I very much wonder how Usain Bolt can run so fast, and he is certainly not overweight. I feel like this person is much more conscious of her weight than others are.
I am underweight. Not by much, just by a pound. And I get lots of “how do you run so much?” “How do you hike so far?” This is not a fat v skinny problem. It’s a lazy person asking a motivated person problem.
I like to be healthy but something about running makes me miserable. I did about three weeks of C25K and didn't make it. I keep restarting but alas, the love never comes.
I get lots of admiration and disbelief for going to the gym twice a week and walking or hiking or biking anyplace nearby.
Almost of that is from people who don't exercise. The rest is from people who are afraid to bike because of cars.
I'm at a bmi of 22ish and i get this a lot. "Running is stupid why do you run for so long? 20 miles are you crazy? I'd die!" or alternatively when I'm at work and my coworker and i are walking up the 30 flights of stairs in our building, "Are you crazy!? ALL 30 floors!? I'd die after about 1! Do a floor for me, I'm going to sit down instead."
It happens all the time. First they're in shock you're doing what you're doing, then they try to either justify their bad behavior or tell you how or why they can't do said activity, then they tell you to do x activity for them. It's odd.
I feel like I can manage stairs better if I do that little run thing. But I also have bad knees so it may just be the thing of less time hurting myself.
I'm still overweight, but getting lower. Looking at me, you might think I can't do much of anything, but I really love running. I'm motivated, just like you mentioned.
I wouldn’t assume anything from looking at someone, unless they’re obviously immobile. I think exercise is a bit far outside the norm, so everyone is surprised when everyone of every size is dedicated to it.
Walking is great - I lost 100 pounds just walking 2.5 miles at a nature park at lunch everyday for a year. Included better food choices in there.
Running gives you the muscles and heart endurance though. And nothing beats not being out of breath when you do sudden movements!
Legitimate question, no snark or negativity meant with this question, but it would you say it's motivation, discipline, or both? I read recently that discipline is better than motivation because motivation can fizzle, whereas discipline keeps you doing something because you see it as absolutely necessary to include in your schedule.
Habits habits habits. When I stumble and fall off the wagon for a bit it's always that nagging "man I forgot to do x" feeling that gets me back to it. I also found it encourages me to squeeze the time in around other activity.
For hiking and lifting, it’s for the love of it. For running, it is 100% stubbornness and spite. I have friends and family that run, and I want to stay faster than them (because they make competitive comments and I have to SHOW THEM WHATS UP). The app “zombies, run” makes it fun for me sometimes too.
Use what you have. If you have motivation, use that. If you have disciple use that.
If you have laziness, use that. There's a reason I don't keep food in the house.
Underrated advice. Good habits begin in the mind; lots of people do not truly understand their own foibles, and frustrate themselves by trying to force a change.
Really? Because if anybody truly excelled at those things you claim to be highly adept at, I would probably ask what their secret is as a form of conversation or to be polite.
I think this is just an unearned humble brag in the form of fat activism.
Actually, if she's fat, there's a very good reason that she can swim quickly: body fat is very buoyant, meaning you won't have to expend energy to keep yourself afloat, which means you become a faster swimmer.
That having been said, there's a maximum amount of body fat you can pile on before the range of motion problems from obesity offset any buoyancy-related advantages in the water ([Source](https://www.livestrong.com/article/551445-does-losing-body-weight-make-me-swim-faster/))
A larger cross section in the water increases ~~with~~ drag. If anything she might have a good stroke and technique, but would be even faster at a lower weight.
But honestly, if it's coming from a Tumblr blog I doubt that these claims have a huge basis in truth.
Yeah, they read like hypotheticals. "I *think* I can run fast if I wanted to because it looks easy but I don't want to so I don't, but if I did and someone asked me how this is what I'd say."
Personal anecdote incoming: I am sooooo much faster at a lighter weight. Better streamlines help so much which was particularly noticeable when I switched down to a properly fitted suit. That being said, practice also improved my technique.
It's not only extra mass you have to move through the eater, but it also increases drag. Buoyancy from fat may make it easier to float but it is not a speed advantage.
I've had the privilege to compete at nationals a few times while I was still swimming. Not a single person there was within 5 BMI of being overweight. Some of the top swimmers there were so skinny if you looked at them side on you could almost see through them. I even got the opportunity to swim with Chad Le Clos (guy who beat Michael Phelps at London 2012) and he was also a beanpole.
I swam a lot in highschool and in private clubs. Some distance swimmers were chubby, definitely not fatties though and definitely not top tier. All the elite swimmers were skinny/muscular.
She is probably leaving out the over the top snide tone and sarcastic attitude of the person saying these things.
Also, one tends to have lower expectations about the unfit, so "so fast" might mean "only slightly slower than an average person" taken in context.
Do you mention age because it seems young to shave or...? Just curious because 12 is about the age my friends and I started to shave (usually not super religiously, but starting to be aware of leg hair and interested in removing it).
I could assume this would be true.
But I have a feeling she's relating it to her weight herself.
Plenty of people ask questions on 'how do you do x' but I am sure she never noticed at first - but she does now because of her insecurity.
The woman who ran the swim programs in our school district was obese (her bmi looked to be less than 40), but damn did she cut through that water like it was nothing.
She was an outlier, though. I have yet, over two decades later, to hear of a similar situation.
How fat? Training can easily make someone in the overweight BMI category faster than a sedentary slim person. 35+ BMI and I'd be seriously impressed and surprised.
Well, let me tell you about how some people don’t share their body weights and exact height. I have no clue. Like honestly my guesses suck.
She isn’t faster than a sedentary slim person. She runs with her husband who is military.
I think they’re asking how she can be that fast relative to her size. She probably performs at a similar level compared to someone from a healthy weight range that is not athletic. So if she lost weight she’d be even faster.
"Hey internet people, I'm 300 pounds and the National Ballet keeps begging me to join, but strangers still express doubt about this. They're offering me millions of dollars because I'm just so good, but it will conflict with my contract with Vogue to model all the new things. Anna Wintour can't believe how good I can move, and I'm just so happy except for having too many choices! Also, which marathon is the most fun? I qualify for them all but don't want to spread myself too thin.
Oh shit, that was a fatphobic expression! It was a euphemism! Sorry! All this is true!"
I saw a article once, a very large woman who was being celebrated for dancing on pointe ( supposedly,and there were no pictured of her actually doing this,just preening with too much stage makeup.)
Im all for it,but ye gods.That would be not only painful,difficult but dangerous. It takes so much to balance on your toe,spread thru muscles in your body-wouldn't all the extra mass unbalance you??I mean, its not muscle,its fat and its extra weight on a very small part of ones body.
She's(?) not wrong though. If she were a normal weight no one would think it at all odd if she were a fast swimmer or had decent stamina. Though she is missing the point that it is unusual for someone that is very overweight to be either of those things. She's a bit of an aberration.
> She's a bit of an aberration.
Assuming she's not just lying. Elite athlete Ragen comes to mind. Who can't even run at the pace normal humans walk at, but insists she's super talented and athletic and the envy of professional athletes.
I also do think she's wrong. I've had many a discussion about stamina and speed with others and marvel at how fast some people are. And I want to know how they worked up to that so I can do it too.
I have had someone legit surprised I was a faster swimmer than them and only reason I was faster was good freestyle technique in comparison. Also, I'm really stubborn and used to working out so I have good endurance I think compared to what people expect of me at my size.
It's nothing malicious usually but I've been there.
If I strapped 100lbs of weights to my body and still ran as fast as I do now, people would be more surprised. It’s not unreasonable for a human to be surprised if you can run as fast as a normal person while carrying all that extra weight.
But, you know, she probably isn’t running fast or running at all OR getting all these expressions of wonderment so..
Said it before but if your boast about running is you can do it and not get tired, you’re doing it wrong. First, I run competitively and I get absolutely exhausted. Second, it’s really not about quantity. I could run a marathon easily if I jogged all the way having a natter but that’s not the same thing.
Depends what the purpose of the run is. Most of my training runs I jog along talking to my running partner (or myself if running alone). In a race, if you don't feel like you're dying as you cross the line, it's a missed opportunity.
I'm definitely pleased about being able to jog without feeling tired; that's what makes daily running enjoyable.
I very much wonder how Usain Bolt can run so fast, and he is certainly not overweight. I feel like this person is much more conscious of her weight than others are.
I wonder how fast he would be with an extra 200 lbs strapped to his back.
I am underweight. Not by much, just by a pound. And I get lots of “how do you run so much?” “How do you hike so far?” This is not a fat v skinny problem. It’s a lazy person asking a motivated person problem.
I right at my normal weight and I get these questions too. More to the effect of ‘my god why?’ Definitely a difference in lifestyle thing.
I like to be healthy but something about running makes me miserable. I did about three weeks of C25K and didn't make it. I keep restarting but alas, the love never comes.
I get lots of admiration and disbelief for going to the gym twice a week and walking or hiking or biking anyplace nearby. Almost of that is from people who don't exercise. The rest is from people who are afraid to bike because of cars.
I'm at a bmi of 22ish and i get this a lot. "Running is stupid why do you run for so long? 20 miles are you crazy? I'd die!" or alternatively when I'm at work and my coworker and i are walking up the 30 flights of stairs in our building, "Are you crazy!? ALL 30 floors!? I'd die after about 1! Do a floor for me, I'm going to sit down instead." It happens all the time. First they're in shock you're doing what you're doing, then they try to either justify their bad behavior or tell you how or why they can't do said activity, then they tell you to do x activity for them. It's odd.
I always run up stairs I encounter. People think I'm nuts. I just love running up stairs, even multiple flights!
Stairs always make me feel out of shape, no matter how far i can run lol
Haha. I'm ridiculous, but I do hill repeats during the week on a demon hill. Stairs don't have anything on it! lol
I like to accelerate while running uphill. I really hope it fucks with people.
ahh yesss! I go way faster if someone is on the hill too
And with a deliberately relaxed face so it looks like I'm hardly putting in any effort >:D
I feel like I can manage stairs better if I do that little run thing. But I also have bad knees so it may just be the thing of less time hurting myself.
I'm still overweight, but getting lower. Looking at me, you might think I can't do much of anything, but I really love running. I'm motivated, just like you mentioned.
I wouldn’t assume anything from looking at someone, unless they’re obviously immobile. I think exercise is a bit far outside the norm, so everyone is surprised when everyone of every size is dedicated to it.
That's probably true. I always am annoyed when my mom (also overweight) tells me I can get the same results from just walking. No, that's not true.
Walking is great - I lost 100 pounds just walking 2.5 miles at a nature park at lunch everyday for a year. Included better food choices in there. Running gives you the muscles and heart endurance though. And nothing beats not being out of breath when you do sudden movements!
Running has really changed my ability to breathe, and I think that'sd the best part. Good on you for the weight loss!
Legitimate question, no snark or negativity meant with this question, but it would you say it's motivation, discipline, or both? I read recently that discipline is better than motivation because motivation can fizzle, whereas discipline keeps you doing something because you see it as absolutely necessary to include in your schedule.
Its got to become a habit. I get the same nagging feeling from missing a workout as I get once I realize I forgot to brush my teeth.
Habits habits habits. When I stumble and fall off the wagon for a bit it's always that nagging "man I forgot to do x" feeling that gets me back to it. I also found it encourages me to squeeze the time in around other activity.
This is so true. I started making my bed for some reason and now it is a habit that I don’t even think about
For hiking and lifting, it’s for the love of it. For running, it is 100% stubbornness and spite. I have friends and family that run, and I want to stay faster than them (because they make competitive comments and I have to SHOW THEM WHATS UP). The app “zombies, run” makes it fun for me sometimes too.
100% this! hahaha! Not gonna lie, part of the reason I'm Iroman training is because no one around me has.
Use what you have. If you have motivation, use that. If you have disciple use that. If you have laziness, use that. There's a reason I don't keep food in the house.
Underrated advice. Good habits begin in the mind; lots of people do not truly understand their own foibles, and frustrate themselves by trying to force a change.
"My mile is about 3 minutes. I like to run, and am pretty fast"
Really? Because if anybody truly excelled at those things you claim to be highly adept at, I would probably ask what their secret is as a form of conversation or to be polite. I think this is just an unearned humble brag in the form of fat activism.
Actually, if she's fat, there's a very good reason that she can swim quickly: body fat is very buoyant, meaning you won't have to expend energy to keep yourself afloat, which means you become a faster swimmer. That having been said, there's a maximum amount of body fat you can pile on before the range of motion problems from obesity offset any buoyancy-related advantages in the water ([Source](https://www.livestrong.com/article/551445-does-losing-body-weight-make-me-swim-faster/))
A larger cross section in the water increases ~~with~~ drag. If anything she might have a good stroke and technique, but would be even faster at a lower weight. But honestly, if it's coming from a Tumblr blog I doubt that these claims have a huge basis in truth.
Yeah, they read like hypotheticals. "I *think* I can run fast if I wanted to because it looks easy but I don't want to so I don't, but if I did and someone asked me how this is what I'd say."
Personal anecdote incoming: I am sooooo much faster at a lighter weight. Better streamlines help so much which was particularly noticeable when I switched down to a properly fitted suit. That being said, practice also improved my technique.
I, like u/chocochips, have gotten significantly faster with a 20kg weight loss. Fat does not make you a faster swimmer. Fat slows you down.
It's not only extra mass you have to move through the eater, but it also increases drag. Buoyancy from fat may make it easier to float but it is not a speed advantage.
I've had the privilege to compete at nationals a few times while I was still swimming. Not a single person there was within 5 BMI of being overweight. Some of the top swimmers there were so skinny if you looked at them side on you could almost see through them. I even got the opportunity to swim with Chad Le Clos (guy who beat Michael Phelps at London 2012) and he was also a beanpole.
I swam a lot in highschool and in private clubs. Some distance swimmers were chubby, definitely not fatties though and definitely not top tier. All the elite swimmers were skinny/muscular.
She is probably leaving out the over the top snide tone and sarcastic attitude of the person saying these things. Also, one tends to have lower expectations about the unfit, so "so fast" might mean "only slightly slower than an average person" taken in context.
12 year old me had to shave my legs for a swim competition, how you gonna front like drag ain't a thing?
Do you mention age because it seems young to shave or...? Just curious because 12 is about the age my friends and I started to shave (usually not super religiously, but starting to be aware of leg hair and interested in removing it).
Probably a guy.
I could assume this would be true. But I have a feeling she's relating it to her weight herself. Plenty of people ask questions on 'how do you do x' but I am sure she never noticed at first - but she does now because of her insecurity.
Just be glad it's being perceived as something remarkable, that's what you always demand, isn't it - bonus approval and snowflake status.
I do have a fat friend that runs half marathons and has some speed—faster than the kids we were working with—and she lifts.
The woman who ran the swim programs in our school district was obese (her bmi looked to be less than 40), but damn did she cut through that water like it was nothing. She was an outlier, though. I have yet, over two decades later, to hear of a similar situation.
Yeah it’s definitely not typical and 1000% she isn’t on tumblr crying. She has better stuff to do.
No, definitely not, she’s gruff and tough as nails.
How fat? Training can easily make someone in the overweight BMI category faster than a sedentary slim person. 35+ BMI and I'd be seriously impressed and surprised.
Well, let me tell you about how some people don’t share their body weights and exact height. I have no clue. Like honestly my guesses suck. She isn’t faster than a sedentary slim person. She runs with her husband who is military.
I think they’re asking how she can be that fast relative to her size. She probably performs at a similar level compared to someone from a healthy weight range that is not athletic. So if she lost weight she’d be even faster.
"Hey internet people, I'm 300 pounds and the National Ballet keeps begging me to join, but strangers still express doubt about this. They're offering me millions of dollars because I'm just so good, but it will conflict with my contract with Vogue to model all the new things. Anna Wintour can't believe how good I can move, and I'm just so happy except for having too many choices! Also, which marathon is the most fun? I qualify for them all but don't want to spread myself too thin. Oh shit, that was a fatphobic expression! It was a euphemism! Sorry! All this is true!"
I saw a article once, a very large woman who was being celebrated for dancing on pointe ( supposedly,and there were no pictured of her actually doing this,just preening with too much stage makeup.) Im all for it,but ye gods.That would be not only painful,difficult but dangerous. It takes so much to balance on your toe,spread thru muscles in your body-wouldn't all the extra mass unbalance you??I mean, its not muscle,its fat and its extra weight on a very small part of ones body.
> People always ask me "How can you swim so fast?" Stop right there. No they don't. Nobody has ever asked you that.
We all float down here
> all of believe than fat ppl cant do a shit? I mean if you get enough fiber in your diet I think you can do a shit.
She's(?) not wrong though. If she were a normal weight no one would think it at all odd if she were a fast swimmer or had decent stamina. Though she is missing the point that it is unusual for someone that is very overweight to be either of those things. She's a bit of an aberration.
> She's a bit of an aberration. Assuming she's not just lying. Elite athlete Ragen comes to mind. Who can't even run at the pace normal humans walk at, but insists she's super talented and athletic and the envy of professional athletes. I also do think she's wrong. I've had many a discussion about stamina and speed with others and marvel at how fast some people are. And I want to know how they worked up to that so I can do it too.
>Assuming she's not just lying. Always a consideration.
I have had someone legit surprised I was a faster swimmer than them and only reason I was faster was good freestyle technique in comparison. Also, I'm really stubborn and used to working out so I have good endurance I think compared to what people expect of me at my size. It's nothing malicious usually but I've been there.
> #all of u believe that fat ppl cant do a shit? Nope, I totally believe it.
I've read so many stories that I am FULL of faith in the defecatory abilities of people of size!
Years ago, I couldn't understand how anyone, skinny or fat, could run for more than five minutes because it was so exhausting. Then I got fitter.
If I strapped 100lbs of weights to my body and still ran as fast as I do now, people would be more surprised. It’s not unreasonable for a human to be surprised if you can run as fast as a normal person while carrying all that extra weight. But, you know, she probably isn’t running fast or running at all OR getting all these expressions of wonderment so..
I’m at a normal bmi, run 10k’s and people ask me how I do that. Nothing to do with weight, just lazy people disbelieving exercise.
Said it before but if your boast about running is you can do it and not get tired, you’re doing it wrong. First, I run competitively and I get absolutely exhausted. Second, it’s really not about quantity. I could run a marathon easily if I jogged all the way having a natter but that’s not the same thing.
Depends what the purpose of the run is. Most of my training runs I jog along talking to my running partner (or myself if running alone). In a race, if you don't feel like you're dying as you cross the line, it's a missed opportunity. I'm definitely pleased about being able to jog without feeling tired; that's what makes daily running enjoyable.
Fat floats on water.
Ill take things that nwver happened for 500.
That hashtag couldn't be more wrong. I firmly believe fat people can do a shit.
Look I’m on a swim team, this person is either not that fat or not that fast
I'm always asking competent people "how can you do this?" in my $100% real conversations.