Training & Nutrition - Is flab "in"?

I'm not talking about the obese in our society. I'm talking about people who are probably roughly in the right ball-park for their weight.

I attend a college, and I've especially noticed this phenomenon there. Young people ... say, 18-25 years old ... who have average builds, and are average weights, but who have flabby arms, legs, and especially stomachs!! I don't know if it is the clothing style these days, but the girls in particular (but also a few guys) wear these low cut pants, and short tops so that their gut hangs out for all the world to see!

Who thinks that look is attractive??

I don't recall young people looking like that when I was that age. No, we didn't have the "perfect" body shapes back then, but it almost seems to me that body shapes have changed significantly so that the stomach area is ........ much more prominent than it used to be.

Is that the fashion these days? Is a large, flabby stomach the "in" thing?

Just curious ... and a little puzzled because I grew up with the idea that we (and women in particular) should do everything we could (right down to using girdles if necessary) to hide the stomach.

Have times changed?

I agree, before I started cycling this year, I was the fattest skinny guy you'd ever meet.

6'6", 220lbs, which is about right, but god, I had tons of fat and no muscle at all

Machka, I've also noticed the tendency these days for people to just let it all hang out. Current trendy fashion isn't very forgiving of an imperfect body, and it seems like people just go with it rather than resist what clothing makers shove down their throats. I, too, was raised with the directive to conceal flabbiness, so I'm really not sure what's going on in their heads.

I work on a college campus. Tight low rise jeans and tight short cut tops have led to some unfortunate fasion/flab incidents on campus these days. Any available fat is forced out in a belt of flab around the mid section. For the life of me I cannot imagine looking in the mirror and saying "That looks good; off to class I go".

I think young people these days lack direction. There are no definite styles right now, at least that I can see. And I am also currently a college student.

Yeah... here's a good direction : Pull up your pants and pull down your shirt!

Or is that pull down your pants and pull up your shirt. Hmmmm....

Hey, Americans have two BIIIGGG problems. They are called soda and ice cream. bk

Any available fat is forced out in a belt of flab around the mid section.

i have heard that the term for tthis fashionable look is the "muffin top"


-D

On men, the ever-lasting term is beer belly.

Hey, Americans have two BIIIGGG problems. They are called soda and ice cream. bk

Its soda and FRIES.

Sure too much icecream probably doesn't help but its just not in the same league as soda and fries.

Regards, Anthony

well...beer and bad nutrition have always been the "in" thing on college campuses.

you also have to consider there's a belief among many young women that upper-body exercise leads to small breasts, and big butts are popular, so pair that with the younger generation's thirst for high-fructose anything and you've got a recipe for flab.

what gets me are the girls who are simultaneously skinny and flabby... they might have no belly flab and be at their target weight, but they have no muscular definition their upper arms look particularly...odd.

Ah, the "muffin" look.

what gets me are the girls who are simultaneously skinny and flabby... they might have no belly flab and be at their target weight, but they have no muscular definition their upper arms look particularly...odd.

Exactly!! It's one thing to have skinny yet flabby arms when you're 90 years old, but NOT when you're 19!


I can't wear a lot of the modern tops because the arms are too skinny and tight for me ... but then I work at a job (and have been working there for a year now) where there is a lot of upper body strength required ... and I've got something of a swimmer's look right now with my trapezius muscles and shoulders.

The college that I go to does have some muffins, but I would say thet we are not representative of the pop as a whole. Of course the 2 biggest programmes are police foundations and paramedic.

I don't get it either. I call it the overflowing bubble butt.

I personally dislike the Ally McBeal/Sarah Michelle Gellar look. Strength implies confidence, ability, and character. Those twiggies look like they can barely lift a fork. Wait... maybe there's a connection.

I dont think that's the thing down here in tx.

Personaly I like the look of a woman that is carrying a bit of extra fat. I like them plump. I like to see men on the strong and muscular side, it make s me envious and gives me something more to strive for.

They say HFCS and transfats encourage abdominal fat over other forms. This is supposed to be the worst kind of fat for your health, too. It promotes heart disease and diabetes. So I agree with Anthony G. (:eek:) that it's soda and fries.

and big butts are popular

Really? Where? Perhaps I should move there... ;) Seriously, though, if big rears are the thing, they could at least adjust current trendy fashion so the pants they're selling look good on them.

Even a lot of thin women are sedentary, so flabby arms don't surprise me. Mine aren't the most toned in the world, but I go out of my way to do physical stuff like lifting boxes in the office so they're not too loose. None of my sedentary staff want to do those tasks. I'm amazed at how lazy the average person can be.

Children in the US are not allowed to go out and play with other children. All they got is a TV or a computer. How could they not be fat?

There is so much 'care' about children here to avoid worst cases that everyone gets hurt.

It seems to me that the college situation is mostly an issue of fashion that is not very forgiving but still compulsory. The thing is that the odd distribution of body fat phenomena is more than just a youth or women's issue. Last time I was home there were folks with body shapes that for the life of me I could not figure out what combination of diet and lifestyle could produce. Really weirdly fat some places, skinny in others looks. Something in the North American diet is wildly wrong.

Last time I was home there were folks with body shapes that for the life of me I could not figure out what combination of diet and lifestyle could produce. Really weirdly fat some places, skinny in others looks. Something in the North American diet is wildly wrong.

Honestly, some of them around here look like those pictures you used to see of starving children in Ethiopia who had the huge tummies and little skinny arms and legs. There was a medical reason for that body shape, but I can't remember what.

Honestly, some of them around here look like those pictures you used to see of starving children in Ethiopia who had the huge tummies and little skinny arms and legs. There was a medical reason for that body shape, but I can't remember what.

Yea it's called malnutrition.

-D

I'm 25. All I have to say is I work hard at keeping my body in shape. I expect the same from someone I am considering dating. If you can't take care of your own body, how can you manage other things. That's how I feel. Its not hard at all to get 1-2 hours a day of exercise and to eat right. I'm a cop who works 12 hour shifts, anyone can do it.

Bad enough that we have flabby Americans but Flabby Canadians too?

Yea it's called malnutrition.

-D

It's called Kwashiorkor, and the manifestation in the form of distended or swollen bellies is generally recognised as being caused by inadequate protein intake by its victims. That's why carbohydrates such as grain products aren't the simple solution to "malnutrition" where starvation exists in the population through drought, natural disaster or politics.

It's called Kwashiorkor, and the manifestation in the form of distended or swollen bellies is generally recognised as being caused by inadequate protein intake by its victims. That's why carbohydrates such as grain products aren't the simple solution to "malnutrition" where starvation exists in the population through drought, natural disaster or politics.

Yea that too. i only had my slate tablet this weekend and it is tedious enough to type this much.

hey machka-- i think you should befriend a few of the muffin tops, find out why they dress the way they do and report back to us. it's been a mystery to me too but i don't have any friends who sport the look so i have no one to ask about it! All we can do is speculate. . .
-flips

hey machka-- i think you should befriend a few of the muffin tops, find out why they dress the way they do and report back to us. it's been a mystery to me too but i don't have any friends who sport the look so i have no one to ask about it! All we can do is speculate. . .
-flips


Hmmmm ..... there was one sitting next to me in my class today ......

Hey, Americans have two BIIIGGG problems. They are called soda and ice cream. bk


I think the bigger problem on campus is soda and energy drinks. Almost every student I see here at the University of Arizona is drinking regular soda (never diet, not that it is much better) and energy drinks such as "full throttle" and "red Bull" and "Monster" and various others.

I mean these people drink this stuff ALL the time.

Now saying all of that I do need to reduce the amount of diet soda I drink and increase the amount of water.

i've noticed it too...kids in their teens and 20s who look really slack,pasty, with shlubby butts, tubby stomachs.Like they never get any exercise. Even the skinny ones are like that. Too much Xbox and not enough sun, that's for sure.

No, flab is not "in." It's just that the majority of young adults are sedentary. Since a fat chick won't stand out anymore, she can wear tight & revealing clothing along with her other dumpy looking friends. Note, there is nothing wrong with tight & revealing clothing, as long as the person wearing them is at least okay looking.

Although, out here in L.A. where we have sun all year round, there are a lot more tanned, attractive, and atheletic young women than elsewhere. I would guess having snow for a few months, or high humidity throughout the summer, makes one less active. Plus, nearly everyone has to keep up the L.A. "image." :D

Mix the Internet and all of the toys that go with it (video games, blogging, etc.) with an unhealthy food supply filled with trans fats, HFCS, chemicals for flavoring, color, etc. (thank you mega-food corporations) and you have dumpy-looking young adults. I recommend that everyone read Fast Food Nation (http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Food-Nation-Eric-Schlosser/dp/0060838582/sr=1-1/qid=1159839147/ref=sr_1_1/102-1565885-6321741?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Eric Schlosser to see just how manipulated our "food" is by the mega-corporations. It's all about producing the cheapest possible crap for consumption, health be damned. It's also why I'm not surprised about the E. Coli breakout in the spinach supply.

I find fat repulsive

I find fat repulsive

Especially on myself. I'm working on that though

-D

it's not so much about how it looks, but how unhealthy it is. If they're flabby and out of shape like this at 19 or so, imagine if they keep up that kind of lifestyle. Think of your heart, lungs, muscle tone, not to mention bone density. I remember this one guy who was like that, when he was 18 he was skinny. By the time he was 32 he was huge. He never exercised, ate crap food, no sun. Apparently though, he's gotten in better shape recently and lost weight. Maybe some of these tubby kids will change their ways. When i was in my late teens and early 20s I smoked, didn't do much sports, but I was very skinny so weight wasn't a problem. Still, i wasn't living the healthiest lifestyle. Now i'm in better shape than i was then, but it wasn't for weight, it was because i didn't want to be in bad health.

If they're flabby and out of shape like this at 19 or so, imagine if they keep up that kind of lifestyle.
1 in 3 American youngsters 12 - 19 are physically unfit (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15115466/from/RS.1/)

About a third of American youngsters age 12 to 19 fail treadmill tests measuring heart and respiratory health ... went to an examination center where they performed a treadmill exercise test consisting of a two-minute warm-up, two three-minute periods of exercise and a two-minute cool-down. "Approximately one third of males and females ... failed to meet current standards of acceptable cardiorespiratory endurance"

You know, once my friends and I hit puberty we had every incentive to stay in shape and get "buff" to show off to the girls. Likewise, the girls did the same to look good at our pool parties. What's wrong with kids and young adults today? Aren't they embarrassed by how dumpy-looking they are?

I agree with mac, americans have gotten so overweight that what was once considered fat is now considered normal.

I have relatives in SW Pennsylvania. People are considered "fat" down there only when they are practically spherical.

You know, once my friends and I hit puberty we had every incentive to stay in shape and get "buff" to show off to the girls. Likewise, the girls did the same to look good at our pool parties. What's wrong with kids and young adults today? Aren't they embarrassed by how dumpy-looking they are?

My theory is that we've been too soft on fat. Don't say that, it'll hurt their feelings, or, it's OK to be different. Fat people are victims, etc. Even Doctors have a difficult time telling their patients about their obesity. Recall that case in New Hampshire a few years back when a woman sued a Doctor for calling her fat. Don't get me wrong. I know how easy it is to become fat. I put on 30+ pounds in a coupla years, and now I'm paying for it.

It's about time we stopped being so touchy feely about the subject and stop being enablers.

Hey, Americans have two BIIIGGG problems. They are called soda and ice cream. bk


Wrong. It's called "not knowing what a portion size is" and "over eating".

I don't think it's the actual soda, but the HFCS in the soda. Don't some of these chemicals (HFCS, trans-fats, natural & artificial flavoring, other unpronounceable ingredients) cause the body to not know that it's full and causes people to overeat?

in addition to north americans becoming fatter (statistics tell us that).... people think that if something is in fashion... it's OK to wear it... well... it's NOT... they look like he!! and SOMEONE should tell them!

the key to not having a perfect body... is wearing the right clothing in the right size!

...SOMEONE should tell them!

Tell their lawyer, you mean?

Is anyone here attracted to very lean women? I mean, I like fit women, but a six pack on a female kinda freaks me out...

Is flab "in"?
No.

Is that the fashion these days? Is a large, flabby stomach the "in" thing?

No. It's just that most of today's young women are nothing if not two things.

1. Lazy and self-centered. So they get flabby stomachs.

2. Slaves to pop fashion. So they hang those guts out over pants that are too small and low with a shirt that is too short.

Ah, the "muffin" look.

I think it's cute. Fitness nazis, get over it.

Is anyone here attracted to very lean women? I mean, I like fit women, but a six pack on a female kinda freaks me out...
Yes. Short of steroid use, I like really athletic women. At my university, I used to train with a girl who'd lift more than the average guy. :eek: She was "buff", but her body still had that womanly "soft" feel to it. :D Take a look at the top college gymnasts - they are also pretty cut. Same with track & field sprinters, soccer, swim team, etc.

Steriods, however, physically change a woman's body and "hardens" it up to look, feel, and sound like a man. But by training naturally, there's really no way for women to get huge & cut and look like the freaks in the Ms. Olympia contest.

Honestly, some of them around here look like those pictures you used to see of starving children in Ethiopia who had the huge tummies and little skinny arms and legs. There was a medical reason for that body shape, but I can't remember what.Yea it's called malnutrition.

-DYeah, I see a lot of that "look" around here. People who are height & weight proportioned. But due to poor nutrition and no exercise, they actually have very little muscle and a lot of fat. I see "thin" girls who try to fit into the Britney-inspired low-cut jeans and their guts and love-handles are hanging out. They also have double chins! From my very unscientific measurements through rubbing, massasing & groping, I'd say as lot of these 100-115 lb chics are pushing 30-40% body-fat! There's a fad 1000-calorie/day diet that a lot of girls are doing. Problem is they're losing a lot of muscle too, so the look is still flabby after they've lost weight.

I bet Machka is pretty solid. :D

It all depends on your outlook. I'm a student too and I'm surrounded by gorgeous babes all day. I'm sure there are plenty of flabs on campus as well...but man I just don't have time to notice

I also live close enough to campus to see them jogging every day on the nature trail. With any effort and good genes, those 18-25 y/o girls should be great shape (or at least look like they are)