Women So Vain; Too Fat
I was reading some story on the BBC website earlier about how 8 out of 10 women don’t exercise enough. Apparently this is because they’re all obsessed with being thin and looking beautiful. Er, does anyone see the failure in this logic? Surely by keeping a regular exercise pattern a woman is more likely to be slim, toned and more importantly healthy?!
Of course, some of us women simply don’t exercise because we’re too bloody lazy…
Jenny said:
On 15 Nov at 9:24 pm
Now that’s just silly. :P
Grant said:
On 15 Nov at 9:26 pm
that is as about a stupid sentence as the story i read earlier about santa’s in Austraila not being allowed to say HO HO HO because it’s offensive to woman (surely only hoes take offence not all woman)
Ashley said:
On 15 Nov at 9:44 pm
Uh….yeeaaah. Makes total sense….
Aisling said:
On 15 Nov at 9:44 pm
Yeah, I’ll exercise… later. That’s me ^ Which is probably why I’ve gone from size 2, to size 10 in two years. Ugh.
Robbie said:
On 15 Nov at 9:59 pm
Glad I’m not a woman (: *lays back on chair*.
Aaron said:
On 15 Nov at 10:04 pm
Ehh, that goes for men too.
Xuan said:
On 15 Nov at 10:06 pm
… I’m sorry, what the? I’ll expect pigs to fly over my head any moment now.
Dee said:
On 15 Nov at 10:16 pm
Actually there’s almost no evidence to support the link between exercise and weight (though muscle tone does shape the body better, it doesn’t help you lose fat per se). It’s just been promoted for, like, the last fifty years because there are health benefits and people are more likely to care about looking good now rather than not dying of a heart attack in thirty years.
Nel said:
On 15 Nov at 10:34 pm
I agree with Dee. The sentence doesn’t make sense at first but when you think about it, it is true. Most women don’t exercise enough but that doesn’t mean that they stop worrying about their weight any less. Usually women tend to go for dieting rather than exercise as a means of loosing weight.
Kaylee said:
On 15 Nov at 10:45 pm
I bet a lot of those women that want to be thin yet don’t exercise also fall under the lazy category ;)
Carly said:
On 15 Nov at 10:54 pm
I just can’t be arsed…
Regina said:
On 15 Nov at 11:00 pm
@Dee: what??? Excuse me but exercise DOES burn fat. Intensity is what decides how much fat overall you burn after a session. So please don’t come and tell me there isn’t any prove that it does. I’m mastering into Sport Science and there is PLENTY of evidence of how exercise burns fat, sugars and proteins. Where did you get that idea? Now I’m pissed off. Anyway… Many women believe that if they work out, they’ll become Arnie Schwarzie, which is outrageous. They prefer then going on diet forever which alone doesn’t help the cause.
Rhys said:
On 15 Nov at 11:03 pm
Define what you’d call an unhealthy woman and define what you call a healthy woman, and I’d probably be turned on. I love leaving drunk, inapproropraite comments! ;)
Regina said:
On 15 Nov at 11:08 pm
On my comment above: exercise is related to body weight: muscle growth will increase body weight than fat does.
Nellie said:
On 15 Nov at 11:23 pm
Um, so, the weight that I’ve put on over the period of my illness ISN’T because I can’t exercise? I don’t think so somehow. The only way your logic would apply was if you’re talking about someone with a metabolism from heaven. Someone who can sit on their ass, eat what they like and never get fat. *dreams*
Hev said:
On 16 Nov at 1:45 am
Ok, that didn’t make sense. I don’t exercise cause I don’t chose to. I am overweight cause of my choices & my genes. But I accept that, and I don’t care anymore.
Margaret said:
On 16 Nov at 1:54 am
Dee’s actually not too far off the mark. There are people who are obese, even though they get exercise. They can’t lose weight no matter how much they try. But despite the obesity, they’re MUCH better off than a thin person who is sedentary, and probably not really worse off than a thin active person. Weight loss/gain and the effects of exercise/diet can vary dramatically from person to person. Some do lose weight, some don’t. The problem is people act like every person is the same and the same actions automatically have the same effect. (And for some, extreme [unhealthy!] calorie deprivation is the only way to really lose weight. So that may be where the thinness obssession and lack of exercise come in. I could be wrong though) I don’t exercise because I’m ill. It’s hard to exercise when your legs are of questionable strength and your ankles like to go numb. :P And girls afraid of sporty? Not around here they’re not. The ‘coolest’ girls at my school are the ones on the volleyball/basketball/softball teams.
Chrissy said:
On 16 Nov at 3:17 am
Haha, that’s hilarious.
Britney said:
On 16 Nov at 4:29 am
That’s an… interesting theory. I should exercise, but I’m lazy. :x
Vera said:
On 16 Nov at 4:49 am
That’s a bit of a twisted logic there… but there are other ways to lose weight (points at self – the nausea can be rather annoying at work). Still, if they were that obsessed they’d exercise not just moan: I mean, what’s the possibility of all women being as lazy as me?
Rachel said:
On 16 Nov at 4:55 am
I’m a fat, fat girl and I walk anywhere from 3-5 hours each day AND live with a 3 year old that gets picked up, put down, in and out of carts, car seats and played with. I have a very active social life in which I do tons of walking even before and after my job. I weekly visit a barn and pick horse stalls, take the horses out and then bring them in, brush them, etc. I don’t eat like a hog or stuff that’s bad for me. I’m a vegetarian…I don’t think being fat or thin merely coincides with exercise and diet but genes, stress and the like. Point is, getting/being thin (I don’t think) is merely based on diet and exercise alone.
Regina said:
On 16 Nov at 6:22 am
@ Nellie: Yes, metabolism and hormones do play an important role here. But weight isn’t really a good indicator of general health and fitness. Exercise is not only important to get thin, it is important to be healthy. The heart is the first thing to get benefits out of physical activity. You don’t need to go to the gym 24/7, but you do need to be active, and there are plenty of ways to be it. Even obese people who suffer from a hormonal disease will benefit of exercising. Evidence and research back up what I’m saying. It’s not only for the aesthetics, they come as a result.
Annie said:
On 16 Nov at 6:56 am
I see the logic…er, maybe not; it’s ridiculous. Another reason behind the lack of exercise is due to impatience. Some may try exercise but if they don’t see an immediate result they’ll deem exercise as an inconvenience. Maybe they should play the Wii :P. Despite the fact that it doesn’t exercise the whole body…
Mumblies said:
On 16 Nov at 7:21 am
What’s exercise?
Sarah said:
On 16 Nov at 9:35 am
I want to exercise, but I can’t be arsed. :D
Kim said:
On 16 Nov at 10:16 am
I also heard on Radio1 that a lot of women don’t exercise due to bad P.E. experiences at school… (?)
Jem said:
On 16 Nov at 1:14 pm
And what does dieting do? Cut down the amount of calories one consumes. The amount you burn has to be greater than the amount you take in, it is only logical that one can achieve this in two ways: eating less or exercising more. I’m fully aware that there are other factors which play into a persons weight: medical and psychological issues which I barely understand. This is why I used the words “more likely” (as opposed to the ultimate ‘you definitely will’) and put the emphasis on health. Nonetheless, if you have the opportunity to be slim AND be healthy, and pass it up because you simply “don’t want to look sweaty” (or one of the other vanity-inspired reasons covered in the article) that’s naught less than stupid!
Emsz said:
On 16 Nov at 2:41 pm
Yes, well, correct me if I’m wrong, but when you can get fatter from eating to little, right? So you can’t go on cutting down on calories.
Jem said:
On 16 Nov at 3:46 pm
^ Yes, by not eating properly, I believe the body stores up the calories you do take in because it thinks its starving.. or something along those lines. This is why it makes more sense to eat right and take regular exercise.
Mae said:
On 16 Nov at 7:07 pm
I must agree. Us women are damn lazy, and we always want to lose the weight the easy way. I don’t have much of a problem with my weight, but when I do want to slim down a bit, I tend to reduce my meals and simply not eat for awhile rather than running the treadmill. I shouldn’t be doing that since all those days that I have not eaten will soon haunt me with more weight gain.
Christine said:
On 16 Nov at 7:46 pm
All my worst memories from highschool are from PE class. It was dreadful. Painful. Filled w/ mean girls and mean comments. And it has kept me from the gym, where i imagine they’re all like that except now older and more successful >< but i do try to excercise! damn interweb... ./fail ~_~
Renate said:
On 16 Nov at 8:05 pm
^ Absolutely. Eating little to nothing is probably one of the biggest mistakes one can make, the body will “feed” on your muscles, which again causes your metabolism to go down, thus burning less fat. See there, I did learn something in PE theory class.
Stephanie said:
On 16 Nov at 8:06 pm
Here it is: if your input is less than your output, you will lose weight. End of story HOWEVER. You have to consider that everyone’s output is different. I might burn 45 calories if I walk for ten minutes. But it’s possible someone else’s metabolism will only burn 15 calories if they walk the same ten minutes. Their output is very low. It requires them to walk three times more than me. However, it doesn’t stop them from burning calories. It simply takes them significantly more time. The reason it would take someone with a metabolism like this longer to burn fat is their body will go through its sugar and protein stores first (they’re the most readily available energy sources; that’s what they’re meant for — quick energy), and then it’ll go to the fat reserves. Following, the body will restore what’s lost in the form of more sugars and proteins, and you’ll have to excercise those off, too. They’re burned quicker than fats, though, and that’s why people’s metabolisms increase when they have less fat, because most of the energy they have on reserve are easily burned calories, because they keep up their exercise routine. Another thing to consider, though, is your body will adjust itself to your exercise schedule and very well might ‘get used to’ what you’re doing. That’s why you’ll need to pump up your exercise routine and change it around, so you keep your body on its figurative toes. Many people don’t know this, though, and keep their routine the exact same for months on end, and then don’t understand why their weight is coming back. It’s because your body is used to it. This can be fixed by stepping it up or changing it up. Simple as that. I will say, though, that I agree. An active, overweight person is healthier than a sedentary, underweight person. /steps off of nutritionist soap box Sorry. Hah.
Jenny said:
On 17 Nov at 3:28 am
I’d like to be thinner and lose weight, but like you said, too damn lazy!
Andy said:
On 02 Jan at 5:25 pm
I’m afraid to say that many women are too lazy and too fat to lose weight. A lot of them think they can sit on their arses and lose weight by cutting out loads of junk food but at the end of teh day they always binge on their favourite foods in the end and then they get even fatter!!!!
The Chairman said:
On 25 Apr at 12:19 pm
There’s a whole world of difference between being obsessed by being thin and actually doing something about it. The expression of doing something about it my simply be to get a new hairstyle.
When your life is falling apart, a new hairstyle makes you feel more in control.