Category: News
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Being fat is just like carrying a heavy backpack, right?
3 comments on Being fat is just like carrying a heavy backpack, right?I mean, everyone assumes it is, so it must be, right? Nobody needs to research this because we know what they’d find, right? Studies that simulate obesity in nonobese people suggest that putting on pounds substantially increases the metabolic cost of walking. When lean women walk with heavy, bulky gear strapped to their legs and bodies, [locomotion researcher Rodger] Kram says, “their energy costs skyrocket.” But in…
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Shock: Fitness article that doesn’t mention weight
This near-mythical item appeared in The New York Times, reporting on the US Government’s latest physical activity guidelines. Nothing about how exercising can cause weight loss. Even when discussing beginners, weight loss does not come up: The people who accrue the greatest health benefits from exercise go from doing nothing to doing something. “A one-minute walk isn’t going to do much for your health, but it is…
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Overweight Doesn’t Mean Unhealthy, But Lose Weight Anyway!
Sarah Mahoney’s article on MSNBC (and Prevention magazine) looked promising: The overweight debate: Healthy and heavy? Has science overemphasized the danger of a few extra pounds? The article itself? Not so much. It does start off well, noting how people within the CDC’s “overweight” BMI range have longer life expectancies than those at “normal” weights … and adds However, no one’s debating that weight loss can be…
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Fat Acceptance in the NY Times Sunday Magazine :)
The New York Times Sunday Magazine discovered fat acceptance. There’s a good summary of fat acceptance, down to noting that the word “fat” is used deliberately, same as “queer”. There’s discussion of Linda Bacon’s Health At Every Size study & book. One quote I liked: Asking how someone got to be so fat is as meaningless as asking how he got to be so tall. “The…
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Links!
This 2007 interview with Linda Bacon, author of Health at Every Size (review here). From New York Times writer Gina Kolata, a discussion of various types of medical studies and how to read them (skeptically). The accompanying graphic is cool too. From Noël Figart, The Unfit Person’s Guide to Fitness. I found this to be a useful starting place when I began exercising after a few years…
Living ~400lbs 