I know there was a thread in the forum a while ago about dieting, but Im approaching this from a slightly different angle. Ive lost 47 lbs. since December of last year, but I still have a long way to go. My whole life Ive never been more than 10-20 lbs. overweight, but through a series of unpleasant life events, stresses and hormonal medications I let myself go in a big way. Totally my fault tooI ate junk, hid the scale, etc. Have you ever felt like a stranger in your own body? If you are of normal weight do you ever worry about becoming fat? What do you do to prevent that from happening? If youre overweight what motivates you to do something about it, or not? Lots of questions, I know.

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2000

Answers

My whole life I struggled with my weight. About 6 years ago I was miserable in my job, working a million hours, etc... and I put on A

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2000

Whoops! Didn't mean to do that.....

Anyway, I put on a whole lot of weight - got up to 210 on my 5'3" frame. And then I sprang my ankle. Sat at home thinking how miserable I was, how fat I felt, and how if I could walk, I'd diet. I was too heavy to do crutches just right. Terrible. But once I got back on my feet again, my mother put me on fen-phen (? - you get the point) & basically I didn't eat for about 6 months. Lost right at 50 lbs. After I was off fen-phen, I still lost weight - about 10 more pounds.

I've never been thin - I now weigh less than I did in high school. I gained about 15 lbs last year with the bad things that happened, but I'm working on getting that off. I like my body so much more when I'm slimmer. I'd love to get down to 115, but you'd have to pull me away from the mirror. When I was at 150, I was *facinated* with my wrist bones. I love shopping for clothes that look good on me & feeling sexy slim.

*But* I've also learned that I can feel sexy at 150 AND at 170. Its just a matter of appreciating your body. I like working out now because I can *feel* my whole body moving. Yoga! Wonderful. The problem comes in when I do nothing to reconnect with my body AND gain weight. No matter what weight I am, if I'm in touch with my body, I feel sexy.

But I've always wondered what it would feel like to weigh like 115 or be that thin. (I completely skipped past 115 in like 6th grade.) Its almost like I'm afraid of it - too much attention or too much something else. I've really gotta get over that and getta grip!

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2000

JoAnn -

Congratulations on your success! I lost 40 pounds last year and am in the process of losing 15 more. My situation sounds a lot like yours - I'd put on a lot of weight because I'd let myself go big- time. Divorce, financial problems, job I hated, generally a bad situation.

What motivated me to get my sorry butt back into shape was facing down the big 4-0. I realized early last year that I was going to be 40 (AAAAAAAAAUGH, but I'm doing much better now, thanks), and that I hated the idea of being forty, fat and flabby. So I kicked myself back into exercise and heathly eating and I'm in better shape now than I've been in for years.

I've succeeded because I made attainable goals. No way will I ever look like the Hollywood ideal. Even at my goal weight, there will be people who will call me fat (I won't be, by the way, I'll be at a very good BMI and body fat percentage). Screw 'em. Let them watch Ally McBeal and the skeletons on Friends. (Stepping off soapbox, now.)

I won't let myself get fat and out-of-shape the way I was, because I remember how much I hated the way I looked and felt. I love how strong I am now, and I don't want to lose that.

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2000

Yeah, I've had that feeling. I put on about forty pounds in my first three years of practice, and I still don't recognize myself in a mirror -- it drives me nuts when people tell me that my son doesn't look like me, because he DOES -- he just looks like me five years ago, when I had hair and a waist. Still, what can you do? I don't buy clothes any more than I absolutely have to, and try to shave while the mirror is still foggy from the shower. I keep telling myself that one day I will have twenty minutes a day for exercise. Right now, and for the foreseeable future, if I have twenty minutes, I sleep.

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2000

Tom, I'd have never realised you had a skinny girl trapped inside you!

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2000

I have a skinny girl trapped inside me. With fava beans and a light chianti.

(Oh come on, someone had to make that joke sooner or later!)

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2000

I'm currently ten-fifteen pounds heavier than is normal for me, and am taking it off slowly and sanely through exercise and an improved diet. My motivation: oh, not being able to fit in my clothes, not feeling as energetic as I used to, not wanting to hear my mother (who lost 20 pounds over a year recently, yay her! Really.) make one more veiled comment about my new size.

I refuse to go on an actual diet because those seem like exercises in confusing food with ethics (i.e. I was "good" today because I didn't eat chocolate). I figure it's smarter just to get in the habit of eating healthfully, even if the weight loss is slowed a little. Curse those stupid survival genes for making weight gain easier than weight loss!

Having admitted that I am trying to resurrect my girlish figure, I have to confess that the phrase letting myself go has always peeved me. To me, it implies that you got so lazy and self-hating that you deliberately set out to knock yourself out of society's perimeters for acceptable appearance. I can certainly tell you it wasn't the case with me at all: my job got nuts, with lots of travel and crazy-long hours and frankly, whenever I came home from a business trip, my first priorities were making nice with the cat (who was in a cold snit for me leaving in the first place), dealing with the pile of mail, and trying to clean my house. Going out for a long run wasn't as high a priority.

If that means I let myself go, then so be it. I'd prefer to think of it as taking a trip to another lifestyle and bringing back all that extra weight as a souveneir.

---------------------------------------

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2000

Oh man. I totally relate to this question (like, for sure. Heh.) I spent my entire childhood believing myself to be obese, until I was thirteen and found a picture of myself at 9 and didn't realise it was me. Why? 'Cause the 9 year old girl in the picture was slender, and I had never thought of myself that way. It was a bit of an epiphany - for the next two years I stopped freaking out about food and my weight and just enjoyed myself, and it was wonderful.

But then the usual teen dramas crept in and when I was about fifteen 1/2 a series of family problems led to me locking myself in my bedroom and only coming out to eat or argue with my mother. I have rather self-destructive tendencies, and I punished myself by eating and eating until I was about forty pounds overweight.

I still am forty pounds overweight, and though I'm glad I've learned to accept my body and not beat myself up over it, I still occasionally startle myself when I look in the mirror. I now have the opposite problem that I had as a kid - I think of myself as the slender fifteen yr. old rather than the overweight twenty yr. old. So yeah, I definitely feel like a stranger in my own body. I miss dancing, and I miss the overall feeling of energy and lightness that I had then.

I'm still not sure how to go about losing this weight - every time I get below 130 lbs, I freak out at the thought of actually being thin again and stop dieting. I mean, it sounds stupid, but in a way it also makes sense. Because as long as I'm overweight I can attribute my overall dissatisfaction with myself to that. But if I'm thin and I'm still not happy? What the hell will I do then?

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2000

Well, I am a heavy person trying to fix it, so I'll answer this question as honestly as I can. Last July I weighed 318#'s. I was diabetic, everything hurt and I was slowly dying. Now I KNOW that this answer isn't for everybody that's overweight, but because I was dying, my doctor suggested Gastric Bypass surgery. It was either that, or die fat and leave my two little ones with no mommy, so I decided to have the surgery. I have now lost 97#'s. I still have about 60 more that I want to lose, but it didn't come on overnight and I know it's not going to come off that way either. I am no longer considered a diabetic and i'm feeling better and more healthy everyday. This is a very controversial thing. People either respect those of us who had to go through this, or condemn those of us who have it done. ie: easy way out etc. Well, I don't know if you've ever had major surgery or not, but if you have, you KNOW it's not easy! You still have to eat right, exercise, etc. It just gives those of us who are MORBIDLY obese a really good jumping point to help us help ourselves. I know this is probably more than anybody wanted to know, but you asked how us overweight people handled trying to lose the weight, and this is how I chose to battle my problem. Granted, it's not for everybody, only those who are in danger of dying otherwise. If I sounded defensive, I'm terribly sorry. I've just had to put up with so ignorance and racism living as an overweight person and my choice to have the surgery, and I can tell you it wasn't an easy choice! Sincerely, Angie

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2000

I'm sorry...I don't think racism was quite the right word, but my 3 and 4 year old were fighting behind me and it's all my toddler overloaded brain could think of! LOL

Angie

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2000

"Sizism" is the term I've heard.

I don't think that stomach stapling is an easy way out, far from it, but I am uncomfortable with it being used as a solution to overweight because of long term health issues it can cause. Obviously everyone has to weight the pros and cons for themself.

This idea of being a stranger in one's body resonates for me, very deeply. I was always a skinny teenager and young woman, into my thirties. Maybe ten years ago I started to gain weight and am now about 90 pounds more than I'd like. It's very weird to feel not at home in my body, to see myself in the mirror and not recognize myself. That this is a temporary thing and I shouldn't buy clothes because I may not need them - despite evidence to the contrary.

I'm working on it with exercise and some changes to what I eat, but I am having a real problem with controlling my eating in any way. The last couple of weeks I've gotten a new handle on this by realizing that I literally think about this all the time and am completely unhappy about it. So, since that's the case, maybe it's time to stop my schizophrenic behavior and get serious. It's helped me to get a little more control over my eating, and I've added walking to the stairmaster and weight training that i'm doing now.

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2000

When I was of normal weight, I always thought that I was "chunky" or at least a "big girl."

I've had a pot belly since I was a little kid and despite 6 years of ballet, it never went away.

That pot belly made me think I was "fat" even though I look at pictures of myself as a child now and realize that I was actually quite normal, and even a bit on the thin side, due to thin wrists and ankles.

I never worried about becoming fat, even if I did worry about _being_ fat ... or rather, I never thought that I would becme _obese_.

I just never thought that that would happen to me. Except of course, now I am.

I do feel like a stranger in my own body sometimes -- I'll suddenly really look at myself in the mirror and realize that my mental image of myself and my actual appearance don't match up.

I still see the "big girl" of my adolescence ... a big girl who realizes now, that back then she was just strong and healthy.

What motivates me to lose weight is quite simple: I want to be strong and healthy again.

I feel weak and tired and frightened about the health consequences of my weight.

Yet at the same time, I _resent_ the weight. I resent the fact that I weigh as much as I do, when I eat normal meals, normal foods.

I resent the fact that I have to go work out in order to acheive a _normal_ level of fitness -- I always saw the gym as a place for people to go who were serious body-builders, not maintenance for regular fitness.

In some ways, I guess I resent a culture of convenience which has made doing so many things easy -- that exercise built into daily tasks has dwindled, making it so much easier to have a sedentary life-style.

This is why I'm taking advantage of this move to California to build exercise back into my day-to-day activities: taking the stairs, biking to work, walking to the grocery store, walking to the bank, etc. etc.

We finalize our move into our new place in Berkeley this weekend. Everything is within walking distance, the neighborhood is quiet and pretty and I'm looking forward to incorporating a daily walk into my evenings.

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2000

I feel like I'm talking about body image a lot today because I just wrote a long entry about it, and then arrived here to find two forums on it. Hmm.

I've never been massively overweight, or even enough so that anybody who saw me clothed would notice, but I did put on quite a bit of weight in university (I started university at 17, so some of that was just finishing growing, but still). I got really motivated to get rid of it when I found out my cholesterol was really high, and my doctor told me that if I kept my weight down that's one less risk factor for heart disease. Believe me, that's motivation.

I've lost 40 pounds over the last approx 20 months. I did that by dieting (not denying myself food, just eating a lot of sensible food rather than crap) and exercising. When I moved I made sure I was living more than fifteen minutes from work so I'd be forced to get some exercise every weekday. I picked a place a good 25 min away, so I get at least 4 hours of walking every week, and of course I go out other times and as I don't own a car, that translates into a lot of walking. The building I live in now has a pool, and I'm eagerly waiting for it to open for the summer. I had a fitness club membership for awhile but I found I couldn't stay interested.

Also, I've made a point of learning how to cook low-fat foods, and also learning how much fat is in most of the foods I eat. Here's a tip: Almost any baked good can be made lower in fat by substituting in applesauce for most of the fat - you usually still need a little fat to make the kitchen chemistry go, but most of it is just for taste.

Joanne (Parietal Pericardium)

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2000

Just had to comment, because B. Privett's post could have been mine! My little sister was born with a bunch of health problems (all better now) and was really skinny. I had normal baby fat, and I always felt fat. It wasn't until junior high when a really good friend basically said "You're nuts" that I looked in the mirror and realized I was pretty skinny.

When I got to college and went on the pill, I put on about 40 pounds, but since I'm 5'9" or so I still think I look pretty okay. My husband's a big part of that, he tells me I was too skinny when we met. I could lose 15-20 pounds and be healthier and have more energy and look better, but at the moment life as a grad student is just too busy. Hopefully some day.

My biggest worry is attaching too much importance to the number on the scale. Earlier this year I actually started exercising, and I could feel my clothes get looser and start to see some muscle. When I stepped on the scale the number hadn't changed (which makes perfect sense, since muscle weighs more than fat). It was a real battle not to get discouraged.

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2000

There was a joke made about "not realizing Tom was a skinny girl trapped in a fat girl's body". I understand it was just a joke, but the title of this thread leads to an interesting perception about men and their weight. Primarily, that they are not as self conscious about it as women are. I think I have to speak up and say that is not true.

I have epilepsy, and as a result I have to take a medication that they told me from the beginning would slow down my metabolism. I should have paid more attention, because I could have prevented any weight gain by adjusting my lifestyle a bit. The kid that could eat what he wanted and never gain a pound was long gone. The late night snacks and the beer drinking and all that led to a 30 pound weight gain. Fortunately, I am 6'1", so 30 lbs wasn't that bad, but I still don't like the way I look. Men may joke about their weight more than women do, but it reminds me of Chandler on "Friends". What was the episode where he realized that he just used the comedy to cover up the anxiety he felt? Yeah, funny, hahahaha.

Anyway, I also thought it was interesting how people that are overweight judge really skinny people (i.e. the comment made about Ally McBeal or the bone thin cast of "Friends"). Isn't that exactly what you wish people would quit doing? Judging others based upon their weight? I hope this isn't taken wrong. I am not being critical, just making an observation.

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2000

If there's a skinny girl inside me, then it's only because I ate her.

I have always been sort of obsessed about my weight. I always thought I was a chubby kid, so in high school, when appearances suddenly meant everything, I never ate unless I was close to fainting. Sophomore year I weighed about 120, and thought I was a cow. I got down to 105 pounds in my senior year, and thought I looked my best. I saw pictures of myself later and was shocked to see how gigantic my head looked compared to my body - I looked terrible as a skeleton, and my face looked like a stranger. I see pictures of myself in a bathing suit at 16, when I thought I was huge, and can't even find a flaw on my body, but back then I was so ashamed. Stupid.

Then I did a complete turn-around. Once out of school and working full time, I started eating lunch every day. Then I started eating dinner. And drinking alcohol. And I found out how good food could be, especially when you can afford to buy something other than burgers and tacos. I was more secure with myself, had a steady boyfriend, and my vanity had relaxed a lot. Next thing I knew, I had put on quite a bit of weight.

I have struggled with that weight for years. Sometimes I'm happy where I am, even if I'm over my ideal weight. I feel like I can carry it off if I'm in proportion. Other times (like now) I could stand to lose a good 40 pounds, and I feel like crap about myself. It's a health thing for me now, though, not a vanity issue. My husband and I both put on weight after we married, and we are still hot for each other, so losing my sex appeal has strangely not been a worry for me yet. I just don't want to have a heart attack at an early age, and I wouldn't mind having enough energy to run up the stairs now and then. I got winded after running around the house a few times chasing my nephew, and that scared the shit out of me.

If someone had told me as a teen that one day I would look like I do now, I would probably have ended up in the hospital with anorexia, in a desperate attempt to avoid ever being this huge. Funny how perspectives change. I do so want to lose this weight, though. I really do, and I have to, if I want to die an old woman. I sure love me some food, though. I love to cook, and eat out, and then sit on my ass and watch television, or go see a movie. I wish I craved carrots, celery and exercise, but I so do not.

I am impressed to hear how much weight some of you have lost in a short time. What's your secret? I'm willing to try anything that doesn't involve hard work, starvation or willpower. :)

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2000

I know that there's a skinny girl trapped inside of me, just begging me to let her out, to let her go to the gym and feast on tofu and bean sprouts, but never fear. She can usually be sedated wtih a few chocolate chip cookies.

Really, though...I could stand to lose some weight. I mean, I don't mind the weight that I am. I have toothpick legs and chicken arms, thin and muscular, but have a pot belly to go along with it.

Thinking...Hm...I look like a weeble wobble...Shit. I have to go think about this now.

-Meghan

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2000

At 52 and less than 115 pounds, it probably doesn't sound like I have much of a problem. However, when youre eighteen (everyone your age is thin), British (obesity doesnt seem as common here), your mid- thirties co-workers and fifty-year-old-mother have better figures than you, your photos rarely show a single chin, and every time you enter a clothes shop youre confronted by garments fit for baby skeletons, its not much fun. I feel bad for writing this. Im too happy and intelligent to be concerned about my weight; if I must mention it, Ill do so a bloke- ish fashion (well, womens fashion doesnt fit). Ill laugh at myself and exaggerate the truth. Yet it bothers me that I do more exercise than anyone I know but still wear bigger sizes. It annoys me that food tastes good, but I, like so many others, cant enjoy it properly because restraint is necessary if I want to be able to get dressed the next day. It frustrates me that after twenty three hours and fifty minutes of starving, all it takes is ten minutes lost control to render the suffering worthless. I often wonder what on earth happened to me, how I let myself get like this (and it used to be worse; Ive lost eleven pounds in the last two years). Six years ago I was 63 pounds. Admittedly, Id had Measles and hadnt eaten for weeks, but two years later, I was the height I am now and 92 pounds. I just wish Id appreciated it then, but all I cared for was my lack of stamina in PE lessons compared to my heavier classmates.

At the same time Im not altogether sure I want to be thin. Ive read articles about people obsessed with exercise having serious injuries, and Im scared thatll happen to me. Just when Id managed to stick to a successful diet and exercise plan for two weeks, I started listening to the Manic Street Preachers 4st 7lb (I want to be so skinny that I rot from view) and gave up, afraid, even though I had yet to reach my target. I see teenyboppers in the tightest clothes, and given my height (or lack thereof) and young-ish features, Im determined not to end up like them. But watching a punk documentary or looking at the front of my stomachs-on-display INXS CD, I sigh in jealousy. Yes, Im looking at men, but Im attracted to men; is it so strange to want to look like one?

But enough whining, time for more sit-ups.

-- Anonymous, May 20, 2000

I ALWAYS was 125. All through high school, college, etc. I did once get down to 115, but that was during my divorce when I wasn't eating. I had two kids, and still 125. Then I settled into a job where everyone snacked all day. I put on MEGA pounds. Got up to 190. Ech. I have been working on getting the weight down, and had 125 as my goal. Hey, if I could get into size 7 pants a week after having my second child, the fat was laziness! I have had to reevaluate my goal. About a month ago, I realized two things. My 12 year old (my SKINNY 12 year old) weighed 126, and I had grown a couple of inches at 28. So now I don't know what weight I'm SUPPOSED to be, I just know I feel uncomfortable. I have lost 20 lbs., and I want to lose more. I look normal fully clothed (-: but I want to look GOOD. My major problem right now is exercise. It just hurts too much to do it for weight loss. So I am just cutting back on my food intake, and drinking lots of water. I hope it works.

-- Anonymous, May 20, 2000

On ideal weights... there's all sorts of height/weight charts available but they tell me that I am obese (not just overweight, but obese) which is clearly ridiculous if you look at me. I'm what's called a mesomorph, which is a 'muscular person' as opposed to ectomorph and endomorphs (one's skinny and one's chunky, but I can't remember which is which). This is all remembered from grade nine gym so I'm pretty hazy on the details now, but your ideal weight depends on what body type you have, and lots of height/weight charts don't take that into account.

Reading the posts above is very odd, as 115 lbs sounds really skinny to me, as does 125. I'm 5'4" and my ideal weight is 135-140. That probably sounds high but trust me, I look and feel fabulous at that weight. I'm nearly there, so I'm feeling a lot better about this whole body thing than I did a year ago.

I'd like to also mention for the record that I agree with the guy who said we don't take men's insecurities as seriously.... I was out dancing at a gay bar last night and I'm pretty sure many of the guys who were there were anorexics as they were way too skinny to be healthy. They were willowy. Admittedly I like my men sturdy anyway, but I really think a lot of these guys have a problem. It's very worrying.

Joanne (Parietal Pericardium)

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2000

Amanda--a pound of muscle weighs more than a pound of fat how?

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2000

A pound is a pound, be it muscle or fat.

However -- and I'm speaking from watching my own body and weight, not claiming that I'm educated in nutrition or weight conditioning or anything -- nicely toned muscle takes up a lot less *space* than jiggly ol' fat.

I went from a size fourteen to a size twelve and still weighed almost the same. I had barely changed my diet, just started working out a *lot* more. The difference is that my weight was toned -- more contained, I guess. Muscle doesn't hang over waistbands.

I can only hope I made any sense at all there...


-- Anonymous, May 21, 2000

Zed commented on the lack of obese people in the UK.

I've also noticed this. People in the UK are physically smaller than I'm used to in NZ, and I think it's a throw-back to post-war rationing - their parents weren't well-fed, and have produced physically small children.

I'm 5 foot 10 and about 10 stone, which doesn't exactly make me the biggest girl in the world, but I feel like a completel heifer next to most of my female co-workers - they're all tiny, and on average wear a UK size 8 (so a USA size 6) and stand at about 5 foot 6.

The men are also smaller, which is why they get mashed by touring Southern Hemisphere rugby teams.

Jackie D - have you also noticed this freakish smallness in the UK? Or is it just because I'm used to the huge people back home? (The Tongans, which populate a lot of NZ, are the biggest race in the world).

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2000

The weirdest thing is that when I lived in AUstralia, for the first 20 years of my life.. a size 8 or 10 American really wasnt anything to sneeze at...It was considered normal and by the time u reached size 8..then that was considered already skinny..

Due to a variety of reason during my last year of high school I put on tons of weight and topped a whopping 78 kilos, which for a 5 4 frame is alot.. although the truth is that i really wasnt that large..I thank god carry weight very well.. I then lost 15 kilos after finishing school and went down to 63 kilos which is approx 138 pounds..

I was so proud of myself and I felt great..thought i looked great and was happy just to be alive.. that is until I moved to Israel..

and suddenly i find myself in the same position i was in before i ever lost the weight..suddenly im 40 pounds overweight and too big to wear any normal looking clothes..because even though they come in my size, theyre skinny ppl's clothes just expanded to fit a fat person...

I definitely think Australia's conception of weight is much healthier then america's and israel's ..firstly because the clothes dont even come in the small sizes that america's does.. The smallest size in Aus is probably a 6 american..although they just in the last 2 years started making 4's..if you started wearing clothes that small u would have to go to a childrens store...

Ive never heard of anything so rediculous..size 2 ..size 4..what is that?? My sister is a size two and always looks great.. but if u can really get down to that small..well i dont know..something is wrong..Im not talking about ppl with extremely small bones..or extremely fast metabolisms..Im talking about medium sized..normal metabolismed every day normal ppl..the "other" 50 percent of the population..

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2000

Muscle is more dense than fat, and thus weighs more.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2000

There is no secret. The ONLY way to drop it and keep it off is to work it out.

Like many of the posters here I've always felt fat, though looking back on photos of myself even a couple of years ago, I wasn't. However in the past two or three years I've put on a lot of weight. I went back and forth deciding I was going to do something about it, starving myself then going back to my regular eating habits. I was never down on myself though. I figured I needed to get to a place where I really, truly felt comfortable with who I was, no matter what weight. I went through a lengthy self-evaluation process and was finally able to really love me (corny, but absolutely true) and feel confident about every part of myself. Then I started hitting the gym. Hard. I go four or five times a week now. It's not a chore anymore. I go to spinning, boxing, and I do my own routine. AND I don't starve myself. As I become more and more toned ( I never get on the scale) I know that I'll be able to maintain my shape because I'm not limiting my caloric intake to 200 calories a day, and then flying up to 2000/day when I go off of some crazy diet. All I do is avoid food that I know is not good for me, and try to eat more organic, raw foods. It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle. I refuse to count calories, or carry around a scale with me. Everyone knows when enoughs enough, at least this way I still feel normal. And the gym becomes an addiction after awhile ( a good one!) Good luck everybody.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2000

density has nothing to do with it. a pound is a pound, no matter what it is (as Peanut said previously). sure it's good to have more *muscle* pounds v. *fat* ones, but in the end a pound is a pound. sorry if i keep pressing on this. but it's really quite simple, you excerise and don't lose weight in the beginning, but that's because you're transforming BAD pounds into GOOD pounds by losing fat and toning the cells to muscle. and after that foundation is formed, the extra fat cells slither away. so can we please stop saying muscle weighs more? it just doesn't bode well on the mind. thanks.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2000

I don't know why I care about this, but you're just wrong that "a pound is a pound". You can lose girth measured in sizes while gaining weight measured in pounds, because you've replaced fat with muscle and muscle weighs more. Here are the first three sites I found when I searched for "muscle weighs more":
I have always heard that muscle weighs more than fat in the body. Is this true? Yes, it's true that muscle weighs more than fat in the body. Adipose tissue or fat tissue contains about 14% water, is nearly 100% free of the electrolyte potassium, and is assumed to have a density of 0.90g/cm3. On the other hand, muscle tissue has a much higher content of water, which is about 72% to 74%. It has a potassium content of 60 to 70 mmol/kg in males and 50 to 60 mmol/kg in females, and a density of 1.10g/cm3 at normal body temperature. Since muscle tissue has a much higher density than fat tissue, it also has a greater weight than fat. Cal State Los Angeles
2#: Pounds are not the only way to measure loss, if you never lost a "pound" but went from a size 12 to a size 6 I would imagine you would be pleased with the results. WHen you replace fat with muscle, muscle weighs more so if you are losing inches but staying the same on the scale, fat is being burned and you are replacing it with strong lean hrealthy muscle which in turn will burn even more energy for fuel removing more fat! A wonderful cycle. Lo Carb Living
Body Composition - What Percentage of Your Body is Fat Compared to Muscle? Lean body mass is composed of bones, muscles, and organs. Fat mass is composed of adipose tissue. Cellulite is just a fancy term for adipose tissue or fat. Excess body fat has been associated with heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, gall bladder disease, cirrhosis of the liver, hernias, intestinal obstruction, and sleep disorders. Muscle weighs more than fat so don't go by the scale so much. About.com

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2000

Lizzie, I may have read it wrong, but I think the point they're trying to make is that whether it's a pound of fat or a pound of muscle, it still weighs a pound - a pound being a form of measurement.

Obviously, one pound of muscle is preferable - and takes up less space - than one pound of fat.

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2000

I've gained (net -- I've actually been heavier & lost some) a little over 30 pounds since the beginning of graduate school ten years ago. I still think of myself as being the size I was ten years ago and it surprises me when I'm not. So I'm trying to lose that 30# and maintain it. Anything more is probably unrealistic. No matter what, though, I'm not going to be a small person. I'm 5'9" and I can easily see over the tops of the heads of most of the people (men and women) I encounter in southwest VA.

The least I have ever weighed as an adult is 140#, and that was when I was 21, after several months in India and a couple of bouts of amoebic dysentery. I've grown about an inch since then, too. So I'll never see 140 again. My sister and I are both physically dense, though she's thinner than me. People tend to estimate us about 20# lighter than we actually are.

Sometimes I wish I were smaller. Although I don't look unhealthily fat, if I put my weight in a personal ad guys tend to think they'll be meeting Momma from What's Eating Gilbert Grape. Being an amazon has its up side, though. No one tries to mess with me.

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2000

Remember how Archimedes shouted "Eureka!" as he eased himself into a bath, then ran down the street naked? (Apocryphal or not it's a good story.) The question of a pound of muscle vs. a pound of fat is that while a pound weighs a pound, a pound of muscle has much less *volume* than a pound of fat. Remember the old brainteaser of which weighs more, a pound of lead or a pound of feathers? They both weigh the same, but of course the pound of feathers takes up a lot more space and is *bigger.*

What Archimedes had had to figure out was whether the king's crown was the solid gold he'd told the smith to make it of, or whether the smith had cheated him. A pound of gold displaces a given amount of water, whereas a pound of an alloy weighs the same but has a different volume and so displaces a different amount of water. When he watched the water rise in the bath, he had found ("eureka" is ancient Greek for "I found it!" according to the story) the solution for how to test the crowns.

Ten pounds of fat has greater volume, takes up more space than ten pounds of muscle. According to those FDA (?) fitness charts, Shaquille O'Neill (sp?) and Michael Jordan are overweight: the charts don't account for being as muscle-bound as those men are. It's not the number of pounds but what those pounds comprise that determine body shape. That's how two women of the same height and weight can be either fat or slim.

-- Anonymous, May 23, 2000

ACK! This pound for pound shit is about to drive me nuts! Fat vs. Skinny! That is all we are talking about here. This is not a discussion of physics. My girlfriend was a volleyball player. She has these legs that are by any measure simply incredible. The muscles are lean and tight and I love to massage them. That is good. Gilbert Grape Mama has legs that are something less than desirable in my eyes. We all understand that. My grotesque (I am exagerating here, but I feel that way) stomach weighs less than the washboard stomach I had 2 years ago. But I liked the washboard because my size 30 waist fit comfortably in my jeans. My 36 inch waist is bulging at the seams now. I can't continue at this rate. Sorry to be vulgar, but 2 Years from now I want to be able to see my dick.

On a side note, Xeney, I have had no problems with the new site, either in function or design. I hope you feel better soon. We miss you. We want to see more! We demand more. You are a bitch to the website hit pimp. Satisfy our cravings! Hahahhaah!

-- Anonymous, May 24, 2000