to presume that overweight people must have very developed calf and thigh muscles?

[NettJarrp]

OK, I am unreasonable, but I've never understood why someone who has a lot of weight to carry around doesn't have larger than average muscles in their legs.

If someone went up a flight of stairs carrying several stones' additional weight strapped to their body, it wouldn't take long for their muscles to get bigger.

So, why doesn't this happen to overweight folk?

NOT a fat-bashing thread AT ALL.

I was morbidly obese (20st 9lb) and have had to work flaming hard to build the muscle in my legs and bum (and upper body) as I lose the weight. When I was seriously overweight I could barely walk so the muscles really weren't being worked.

Due to how muscle is built in women it's not something that happens by accident, I lift heavy weights with compound lifts with squats (in lots of different stances), deadlifts, lunges and lots more.

Eccle Thanks - I have heard the word but didn't dare google

I am active- strong, broad and muscular. And very overweight. I haven't dared weigh recently as things are a bit out of hand. I expect I'm eight stone overweight.

You know what I mean though right?

I'm really fat. I have seriously strong legs. I live a good cycle I do. My arms are pathetically weak, however I reckon if flapped them fast enough my bingo wings might make me take off.
Off to eat cake now

And as for boots- can't get them up my ankles or calves.

It's the professionally offended who are offending me. They're the ones treating me as another species and assuming I have poor self-image.

Bog off with your biscuits! As I said, I'm also fat, and want to know the answer. You don't have to google everything.

As for 'carrying around a 9st backpack', it's nothing like that. When I began dieting, with 5st to lose, I visited a historical re-enactment event, where I picked up and tried on a mail coat weighing 5st. I could barely lift it, but I could easily walk around wearing it. The excess weight is distributed around you. It was very tiring, though. Felt bloody good to take it off, and really brought home to me the amount of excess I was carrying.

Anyone else jump out of their skin at shouldnt's picture and look around for the webcam?

I'm fat and have recently developed dodgy knees. Doctors have done X-rays and I have had physio, but they have all been too polite, and not said, lose weight woman.

For the past two weeks I have devised my own plan - been eating healthily (probably lost a tiny bit) and doing stretches, and my knee pain has nearly gone.

My legs had zero muscle strength. Now I have been exercising, they feel stronger and can support my bulk until I get rid of it.

Perfectly reasonable question OP.

Lol Eccles! Things, I knew it wasn't me because of the lovely legs

It's never a good idea to 'presume' stuff.

I'm normally a healthy weight and tend to have well developed muscles in my legs. In pregnancy I piled weight on, partly due to becoming sedentary from SPD. In 5 months as my appetite returned after the nausea phase and my pelvis began grinding to a halt I gained 50% of my bodyweight. By the final week, my legs were buckling under my own weight. After the water retention went post-birth, I'd lost an inch off my calves from my pre-pregnancy measurements as my muscles had atrophied. As I got walking and built up my mileage again, they soon returned to their usual size.

If you got two people to run the same distance at the same pace, the heavier person would use more effort and burn more calories to achieve that. Serious runners may have a lighter "race weight" to reduce the effort required on race day to maximise performance compared to their usual size and effort.

It would come down to activity level, and natural build. Some people naturally have more muscular legs. Some people will be "fat and fit" and have well developed muscle in addition to surplus bodyweight. A sedentary person prone to being an apple shape might have comparatively small, legs. Everyone is different.

I've always wondered this! And if it gives people an extra bit of fitness.

I don't see why it's offensive at all.

Obese here, and thigh muscles of steel but that's probably 28 years of horse riding, a lot of weight training and sprinting when I was younger

Eccles don't worry I jump when I see myself

People often find it difficult losing the last pounds of weight loss as their body requires less calories to support their lighter weight compared to their starting weight. Exercise is useful for weight loss, not necessarily because of the extra calories burned in the activity which may be a small proportion of their usage, but because of the increased metabolic impacts of the muscle gained.

TheLuminaries

It is bloody hard walking that far with that much weight, of course it is.

The pic is 18st 5lbs vs 16st 3lbs. Not even my heaviest. Trust me, you feel the difference in weight on your back and your legs when it's not there and yes, it's exactly like taking off a chainmail vest. You don't 'suffer' when you have the weight because you get used to moving being hard, but it doesn't mean it's any easier to cart about. It's only when the weight starts shifting that you notice it's easier to walk. I finished a 10 miler on Saturday, then kept going for another 4 because I wasn't tired enough

Being overweight is hard in so many ways and losing weight is really really hard.

You just have to choose your hard.

JiminnyCricket well done on your weight loss, it must make walking so much easier. I am sure it isn't easy but I think you are choosing the right hard. I hope you continue to lose weight and have many easier miles ahead .

OK, I'll bite.

I think Birdsgottaf1y nailed it. muscle development depends on so many varying factors and 'overweight all over' isn't the same as training specific muscles with specific weights.

Don't forget, a lot of your body composition depends on genetic factors; your build, your diet, as well as exercise. It's extremely hard for an ectomorph to put on fat or build muscle. It's very easy for an endomorph to do both.

I have legs with very well developed muscles and no fat but still have back fat - it's just the way we're made.

I'm overweight (formerly obese) and have always had big calf muscles - it's a trait from my mum's family - big arse and muscular legs even if healthy weight and not that active. I also walk a fair bit. The thing is obesity can do a number on your knee joints, which can discourage you from walking. It's not so bad now I'm a 12/14, but when I was an 18 I fucked one of my knees and it still flares up from time to time.

I have lovely thigh and calf muscles as I walk a lot. They are covered in a layer of fat, though.

I really have no idea what's lurking under my body fat. Maybe you could come over and do some experiments on me op?

I'm 8 stone overweight and have legs like tree trunks, and they're very strong.

And I don't feel at all bashed by this thread, it's interesting.

I'm overweight, almost into the obese category and I've got legs like rock. You could bounce a quarter off my calves. My legs are actually my favorite feature and I love wearing dresses and heels in show them off. I do run 7 k 3 times a week and swim an hour 2 times a week though.

In other news some people carry a lot of weight on their fat head
biscuit eat another of these and find out