80% of women too unfit to be healthy?

[FlowerArranger]

I listened to Women's Hour while doing my workout today. In a segment on women in sport, one contributor stated that research shows that 80% of women are too unfit to be healthy.

I Googled and found a reference to a Canadian study from 2007 and CDC research from 2013:

A new (US) government study estimates that nearly 80 percent of adult Americans do not get the recommended amounts of exercise each week, potentially setting themselves up for years of health problems.

www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-80-percent-of-american-adults-dont-get-recommended-exercise/

I don't suppose British women do much better? If this is indeed true, it is is shocking.

I remember when my children were little and I was working full-time, there was little or no time to exercise in a formal way - though I'm sure all the running after them and running up and down stairs and housework and gardening kept me fit enough!

If this is you, you are excused......... but what about all the years before and after looking after children? Why don't women exercise enough to keep themselves healthy? Which the CDC defined as:

at least 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise each week or one hour and 15 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity, or a combination of both

Personally I (in my 60s) work out most days and I feel so much better for it.

YABU - I don't see the need to exercise regularly
YANBU - regular exercise is vital

Urgh... weather isn't very nice here today, DH is probably going for a swim, I'm thinking 'I really ought to do some exercise' but not sure I can face Jillian Michaels.... but I've got a nice Concept2 erg in the garage which I've not used for ages, so I suppose I should go and see how many calories a 5'1" 65kg 62 yo can burn.

People who say exercise doesn't help with weight loss know that on most cases people eat to make up

You have to burn a shedload of calories ( because eating thousands extra calories is hard ) or be really strict with yourself before it becomes likely that doesn't happen

The other reason exercise rarely helps with weight loss is that people are more likely to be less active after an exercise session - if you do an hour class and then collapse on the sofa for the rest of the day with a glass of wine and bag of crisps you could end up gaining

Sorry haven't read the full thread but I'm not sure it's as black and white as OP is saying.

And I say this as someone who does do the recommended amount of exercise. I was surprised on a day arlier this week , where I hadn't done any "official" type of exercise I had done 11,000 steps just walking to the station and using the stairs and running errands at work. But I wouldn't want that to be my main form of exercise.
I'm shit at most sports involving a ball and I hated team sports at school because I was the crap one who was last to be picked. My parents didn't prioritise sports they were more interested in academic results (for some reason they seemed to think they were mutually exclusive!) But I am decent at running and actually liked cross country at school because it was an individual sport where you wouldn't let your team mates down. I was lucky that I was a SAHM when my DC were pre school age and there was a creche at the council run gym that I could leave them.
But I will say its only since they are teens and I can leave them at home for a few hours, that I can follow training plans so much more easily.

OP "excuses" parents with very young children (thank you!!) But habits are hard to make and break. If you haven't had time to exercise when your DC are young and full on, where do you start? If youre used to not exercising it can be daunting or difficult to suddenly start, join a class etc. I know when I had periods of depression and stopped running or exercising (even just for a few months) the longer I didn't do it, the harder it was to start.

And agree, men are more likely to prioritise their exercise time. I had to change/stop/adapt my exercise routine when pregnant, post parturition, breastfeeding, for young kids etc whereas DH has had 20 years of uninterrupted "Monday at 7pm is my sports club time".

For your stats it is 273 calories for the above 45 min UT2 session.

Concept 2 is all you need! 😀

I recognise this, but it is less common in people who aren't exercising specifically for weight loss.
There's no 'making up' frame of mind if you're going our for a bike ride or a swim. There's also less collapsing on the sofa if regular exercise is part of your normal life.
I don't mean to sound evangelical about it and of course there's an element of "yay, I can't wait for my tea and cake" after a long bike ride or a running race, but it's more that they're just going to have some cake rather than working out that they burnt 300 calories and therefore have earned the cake.

I have seen people with so many gels on a belt for a half marathon I reckon they'd put weight on even though they're running 13.1 miles.

I don’t know though- if you work in an active job you’d have answered that you did no exercise but on a busy day (retail)- I can be doing up to 15000 steps and lifting loads (but would be marked as no exercise!)

Sorry to bang on about this, but I think this kind of feeling is common.

I'm not egotistical enough to think that anyone else is looking at me or cares two hoots about my existence. But the feeling of shame is deep-rooted, and illogical. I'm sure it stems from school PE when unless you were good at sport you were just a drain, and when failing to catch/hit a ball resulted in much eye-rolling from staff and team-members.

Doing anything one is physically bad at in the presence of others is just a non-starter for many of us!

It's not just exercise itself, it'sakso being active in everyday life, which keeps me fit and at a good weight

part of the reason I exercise is so I can eat what I want

In fairness that does not prove that exercise does not help with weight loss. Nothing wrong with flopping on the sofa after an exercise session (I do it all the time) but you also reaching for the big bag of crisps or seeing off half a bottle of wine is an issue with your self control with your eating habits. Exercising is not making you open the Doritos or wine.

I find exercise has a bit of a halo effect - I do a PT session once a week. The night before I don't want to drink alcohol because it might make me feel sluggish. The rest of the day after I do it, I feel strong and happy with myself which makes me do things like make healthy soup/salad for the week. A couple of days beforehand I do a short session on my own so that I don't hurt so much after my PT session.

Of course everyone is different - I just wanted to put it out there in case it helps anyone else. I still hate every minute of the actual session though.

My PT once said "some of my clients love their time with me as their me time indulgence", I was like "no offence but I would much rather be on the sofa with a G and T and a nice book". She laughed.

I find exercise has a bit of a halo effect
Same I think it's a keystone habit for me and has a knock on effect to other areas.

It means getting to bed at a good time, choosing to eat well so not to feel sluggish, not wanting to eat junk as much.

When I'm not exercising it's too easy to sit and scroll on my phone, eat junk, and waste time.

Indeed. When I was over-exercising (due to an eating disorder) it was a struggle to find a good balance (and to convince my health providers that the exercise was good) because knowing I was going to do a long run the next day meant I ate better the day before.

I agree about the positive knock-on effect of exercisin

Especially the "not eating/drinking crap on the sofa and scrolling on my tablet" thing.

I have more energy after an hour with Caroline Girvan than if I had been 'resting'.

I've tend to find YouTube instructors a bit hard to engage with, partly I think their channels can be a bit overwhelming, not always clear where best to start and how to put together a coherent program. But I do think I need a change from Jillian Michaels....
maybe a thread or two on the exercise board might be apt at this point...

Despite my negative attitude I did try park run a couple of years back, I could run it in just over 30 mins despite my aversion to exercise. It was full of fit young men who shout at you to move over and younger women who are very competitive. I did come first in my age group but there was no one else in my age group except me. It is not very inclusive, I was expecting lots of older people, walkers, people just starting running but no, really just for serious runners.

Does walking fast (not quite power walking!) count as moderate exercise? I try to do this for half an hour a day, it registers as exercise on my Apple Watch.

It depends where you go.
I've been to one in a Uni city - very competitive, full of uni sport students.
Another one more local to me is (I think) more representative has walkers, pushchairs, kids, club runners, old, young.

I agree, @ErrolTheDragon . Some can be a bit shouty or overenthusiastic, eg Popsugar Fitness (though i like Jake Dupree...) or Rebecca Louise, who I also like - especially her older videos, with the sound turned off.

Fitness Blender is excellent but a bit dull.

Lucy Wyndham Reed is very calm and gentle. Perfect for beginners, the elderly or unfit.

Theres a reason why Heather Robertson and Sydney Cummings are very popular. They know their stuff and are able to engage with their audience.

Personally I like Caroline Girvan and Growingannanas because they are very professional and they don't talk. So I can listen to Women's Hour while I do my workout. Hence this thread, LOL.

Theres a lovely chap called Harry who does reviews of online influencers. Most of them are very technical, but every now and again he does a review of a dozen or so and ranks them:

(NB: Forget about Blogilates...)

Considering that a large proportion of women are holding down a job, looking after children, and doing the majority of the cooking and household chores as well as often having to get up in the night to tend to dc, (and usually doing it all weekend too as their partners bugger off to do their hobby), who the heck has any energy left for exercising?

FYI - the 20% are on the 50+ exercise thread over on Exercise!

You don't have to accept this as your lot in life.

I definitely need to do more and would like to. What stops me? A mix of time, energy, safety (outdoors) and ability to get to gyms etc.

Sometimes the only available time I have is after dark so a run around the badly lit local common is not an option. The local facilities for anything organised are not great. I'd love to swim for example but the pool is a 25 minute journey each way on the bus (I don't drive) and doesn't feel very inviting as it's often not very clean.

My home is not very spacious and there's no obvious space to do something on the floor (and can't afford to keep the heating on much so the floor is very cold anyway).

I do end up walking a fair bit during the week just when commuting etc. so that keeps me active.

If anyone wants the 60 day peloton app trial just PM me (it's got my name attached or I would link it)
I gain nothing but I share it as there's everything from 10 min stretches to walks to weights and it's easy to use. Cancel before 60 days and it's free
And if you really CBA there's meditation on it

In the spirit of this thread I have just been to the gym, which was boring, noisy and smelly.

I'm now having a gin and tonic. Cheers!