Comments on: Putting the fun into fitness

By: PastaQueen

PastaQueen — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 10:00:16 +0000

@ionela barton – Actually, it is a myth that you can’t be fit and be healthy. According to mortality tables, people who are slightly overweight live longer than people who are underweight. If you do some googling on the subject you’ll find a lot of the latest research says your eating and exercise habits are a better determiner of your health than your size.

Of course, if you weigh 500 pounds, it’s very unlikely you’re in good health. We’re not talking about extreme ends of the spectrum. And there are also plenty of people who are fat and don’t eat well or exercise who are in bad health. However, your size is not an absolute determiner of your health.

By: ionela barton

ionela barton — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 09:07:37 +0000

@Annie -

I can’t believe what i’m hearing!!!!!!!!!!! O my god!!!!!! To have a fat/overweight aerobic instructor? Is this for real? Fat people are not fit and are not healthy either cause if they were that means they wouldn’t be fat….. so my recomandation is look at fit people and try to lose the weight and then you can say you are fit and healthy. I am FAT and i would never ever go in a gym where the aerobic instructor is fat…that means what she’s doing is not going to make me loose wieght because she is FAT!

So guys lets be seriouse stop making excuses to stay fat!!

By: NurseAllycat

NurseAllycat — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 21:19:37 +0000

Just FYI, one of the people in the turbojam videos, Angela, the former laker girl, is pregnant or losing baby fat in some of the videos. Also, in the advanced workouts, there are all sorts of body shapes and sizes. It’s really encouraging.

By: littlem

littlem — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 18:35:01 +0000

Meghan Garcia has “Yoga For the Rest of Us” DVDs. She is a plus size model.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 20:39:07 +0000

P.S. PQ, I *love* your blog and read it regularly! So fun and inspiring! I will be getting your book for sure.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 20:36:30 +0000

FYI: I looked up this video to buy, and apparently it's fine if you buy from amazon, but beachbody.com is scamming people. See http://www.infomercialscams.com/scams/turbo_jam

By: Jane

Jane — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:24:44 +0000

I would echo Bella’s comment on the idea of an overweight yoga teacher- the nearest I have come to it was a pregnant yoga teacher who was explaining the modifications she was making to poses to allow for her baby belly (which helped me find ways to deal with my belly blubber). Sadly- although inevitably- she is now on maternity leave…

By: Samantha

Samantha — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:27:50 +0000

Oh, that’s great! I would definitely go to a class taught by an overweight instructor – as opposed to my not going to any class, I guess. :)

By: The Muse

The Muse — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:54:32 +0000

Speaking up as another (slightly) overweight fitness instructor. I’m a pole dancing fitness teacher (not strip-tease-style, but actually learning spins and the dance moves), and I’m working towards my own weight-loss goals, including starting to run for the first time in my life!

Let me tell you, I get plenty of looks from girls at the beginning of a session – all of them wondering “how can this chubby white girl dance?” (Our students are generally black females, in their mid-20s to late 30s… and yes, I’ve actually heard the exact phrase above spoken before class.) The next thing they know, I’m climbing up 16-ft of brass pole, inverting, holding with one leg, coming down into handstands, etc…

I love teaching, and am not shy about my size, because if I can do it, hopefully I’m an inspiration to other girls to prove that they can do it!

By: Bella

Bella — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:28:50 +0000

I find this so refreshing that your Y has an overweight (fat) aerobics instructor. I actually wrote a post on my own blog a few weeks ago saying how much I wish I could find an overweight teacher to teach yoga. Or, even a slim teacher to teach overweight(fat) people yoga. It's not that I mind having a slim teacher, because I'm not intimidated by stuff like that, but I do sometimes think someone who is overweight would understand the physical restrictions that another overweight person might have, and help to modify the poses/moves. Another great post. BTW, which issue of Glamour is the blog featured in? I'd love to read what they had to say. PQ - It was the January 2008 issue with Carrie Underwood on the cover. I scanned a copy you can read here.