400 Pound Shoplifter Gets Stuck In Doorway

[Rasix]

Pull ups are my super power.  I've always been able to do tons of them, independent of how in-shape I am.  I'm sure it helps that the most I've ever weighed is 145lbs.

I've found the best way to keep your weight down: get stomach flu 3 times in a 4 month period.  Works wonders.

[KallDrexx]

Muscle weighs more than fat. Your GF is gaining muscle from the gym.

I doubt that.  While I know that muscle weighs more than fat, the fact that she's 5'8" and 215lbs and most of our workouts at the gym are cardio tell me she's not really gaining that much muscle to compensate for any weight loss.  Considering I weigh almost the same at 5'10" and yet I am averaging 2lbs a week, I would be very surprised if she was gaining more muscle than I am, or I am just losing that much more fat than she is.

[Bunk]

Way back when, when I actually went to the gym, it was all about cardio. Was too fricking boring to sit on a bike or stairclimber for an hour, so I got in to the circuit training. Machine to machine, short light weight sets on each, interspersed with manual stair climbing. You looked like a wuss with the low weight, but I could keep a high heartrate continuously, while shifting the focus from body part to body part. I have no idea how effective it actually was, but it was less boring, and felt good.

Now, I'm a lazy desk jockey. I do still walk up about five flights of stairs each day  

[Nebu]

I doubt that.  While I know that muscle weighs more than fat, the fact that she's 5'8" and 215lbs and most of our workouts at the gym are cardio tell me she's not really gaining that much muscle to compensate for any weight loss.  Considering I weigh almost the same at 5'10" and yet I am averaging 2lbs a week, I would be very surprised if she was gaining more muscle than I am, or I am just losing that much more fat than she is.

It's a tough call.  I can be 205 lbs at 6% body fat and 175 lbs at 6% body fat.  It's all about the type of workout.  Some women gain bulk better than others.  We call them Eastern Europeans.   

[ghost]

I doubt that.  While I know that muscle weighs more than fat, the fact that she's 5'8" and 215lbs and most of our workouts at the gym are cardio tell me she's not really gaining that much muscle to compensate for any weight loss.  Considering I weigh almost the same at 5'10" and yet I am averaging 2lbs a week, I would be very surprised if she was gaining more muscle than I am, or I am just losing that much more fat than she is.

It's a tough call.  I can be 205 lbs at 6% body fat and 175 lbs at 6% body fat.  It's all about the type of workout.  Some women gain bulk better than others.  We call them Eastern Europeans.   

[Cyrrex]

Also, the biggest barrier to losing weight may be her diet.  Most people who claim to be working their asses off at the gym AND who are on a strict diet but are failing to lose weight?  They are lying about one of those two things, and it's probably the diet.  The good news is that it's actually extremely easy to lose a lot of weight by dieting properly.  There's only one major hurdle, and it's the same one that the people in the gym have trouble overcoming:  It's fucking uncomfortable.

To echo what some of the others have said...the body weight stuff is what's really impressive.  Not just about pull ups and stuff (I actually find that there are even fewer people that can do a good number of body weight dips...people suck at dips), but just how much you can lift as a percentage of your body weight.  Benching 225 isn't all that impressive when you weight 225.  But it is if you weigh 180 (or whatever).  

[Sand]

Muscle weighs more than fat. Your GF is gaining muscle from the gym.

I doubt that.  While I know that muscle weighs more than fat, the fact that she's 5'8" and 215lbs and most of our workouts at the gym are cardio tell me she's not really gaining that much muscle to compensate for any weight loss.  Considering I weigh almost the same at 5'10" and yet I am averaging 2lbs a week, I would be very surprised if she was gaining more muscle than I am, or I am just losing that much more fat than she is.

Okay another common problem. Now that you are going to the gym and working out has she added Gatorade or such to her diet and daily intake?
Reason I ask is I was shocked to find out most drink supplements contain more calories than you actually burn while running or working out, so you are just upping your daily caloric intake.

[ghost]

And exercising has been shown in a recent study to be a lousy way of losing weight, if that was your goal. 

[Paelos]

Now I wish I had brown fat. Thanks Time article.

[Yoru]

To echo what some of the others have said...the body weight stuff is what's really impressive.  Not just about pull ups and stuff (I actually find that there are even fewer people that can do a good number of body weight dips...people suck at dips), but just how much you can lift as a percentage of your body weight.  Benching 225 isn't all that impressive when you weight 225.  But it is if you weigh 180 (or whatever).  

And if you find your dips/pull-ups are getting too easy, don't add more weight. Switch to gymnast's rings. Oh god, does that make body-weight exercise harder - all your supporting muscles have to go into overdrive just to keep you stable throughout the exercise. On dips, I'm up to an average of 7 or 8 on the rings, and I think I'm doing pretty well. Tough stuff.

And really, exercise is just a partial substitute for a highly active lifestyle. I was back home recently and was having a few beers with friends; one of them commented that he was surprised to see me in such good shape and still putting away a goodly number of beers. He was less surprised (and more horrified) when I rattled off my weekly schedule, which includes precisely zero nights per week of "do nothing more challenging than sitting on your ass", so I think the point got across.

[ghost]

Now I wish I had brown fat. Thanks Time article.

Brown fat is cool.  If you had brown fat you could be a whale. 

[Minvaren]

And really, exercise is just a partial substitute for a highly active lifestyle. I was back home recently and was having a few beers with friends; one of them commented that he was surprised to see me in such good shape and still putting away a goodly number of beers. He was less surprised (and more horrified) when I rattled off my weekly schedule, which includes precisely zero nights per week of "do nothing more challenging than sitting on your ass", so I think the point got across.

This is the thing - I can pack away most anything I care to eat, and/or anything I care to drink - presuming I keep active.  I catass on ($mmog) for a week or so, and the pants start getting tight.

That's one good piece of advice my GP gave me a score of years ago - "When you get to your target weight, buy a pair of pants that just fits you.  When they start getting tight, it's time to step back and take a look at what you're doing."  And it's worked most every time.

[NowhereMan]

I'm not quite down to where I want to be but buying a 30 waist and fitting into it was awesome, first time since I was about 14 I've been able to do that. The annoying thing is my suits no longer fit in any way and since I'm not quite down to where I want to be I really don't want to splash out on nice new ones. I also don't really need to wear them (much as I like to) so can't really justify buying cheap but fitting suits in the interim.

Also there are people that find dips harder than pull ups? I can now bang out a couple of sets of 8-10 dips but still barely manage 2 sets of 3 pull ups. I also found having an actual weight lifting routine someone with knowledge and experience put together is much, much better than trying to just do stuff.

[Cyrrex]

Well, it could also be that there just aren't as many people doing the dips (it's not one of the sexy exercises), and those that do them are not capable of doing them at full weight (or doing them right).  Also, the big, buff dudes who are throwing up a bunch of weight on the bench often struggle with their own body weight and can't do either dips or pull-ups without cheating, so naturally they avoid them completely so as not to look foolish.

Strength relative to size...that's what counts most.  I expect the big fat sorta muscular guy to bench 250.  The lean, 140 pound high school kid benching 185 is actually quite a bit more impressive.

[Paelos]

Yall are taking a thread about a fat chick getting tazed and turning it into some meatheads standing around in the gym talking about cutting.

Yall suck.

[tgr]

There's only so much you can talk about fat chicks getting tazered before it gets old.

Now, provide a video of the tazing and it'll improve things for a while...

[Fraeg]

enough diet talk, I think the story is hilarious.  The idea of someone trying to *flee the scene* in one of those battery powered carts just has me giggling like mad.

And to all the 20 somethings just wait til you hit your mid/late 30s, it takes a fuckload more effort and thought to keep slim. 

[K9]

Where to start?

- People wandering aimlessly, from one machine to the next, no real plan.  Do one wimpy little set, saunter off to the next shiny piece of equipment and do another worthless set.
- Complete lack of challenge when lifting weights.  Most people (especially those using the machines) aren't putting nearly enough weight on.
- Complete lack of challenge on their cardio equipment.  They might be sweating, but that's only because they are warm.  They aren't going nearly fast enough and/or don't have nearly enough resistance on them.  Not even remotely close.  It'll take them 1.5 hours to burn any significant calories, and they give up long before then.
- No clear idea as to what they are trying to achieve.  These are the guys who do curls and/or bench presses every day.  Or the women who do all the leg extensions and hip abductions every day.  Not surprisingly, then never appear to make progress.

And in general....if what you are doing isn't very (perhaps extremely) uncomfortable, then you should probably be working harder.  Most the people at the gym I see are very, very comfortable.

Echoing this. The problem is that without instruction people who do try and push it with weights are more likely to injure themselves. I train 2-4 times a week depending on work, and I have a group of friends who I train with, and we'll invariably end up explaining squats or deadlifts to someone a couple of times a week. The secret to gym success is simple, start small, set goals and then set new goals when you beat those goals.

My personal favorite: The guy that swings his curls up so that he can use bigger dumbbells.  Always gets a chuckle.

I can't list the wierd stuff I see people doing in the gym, but as you and others have mentioned the chaps who do a 1.5 hour bicep "session" and the fellows who seem to think that the E-Z bar and bench are the only pieces of gym equipment they need always raise a wry smile.

My personal favourite from two weeks back though was the "behind-the-leg" deadlift, with a well-rounded back. That was just  

Man, I fucking wish I could do just one pull up.  Even at my fittest and leanest I've never been able to do a proper one.

On the other hand I was able to squat 300# at one point when I weighed 180.   All my power's in my torso and legs, my arms are shit.

I trained up to pull ups about 9 months ago, because it annoyed me that I couldn't do them. I found that starting by doing them starting with my feet on the floor, even doing pullup negatives (jump up then slowly down) got me there, and now I can happily do sets of 10-12 from a full hang with a 5kg plate.

Also dips are the shit. I fucking love me some dips.

[Cyrrex]

Another reason people suck at pull-ups:  Because people don't work their back muscles very well, and those who do are doing lat pulldowns without not nearly enough weight (if you can easily pull it down to your stomach, that's not enough weight).  It's not all biceps, people. 

Another peeve....people who attempt to impress by doing way too many reps (with light weights, of course!).  Gee, great job with those 38 extremely fast hammer curls, shithead.  You've accomplished exactly nothing.

[NowhereMan]

They're toning. They don't want to get all bulky

[bhodi]

They're toning. They don't want to get all bulky

That sentence made me so angry. God. I should be sad that people can say that with a straight face.

Someday, I'd like to do a one armed pullup. That would be cool. I have a shot at it, since I'm thin and have disproportionally large back muscles from climbing.

[tgr]

They're toning. They don't want to get all bulky

I give 0 fucks about muscle bulk, if I were to do any sort of training it would be cardiovascular. Then again, I wouldn't do it by going to a training centre and lifting light weights like a right twat, I'd do it by biking to/from work.

[Furiously]

But then you would be all sweaty and stinky at work....