What Does It Say That This Is News?

The truth is, getting up and moving is good even if you’re thin.

Seriously, this was included in a Sunday magazine feature on exercise. Specifically:

I’m perfectly fine the way I am, thank you. I’m not even overweight.

The truth is, getting up and moving is good even if you’re thin.

It turns out being sedentary is a health risk. Period. It’s up there with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, even smoking, according to a 2010 article in the Journal of the American Heart Association. In fact, fitness level is a “more powerful predictor” of survival than traditional risk factors, the journal says. That means an active person who’s overweight can have a better prognosis than a thin, sedentary person.

What does it say that our society is so invested in thin = healthy and fat = unhealthy that it’s necessary to point out that thinness doesn’t indicate health?

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Posted

June 11, 2012

Anti-fat bigotry, Exercise

Living 400lbs

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5 responses to “What Does It Say That This Is News?”

Erin S.

June 11, 2012

But on the plus side, at least they’re saying it at all. I mean, given all the dire rhetoric around fat being the worst possible thing and everyone is going to die unless they’re a size two, it’s not any real surprise is it that people honestly and sincerely think that as long as they’re thin, they must be eating “right” and getting enough exercise… because all anyone ever sees hardly is “eat right and exercise to prevent/cure obesity”.

It doesn’t take much of a leap for people who are fortunate enough to have a fast metabolism and a propensity to not store calories in the form of fat to assume that since they’re thin, and eating right and exercising is all you need to do in order to not be fat, that it naturally follows that they eat right and get enough exercise. Since it’s so very very easy for them, and they haven’t realized yet that not everyone is exactly the same as them, it’s logical for them to make those assumptions.

So it’s good for that message to get out, both because people should have the information required to follow the course they think is appropriate with regard to their health, and because it might trickle into a few more brains that hey, maybe this isn’t as easy as they thought and maybe not every body works exactly like theirs. We can hope anyway heh.

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1. Living 400lbs
  
  June 11, 2012
  
  Agreed. Also on the plus side, this article is talking about exercise for general health, not to become thin. :)
  
  Reply
LFroo

June 11, 2012

Well said, Erin S!

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susiekline

June 12, 2012

Honestly, it wasn’t until very recently that I’ve believed any of the above! I thought exercise was only TO GET THIN! No wonder I never enjoyed it. I’m glad I found lots of fat bloggers to set me straight. It was a lesson we all need to learn over and over!

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1. Living 400lbs
  
  June 12, 2012
  
  You are NOT alone! :)
  
  Reply