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really f**king fat

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polycounter lvl 19
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hawken polycounter lvl 19
Now, I read on the BBC news website today that 25% of americans are obese. Can this really be true? I mean, I find it really hard to believe... could it be that they only interviewed a particularly fat region of each state?

I still maintain my 30 pressups a day, walk to the shops and some situps. I eat my fair share of junk everyday... I guess I live a pretty normal lifestyle as far as my body is concerned and I'm 70kgs. With a few months of heavy drinking I can sometimes end up at 80kgs, but I find it hard to understand how normal healthy people can get over 90-100kgs.

Those of you living in the states must be able to shead some light onto this, do these statistics hold any ground whatsoever or is it the usual news hype?

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  • Asherr
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    Asherr polycounter lvl 18
    saw a segment about this on Fow News about an hour or so ago. it's 25% don't match up to the height/weight ratio. so therefore the study newsites are talking about says if you are over the weight the charts say you are obese. Arnold Schwarzenegger would be obese (as would most body builders), President Bush would be obese. it wasn't a test on body fat but body mass and is slightly overstating things.

    [ QUOTE ]
    Adults with a body mass index of 30 or more are considered obese. The equation used to figure body mass index is body weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. The measurement is not a good indicator of obesity for muscular people who exercise a lot.

    [/ QUOTE ]
    link

    not saying Americans aren't getting fatter just that the study is off.
  • KeyserSoze
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    KeyserSoze polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    President Bush would be obese.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    I think his BMI would be normal for his height and age. He is relatively fit, but not extremely muscular (at least as far as I can tell).

    Anyway, Asherr is right, using BMI to gauge obesity may inflate the numbers a bit (pun intended), but I'd say it's still a pretty valid indicator that America is rather fat.
  • Toomas
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    Toomas polycounter lvl 18
    If you are 180cm tall you must be 108kg or over to get BMI over 30.
    And bodybuilders are over weight and its not healty to be that muscular anyways not to mention most of them eat steroids to gain muscle mass.
  • ElysiumGX
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    ElysiumGX polycounter lvl 18
    "Balko said it's not clear the government really knows how to persuade people to make better decisions."

    The country's economy thrives on us being lazy fatasses. Commercials and advertisements constantly telling us to "buy this food. this food is amazing. it's more amazing than anything you've ever tasted. buy it and eat it every day. and then watch more TV. oh, you need to lose weight now? take this diet pill, or join this retarded diet plan developed by some dead guy."
  • Weiser_Cain
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    Weiser_Cain polycounter lvl 18
    Most bodybuilders do not use steroids (they'd all be as big as baseball player if they did). You weigh more than me hawken (though I am a tiny person).
    This is probably just a bunch of hype
  • thnom
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    thnom polycounter lvl 18
    I did a test for this and most NFL players are the fattest type of obese.. and most have less than 10% of fat on their bodies..
  • CheapAlert
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    CheapAlert polycounter lvl 18
    I do eat plenty of junk and chicken (even 20 piecers from mcd's back when they didn't change to fat-free crap) and i'm actually moderately skinny. Oh well!
  • poopinmymouth
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    poopinmymouth polycounter lvl 19
    I remember when I was in europe saying, "where are all the fat people?" I saw like one overweight person the whole time.

    One huge advantage to this, is waaaay more hotties. There are probably tons of people in the US who would be attractive if they had a lower body fat percentage.
  • AstroZombie
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    AstroZombie polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    I did a test for this and most NFL players are the fattest type of obese.. and most have less than 10% of fat on their bodies..

    [/ QUOTE ]

    That's because muscle weighs more than fat and if you just go by the height-weight ratio or BMI it does not account for muscle mass.

    So ummm ... yea, Americans are just more "buff" than the rest of the world tongue.gif
  • Bronco
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    Bronco polycounter lvl 18
    I remmeber you saying about that when we were at the station in London Poop.

    The new thing in the UK taht they are trying to get out is the simple old fashioned tape measure and put it round your mid section to find out if your obese.....though I fail to rmemeber what your suppsoe to compare the results by.

    John
  • Toomas
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    Toomas polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    I remember when I was in europe saying, "where are all the fat people?" I saw like one overweight person the whole time.

    One huge advantage to this, is waaaay more hotties. There are probably tons of people in the US who would be attractive if they had a lower body fat percentage.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    Finns are fat tho (they are like the euro americans and some of them are cheap fucks who come here to buy cheap booze) and there are lots of fat russian old ladies but you propably didnt come this far to north/east to see them :P
    My theory is that northeners have this seal effect that accumulates fat to survive the winter or some crazy shit like that.

    BTW my BMI is under 20 for sure, too bad i dont know how much i weigh but its not much confused.gif
  • John Warner
  • PaK
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    PaK polycounter lvl 18
    I read an article in The Economist that rated Mexico, America and maybe even canada as some of the more obese nations on the planet. The study indicated that heart disease, diabetes, and some other diseases (some that seemed rather unrelated to me) were on the rise because of north america's bad eating habbits.

    I can tell ya one thing...there are a ton of fat people both in B.C. and California as compaired to any other region of the world I have visited. When I lived in southeast asian is was almost impossible to find a fat local.

    -R
  • MoP
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    MoP polycounter lvl 18
    John Warner: Whoa! Scary!
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    PaK: I think I've seen one overweight asian girl on the street in 5 months of being in Tokyo, couple of sumo wrestler guys and that's it.

    Maybe this is why I can't imagine it. But also, I didn't much see anyone busting out of their BMI when living on the south coast of England.
  • Weiser_Cain
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    Weiser_Cain polycounter lvl 18
    On the up side all those fat people make me look hot by comparison.
  • Nerd Groupie
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    Nerd Groupie polycounter lvl 18
    We also have the retarded problem that everywhere you turn here, people are being told to love themselves, no matter what. Plus size models and lingerie *shudder*, "big is beautiful" bs, not to mention the idiots who give fatties this confidence.

    So while we have the dieting and get skinny revolution, we have the stay proud of your fat ass campaign.

    People tell me ALL the time that I'm not fat, I'm "just fine", blah blah blah, when I get on my tangents of not being as thin as I'd like. Then I check my bmi or something like that and see that I am in fact overweight.

    I'm apparently average for an american woman, but reading the stats on american obesity, that makes me want to start binging and purging.
  • Daz
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    Daz polycounter lvl 18
    I don't think this is hugely surprising.
    Personally I've been on a health drive for about the last year and am in better shape than I've been for years. I'm 5' 9" and about 176 at the mo, but was pushing 200 a year ago. I work out very hard daily and watch what I eat. I started a 'fitness advice?' thread on pc eons ago and at some stage will reveal my 'before and after' shots smile.gif

    Anyway, it is pretty cheap to eat out here, and I have found that a lot of the problem is that it can be hard to find healthy food in restaurants. The other thing is that the portions are absolutely fricking huge. Often about twice as much food as you need, and what I was used to getting in Euruope. That said, I manage. When a bunch of us at work go to Red Robin burger joint for lunch, theyre all sitting there eating massive burgers, fries and shakes and I'm on a cobb salad with no dressing and water. Damn, it's hard, but I'm very determined and spurred on by results. My point is, if you have the willpower, there's no real excuse to be obese.
  • JDinges
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    JDinges polycounter lvl 18
    Though alot of americans are overweight due to fat tissue the body mass index is bullshit. Like some mentioned, it only takes into account your overall weight and not what portion of your body is muscle versus fat. So if you're just skinny or very lean then you're fine. But if you have large amounts of muscle and aren't excessivly tall then you're considered "unhealthy" by the BMI system.

    But yeah, americans in general are pretty unhealthy.
  • Mishra
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    Mishra polycounter lvl 18
    im 130 and 6'1" frown.gif

    it seems to me that now its more acceptable for guys to be fat than skinny, i get mocked more for being skinny than ive seen my friend who weighs 300 pounds get mocked for being fat
  • oXYnary
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    oXYnary polycounter lvl 18
    Really kind of dopey. My roommate loves it though.

    http://www.muffinmanthemovie.com/Default.htm
  • PfhorRunner
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    PfhorRunner polycounter lvl 18
    I'm 5 foot 9 inches and weigh 137 lbs... For me to not feel out of shape, I generally keep my body fat percentage around 7%. Then again, if i don't feel in shape i just kind of sit around and eat until someone tells me to go run or something. Most of my friends are around the same size/weight/build as me. Though, I do run in highschool track, and thats where the bulk of my friendships come from anyways.
  • KDR_11k
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    KDR_11k polycounter lvl 18
    Conspiracy theorists say the BMI was carefully defined so you'd be rated overweight even if you were just normal weight in order to push more diet plans to the people. Take that as you want.
  • aesir
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    aesir polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    im 130 and 6'1" frown.gif

    it seems to me that now its more acceptable for guys to be fat than skinny, i get mocked more for being skinny than ive seen my friend who weighs 300 pounds get mocked for being fat

    [/ QUOTE ]

    I've noticed the same thing. Because of this, i've seen some really disturbing shit going on. My roomate is 5'6 and about 130 pounds. He's trying to GAIN weight. He doesnt even want to gain muscle mass. He wants more fat. I told him hes a fucking idiot but he doesnt seem to get it...

    And Mishra, people dont mock the fat people (generally) because they usually ACTUALLY feel sorry for them, whereas with you, they dont really see being skinny as being that big of a deal, so they feel free to make fun of you over it.
  • PfhorRunner
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    PfhorRunner polycounter lvl 18
    Well... I think its just because fat people have a better attitude about things, so its more fun to make fun of skinny people smile.gif
  • Mishra
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    Mishra polycounter lvl 18
    that because fat people are jolly like santa duh
  • Dukester
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    Dukester polycounter lvl 18
    6'2" 190 lbs
    Most of the fat guys I know are fat because of beer guts smile.gif
  • JO420
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    JO420 polycounter lvl 18
    hey in some other countries if your fat it means you might be a high roller and have money to be so, if you were lets say in ehtopia and you saw two people,1 fat one super skinny,who would you hang out with the skinny guy who your bound to starve with or the fat guy who has the possibility of having spare food for you to get?



    as for this country

    i think people work to far from home too many hours so instead of cooking healthy they go for the convinient cheap food thats found all around,over time it builds up.


    my old job i drove 2 hours daily to get there and you couldnt throw a rock in any direction without hitting a mexican restaurant which serves good food.


    Anyway when the next ice age comes all you skinny F***s will freeze to death while the fat live on their body fat and inherit the earth
  • Foehammer
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    Foehammer polycounter lvl 18
    go fat people! i'm a big dude, fat ass American, whatever the fuck you wanna call me, in america it's all about "Convenience" Fast food is the worst because it is so convenient, its cheap and takes very little time, so everyone eats it, though we shouldn't, as far as the "big is beautiful" bullshit, it's what you take from it, if you are comfortable being your size then fuck it be happy, enjoy your life and screw the people that tell you shouldn't be. sure it's unhealthy to be overweight but on the other hand my uncle's twin brother jogged every morning and was fit as a fiddle and one day got hit by a car and died, while jogging. life is just like that. The U.S. is probably the only country where our poor people are fat, there is no starvation here in this country. America....Fuck Yeah!
  • PfhorRunner
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    PfhorRunner polycounter lvl 18
    No mass starvation, but there are still some people who can't afford food.
  • Fuse
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    Fuse polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    I don't think this is hugely surprising.
    Personally I've been on a health drive for about the last year and am in better shape than I've been for years. I'm 5' 9" and about 176 at the mo, but was pushing 200 a year ago. I work out very hard daily and watch what I eat. I started a 'fitness advice?' thread on pc eons ago and at some stage will reveal my 'before and after' shots smile.gif

    Anyway, it is pretty cheap to eat out here, and I have found that a lot of the problem is that it can be hard to find healthy food in restaurants. The other thing is that the portions are absolutely fricking huge. Often about twice as much food as you need, and what I was used to getting in Euruope. That said, I manage. When a bunch of us at work go to Red Robin burger joint for lunch, theyre all sitting there eating massive burgers, fries and shakes and I'm on a cobb salad with no dressing and water. Damn, it's hard, but I'm very determined and spurred on by results. My point is, if you have the willpower, there's no real excuse to be obese.

    [/ QUOTE ]

    actually Daz, it wouldnt be a bad idea to revive the thread, i am not sure if a lot of people would be interested but it'd be a good palce to share/give advice on workout routines and eating habits.

    24lb's might not seem like a lot to others, but in many cases that's a lot of weight to lose, good job. at 5'9" you might be still be able to lose more, unless of course that's almost all muscle and/or you have heavy bones. people are different

    I am 5'7" and i am at 140lb's, which i think is an optimal weight for me, i dont feel too heavy to be clumsy and slow yet not too light to be easily knocked off balance, that is, when playing sports. I think i am faaaaar from skinny and i am not fat/obese either. I dont gain/lose weight very easily, due to my metabolism which is rather fortunate, considering other people can gain weight quickly.

    Daz is right, with willpower and motivation it's all possible. People are different, some are always overly skinny while others are always a bit on the chubby side, but noone expects perfection. Everyone can set their own personal goal. Unfortunately it really depends on how you were raised and what circle of friends you have. When all your friends are severly out of shape and have bad eating habits it's hard to motivate yourself or find the willpower to change yourself. Similarly, if you are around friends who are always up for a outdoor game of any teamsport or at least try to maintain some kind of exercise it might be easier, especially if you have a friend who can double as a workout partner. That proves to be very effective, at least in my case.

    I keep a strength training routine with my workout partner and thankfully the gym is 10 minutes away, however working out EVERY day is exhausting thus we alternate swimming training with weight training.

    Anyway, like i said it's be interesting to share/get advice regarding this health issue
  • oXYnary
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    oXYnary polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    there is no starvation here in this country

    [/ QUOTE ]

    Please please please tell me your being sarcastic?
  • Foehammer
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    Foehammer polycounter lvl 18
    yeah i agree maybe make it a sticky here in the general forums, i'd like to start but i just dont have the motivation or drive to do so, it really sucks i know its all in my head, and i'm way too overweight, i don't what the best way is to start, i have cut out fast food from my diet, which is what i used to live on, for me it isnt a matter of looks but of health, i'm getting married in May 06 and the future wife and I want to have a baby in about 2 years or so and i dont want my child to see me like this, that and i want to be able to keep up with him/her, and live as long as i can for them
  • AstroZombie
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    AstroZombie polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    6'2" 190 lbs
    Most of the fat guys I know are fat because of beer guts smile.gif

    [/ QUOTE ]

    I'm pretty sure I could get my weight down if I could just give up the damn beer. I'll just work out more instead. crazy.gif
  • Fuse
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    Fuse polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    yeah i agree maybe make it a sticky here in the general forums, i'd like to start but i just dont have the motivation or drive to do so, it really sucks i know its all in my head, and i'm way too overweight, i don't what the best way is to start, i have cut out fast food from my diet, which is what i used to live on, for me it isnt a matter of looks but of health, i'm getting married in May 06 and the future wife and I want to have a baby in about 2 years or so and i dont want my child to see me like this, that and i want to be able to keep up with him/her, and live as long as i can for them

    [/ QUOTE ]

    that should be enough motivation on it's own smile.gif

    you need to explain your situation in detail, thus i agree. This does need a separate thread
  • aesir
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    aesir polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    [ QUOTE ]
    there is no starvation here in this country

    [/ QUOTE ]

    Please please please tell me your being sarcastic?

    [/ QUOTE ]

    actually, I'd say that people very rarely die of starvation in America. Usually, for the poor/homeless, its exposure. Unless you're defining starvation as being hungy often...
  • Neo_God
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    Neo_God polycounter lvl 18
    I'm by no means thin, though I did drop 30 pounds this last year, and now I'm 175 (at 5'9"), and I do have a pretty decent amount of muscle on me.

    Though I agree with Nerdgroupie about this whole fat acceptance thing. It's a travisty if you're anorexic, but if your obese, well...then you're just a little big boned. There used to be a plethora of pro-anorexic sites on the net a couple years back, but then it was deemed unhealthy and illegal to have them. Though if you look, there are actually a large amount of pro-fat sites, and it's not like the sort of thing that they go there to get help and loose weight, they actually encourage gaining more. Why this has been ignored is beyond me.

    I'm not saying it's good to be anorexic, both it and obesity are serious conditions.
  • Thermidor
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    Thermidor polycounter lvl 18
    A few years ago i was rated as obese when i was 11 stone and able to run quite a few miles without really any effort. Im just under 6ft. thats bmi for you. Of course , now im a tubby bitch.
  • Scott Ruggels
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    Scott Ruggels polycounter lvl 18
    I'm fat, and not in good health. Typical yank, I suppose.

    Scott
  • Mishra
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    Mishra polycounter lvl 18
    im afraid im guilty of the whole "you look great" thing, some of my friends are a little on the chubby side and insist they are whales and i say they arent, but i tend to go "you could lose some weight sure, but im saying you dont really have to" and they are already working on losing weight so wtvr
  • Wells
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    Wells polycounter lvl 18
    I constantly call all my friends "fatty-fat fat-fat"

    But then, they say the same to me, and I'm 6' 140lbs
  • kleinluka
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    kleinluka polycounter lvl 18
    It's funny, i eat so much fatty food but I'm still skinny as hell. Can somebody explain this to me? :S
  • Mishra
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    Mishra polycounter lvl 18
    [ QUOTE ]
    It's funny, i eat so much fatty food but I'm still skinny as hell. Can somebody explain this to me? :S

    [/ QUOTE ]

    fast metabolism, i have the same thing.
  • Rick Stirling
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    Rick Stirling polycounter lvl 18
    I'm a bronzed Adonis. I can do 14 press ups.

    *kisses the guns*
  • Weiser_Cain
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    Weiser_Cain polycounter lvl 18
    I was between 165 and 175 in may before the diet, I'm now 139lbs and shooting for about 120 or skeletal (whichever comes first). I'm 5'6".
  • PaK
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    PaK polycounter lvl 18
    I have been eating better and biking to work(6mi a day, not too fancy) instead of driving for about 4 months. The good news is I am maintaining my lowest weight (185) but the bad news is I'm not really pushing myself very hard. I know I could put in 4-5x's more effort and get more than 4-5x's the results. I just neeed to accually do it.

    Hey Darren, what was the name of your thread that you started ages ago? I'd like to read it. I have similar goals.

    btw, one of our new artists from EA Redwood is convinced you should be our newest character artist :P

    -R
  • Cthogua
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    Cthogua polycounter lvl 18
    I think people, especially guys, should also post their age with their height and weight. It seems like a lot of guys, are generally more fit when they're younger (teens, upto 20's) due to (sometimes) more active lifestyles and just growing in general. It seems like around the 23 to 25 mark, things start to take a turn of the worse. You sit in a cubicle all day, drive everywhere, drink more, and the body begins to slow down. My girlfriend's brother was totally average 6'2" 180lbs when he was 18...Now he's 26 and married and is probably pushing 300.

    Anyway, just a thought
  • PfhorRunner
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    PfhorRunner polycounter lvl 18
    Well, fine i'm 5 foot 9 inches, 137 lbs, and i'm 18 years of age. I have a very active life style though.

    I know its cheesy and everything, kind of trite, but look... Eating healthy doesn't exactly mean giving up everything thats good and eating veggie gruel for the rest of your lives so that you're lean. Everybody has potential to get skinnier if they want to... they just... have to want to! and by doing this they can exercise, there's so many ways now its hard to believe.

    My father this last year was diagnosed with diabetes. He was about 270 lbs at five foot eight inches. The doctor told him he didn't have much time left if he didn't start doing something about his eating habbits... So then my dad just put out the cash for a new bike, and rode (for those of you in the seattle area or know what im talking about) from kenmore to kent every day for work. Lost about 50 lbs, and then road the STP (Seattle, Washington to Portland, Oregon) bike race with me this summer.

    You just kinda gotta do what you gotta do smile.gif
  • Daz
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    Daz polycounter lvl 18
    So true Nerd Groupie. I think that kind of thinking can be really dangerous. Oprah is the devil incarnate. The other day Im watching her show ( and I SWEAR to God I was on a treadmill at the time. Gym is about the only time Im forced in front of a TV ) and this obese young woman and her Dad were on. It was basically all revolving around the fact that all her brothers and sisters were of healthy weight, and she was really overweight, and didn't feel loved because of it. The Dad was being reemed on national TV for daring to ever bring up her fatness and over eating. Well, guess what? When she's incapacitated later in life and plagued by diabetes and immobility and other illnesses self induced by sugar poisoning, she's gonna feel mighty silly for dragging her Dad on national TV for calling her fat. He was doing her a favour if you ask me.

    Thanks Fuse yeah I still have a way to go. Ya know what's really funny is the one of the few reasons Im in no immediate hurry to leave EA is 'cos we have an awesome onsite gym. Ahhaha. Sad really. Yeah Pak I'll try and dig out that thread. Can't remember what I called it. It might have even been the old boards actually. Anyone I know btw? I think I have an idea smile.gif Female?
  • Wells
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    Wells polycounter lvl 18
    is a press up the same as pushups?
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