Not Necessarily The News
When I walk to and from the train everyday (yes, fat people walk!) I usually have my backpack with me. With my computer and other miscellaneous stuff in it, it weighs about 6.5 pounds. If I were to keep that backpack on me when doing everything during the day, well, I don't think my body would like it very much.
Now imagine that backpack weighed 56 pounds. And imagine I went to the gym, or did something else that was physically demanding. And let's say that instead of just on my back, that weight was now all around my body. Would you say that's a good idea? No?
Then tell that to Wales's Red Dragon FM, which sent a reporter to the gym in a 4 stone fat suit and, naturally, recorded her reactions. Imagine this: she has to run harder. And she gets sweaty!
Yes, amazing that she gets sweaty wearing a heavy fabric-covered thing underneath... a sweatshirt and sweatpants. That clearly means that all fat people are sweaty and hot when doing things!
So I guess the point of this is to, what? Discourage fat people from going to the gym? That's been done. Encourage fat people to go to the gym? Doesn't seem like it. It seems like the point of this video is to tell people not to wear 56 pounds of additional weight and instantly expect one's body to be able to compensate.
Ridiculous.
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Posted by paul on July 11, 2008
Wow, so they proved that a naturally thin person can't immediately carry around 4 stone of extra weight comfortably.
They actually had to go to these lengths to figure that out?
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Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece.
Ralph Charell
Why, why, why won't the media talk to actual fat people about their experiences, perceptions, sense of reality? Why is the only credible source a thin person in a fat suit? I know we avoid comparisons to other forms of discrimination here, but we would be horrified at a white person in black face reporting on the "black experience" in this day and age. It's been a few decades since Black Like Me. When will we see the end of "Fat Like Me"?
Exactly. It reminded me of a not so distant past when black people couldn't testify in courts unless a white person "vouched" for their honesty.
No kidding, Debra SY, it's like they'll think they'll get fat cooties from actually talking to us. And it seems like on the rare occasions when they do, they seek out people who fit every goddamn stereotype (OMG LOOK HOW MUCH JUNK THEY EAT! OMG THEY NEVER EVEN TRY TO WALK ANYPLACE! OMG THEY'RE DUMB AS A BAG OF HAIR AND GIANT CRYBABIES TOO! OMG! OMG! HOW DO WE LET THEM LIVE??).
And yeah, when are these "It's Science! ELEVENTY-ONE!!" people going to get that weighing 120 pounds and carrying the equivalent of a 9-year-old child around with you literally everywhere you go is NOT the same thing as being weighing 200 pounds and walking around by yourself? It's not even close, unless you gain 80 pounds in, like, two months or something.
Yeah, so what they actually showed is that it's very unpleasant to get fat WITHIN TWO MINUTES. Which never happens in real life. Duh. Had they added one pound every other week or so, it would have been a different story.
I think the reason why they never ask actual fat people about their experiences is probably the assumption that they've never been thin before, so it's normal for them and they've got nothing to compare to. Never mind that most fat people have been thin at some point in their lives, either because they got fat later or because they slimmed down temporarily. Then, of course, there's also the added "real time transformation" effect that seems interesting. Never mind that it makes the whole experiment worthless. *rolls eyes*
The amusing thing is that we are encouraged to engage in resistance training for exercise, because it makes the heart and other muscles stronger. But, somehow, if the resistance is coming from the fat on your own body, it magically doesn't have this effect.
I actually have a lot of muscle under my fat. I think it has something to do with the fact that I've adapted to carrying around a lot more body mass than most people on a daily basis.
Amazing thing, this 'adaptation.'
The fat suit thing is now such an obvious ploy for sensational publicity, I can't believe people think it has any relationship at all to how actual fat people function in daily life.
Not that anyone gives a crap about what doctors think, but I once head Dr. Dean Edell state that the incidence of osteoporosis in overweight and obese women is very low compared to their thin counterparts. Just as MichMurphy pointed out, Dr. Dean essentially said that we are engaged in an ongoing weight resistance program, ergo, strong bones and muscles. (Of course, he had to screw it up by adding that "the health risks associated with overweight, especially with obesity, far outweigh any benefit.") The Health Professional giveth, the Health Professional rippeth away.
I don't understand what the point of this video is/was? It makes no sense and did not even come to any conclusions except that she can't do as much exercise in a fat suit.
I'm surprised she took the risk. I mean, the stress on her knees and ankles - it's a wonder they weren't destroyed by two minutes on the treadmill. And surprising her heart didn't explode from the sheer terror of thinking she had gotten fat.
That was really dumb.
Zero isn't a size, it's a warning sign. - Carson Kressley
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