Fatness drive 2013 - update

[Mich the Tester]

steroid abuse

...and Big Mac abuse

[Old Hack]

Utter nonsense, I'm afraid. Because of the obesity/weight epidemic most people are not at their optimal BMI - that doesn't mean you can ignore the fact.

Ostensibly, it's a measure, that can work ok generally. But it doesn't work well for lots of people. I canoe and swim regularly and have a large chest, 48" and a 17" neck. I have, I reckon (I've not been tested for a while), about 17% body fat, which is good, for a man of my age. I'm 15.5 stone. If I lost a stone, I'd look gaunt, but on BMI, I am overweight. I'm not, I am far from overweight; I look good, I am remarkably fit, I have a resting heart rate of 60, Cholesterol of 4.1 and BP 120/80.

There are much better measures out there. But if you were to take someone's height, then their weight, and perform analysis on that, you'd be wrong more than you think. A good friend looks skinny, but is a committed cyclist, and he would appear overweight on the BMI scale, despite being as fit as anyone I know.

[Mich the Tester]

Ostensibly, it's a measure, that can work ok generally. But it doesn't work well for lots of people. I canoe and swim regularly and have a large chest, 48" and a 17" neck. I have, I reckon (I've not been tested for a while), about 17% body fat, which is good, for a man of my age. I'm 15.5 stone. If I lost a stone, I'd look gaunt, but on BMI, I am overweight. I'm not, I am far from overweight; I look good, I am remarkably fit, I have a resting heart rate of 60, Cholesterol of 4.1 and BP 120/80.

There are much better measures out there. But if you were to take someone's height, then their weight, and perform analysis on that, you'd be wrong more than you think. A good friend looks skinny, but is a committed cyclist, and he would appear overweight on the BMI scale, despite being as fit as anyone I know.

Fat bastard!

[Old Hack]

Fat bastard!

Far from it. 6'1" and probably in the best shape in my life since teenage.

Admittedly, the 15 5 was the weight after our holiday, I'd normally be just under 15 and extremely happy about it.

[Mich the Tester]

Far from it. 6'1" and probably in the best shape in my life since teenage.

Admittedly, the 15 5 was the weight after our holiday, I'd normally be just under 14 and extremely happy about it.

Just kidding; looks more than OK. I'm 6'1" and just under 15 stone now, but with fat at 13%, resting HR 48, lactate threshold HR 171 with max HR 181 and cholesterol and BP about the same as yours. I never stopped with sport though since I was a kid.

[Old Hack]

Just kidding; looks more than OK. I'm 6'1" and just under 15 stone now, but with fat at 13%, resting HR 48, lactate threshold HR 171 with max HR 181 and cholesterol and BP about the same as yours. I never stopped with sport though since I was a kid.

Oh, I knew that; you being ex rugby and into your bikes I thought you'd be 15 ~abouts. 48 bloody good, some F1 jockeys are higher. Very impressed.

Nor me, only a very bad knee injury stopped the Rugby, and after that, I just used other sports to stay fit. Now, aged perilously close to 50, I exercise a lot with the kids and on my own: cycling, canoeing, walking, swimming and surfing, of sorts. I have a huge kite now, states 80kg min to fly it and it's a bloody handful. An hour flying it and the whole top half and core is on fire. Literally the most fun I have had exercising out of sport.

[sasguru]

Just kidding; looks more than OK. I'm 6'1" and just under 15 stone now, but with fat at 13%, resting HR 48, lactate threshold HR 171 with max HR 181 and cholesterol and BP about the same as yours. I never stopped with sport though since I was a kid.

How's your drinking? Tested your liver function yet?
Did mine at the start of the year and was surprised to find it was spot on, given the fun I had in my youth.
But the doc told me that increasingly he saw middle class people who were on half a bottle of wine a day who had incipient liver problems. Given that I used to do that, I resolved to not spoil a good thing and lay off the booze.

[quackhandle]

As I've said in the other thread: a good recipe for a healthy life is moderation in all things: and that includes exercise. There is such a thing as too much.

As much as I like running (as a hobby) and exercising the people that do it day in/out don't look that healthy, their faces look quite gaunt.

qh

[Old Hack]

How's your drinking? Tested your liver function yet?
Did mine at the start of the year and was surprised to find it was spot on, given the fun I had in my youth.
But the doc told me that increasingly he saw middle class people who were on half a bottle of wine a day who had incipient liver problems. Given that I used to do that, I resolved to not spoil a good thing and lay off the booze.

I had this done as part of my Private Insurance MOT. I found out years ago that I had an hereditary syndrome. It appears having it has no ill effects, but it keeps your liver functioning well, and keeps the cholesterol down too. Wasted on me, normally a light drinker.

[Mich the Tester]

Oh, I knew that; you being ex rugby and into your bikes I thought you'd be 15 ~abouts. 48 bloody good, some F1 jockeys are higher. Very impressed.

Nor me, only a very bad knee injury stopped the Rugby, and after that, I just used other sports to stay fit. Now, aged perilously close to 50, I exercise a lot with the kids and on my own: cycling, canoeing, walking, swimming and surfing, of sorts. I have a huge kite now, states 80kg min to fly it and it's a bloody handful. An hour flying it and the whole top half and core is on fire. Literally the most fun I have had exercising out of sport.

I was 16 stone when I played rugby; that was too much to carry into middle age and beyond. I think the one advantage I got from all the high intensity interval training for 7s is the very high lactate threshold, which helps with cycling seeing as I don't have unusually big or good lungs; in fact, I've had some minor problems with coughs and slime all my life and often have to cough up some gooey blobs of slime after a really intense training session.