Socialized Medicine :dubious: Yet another reason we don’t need the Federal Government trying to control our lives…
As for the tone - I apologize if your interest was idle curiosity of the science of it all. It just painted a picture to me of your wrinkled nose reaction to anyone that doesn’t meet your personal body shape standards.
They’re probably older, and have ruined their metabolisms over time with too much of the wrong foods (sugar, starches). Even if they eat fewer calories and exercise more, they probably struggle to lose body fat.
As has been said, this doesn’t matter much in the long run. Cleaning or walking just don’t burn that many calories, certainly not enough to overcome bad eating habits. And studies have tied lower income levels to poorer eating habits and obesity, which are likely the pay levels of these workers.
They’re better off than if they weren’t getting that exercise, but that may not show up in their overall weight.
No worries. 
Ahhh…the old “burn the calories off” myth.
I have a new friend. He has a new phone with a cool GPS app. We did about a five mile easy hike not long ago. He emailed the data from this app after the trip. It showed where we had been and an integrated Google Earth Map overlay. And some interesting stats. All very cool.
But what was quite interesting was this app claimed that he had burned off over 2000 calories doing this easy hike (we averaged like 1mph).
I told him I didnt think he could burn off 2000 calories even if he could sprint the whole 5 miles. Thankfully, especially given that he is trying to get in shape, he knew this app was FOS in that regard.
The calorie burning myth…apparently even the computers are falling for it now…
It does when you clean the way I do. When I am done, I am covered in sweat and exhausted. Mind you I like my house very clean and I work very fast. Between elbow grease and speed vacuuming, it’s definitely a workout.
They probably get paid significantly less than you do, which is a starting factor. They may have multiple kids or help to support large families (especially during a recession) which necessitates they buy large quantities of cheaper-quality food. They may be genetically predisposed to hang on to more fat than you. They may be significantly older than you, too; perhaps your metabolism is faster or you’re just at a stage in your life where it doesn’t matter how much you eat or exercise, you’ll look pretty much the same regardless (like 25 year old guys).
Lots of potential reasons.
Your cleaning lady is fat because shes poor.
The New York Times ran a piece on this very thing a few years back. It seems that part of it is psychological.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/magazine/09mindfulexercise.html
This is these men/womens jobs. Their bodies are trained to do their walk (postal worker) and the cleaning just like anyone else who has a job who works on their feet. And once you get use to that unless you walk faster or walk farther you aren’t going to lose weight.
Just like when you go to the gym you have to run faster when you realize your heart isn’t pumping faster anymore.
Yeah, that’s odd. The general rule of thumb is 100 calories per mile, regardless of whether you walk it or run it. The truth is that there is a bit of variance based on your exertion level, and your weight also figures into the equation, but that number is a good one to use (in my experience), as you’re better off underestimating a little bit than overestimating if you’re monitoring calories for weight loss.
But it still doesn’t burn many calories, no matter how much you sweat. You could eat one blueberry muffin and more than cover the calories you just burned cleaning.
So if the body gets “efficient”, all the advice to get up and “move more” are meaningless, right? I mean if this were true, people who “move more” are no better off?
And if we are accustomed to this movement and it doesn’t offer weight loss, than all those people who say we are fat now becuase we are sedentary are wrong?
Its all about the food. We eat too many foods that cause an insulin reaction. Good Calories, Bad Calories is a great read for this. The low fat / high carb advice of the last 40 years is the culprit.
Yep, for example, a Starbucks blueberry muffin, calorically, is about equal to a four-mile run. It’s very easy to overestimate the amount of calories burned doing various activities and falling into a trap of “well, I feel like I had a great workout today, so I’ll treat myself to [insert high-calorie item or meal here.]”
The secret is to just eat the tops and throw away the stumps…all the flavor is in the tops and all the calories are in the stumps…though disposal of the stumps does create a problem of its own
Not really. While you will get efficient, you are still burning more calories the more you exercise. If I run 30 miles per week I’m going to be burning a heck of a lot more calories than if I am inactive, regardless of how efficient my body gets. I may not make any performance gains if I plateau, but I’m burning lots of calories. As others have said, it takes roughly the same number of calories to move your body one mile no matter how fast you do so. A more efficient runner may burn somewhat fewer, but he/she is probably also running more miles.
No, that’s an oversimplification. Being sedentary contributes to obesity, and exercise is important for health in many other ways besides just weight loss. By itself, exercise won’t cause most people to lose weight. But when combined with a sensible diet the two together are the best way to achieve good health AND weight loss.
It’s a lot about the food, but there is no single cause or cure.
All the walking in the world isn’t going to save you if your diet is crappy.
Why not just ask someone who cleans for a living like I do?
For starters, cleaners ( janitors, custodians, maids,etc. ) really don’t make that much money. For most, it’s minimum wage or slightly above. With that in mind, the wages they earn doesn’t really cover the cost of living especially if trying to support a family on that income.
For many, buying low quality food is about the only thing many can afford.
As for being overweight despite moving around all day, it’s mostly low-impact. There isn’t really any type of movement related to cleaning that will have any real impact on losing weight because of not being repetitive enough.
After cleaning for 8 hours a day, you’re just too wore out to go to the gym for a good workout!
My neighbor is a supervisor for the Post Office.
When he got the promotion, his weight ballooned up by a good 60 pounds. He looks like he is carrying twins. It’s pretty disgusting. And he amped up his smoking habit too.
I don’t think working at the Post Office is a happy place.
Hey now, don’t be bringing logic to a knife fight.