Graycat, I’m similarly proportioned. I was definitely “fatter” last year, before my wife and I signed up for 3 or 4 months of personal training last year. I’ve since kept up the routine (well, mostly), and at my last checkup, my blood pressure and cholesterol were lower, and I can now kick butt on the “stress test” treadmill. I hate running, but I bike regularly for both exercise and cardio.

According to the charts, I’m fat. I’d really like to lose another 20 pounds, mainly off of my gut (that would get me from a 36″ to 34″ pants), but it’s – slowly – dropping off. I’m in better shape than any of my friends, but amazingly, even 170 pounds is still considered to be overweight. Yet I don’t think that anyone could call me either unhealthy or unfit.

I just tried to do a finger chin-up from the door frame, and the molding started to pull away from the frame. Damn!

Great post! The Sumo wrestler probably eats more calories than the guy on the scooter, yet he is definitely “fit”, and definitely has very little visceral fat around his organs compared to the blob on wheels, because he exercises. Those Sumo guys do nothing but sleep, eat, and train.

Your probably giving fuel to the fat fire for the fatophiles that seek out the few sources that help them argue their belief that any claim that being overweight is unhealthy is bogus. You’re not asking if it’s possible to be fat and healthy, although being “fit” does play a big role in being healthy.

“Healthy” is a more ambiguous term, and unfortunately it is bent in various ways to mean different things for different people that are trying to justify different things. Namely, being obese.

Mind you, I suppose it depends on how you close someone as being physically fit. For this I’ll take myself as I think I’m both fat and fit. I’m 5′8 and about 13 stone at present with a ~34″ waist and a BF% in the low 20’s. Am I fat – yes! Am I fit – equally yes. I’ve done Olympic distance triathlons in under 3hrs and can do more body weight exercises than most of my slimmer friends so have a good strength base IMO. How many fat people do you know who can do 10+ fingertip chin-ups off a door frame? personally, not many lol

So again there is the great fat v healthy question which is too often blurred under fat = unhealthy and you’re going to die etc.

Nice post though and I’ll definitely follow your blog now.

Later after I broke up with my bf, I went on this depression hunger strike and I lost like 50 lbs in 3 months…was that muscle ..who knows but it wasn’t healthy. Now I try to combine eating less with a daily 1 hour walk with my dog…a much more sensible approach to being “fit”.

Not to sound too much like a techno-loser, but where would I check the google rank?

As for your recent post on obesity, I agree that excess weight and fitness don’t go hand in hand.

Oh gosh, you are so going to be called a fatophobe for that. HA!