Fit and Fat

I don't know if any of you remember the book "Fit or Fat", but it was written by the guy who invented the body fat test that involved dunking you in a large vat of water. When I was in middle school I read the book cover to cover three times. I also weighed 130 lbs. and was 5'8". Before I read this book I thought I was humongous and had already started scrutinizing everything that was going into my mouth. This book alone was not to blame because it was one of many diet books I read at the time.

The title, "Fit or Fat", illustrates a misconception held by many people, including good old Uncle Sam. The phrase fit or fat implies that one is either fit or fat, but not both. This could not be further from the truth. Fat is a very subjective word. In fact, it is so subjective that the government has come up with a BMI chart to dictate whether we are fat or not.

The folks from Eat A Cheeseburger wrote an excellent article explaining BMI. Some of the pitfalls of BMI include a lack of correlation between body fat percentage and BMI number. For example, Serena Williams would probably have an extremely high BMI because she has so much muscle density. However, if an insurance company saw her BMI, they might deem her "at risk" and her premiums could go through the roof. If Serena wasn't so famous and had a zillion people telling her how great she was, maybe she would see her BMI number and feel she had a weight problem. I don't know anyone who has looked at the BMI chart and felt good about themselves after.

Fostering the belief that one is either fit or fat may also discourage fat people from exercising. We've already determined fat is a subjective word, so this could mean someone who is 5 lbs. "overweight" or 50 lbs. "overweight". Exercise is meant to be fun, not something you do because you feel bad about yourself. I love to exercise because I'm always doing something different. There is so much confusing info about how long and how often you should exercise. Don't do too much aerobic. Don't do too much muscle building. Yoga is enough. Yoga is not enough. Blah blah blah. I say, do what you want. Be fit and fat (whatever fat means, anyway).