Ann Althouse muses on female fatness:
The whole subject of the number itself is quite fascinating. There’s a mystique about the 200 mark, and lately I’ve gotten the feeling that there are a lot of Americans who don’t think a woman is particularly fat until she hits 200, and that there is a different group of people who think 125 is the point where fat begins.
Yeah, put me down for the latter category. Depending, of course, on the height; a woman shouldn’t weigh 125 unless she’s pregnant, unusually muscular or nearly six feet tall. 200 pounds? That’s ridiculous, it’s heavier than the average NFL cornerback at 5’10”, 190.
In many cases, I don’t regard fat people as being the most culpable for their state, however, as it’s often obvious that it is the parents who are primarily to blame. I was in the grocery store two days ago behind a very slightly overweight mother whose chubby seven year-old son was happily sucking down a huge soda that she’d obviously just bought him. Such poor dietary parenting not only creates bad habits, but sets people behind the weight ball from the start.
Unsurprisingly, the woman who goes 224 thinks that Americans need to rearrange their thinking. But I don’t see why fat people shouldn’t be banned from restaurants the same way smokers are, now that the principle of free association has been paved over in the so-called interest of the public health.
If you’re fat and want to get down to a normal size, stop drinking soda, (which you should stop in any case), stop snacking between meals and exercise every day, alternating 30 minutes of running or biking one day with 90 minutes of lifting free weights the next. Don’t worry about getting big from lifting, muscle takes up far less space than fat. The general rule is that fat girls do aerobics, fitness models lift.
You’ll start seeing results within four weeks. Unlike dieting, it becomes easier to stick to over time, not harder, thanks to the endorphin addiction.