To think that being “skinny” doesn’t make you fit

[hannah1992]

So I’ve just read a thread about 2 policeman being “overweight” and chasing a “skinny” guy and it got me thinking.

I’m slim but I’m really unfit. More so than I thought before lockdown.

My friend is overweight by about 2 stone but she’s a lot fitter than me. As in she can go jogging for an hour, I would feel like I’m having a heart attack after 10 mins.

I understand that carrying extra weight can make you get tired quicker but Aibu to think that just because you’re carrying extra weight doesn’t mean you’re unfit? And just because you’re skinny or slim doesn’t mean you’re fit and healthy either.

People’s perceptions of the way people look is mind blowing

Agree. That’s why the term “skinnyfat” exists.

I’m slim but have zero strength, endurance or general fitness.

Of course not .. I'm overweight but can cycle and walk for miles . Running not so much but I'm way fitter than a lot of my skinny friends .. they are two different things!!

Being skinny doesn't mean your fit. But being overweight can and does cause health problems. Youre much more susceptible to things like diabetes, etc. if you're overweight.

OFCnot.

Fitness and fatness are two separate things.

I used to play netball and the fastest woman on the team was a few stone overweight but she was up and down that court putting the rest of us to shame.

I agree OP. I'm overweight but since starting a new diet exercise program 5 weeks ago and sticking to it - for once!! - I'm fitter. I feel a real difference from what I was before even though I'm still fat (BMI - 29) and a bit stiff. Prior to embarking on my diet /exercise program I was in the obese category.

My MIL was always very thin. She couldn’t walk for more than a few minutes. It didn’t stop her commenting every time a woman who wasn’t a size 6 in sport was on the TV ‘I’m fitter than her’. Sure, you’re fitter than an Olympic athlete.... What she meant was she was thinner, she couldn’t see the difference.

True to a degree. But if a fat person and a thin one who had never exercised before started to train, do exactly the same training, I think the thin one would be fitter. The fat person you know is fit because they train. They’d be even fitter if they lost weight.

No it doesn’t mean you’re fit.

However if you take two people, one slim and one overweight who both have sedentary lifestyles the slimmer person is more likely to be able to complete more physical activity due to not carrying as much weight.

Weight is a significant disadvantage when running, that’s why very fit rugby players are slow runners, where as slimmer equally fit football players are faster.

A couple of years ago I went on an exercise regime...I did one or two exercise classes a day, every day...high intensity ones and weights. I got pretty fit but still overweight. Despite all the exercise, I still couldn't run. I could do hiit for an hour easily but couldn't jog for five minutes. Even as a skinny primary aged child, I remember not being able to run like the other children. My very slim father was the same.

I am slim and run a lot but until about four years ago I did no strength and conditioning work (or gardening or other activities that would build muscle) so had no muscle tone. So I was fit in terms of cardio but not in terms of muscle mass, and it's really important as you get older to maintain as much muscle mass as possible.

So even if you think you are slim and fit, you may well not be.

However, there are not many overweight people who are fit. I am always surprised when I see people who've been running for years and are still (a lot) overweight. Obviously if you've just started couch to 5k it's different.

But when it comes to the crunch, a slim unfit person is far less likely to have health problems than a fat unfit person.

True to a degree. But if a fat person and a thin one who had never exercised before started to train, do exactly the same training, I think the thin one would be fitter.

There is actually no logical reason to assume that. Not if they were both starting off from the same place.

Certain types of exercise favour lower body weight eg push ups or pull ups. Particularly for women who a rarely very muscly. I think if you’re a significantly overweight female you might struggle to do push ups or pull ups unless you trained very very hard? So it also depends on how you measure fitness.

You're right, 'fitness' is completely unrelated to body weight in theory. All it means is that your body has made adaptations to stress from physical exercise by improving the efficiency of your musculoskeletal, nervous, cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Anyone who stresses their body through exercise will adapt and get fitter. If anything larger people will see faster fitness gains because their bodyweight is an additional stress when moving.

The association obviously exists in practice because if you do a lot of stressing via exercise, you're also less likely to be overweight because of the energy expenditure, but it's by no means the case.

Fast or slow running for e.g is less to do with overall fitness (although obviously it's also essential to run fast) and more to do with body structure and aerodynamics.

Depends how 'fat' the other person is. You can certainly weigh a stone or two more than someone and be much fitter than them. I'm probably about 2 stone heavier than my best friend but much fitter than her. She's naturally skinny but never done ANY exercise. I'm carrying some baby weight at the moment but still have some pre-pregnancy fitness. If we both went for a run or lifted weights I know she would struggle!

You're right of course. I was on another thread about strength training where this cane up. I am pretty slim (bmi is 21 but had a baby six months ago) and actually am quite fit in one sense - I can run for an hour no problem and regularly do. But I cannot do a burpee or a press up or anything like that, I'm not strong at all. There are heavier women than me who are really really strong, which ultimately is probably better for them.

There are also people slimmer than me, my SIL is an example, but she can't even run to the end of her street and has a terrible diet. I assume I must be lots fitter than her but I don't look it.

I think it’s important though as well to distinguish between weight and fat as well. % of body fat makes a difference as does muscle mass.

Why though Serendipity? I think it’s perfectly logical. If you’re two stone overweight and the other person is not, the other person has the advantage. To level up, the other person should carry a rucksack with two stone inside.

I’ve experienced this myself as we have a fitness test at work (shuttle run) and I can compare performance when I’ve been two stone heavier to when I’ve been a healthy weight. It was much much harder with the extra fat on me. I stil did it but it was not pleasant

Fitness is different to health though

Being the lower side of a healthy weight is one of the best things you can do for your health , alongside not smoking or drinking

Being skinny doesn’t mean you’re fit, no.

But being overweight, even if you do a lot of exercise, is horrendously bad for your mental and physical health.

Fast or slow running for e.g is less to do with overall fitness (although obviously it's also essential to run fast) and more to do with body structure and aerodynamics

Very interesting. I remember even in infant school, I couldn't run easily like the other children. I was a,skinny child...not overweight. I did ordinary activities like swimming, playing etc like the other kids so not inactive. But why could I not run? It's not like in infant school, other children were all working out in the gym whilst I wasn't. I was a normal weight and had normal activity levels. I remember being last in the running race on sports day...by a huge distance.

I totally agree that you can be slim as anything look fab, yet be totally unfit and have a heart attack.
Or be two stone heavier than that person and be able to run in the park daily for an hour.

However the more weight we carry the more pressure we are putting on our joints so it would be better to be in a healthy range for our weight.

Being overweight just means we are eating more calories than we burn. So the person who runs ten miles a day and is still overweight with weight staying the same must be eating very calorific meals or he/she would lose weight.

I've always been slim, though my 20s I've been very unfit though but people do assume I'm fit because I was very active in my teens and i stayed slim. I'm turning 30 this year and wanted to get fit and I've had so many comments like "but you dont need to lose weight" and "it wont be healthy for you to get skinnier" 🙄 acting like starting running wont be good for me. it's really not what it's about for me I want to be fitter

Very interesting. I remember even in infant school, I couldn't run easily like the other children. I was a,skinny child...not overweight. I did ordinary activities like swimming, playing etc like the other kids so not inactive. But why could I not run? It's not like in infant school, other children were all working out in the gym whilst I wasn't. I was a normal weight and had normal activity levels. I remember being last in the running race on sports day...by a huge distance.

I was the same. I was shorter than my classmates, sturdy compact build and just couldn’t cover the same amount of ground as my more gazelle like classmates.