Do you know how to ride? I’m kind of doubting it, as most people don’t. And if you don’t, no the horse would probably prefer the over weight person who knows how to balance and has soft hands to a thin beginner who yanks the horse in the mouth and slams on their back because they don’t know any better.
And if her 80lb bales are anything like the bales I work with, breaking them into blocks isn’t really an option unless you want a big mess.
a HA! I finally found the tape measure I was sorting around for. Yes, my waste is 43 in non-supportive shorts, There’s a 10" area above that that’s 44" around. And I’ll agree, that’s some weight right there. But it’s not 70 lbs worth.
I’m guessing she meant “all things being equal, the horse would rather have a lighter person on its back”.
I know what you’re going through - my husband is the same height and measurements, and a bit over the same weight. He doesn’t go up in waist size unless he’s seriously overweight, like when he was over 300 lbs he was up to a 44" waist. His complaint is that “big and tall” stores are really “big or tall” stores.
We’re both working on weight, me to lose 10-15 lbs and him to shed as much as possible. I go up a pants size if I put on about 5 more pounds, so even though my BMI is still within the normal range (24.4, top of normal is 24.9), I don’t consider myself to be at a “good” weight. Unfortunately he finds himself in the “I can eat more because I’m more active” mindset, and he is, but he’s at a maintenance level of exercise.
:dubious:
You wear your pants above your hip bones, unless you are a teenaged black male, which I have photographic proof that you are not.
Which Black males are YOU looking at, and how close you lookin’ at em, they wear um under their buttocks!
My pant size hasn’t changed in 10 years. My weight has been between 265 and 270 for 10 years. I’m not in as good a shape as I was 10 years ago. I’m also pushing 40. And my dog ate my homework.
That said, I’m pretty happy with where I’m at, so long as I can maintain 150 bpm for 40 of a 60 minute exercise session. Rather than using MPH, or miles travelled, or calories burned…or body fat percentage. I’ve picked heart rate as the indicator I’m interested in.
The abovementioned article on eating more after working out is interesting though, and something I’m going to have to chew on. So to speak.
No worries - I didn’t interpret any salaciousness. The clothes fit pretty similarly - I noticed the biggest change in my lung capacity and efficiency when running rather than in my clothing.
Perhaps I ate more than I thought I had been, but I kept a food diary and was careful to keep tabs on myself. Oh, well. Weight loss and fitness has gotten more difficult the older I get. After losing that 25 pounds, it was much easier than it had been before, but it’s still not nearly as easy as it was just 7 or 8 years ago. Right now I’m 8 months pregnant and it’s all I can do sometimes to haul my sorry butt out the door at night or onto the treadmill to get in a walk. But doing it almost always makes me feel better - better sleep, less heartburn and I can still breathe easily with this one whereas I wasn’t working out much this time last pregnancy and was having sleeping and breathing troubles.
With respect to BMI, I think it varies widely depending on who you are and how your body is built. For me, I think I would need to be in the upper end of the weight range for my healthy BMI. Trying to hit smack dab in the middle would make it too hard for me to maintain long term, but I think that the upper end of that range is doable (with a lot of work) and reasonable.
Erm… you wear your pants at your hip bones, unless you have oddly placed hip bones or you’re into Grandpa pants.
BWAHAHAHAH! I said I wanted jeans, not skillfully handcrafted bits of artwork. 
Costco carries kirkland jeans for $12 a pair in 42x34. I was a happy happy boy when I discovered this. Previous to that, I was paying $40 a pair for Harley Davidson jeans. (Figures they of all people would be concerned about providing jeans to the less than waif-like)
This is why I’m much more concerned about maintaining my weight than losing. I weigh the same I did in high school 25 years ago. I didn’t gain those 5 pounds a year, so I never had to take them off, either.
Which hasn’t been easy, either (it does require paying attention and exercise), but probably easier than deciding to take off 50 pounds next decade.
Did you breastfeed? Because some of that “baby weight” you put on while pregnant is intended to be converted to calories for the baby. Breastfeeding definitely burns calories and if you did that it might have been a factor in your post-baby weight loss.
Or, if you didn’t, congrats on losing 25 pounds through sheer willpower and better habits.
That’s where I am as well. Though I’m within “normal” BMI - for me the trick is to stay at the weight I am (give or take five pounds).
When I was in my twenties, my girlfriends and I were all “positive body image” feminists. You didn’t have to appeal to some MAN’S idea of beauty. If you carried a little extra weight or didn’t shave your legs, or had mousy hair - it was fine to just be who you were (and, it was fine to reasonably diet, shave, and dye your hair red or black - but really only red or black - blonde would have been catering to men’s ideals.)
I wish “accept me for what I am” wouldn’t have been “and I’ll accept any weight that comes along next year without fighting it.” Because when I did need to loose 15 pounds, it was HARD - and I can only imagine what 40 would have been like - or my girlfriend who dropped sixty a few years back.
Oh, the breastfeeding diet was wonderful! Sit on your ass, eat what you want (within reason), and watch the weight melt away. Trade sleep and sore nipples…
You look normal to me. Comparing yourself to a prison camp survivor is ludicrous and a bit offensive.
Thanks for the congratulations! Actually, I did breastfeed, though I only lost the weight a year after my son had quit nursing. I got a nasty wake-up call when I found out that my cholesterol was at 274. I’ve never had normal cholesterol - it’s always hovered at 190-200 no matter what shape or weight I’ve been. But it was terrifying to think that I could be so close to a heart attack without even knowing it. I joined Weight Watchers online the next day and lowered my cholesterol more than 70 points by that weight loss alone and had exponentially more energy.
Right now I work out about 4-5 days a week to help me sleep (I sleep like a rock now, even though my pregnancy is fairly advanced) and to keep me toned for delivery. My last one was 32-hour ordeal after four days of irregular contractions. I was really weak afterward because of complications, which were probably compounded by the fact that I wasn’t in as good shape as I could’ve been and because I’d been awake 48 hours. I doubt it’ll be that long again, but this time I need to be ready. I have a son to take care of and a husband who loves me in addition to the new baby, and I can’t afford to be part of the problem if I have issues recovering.
That’s pretty much my current take on fitness and healthy eating. I do it because I have to and it makes me feel good.
My brother is pretty thin. He has been slightly to severely underweight his whole life. His lowest BMI was around 13, at which point he had health problems (tiredness, fainting and dizziness). It is still less than 18, but his health is fine, and doctors don’t find anything wrong with him. I don’t think he would say BMI shouldn’t be used at all, but he doesn’t have a problem with being outside the ‘healthy’ range.
Since when is hyperbole offensive? 
Thank you. Yes, I could probably get rid of about five to ten pounds. I just haven’t gotten as much exercise as I should – I keep meaning to go walking with my dad when he takes the dog. (Strangely enough, I don’t eat nearly as much junk food now as I did when I was working. In fact, I actually LOST some weight. Go figure.)
And I wasn’t making excuses with the “hourglass” comment, just in case anyone thinks so. I was a really scrawny kid – then I hit puberty and started busting out.
Uh-huh. And she was doing this out of a preference for dressage, or because that’s about the only option when you’re draft-hoss sized?
Do I take it then that girls who can ride, say, hunters or showjumpers are incapable of pitching fodder? I didn’t know. But I guess being able to puff yourself up for being able to tote a *whole *bale at one go makes up for a lot.