DISCOVER THE PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES OF EXTRA FAT AND EXTRA MUSCLE

5 min readMar 17, 2021

Why Some Things Aren’t Worth Doing Excessively

EXTRA FAT

I’m no expert on the challenges or problems of building or maintaining muscle, so I’ll wait a bit before I address that issue. However, I have spent a good part of my life in the “morbidly obese” category and can claim some expertise on that subject. As a newspaper carrier for many years, I favored the headline “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” but figure that was too vague given the nature of the topic. But I can assure you that I know plenty about carrying around extra fat.

NOT ALWAYS SUCH A BIG DEAL

I wasn’t always such a big deal. I started getting “chunky” in high school, when I quit riding my bicycle and walking as much and rode or drove in cars instead. I didn’t gain weight excessively until I was out of high school and into college and working. If I listened to the experts of that era and this era, my problem was a simple problem of excesses and not enoughs:

Excess fat in my diet
Not enough exercise
Not enough calorie counting
Not enough caring
Not enough determination
Excess relaxation

BIGGER DEAL

My weight fluctuated quite a bit after I dropped out of college and continued my schedule of working seventy to ninety hours per week. I made choices to exercise more and cut back some on work and managed to get my weight in the neighborhood of 240 pounds on May 6, 1989 when I got married. I was still considered overweight and definitely “chunky.” I rode my bicycle again, walked again, and did aerobics regularly, but I couldn’t overcome my diet. I did have a more realistic collection of excesses and not enoughs though:

Not Enough Sleep
Not Enough Martha (unrelated, but true)
Excess Hostess Products
Excess Mountain Dew drinking
Excess Calorie Counting
Excess Ice Cream
Excess Eating Out
Not Enough Determination
Not Enough Focus
Not Enough Time

BE AWARE

When you have too much, or excess fat, people with less tend to think that you aren’t aware. So they like to find friendly or mean ways to make you aware of the problem. Many people with excess fat develop defense mechanisms to explain why or how they haven’t solved the challenge that everyone has identified as their new point of focus. In my case, I used humor like this:

I’m working on the before picture.
I’m advertising for around the world travel.
I’m just putting the weight out there where I can watch it.
Calories in are positive numbers, and I don’t like negative numbers.
I’m too busy to exercise.
I’m too busy to diet.
I want to be sure people will notice if I lose the weight.

EXTRA FAT OR EXTRA MUSCLE

Is extra fat more harmful than extra muscle? Both require time and effort to maintain, even if in different ways. A person that has lots of extra muscle will normally spend a lot of time each day in the gym alternating between legs and arms and shoulders. When I had all that extra, extra fat, I’d spend a lot of time eating each day, driving to get my Mountain Dew and snacks. So, whether too fat or too pumped, both can be a problem, if you have no plans to use them.

FAST FOR YEARS

I used to joke that I could fast for years, and it is likely true. My longest fast to date was twenty-one days, but, if I had to, I could probably fast a year. When I had my heart health challenges, I discovered that a simple three-to-five-day fast was effective in reversing my heart failure if repeated at regular intervals. So, I’m hoping that as I lose what remains of this extra fat, I’ll continue to help the various damaged parts of my body heal.

EXTRA MUSCLE

I had lots of extra muscle in my legs from all those years lifting those 600ish pounds per day, and I put that to good use while riding my bicycle for all those miles. But, if I had no use for the muscle, I’m not sure it was good for me to have all that extra and have to go through the effort of maintaining it.

WHEN IS ENOUGH, ENOUGH?

When is enough, enough? I’m not sure I know that answer for me yet. And, I’m pretty sure I don’t have the answer for you. I think that it is important that I get myself into good enough shape that I can easily and effortlessly do the things that I want to accomplish each day. But I’m not convinced that doing more than that is better. Because, if I do more than that, then I have to maintain it, and that takes time, which is my most precious resource.

EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT

So, the challenge for each of us is to determine what is effective for us. In my case, I need to allocate my time to the following:

Sleeping
Eating
Riding
Walking
Lifting
Reading
Learning
Communicating
Relaxing
Writing

ME

I don’t have the answers, but I do have lots of questions. I hope that my questions, and some of my wondering, have given you something to think about and that you find it helpful. Feel free to follow my ramblings at the links listed below: