American Obesity and Lift Safety Tests

[ctenidae]

I stand corrected. Fortunately, the lift lines don't look like the line at McDonald's.

 

[JimG.]

I stand corrected. Fortunately, the lift lines don't look like the line at McDonald's.

Ski outfits are notoriously forgiving.

 

[bvibert]

While most rec skiiers may not be "fit", they certainly, as a rule, aren't obese. That's all I'm saying.

Depends on your definition of obese. The AMA considers anyone 25-30 pounds over their ideal weight (based on age and height) to be clinically obese. We're not talking about morbidly obese, people who weigh like 1000 pounds and can't leave their homes.

If you don't think more than a few skiers are obese, try being an instructor teaching several groups of never-evers who just stepped off a bus. Most folks who ski "recreationally" won't be found on a site like this one. This site is more dedicated to the more hard core element. "Recreational" skiers typically ski less than 7 days a season. Alot of them are overweight.

Jim's right, by the clinical definition alot of the people on the hill are technically obese. I'll admit that I'm considered obese at 280 lbs and 6'4"... I still think the average weight increase of skiers is not growing as fast as the general public though.

 

[Marc]

Marc, I disagree somewhat on your point that the fat and calorie content of what we eat has not changed a lot over the last 100 years. I do agree that activity level has changed. My father was a farmer and ate a pretty awful diet but burned most of it off. Still, I think the fast food has really damaged the American diet. When I went to school we had a cafeteria with no fast foods, no soda machines in the school, no candy machines in the school. Just not much redeeming value to most fast food -- high in bad fats, high in calories, high in bad carbs, loaded with sodium. And then kids are eating breakfest cereals that are almost all refined sugars. The increased incidence of obesity is a function of both a bad diet and lack of sufficient activity. We ate out last night -- I ate too much yet left more than half of what I was served. People are eating way too much and too much unhealthy food.

Yeah.. well the quality of the food we eat has diminshed drastically, for sure, however my original point was regarding fat and caloric content only. You raise good points about the types of fats and sodium levels and lack of vitamins and minerals in the broad cross section of the average American diet.

My grandparents were also raised on a farm. Everything they ate was loaded with saturated fat (all the non-skimmed dairy products) and extreme caloric density. Granted, the foods were of much higher quality and were denser carriers. I think the raise in associated health problems today comes from so many empty calories, as well as the other factors you mentioned.

I would still maintain, however, that much more credit for the raise in average body mass is due to lack of physical activity (no energy burned) than to the amount of energy taken in.

In the end, although, it just comes down to the difference of in to out... all else being storage (I knew I could find a way to work conservation in there).


I would also still maintain, from my personal experience, if we were to take an average of the weights of skiers (the average itself weighted to account for the amount of skiing a person does) it would be less by a large margin than that of the general population.

The problem with arguments like these, however, is the lack of hard data.

It feels a bit like when I try to argue reliability of a certain brand or model car. Inevitably the discussion will come down to a "Well I had this kind of car and had X many problems with it.... so this brand must be junk." Faulty logic. Better method: Consumer Reports, JD Power, etc.





So what I'm really trying to get at is I don't want any of those super fatasses who have to buy 2 plane tickes taking a seat next to me on the lift. Put down the fork already.

 

[awf170]

and if your drinking beer after skiing your not getting their early enouft or not pushing yourself hard and not wiping yourself out. You should get done boarding/skiing and then have your body force you to crash hard.

I seriously dont think skiing is that hard. I mean its not that tiring unless you skiing really deep powder, at high elavation or hiking to terrian a lot. I dont think skiing is nearly as tiring as sports like basketball, football and soccer. Come on your riding the lift to the top most of time, and gravity is taking you down, how hard can it be.

 

[riverc0il]

interestingly enough, we just had a post about gear weight. while i have no hard facts, i would be surprised if the average weight of skiing gear per person has increased at least 5 pounds since standards were set.

while i definitely see many "overweight" skiers, i do not see a lot of obese people skiing. perhaps JimG, you are getting a lot of newbs and/or folks that don't get out much. but it is pretty rare i see someone on skis i would label as obese. that said, i definitely think the average weight of a skier (without gear consideration) has increased enough that muliplied by 4 seats and 150 chairs, it may be an interesting factor to consider looking at from a safety perspective.

 

[FRITOLAYGUY]

Awful, that wasnt me who said that it was mark, you quoted the wrong person go check.

 

[awf170]

Awful, that wasnt me who said that it was mark, you quoted the wrong person go check.

oh sorry, I changed it...

 

[Rushski]

Weight issue probably doesn't affect the lifts as most have said here, but it is alarming how fat many in this country are getting. Obviously most skiers are in some modicum of shape, otherwise they wouldn't make it more than a few runs...

Just can't believe the size of many people nowadays. I've been out of commission since the end of March and with just slightly watching what I eat, have kept my weight down. If I were ten pounds heavier I would be considered overweight. Hopefully Dr.s will start to really ride their patients who are getting lazy.

 

[smootharc]

Interesting points....

Marc, I disagree somewhat on your point that the fat and calorie content of what we eat has not changed a lot over the last 100 years. I do agree that activity level has changed. My father was a farmer and ate a pretty awful diet but burned most of it off. Still, I think the fast food has really damaged the American diet. When I went to school we had a cafeteria with no fast foods, no soda machines in the school, no candy machines in the school. Just not much redeeming value to most fast food -- high in bad fats, high in calories, high in bad carbs, loaded with sodium. And then kids are eating breakfest cereals that are almost all refined sugars. The increased incidence of obesity is a function of both a bad diet and lack of sufficient activity. We ate out last night -- I ate too much yet left more than half of what I was served. People are eating way too much and too much unhealthy food.

....and much of the American Diet which can be summed up in processed foods + fatty foods (not the right ones) + salt + sugar = overweight even if you work out 7 days a week.

I think a study done about ten years ago that I remember reading about was done on oriental persons who moved to the US. At home, obesity was rare as they ate an average diet high in fiber, whole foods, naturally low in meat fats and sugars. When many of those who came to the states started eating the average "American diet".....guess what.....obesity crept into these immigrants. Along with this came increased incidences of previously rare or very low occuring conditions (as compared to the rest of the world) such as heart disease, diabetes, etc. etc. I may be recalling this with a bit of incorrect information, but I think this was the essence of the results of the study.

Interestingly, I also recall reading about when they found some 40,000 year old cave dude frozen and gave him some tests. They thought they'd find weak bones (no calcium) and rotten teeth. Instead, they found incredibly healthy bones (calcium from greens), lean muscle mass (they ate tons and tons of fiber back then - and worked out 7 days a week so survive....), and great teeth (no sugar).....the dude never saw the inside of a snickers bar. Thought that was interesting.

 

[Mark D]

HPD and dj, I don't think Mark meant any disrespect...I'm kind of guessing, but it sounds like he's not of drinking age yet and doesn't know any better.

i really didn't mean any disrespect at all and your right im not of drinking age only 17. but i say that b/c at my home mtn they are open from 8am to 10 pm and i try to do that hole time every chance i get. so after 14 hours of boarding/skiing in a row will tire anybody out

 

[JimG.]

but i say that b/c at my home mtn they are open from 8am to 10 pm and i try to do that hole time every chance i get. so after 14 hours of boarding/skiing in a row will tire anybody out

I'd say...I'm usually whipped skiing from 8:30am-4pm.