You asked a question, and I pointed out that I had already answered it some time ago, that’s why I quoted myself.
Yes, I’m saying that walking counts as exercise and can lead to weight loss. I’m saying it because I’ve personally experienced this. I’ve rephrased this exact same statement multiple times. If this isn’t clear to you by now, there’s really no other way for me to rephrase it that would get through to you.
I don’t really believe you misunderstand me, however. You move the goalposts, you set up strawmen to argue against, and you’re just digging in your heels, so I’m fairly sure you understand what we’re saying, you’re just refusing to admit you were wrong, so you’re digging your heels in to save face. Just FYI, the “saving face” bit is backfiring on you.
Modern Master might have missed this article I previously mentioned on non-exercise activity thermogenesis:
How much is 500 to 1,000 calories? Well, the recommended intake is 2,000 calories a day - so that is as much as half of your daily calorie expenditure (and about 1-2 pounds of fat a week, if not burned)! There is also a nice table of the number of calories burned doing different activities, compared to how many people do them; for example, instead of parking as close as you can and taking an elevator, park some distance away and take the stirs, which will burn many times more calories (dependent on how many steps you take, the example uses 15 for the first and 80-120 for the second); the daily total for all of the activities they list is 85 calories for the lazy sedentary person and 510-680 for the more active person, which amounts to up to 595 extra calories a day - 595 calories that will be stored as fat if you eat the same amount, adding up to 62 pounds a year of weight gain (of course, weight gain increases caloric requirements so you don’t actually gain 62 pounds, but you do gain weight). Heck, you could even reward yourself with one of these and still lose weight!
The division between non-exercise physical activity (NEPA) and exercise rests not on intensity but on whether or not it is structured and planned, done with the purpose to be exercise. Monstro’s planned brisk walks are exercise. Sprinting through an airport for 20 minutes carrying a 35 pound suitcase and a toddler to catch a flight is NEPA because it was unplanned and unstructured. Much of NEPA is lower intensity but it does not need to be.
Both have benefits but the greater amount of calories burned are usually through NEPA (the calorie burning referred to as non-exercise activity thermogenesis or NEAT), ranging from 15% to 50% of daily calories depending on the individual. Interestingly enough non-obese individuals automatically increase NEAT when overfed and obese individuals do not.
Plus a gazillion. It is also a huge liability to allow members on the floor who have not been taught how to properly use the equipment. I have belonged to gyms almost as long as you, and whenever I join a new gym I still have to prove to them I am knowledgeable enough to use the equipment without an orientation. I have also been employed by 3 very different gyms, in 3 different states, and have never ever witnessed the type of harassment towards members that I read about here. If anything, people :rolleyes: at the women who wear makeup to the gym or the meatheads who cheer eachother on like baboons or how, like at World Gym it can be like a pickup bar only without booze.
Lynn, with all due respect, this statement:
told that I should just stay home and stuff cookies into my mouth until I die, because there’s no hope for me
is really difficult to believe. I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but you are saying that someone–an employee of a gym, who likely has a passion for fitness and most likely a degree or training in fitness and health–said this to your face? Aside from being completely asocial, it is bad business and completely unprofessional. Can you say a little more about the conversation that surrounded this remark?
Aw c’mon guys! I had a rough day and I’d love nothing more than to settle into a good long thread about how it’s so easy/hard to lose weight. You know the ones where someone says it’s simple science and someone else says but you don’t understand that I’m special and science doesn’t work on me?
Can we stop feeding it now and get back to the good stuff?
This is coming and sounding dangerously close to trolling. If you have problems with any other poster, take it to the BBQ Pit.
Get back on track with the OP and stop hijacking it. If you want to start a debate, there is a forum called Great Debates on here, feel free to make one in there.
Everyone else:
Stop the hijacks right now. Get back to the OP, please, and drop the debate over what exercise is or isn’t. Great Debates is open if anyone wishes to start a topic there and the Pit is there if you want to say how you really feel to anyone.
Beyond this post, there will be warnings given to anyone continuing the hijack or heated discussion/posts.
One more thing, and I apologize if it has already been said here. I think that when we think about the “costs” of overweight and obesity, we have to think about more than medical issues. Off the top of my head, I can think of three overweight individuals whose lives were impacted in other ways.
One woman’s wait on the Section 8 housing list was much longer than average and ultimately resulted in her having to take a home in an unsafe neighborhood because her mobility challenges necessitated a first floor unit. Another woman was unable to work because she could neither stand nor sit for long periods of time due to swelling and vascular problems in her legs. One man suffered severe depression, as he was unable to attend his grandson’s (of whom he had custody) little league games because he couldn’t navigate safely the uneven terrain to get to the field.
These are all people I have met personally. And while they all had numerous health issues correlated with their weight–their weight was correlated with a lot more than bad toenails. Their lifestyles cost a lot of people, in a lot of ways. So when you ask “how fat is too fat” I guess it is worth thinking about, because it is a pretty complex issue.
