It’s by an MD who also is involved with promoting a high-intensity form of weight-lifting. His basic point is that while obese people are frequently weaker than the non-obese, it’s not because they have to lift extra body weight in addition to the external weight being measured, but primarily because their (high-carb) diets partition nutrients away from helping with muscle growth/maintenace and into the storage of fat. He does, in my opinion correctly, also attritbute it to incorrect exercise techniques, but he understands that that’s only half of the solution.

Basically, the article is a really interesting explosion of the common refrain “get in the gym fatso” beautifually integrated with an equally interesting explosion of “go on a diet fatso.”

Very interesting article. Thanks for the link. I certainly wasn’t strong when I was a fat kid.

Topical.

I’ve never had the skinny-thighs problem. What a strange correlation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/business/05smart.html?hp

How can we fight this sort of hype?

So they’re labeling Fruit Loops as a healthy choice now? You’re right, that’s awful.

to start, wth, people who are still harping on overweight people? Modern medical science has failed to show overweight and obesity are risk factors for ill health. They *can* be symptoms, nothing more. In fact, evidence is emerging that being too thin is riskier. Educate yourself.

also, models, weight loss ads, etc…having recently subscribed to satellite tv for the first time I was shocked at how often…lord, probably 1 in 3…commercials are for some sort of weight loss product. I thought we screened our children fairly well until the other day when my 7 year old, who is as thin as a rail and eats like a horse, said she was fat and wanted to work on ‘getting that nice “V” shape’. =:O

aaand for all you guys who keep saying you want ‘meat on a woman’s bones’ — hush! It’s no more your business if we weigh ‘enough’ than it is if we weigh too much. I get that you are trying to relieve women (who worry you want stick-thin Victoria’s Secret models) but what about ladies who have a hard time gaining weight? Now we have to worry about that? How about just supporting us in being *healthy*?

I enjoyed your article as always Mr. Naughton and appreciate the comments sections!

I believe that’s the best attitude of all; let’s focus on health, not being any particular body size.

i’m only human, and there have been times when i’ve seen an advert for shoes, clothers, make-up ect, but been put of by the modle wearing them. i would think something like, “oh i can get that, it would never suit me” or “no thats really for skinny girls isn’t it” but i have to remember that the only way anyone could look like that is if they were an anorexic crack head, who was permently airbrushed.

plus-sized modles are better, but still airbrushed to infinity, and, honestly, i don’t consider a size 10 (amer. 6) to be “plus-sized)

I don’t consider size 6 plus-sized either. Marilyn Monroe was a size 12, from what I’ve read.

The LEAN Works link also scares me, not because I don’t think employers have the right to know more about their expenses… but because it’s wrong and the advice for improvement is surely wrong. My employer made me take a health survey before benefits re-enrollment (supposedly anonymous and only group results would be reported, but why would I believe that), and in order to get a “healthy” result, I flat out lied and said I ate very low fat and very little meat, though the opposite is true. The health survey then said I was doing an excellent job and since I know that I’ll pass the true health survey of life, my employer will be none the wiser and won’t think I’m costing them more money when I’m not (though I’m getting quite the carnivore reputation around here, hard to hide the fact that I’m on a virtually all meat diet when people see that I bring steak for lunch nearly every day for 9 months. I’m not sure what they’d be saying if they haven’t all noticed I’ve lost weight, though I’m sure they still think my heart is going to give out at any second).

Finally, where’s the calculator for how many more sick days on average thin, “healthy” vegetarians are costing your company? I rarely get sick (usually just if I’ve been stuck sleep-deprived on an airplane for 15 hours next to someone sick) but the vegetarians around me are always coughing and/or have colds.

Pretty scary to have to lie on a survey to be considered healthy. But that’s where we’re at.

Tom, you mentioned before that you had to up your fat intake to really start the fat burning mode… any suggestions on how to do that? My Hubby is having a bit of difficulty losing at a rate that would seem adequate. He has lost 20 lbs in about 6 months, as compared to my 60. He carries mainly in the abdomen, so I think that is mainly why the difference… Just curious to your food choices et.c.

Thanks!

I eat a lot of eggs and fatty meats. When I eat a steak, I eat the fat (unless my daughter steals it). Lots of butter on the green vegetables.

Some people also have to give up artificial sweeteners, even stevia, because sweet tastes provoke an insulin spike.

Most ‘plus size models’ are still of average weight.

I haven’t seen the JCPenny’s mannequins. But I’ve seen the models in ads at a store for larger women — I believe it’s called Lane Bryant, something like that — and I think they look pretty attractive.