From Linda Bacon, in an interview at Psych Central:
[E]xercising regularly will have a much more dramatic improvement on the health of a fat person than if he or she were to lose weight. Thin people don’t have longer life spans solely based on their weight. Fitness levels play a much larger role in health than weight. Put a focus on activities that you enjoy and just be open-minded around weight. The exercise itself has a dramatic effect on your health.
I really really want to start a regular excersize pattern but can never decide on *what*. I have a gym membership through the university I’m not using but I’m self-conscious about going alone and working on the weights and such. This is great advice at any rate. :)
Not having a “Yeah, I like this” can be a pain.
I’m starting to work out again, and can’t wait for the benefits to start rolling in. Until then, I’ll be wondering why my hip hurts, and what happened somewhere around high school to make me so disinterested in activity.
I know it can take a few weeks for my body to adjust — at first I’m just more tired and sore :)
Good to know.
Although we as a group should be careful of creating or accidentally fostering the sense that because we exercise we’re automatically better than someone who doesn’t.
Health isn’t a moral imperative, and neither is fitness.
Not saying that I’m getting that vibe from this quote, just saying it’s something to maybe be aware of. Along with being aware that making moral judgments based on how much or how little the general you approves of a given food item.
It’s hard enough to be fat in a thin-centric world. It doesn’t need to be made worse by getting the same ‘not good enough’ message repackaged and used to make you feel like crap because not only can’t you be thin enough for society to at least ignore you, it turns out you’re a failure at being fat to.
So true. Not only do I get the cardiovascular endurance benefits of exercise in general, but I also have the joy of pursuing a life goal when I run. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and it really couldn’t happen until I accepted myself, fat and all. I’m not the best runner, or the fastest (in fact I think I’m the slowest) but it feels so good to get out there and move my body!
Thanks largely to both this website and to Shapely Prose, when I had a chance to try some free Yoga classes I lept right in as a completely ignorant beginner. Yoga has turned out to be the only exercise that I have ever loved *loved*!
I have since found that there are many styles of Yoga. If you try one teacher or one class and want something different it would make sense to ask the instructor if he or she could recommend something slower/faster paced, or gentler, or more geared to beginners (or not! depending on what you need.)
It took me about 4 classes to notice a difference — but what a big difference! My body felt better and freer and I started to feel better and freer, too. The different Yoga positions feel like words that my body and I are learning. I feel like my breath and body are coming together with something deep and lovely and eternal. (Which is the point of Yoga.)
I have never been involved in any other exercise that I actually enjoy while I am doing it, makes me feel better after I have done it, and doesn’t bore me to tears.
At the start, I commented afterward in the dressing room that I felt awkward and embarrassed and stupid (because I learn physical things very slowly) and my classmates were all very encouraging. I’ve not heard a single denigrating comment about my or anybody else’s weight.
Oh! Yoga clothing! I was able to get stretchy cotton shorts in KMart’s men’s department for not much money. The shorts went up to men’s 4x and were generously sized. I was surprised to find that clingier t-shirts work better for Yoga than looser ones because sometimes you tip forward and loose ones bag in such a way that either people can see all the way down your front, or you can’t look where you want to because the t-shirt is in the way. Some of my fellow students dress in expensive, glamorous clothing but they are perfectly accepting of my clothing choices!
Former software tester, now retired heart patient having fun and working on building endurance and strength. See also About page.
Post Categories
Archives
Living ~400lbs 
Leave a Reply