How fat is obese?

[ORChick]

Of course people should be working on their own health, and trying to reach a healthy weight. And I think that probably everybody that is out of the "good" range (whatever that may be for them) either is trying, or has tried, and failed, and given up. No one wants to be fat (or too skinny either, for that matter), but losing weight is very hard work, and the people who should be advising us on the best way to do it are obviously failing miserably at their job - otherwise there wouldn't be so many diet plans out there, and so very many overweight/obese people.

Tortoise - you are absolutely right about adjusting the average up. When I was in high school I wore size 12 pants, and was maybe 10# heavier than ideal ... and I continued to wear size 12 into my 40's. I figured if the pants fit I was doing alright, and didn't spend a lot of time worrying about my weight. I don't remember how or when I realized that, while the number was the same as it had always been, the size was actually quite a bit larger (which is why we now have the ridiculousness of thin teenagers wearing size "0" clothes!); vanity sizing I think they call it, and it certainly worked for me! The weight crept up, quite literally without me being entirely aware of it. Congratulations on the 40 lbs lost; that is a huge accomplishment!

 

[pinkfox]

as someone who was MOribdly obease (370 at my biggest) for me obeasity is that point where fat and healthy becomes fat and UNHEALTHY

i know a number of 200+ lb people who by all medical definition are obease (one being short morbidly so) however they are the fittest healthiest people i know, no health conserns, they can walk, they hike, the mobidly obease by definitio runs 5k's regularly), they are active, hike, camp, swim, jog, do more daily activyt than most i know, they have good blood presure, no cholesterol problems ect...NUMBER mean noghitn...and no none of them are "solid muscle" either, these are just lare but "healthy" people.

however i also know people who weigh less who are increidbly unhealthy, cant walk more than 1/4 mile without getting tied or short of breath, have weight related health issues, ect...despite being overall smaller they are in my opinion what OBEASE is...they are UNHEALTHILY fat...

It has nothign to do with the number or the build and everything to do with how the "squish factor" is efecting their health.

at 250lbs i was considered morbidly obease, however health wise i was great....
at 370 howver i WAS morbidly obease, not because the numbers said so...but because my joints hurt, i developed severe sleep apnea, i was pre-diabetic, i couldnt go for a walk without getting winded, ect...

THATS what made me "dangerously overweight..."

now at 164 im right on the "normal/overweight" line for my height...(and for asthetic i realy would like to drop another 9lbs or so) BUT im not unhealthily fat...
i have health issues but they are not related to my weight...

so yeah to sum it up you can be fat and healthy, its when the fat starts directly effectin your health and mobility (that includes bathing!) that you cross form "fat" to "OBEASE" in my mind...

 

[me&thegals]

the world's people are getting digusting. I don't care if it is politically correct or not to say but man oh man fat is out there to the max. most people know they are fat. they just don't want to deal with it. food is horrible out there in the world now. chemical junk. the medical field is effected to the max with problems that obesity brings on that an otherwise lower weight person would not have (not all obviously, but increasingly this is killing the medical system)

bad situation all around.

be fat and all that goes with it or take the responsiblity for your health. best anyone can hope is that people open their eyes and see reality.

May one assume from this that you have never been overweight or poor? Sure, in an ideal world everyone would be a healthy weight, and eating (and feeding their family) healthy food. The ideal world however doesn't exist. Poor people, people who haven't the education to know what is healthy food, people who don't know how to (or even that they should) question the "experts" giving them questionable information about the right way to eat ... heck, even your average housewife with little interest in nutrition, but who just wants to feed the starving horde when they get home from school - these people are getting fat, and staying fat, because getting thin is really, really hard to do.
I am an example of that; I think it isn't hyperbole to say that I have never been at, or below my "ideal weight", not in 61 years (except as a newborn, when I was 5# ). And I am not poor, and I do have a very good, self learned, education on food and nutrition (because it interests me to know these things). But losing weight is hard, especially in view of the "accepted wisdom" about the best way to do it (which seldom works), and the push to consume vast amounts of junk food, which many people are poorly equipped to avoid (both the push to consume and the junk food itself)
"Seeing reality" would be a good thing. But what is reality? Is it what the doctors and nutritionists tell us - eat fewer calories and less fat, exercise more? Is it "avoid junk food" or "avoid sugar" or "starve yourself"? At present I am inclined to believe it is "reduce carbs" - the evidence in that direction seems pretty compelling to me, and is a path I have been leaning towards for a long time (but I really, really love fresh bread ... and pasta ... and potatoes ... <sigh> --- luckily I am NOT in love with sweet things, but that is another huge hurdle for people spoon fed sugar laden foods from their early childhood), but the mainstream hasn't embraced this idea yet, and many people who need the knowledge don't have it, and don't know to look for it.

Sorry about that - I am stepping down off the soapbox now

I agree that is probably part of it--the poverty and food access issue. But there is also plain unwillingness to spend time to prepare good food. I see this in DH's family. They want the kids to eat good, but they don't cook. And if the kids won't eat their vegetables, they let them have junk instead. It takes time and hard work to have great food available, and it takes patience and persistence to teach kids to eat well.

I see the kids in DH's family getting significantly overweight and it makes me sad. Both families have the time and money for good food, if it were a priority for them. But it's not really a priority for most people.

Same goes for getting kids to be active.

 

[me&thegals]

There was a program on tv several years ago where a number of families volunteered to go "back in time to the pioneer days" and live in very rural Montana like the settlers did. One of the families was from southern California, and the Dad became very concerned part way through the series about his rapid weight drop. It was explained to him when he saw a physician, that he had been overweight (and perhaps the term "obese" was even used, don't know--it was a long time ago) prior to joining the project but that he was now at a very healthy weight and was gaining muscle where he had previously had no tone. He didn't believe it.

I saw that, too.

I used to be very thin and had comments on it all the time. Now daughter does. People think thin is unhealthy but are willing to accept a significant amount of fat as normal and healthy. Kids get stuffed with food and people find that fine, but then they start developing a weight problem.

When my kids were pretty low on the weight charts as babies, I did NOT talk about it with DH's family, as they just became a reason to stick ANYthing in their mouths to fatten them up.

I'm a bit below 160 at 5'6". This is the heaviest I have been in my life. I was very healthy 40 lb ago. I do have significant muscle, so people never believe I am the weight I am. But I also have extra fat that hinders me (think squatting for planting potatoes), so I'm glad for the 10 lb I lose every summer (and regain in winter) when the work season gets nutty.

I am worried very much about the change our nation has seen in diet, exercise and weight. It doesn't take long for the paradigm to shift. I don't remember very many overweight people in my childhood. Now I don't see very many truly healthy weight people in my life. What used to be significantly overweight is now seen as normal or only a bit overweight. We have a major health crisis in our nation, and I think it's only going to get worse.

People need to be willing to fight the tide, and fight it hard.

 

[me&thegals]

so yeah to sum it up you can be fat and healthy, its when the fat starts directly effectin your health and mobility (that includes bathing!) that you cross form "fat" to "OBEASE" in my mind...

Good for you on all that weight loss!!

The problem with your criterion above is that plenty of damage can be done at lower weights, but it's internal and long-term, so people may not notice soon enough. (BP, blood sugars, cancer, heart disease, joint deterioration)

 

[Denim Deb]

Me&thegals, I hear ya on letting the kids have the junk food. When my kids were little, they didn't get soda-except as a special treat. Nor did I have a lot of junk food in the house. Money was tight, and I much preferred to buy real food as opposed to junk. Both of my kids are still very slender, but I don't know what they're eating habits are like now since they've both moved out.

My sister has a son that's 2 years older than my son. And when he was little, if he drank a certain amount of milk, he was then allowed to have iced tea, or soda, or whatever. Plus, they had more junk in the house. He's quite a bit overweight now.

 

[tortoise]

I am disgusted with the public school system. They feed the kids constantly and lots of it is junk that other parents send to school.

 

[me&thegals]

No kidding on the schools!! I was appalled when DS entered kindergarten and parents sent in total crap for snacks, plus the kids got 2 chocolate (they could choose) milks per day. My son had never seen it before in his life. He started a steady weight gain from age 5 until now, when he is somewhat overweight.

A friend of mine had a son in the same K classroom, and we worked really hard to provide as many of the snacks as possible for that class so we could bring fruit and other healthy snacks.

Very glad for Michelle Obama's initiative for healthier school lunches, although it has been fought against pretty hard in some WI school districts.

 

[so lucky]

Have you ever thought about how prevalent eating is in our daily life? Not just to nourish us, but for every occasion. If we get kids together for a meeting or class, we think they need a snack. We can't go for a car ride without a big gulp soda. Office birthdays, cake. Donuts because it's Friday. Pizza because it's the weekend. None of it is for nourishment. But we don't celebrate a special occasion with a big bowl of steamed carrots. Before Easter, I was appalled at how many aisles the Easter candy took up at walmart.

Mrs Obama can guide us all she wants, and I applaud her efforts, but until we change our culture regarding what and when to eat, we're just gonna get fatter and fatter. Then when you add in the myths that we have been fed about what is actually healthy; the ridiculous food pyramid, the ban of good fats and the touting of chemically created "food" ----ACK! I think it's a conspiracy!

 

[Denim Deb]

Have you ever tried to look up a recipe online? You're supposed to use a pack of this, a pack of that, etc. How about listing real ingredients for those that actually want to cook!