Dear Heather ... Can you really be fit and fat?

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

12 May 2007 05:58 AM

Dear Heather,

I enjoy reading your blog regularly and I have been tempted to send you a question in the past, but I always refrained. Now I'm biting the bullet and I'm sending you a question that I'm really curious about. I am basically in good health. I exercise regularly - 4 to 5 times a week. I enjoy riding my bike and walk every chance that I get. I play sports with my boys (they are 14 and 17) and I have low blood pressure and low cholesterol.

The problem is I am 5'4 and I weigh about 220 pounds. I have weighed 220 pounds for years. I wear a size 20 on average and no matter how many different diets I have tried, the most I've ever lost in 10 pounds. I've dropped to a size 18, but more often than not I buy a 20 because I don't like clothes that cling. I can run, I can walk, I can go all day. I can haul. I can lift. I feel like I'm in physically great shape - I'm just fat.

Can I really be fit and fat at the same time?

- The Fat Fit Mom

Dear Mom,

Pardon me if I don't call you Fat and Fit as you did. My first response to your question was a resounding yes. I'm not a medical professional, but I've known many women in your position. They exercise, they do all the things they are 'supposed' to and all the things they are 'told' to do to lose weight and the weight simply doesn't come off.

If your doctor has given you a clean bill of health and you are feeling great, then I'd say it's totally possible to be fit and fat at the same time. While I may not necessarily agree with Gina Kolata and her position that obesity is overrated, I do think fat is a state of mind. I know many women who are heavier than a size 2 - and if you are a size 14 in a size 2 world, it doesn't matter how good you look - you are more likely to perceive yourself as fat.

I think it's fantastic that you and your boys spend so much time out doing things. Together and playing sports and enjoying life - those are all things that being fat or thin can't buy for you. If dropping those pounds is really important to you, then talk to your physician or a personal trainer or both. They may be able to offer you some key tips on nutritional methods to combine with your form of exercise to potentially burn off those excess calories.

Good luck with it.

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Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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