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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think you can be fat and fit.

91 replies

Footloose80 · 15/01/2019 19:35

Now I know I am obese but I am working on it. I do loads of exercise including going to the gym with my 15 year old dd who is maybe a stone over the top end of her ideal weight. Portion sizes are the main issue for her. She plays a sport and is pretty active.
This weekend dd2 had a birthday party at a trampoline park. Dd1 participated and had a blast until she overheard someone saying "How can she do that? She is fat?"
This got me thinking as I also do Ultra Challenges. I am not fit enough to do the full ones yet but some those that do are various sizes.
So aibu to think you can be fat and fit.

OP posts:
Amazonfromkent · 16/01/2019 10:30

@Ollivander84, size 14 IS NOT FAT. Also, if your friend found out your referring to her as fat, I doubt she'd stay friends with you.

Breakawaygirl · 16/01/2019 10:32

I think you can be fat and fit. I used to do yoga with a girl who was very fat but she was incredibly flexible and had great stamina. I who am thin am nowhere near as flexible as she was.

That said, being fat is obviously not the ideal, just as being underweight isn't ideal, so even if someone can be fit and fat, it's better to just be fit without the fat :)

JudgeyMuch · 16/01/2019 10:41

"Fit" is very relative.

You can be overweight and relatively fitter than someone who is nominally a "healthy weight" but not healthy or fit at all.

Getting your weight into the healthy range will still be immeasurably better for your own personal health and fitness!

Satsumaeater · 16/01/2019 10:44

I think there is a difference between obese and overweight.

Yes you can be a bit chunky and be fairly fit.

But if you are obese it's no good for example kidding yourself that you are fit because you can finish a parkrun in 50 minutes. It's great that you are doing it if it's a means to getting fitter and slimmer but don't use it as an end in itself.

CallMeSirShotsFired · 16/01/2019 10:47

I am massively overweight. I am (much) fitter than I was.

But I know I am not as fit as I could be, simply because doing things a lot of people find easy, I don't.

For example burpees, squat thrusts etc.
I can do them more-or-less, but I sometimes have to adapt them or slow down etc. This is due to both my aerobic fitness; but also my size and weight.

But then again I am stronger than a lot of smaller people I work out with. Not because I have trained that way especially, I just started stronger than them on day 1.

Ollivander84 · 16/01/2019 10:51

@Amazonfromkent I KNOW. Just go and read ANY of the dress size threads on here and see how 99.9% of them say a size 14 IS
She knows. And refers to herself as fat/fluffy and fit because her own GP says her BMI is too high

This thread is a million times different to all the other weight threads, there was one last week regarding clothes sizing and all the posts were " a size 14 is fat"

😭 I don't get why nobody is understanding! If I go and start a thread now saying a size 14 isn't fat, all the replies will say it is 🤷🏽‍♀️

Amazonfromkent · 16/01/2019 10:54

@Ollivander84, sorry if I've upset you but really, anybody who says 14 is fat is out of their minds. Try being size 24. I'm size 12 for the avoidance of doubt but used to be a lot bigger.

Ollivander84 · 16/01/2019 11:01

Oh I get that, I do. I'm a size 14-16 and I am fat, I don't have an issue with it but my weight alone makes me fat (not in a bad way!)
Every other clothes size thread is "well a 14 is really an 18 and vanity sizing and I'm flabby at a size 8 and..." GrinHmmConfused

Jennbot · 16/01/2019 11:08

Size 14 is fat as it's a 16 compared to 10 years ago. No you cannot be fat and healthy. You might be fit while you're younger and fat, but when you're older and even fatter you're fucked. Damage done.
Recently in the news teens have been having joint replacements due to obesity. Fat people can deny the truth as much as they like no one believes them, but it is not worth the fall out.
I know an obese woman who constantly moans about her health, no one ever mentions her weight as she would flip. Behind her back is a different matter. How mean is that. That's why it is sad. All these people saying to your face good things know behind your back, different matter entirely.

Cherries101 · 16/01/2019 11:31

It depends what you mean by fat and fit. Plenty of SE Asian women may be size 6s but due to visceral fat are more likely to get high blood pressure / diabetes; while SE Asian women with subcutaneous fat (small waisted, pear shaped women who often look bigger) don’t have the same risk factors. It’s why I don’t need regular diabetes screening despite being Indian and having PCOS / Hypothyroid while my size 0 sister does.

Arcadia · 16/01/2019 14:29

But in true guardian style an article saying the opposite 2 months earlier...

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/nov/11/fat-people-can-be-fit-too-meet-the-personal-trainers-who-challenge-every-stereotype

Polarbearflavour · 16/01/2019 14:38

I’m a size 12-14 and my BMI is in the healthy zone. I’m not fat!

domton · 16/01/2019 14:41

Fat and fit, definitely. Fat and healthy, definitely lese likely.... state of arteries etc.

ladybee28 · 16/01/2019 14:42

Immediately thought about Jessamyn Stanley . Wouldn't describe her as 'unfit'...

snurguzelly · 16/01/2019 14:45

It depends what you mean by fat.

Very strong people tend to be 'overweight' and carrying fatty muscle as opposed to lean muscle. They're very fit.

A fatty on a trampoline is unlikely to be big boned or whatever the current excuse is.

PickAChew · 16/01/2019 14:53

I think you can be far and fit but would be fitter, thinner. And it's a young person's game. I don't see many people my age who I would regard as fat and fit. A fit but 17 stone rugby player with a six pack, no longer actively training in his 40s or 50s, would need to have lost weight to remain fit in his 40s and 50s or else risk being an unfit 20 stone ex rugby player with bad knees and a keg.

domton · 16/01/2019 14:56

snurguzelly

"It depends what you mean by fat.

Very strong people tend to be 'overweight' and carrying fatty muscle as opposed to lean muscle. They're very fit.

A fatty on a trampoline is unlikely to be big boned or whatever the current excuse is."

Well done. A well spotted opportunity there for a dig, and you decided to go for it. Must make your day complete. Jenn made an actual argument, with points and eeverything and no childish name calling. She needn't have bothered, obviously.

snurguzelly · 16/01/2019 15:19

Questioning the definition of fat is not having a dig.

The whole 'love your fat body' movement is killing people. Be less precious.

BejamNostalgia · 16/01/2019 15:26

I’ve had overweight yoga and Pilates instructors who were incredibly bendy. I think when you get to middle age a bit of thickening can’t be helped even if you are reasonably fit. At 15 it is a concern though, unless she puts on weight then has growth spurts and evens it out.

I put on a lot of weight quickly last year due to bereavement and am currently at the very border of obese and overweight. I’ve been back to the gym and been surprised how fit I still am and how much stamina I still have. I think that would go if I left it much longer though and it’s only really there because the weight gain was so rapid.

Bringbackthestripes · 16/01/2019 15:30

Firesuit posted a link from 2012.

The latest study
www.nhs.uk/news/obesity/new-study-casts-further-doubt-idea-you-can-be-fat-and-fit/
But also there are other risks to being fat
www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/obesity-weight-and-cancer/does-obesity-cause-cancer

domton · 16/01/2019 15:31

Calling somebody a fatty and suggesting they use excuses for it is not questioning the definition of fat.

I agree, obesity is killing people, and costing the NHS a fortune, no-one can deny that. I don't think I was being particularly precious, I just didn't particularly like that judgemental turn of phrase.

snurguzelly · 16/01/2019 15:33

We can't judge fat people for their fatness without being called judgmental?

Christ!

domton · 16/01/2019 15:42

We are obviously going to disagree, and I don't want to derail the thread so won't reply again.

I don't see why you feel the need to judge people, and to be do rude about it Argonne you do. That was my point. You have no idea if people are making excuses for it, if there is a reason apart from overeating, and calling people fatty is childish and insulting.

You not wanting to be called judgemental for judging people doesn't quite work does it? Either or, you can't have it both ways.

snurguzelly · 16/01/2019 15:48

"Either or, you can't have it both ways."

You're right. Of course I judge fatties. Having said that, I'm incredibly supportive of those who are unfit but are in the gym or at the start line. It's excuses that I hate.

Judging people isn't so much a "need" as an inherent aspect of humanity. It keeps us safe.

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