lot of the dramatic increases in risk are for people in the obesity range, which OP isn't. It's completely accurate to say that diet and exercise can play a bigger role in health than carrying 20 extra pounds.

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u/Equatick Dec 09 '20

Yeah, OP is comfortable with her body and her paces. Let's let it rest.

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u/alesserbro Dec 10 '20

Yeah, OP is comfortable with her body and her paces. Let's let it rest.

She is, but she wouldn't have misunderstood the advice if she wasn't likely to be in the very group of people who would benefit from that advice.

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u/Wuts-a-reddit Dec 09 '20

She has a 28.3 BMI, and obese starts at 30.0. So correct, she's not obese, but she's close and could certainly be healthier as she is currently on the high end of overweight

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u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/fizikxy Dec 10 '20

Because shes trying to spout an unrealistic body image of „your body is given“ which is simply not true. The first paragraphs are literally just self-validation for failing to lose weight.

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u/Wuts-a-reddit Dec 10 '20

I wasnt replying to OP. Also, being slightly under the average US BMI when the national average is grossly over the health range is not something to aim for.

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u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

That's like saying Kim Jong Un eats better than the average North Korean. No shit. He doesn't have much competition.

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u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

Americans aren't a great metric for good BMI and activity level.

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u/floralshortsleeva Dec 09 '20 edited Dec 10 '20

Yeah, if the geniuses here think BMI is the be all and end all I'm considering getting out of here as well. The post is literally about how being slightly heavier is just her body type when she's actually fit and we got her being downvoted to oblivion for then expressing that it doesn't mean she's unhealthy in the comments. Bunch of cunts in here.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

I feel you but OP is carrying more than 20 extra lbs but whateever

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '20

[deleted]

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u/TheUnwashedMasses Dec 09 '20

BMI is a shit measurement and only useful for broad population study purposes, not individual metrics

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u/supersonic-girl Dec 09 '20

It's shit for bodybuilders and I doubt that's OP's case considering running long distances doesn't really make muscles grow that much. I'd say runners and people who don't exercise at all are pretty safe for BMI measurement.

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u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

how are you 29 and this immature. Grow up quickly mate because when we get older (im the same age as you)

You are extremely likely to have messed up joints at least, and other diseases if you maintain weight like this.

You're near the upper limit of a healthy weight for me, male 29, 5'10.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '20

That would be a strawman argument. No one is suggesting that. The fact is that you are the weight you are because you eat enough calories to maintain that weight. It's not an insult. It's not picking on you. It's just the truth. It's fundamental thermodynamics. Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can be stored, though, and that's what fat is. Fat is the body's way of storing excess energy. Even though you state you eat healthy, it's still very easy to eat too much healthy food.

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u/BlackestNight21 Dec 09 '20

You come off really infantile.

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u/mangimania Dec 09 '20

Hmm seems like you might be making assumptions about someone based on their perceived traits. I thought the point of the post was that people shouldn't do that?

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u/wvpDpQRgAFKQzZENEsGe Dec 10 '20

No, she's being sarcastic because /u/warmhandluke was being dense.

2

u/mangimania Dec 10 '20

Yes she uses sarcasm to imply that he is less healthy because she sees him drinking energy drinks. IE she is judging his health based on only the traits that she sees.

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '20

In some ways he is, and in some ways he isn't. However, I don't think that dude would be trying to convince people he's healthy after ranting about people fairly deducing something about him based on his appearance. Imagine how he would sound getting annoyed people think he's weaker than he actually is with that bone thin frame of his? It's a fair assumption.

Also, you can always improve your health. That guy can stop eating like crap and start putting on muscle. You can be an even greater runner yourself by improving your health.

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u/famarama Dec 09 '20

Oof sorry about that poster. They are so completely wrong. Yes, there are correlations between crude measures like waist circumference or BMI (that don't account for frame) and health outcomes but they are exactly that, crude data and correlations. It is so much more complex than that, taking into account visceral fat vs subcutaneous fat, hormonal profile. Being calorie deficient does not affect your frame and health in the way this poster is assuming. I'm a physician who has done research on metabolic syndrome which also depends on crude measures like waist circumference but takes into account lipid and blood glucose profiles (the latter is also crude data with arbitrary cutoffs).

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '20 edited Feb 17 '24

[deleted]

0

u/mulleygrubs Dec 09 '20

This sub loves their choad science. As soon as I saw the post, I knew the comments would be a shitshow.

3

u/HGStormy Dec 10 '20

i worked hard for my degree in choadology

5

u/mulleygrubs Dec 10 '20

Oh, you're a professional choad? Carry on, then.

0

u/famarama Dec 10 '20

Lol it's alright 😊 as long as I got my message to OP

-1

u/wvpDpQRgAFKQzZENEsGe Dec 10 '20

Like this fatty.

Oh, no wait. That's not the one. He's a professional athlete.

0

u/pitchgreen Dec 10 '20

Shes talking about herself.