Women's Running features plus-sized cover model

[Riptide]

How many times have you been warned? Weren't you just warned last week, after tattling?

Not at all. But nice try, lumpy.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

I demand equal time for plus-sized men!


Or ... Bring back Fat Men's Club ...
http://www.uppervalleylife.com/pdf/fat.pdf

 

[MisterCreosote]

****, in all sincerity: You might be well served to apply the same skepticism to the American standards for "obesity" that you apply to, say, sexual assault statistics.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Well, these are certainly some interesting posts from the thread on the "What's Your Excuse?" mom thread.

It seems that one poster was more than OK with Maria Kang's fat-shaming, and chided people for "stuff[ing] ourselves with bad food choices on the road to obesity and diabetes," while another had mixed emotions because of the message it sent to women.

Why, it's almost like the former adjusts his opinion based upon whether he can try to troll/post-stalk someone he doesn't like!

If Kang's message offends me, I should remind myself that it's not personally directed at me. If it really gets under my skin, I probably already have insecurities and feelings of inadequacy related to body image and self-worth.

We stuff ourselves with bad food choices on the road to obesity and diabetes, all the while worshipping the physiques of celebrities and athletes. It's a recipe for disaster.

What about beer commercials?
Their messages are much more offensive than Maria Kang's.

This is exactly it.

I have mixed feelings on this whole affair. On one hand, I have posted on thread after thread after thread about how much **** smaller women take, my wife being a smaller woman. Like YF, I don't like the "genetic lottery" accusation. I'm not a woman, but I'm 5-foot-9 and tipped the scales at about 215 a few years ago. I don't carry it well, which is an understatement. I was chubby my whole life, but I had become obese. Not morbidly, but I was definitely obese. Now I maintain at about 150, and I do it by getting up before 4 a.m. every day and hitting the weights or treadmill, and trying to watch what I eat. No one is going to mistake me for a fitness model, but I'm fit, and I certainly didn't win the genetic lottery. Far from it. (I do think that this woman might have won the genetic energy lottery - I think I did, too - but I digress.)

That said, my wife is also a working mom. We have two children, a 4-year-old who is a beautiful little hellion, and a 10-month old whom she is diligently breast feeding. I didn't read Wonder Woman's story, but I imagine she's not breast feeding. It takes a lot out of a woman. She's also self-employed and, for all the work that three young children are, it's much different when you are answering to someone else outside the home each day.

I also cringe because this photo is just one more thing for mothers to feel bad about, and it's already a jungle out there. I hate being the you-don't-understand-if-you-don't-have-kids guy, but, yeah, you don't understand if you don't have kids. There needs to be some backlash against it, because sites like Pinterest are single-handedly driving the anti-depressant industry that YF rails against.

Bottom line: OOP is right. It's the words she used. Using the word "excuse" puts people on the defensive, because it has a perjorative connotation.

P.S. I liked the post about learning Mandarin. Yep. Any person could post something about their accomplishments while juggling things, and put other people down for it. My wife's students test through the roof. I suppose she could make a poster in which she holds up her 99 percentile student scores and sneer at stay-at-home moms for it. That would go over really well.

Bottom line: People have different interests. Just because you don't look like Alex Morgan doesn't mean that you're eating Bon-Bons and watching soaps all day.

 

[Riptide]

LOL. Your psychosis appears to be metastasizing.

 

[Dick Whitman]

We stuff ourselves with bad food choices on the road to obesity and diabetes. ...

What about beer commercials?
Their messages are much more offensive than Maria Kang's.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

The headline less than an inch to the left of the "body positive" model:

"Strong & Hot: Get Toned With DIY Barre."

Less than an inch away cuz she takes up so much space on the cover.

 

[Alma]

Well, these are certainly some interesting posts from the thread on the "What's Your Excuse?" mom thread.

It seems that one poster was more than OK with Maria Kang's fat-shaming, and chided people for "stuff[ing] ourselves with bad food choices on the road to obesity and diabetes," while another had mixed emotions because of the message it sent to women.

Why, it's almost like the former adjusts his opinion based upon whether he can try to troll/post-stalk someone he doesn't like!

But isn't this whole thread a troll and a post-stalk?

I do sympathize with your frustration for shallow, sheeplike perfectionism, curious as your seeming defenses for it may be.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Look: I get your frustration for shallow, sheeplike perfectionism.

I guess there are a couple things here:

1. There are bean poles in this country and there are obese/overweight people in this country. Then there is a vast middle of people in this country. I'm a little perplexed as to why, in reaction to criticism of the bean poles, these magazines are seeming to exclusively tout "plus-sized" models. Why not some people from the vast middle?

2. It seems perfectly reasonable to me that a fitness magazine would feature fit models. Not Victoria's Secret models. But fit models. The men and women on the cover of running magazines look very healthy to me.

I certainly like the message that anyone can start running. We all know that the first step is the toughest. But, again, if you're running four days a week and you look like the woman on the cover, you're doing something wrong.

 

[Alma]

Why was Christian Ponder drafted in the first round?

At any rate, I think you're perturbed about this on the behalf of others, which must a difficult act to keep up.

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

I guess there are a couple things here:

1. There are bean poles in this country and there are obese/overweight people in this country. Then there is a vast middle of people in this country. I'm a little perplexed as to why, in reaction to criticism of the bean poles, these magazines are seeming to exclusively tout "plus-sized" models. Why not some people from the vast middle?

2. It seems perfectly reasonable to me that a fitness magazine would feature fit models. Not Victoria's Secret models. But fit models. The men and women on the cover of running magazines look very healthy to me.

I certainly like the message that anyone can start running. We all know that the first step is the toughest. But, again, if you're running four days a week and you look like the woman on the cover, you're doing something wrong.

I think a talk with Michelle Obama about nutrition would help.

 

[LongTimeListener]

I certainly like the message that anyone can start running. We all know that the first step is the toughest. But, again, if you're running four days a week and you look like the woman on the cover, you're doing something wrong.

This isn't true. Many people, particularly as they move into their 40s and beyond, are going to be large as a natural state. Particularly true in some ethnic groups.

Also: If a person is that big and is exercising four days a week, that's a lot better for health than being that big and not exercising four days a week.

Also: Particular to running, the new conventional wisdom is it doesn't do all that much for weight loss, as opposed to weight workouts or high-intensity training.

I know there's some point here wrapped up in your head, but as usual, I can't figure out exactly what it is.

 

[Big Circus]

One plus-size model in 12 years of publication is "exclusively tout[ing] 'plus-sized' models"?

 

[Dick Whitman]

Also: Particular to running, the new conventional wisdom is it doesn't do all that much for weight loss, as opposed to weight workouts or high-intensity training.

It just isn't very efficient, as compared to HIIT. (It's certainly more efficient than weight workouts, though.)

They key to weight loss is diet. It's far more important to exercise.

I never thought I'd say that, but it's absolutely the case.

 

[Dick Whitman]

One plus-size model in 12 years of publication is "exclusively tout[ing] 'plus-sized' models"?

"Exclusively" meaning that seems to be the exclusive response to the backlash against string beans.

 

[Dick Whitman]

This isn't true. Many people, particularly as they move into their 40s and beyond, are going to be large as a natural state.

Evidence shows that this is a myth or, at the very least, heavily overstated.

 

[MisterCreosote]

I know there's some point here wrapped up in your head, but as usual, I can't figure out exactly what it is.

I feel like we're taking the long way to a humblebrag about his wife.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I know there's some point here wrapped up in your head, but as usual, I can't figure out exactly what it is.

I don't know if there's exactly a "point," per se.

We have an interesting relationship with fitness and body image in America, I guess. Lots of misinformation, much of it perpetuated by the medical, fitness, and food industries themselves. And lots of difficult-to-reconcile prevailing opinions. We have an obesity epidemic. But we also have a "body positive" movement. I suppose they are compatible. But you have to do some mental gymnastics to get there.

 

[MisterCreosote]

There are bean poles in this country and there are obese/overweight people in this country. Then there is a vast middle of people in this country. I'm a little perplexed as to why, in reaction to criticism of the bean poles, these magazines are seeming to exclusively tout "plus-sized" models. Why not some people from the vast middle?

She's 5'3", 160 pounds. That IS the vast middle.

 

[Dick Whitman]

She's 5'3", 160 pounds. That IS the vast middle.

Your BMI is calculated as 28.4

kilograms per square meter. About 95 percent of women at the age of 25 are below and 5 percent are above this value.

Health aspects

Your weight is at a clearly elevated level; in our view, it is definitely not optimal for your health. By classification of the WHO, you are "overweight".

Your body fat mass seems to be rather high. It may have raised your blood pressure and cholesterol levels, or affected the way your body handles blood sugar. Your doctor could tell you whether you are at risk for heart disease, stroke, or diabetes, or not.

Weight stability

At this weight level, you are at risk of gaining more weight. If you manage to maintain your current weight, you have reached your first and most important goal. Next you may want to lose weight: Do this slowly but surely.

Due to the fact that the optimal, i.e. "healthiest" BMI range is increasing with age, thus reaching higher BMI values, your amount of weight within the yellow range is reduced by 4 percent every year if you manage to keep your 160 pounds stable.

Weight management

The best you can do is eat healthy food and increase your fitness. This will boost your health, whatever the case. If you lose weight in the process, all the better.

With a weight loss of 11 pounds down to a target weight of 149 pounds, your health would benefit.