Kenna Morton's Journal, 27 Apr 24

Not really… they enforce and unnecessary low bmi score for the military. Even if your body is low in fat and you can pass all the physical tests with flying colors you are still considered overweight. It’s pretty ridiculous in my opinion 

Very interesting topic. Totally agree with Supergainz. When my ex came home from Vietnam his weight seemed unreal and he didn't have an ounce of fat on his entire body. All muscle. As a retired nurse, like you, I think BMI and health weight parameters are very flawed tools. There are people in the normal weight range who are extremely unhealthy. I was an athlete. I did physically demanding jobs all my life and still do a lot of physical work now. I'm a mesomorph, regrettably a fat one now as everything changed after menopause, and while I need to lose weight, I still have more muscle mass than my doctor and my hubby and plenty of other men. Not everyone who falls into the categories of overweight and even obese is unhealthy. I worked with big R.N.s who could run circles around their thinner colleagues. I weighed 115 or less until I was 46 and was usually doing steps over 20,000 a day. These women were right along side of me - no huffing, no puffing. That being said I do see some police officers who looks very out of shape to me and when I have seen them have to run they are not up to par in my opinion. I am not sure how they get away with that. The soldiers I see here are not that way. Two of my uncles were lifers/officers in the AirForce and they had to always maintain and pass physical requirements and did so with no problems. Maybe that has changed recently. The sheriff deputies who I encounter, as my neighbor is "visited" by them a lot, are total hunks.  

Agreed with the cops conditions. Most are overweight sitting in donut shops. Or hiding somewhere to ticket people. I have to say the military training needs to be revamped. Every person I know that for out of the military is on disability…. And they never even gone to the field of war! Just the training damages their body so much they come out disabled. There’s 2 types of training one that strengthens you and ones cause degradation. People tend to idolize extremes tho. Whether it’s fitness or anything in life. If you are doing too much it becomes unhealthy.  

I think "overweight or obese" can range from 1 pound to many more but that does include people who are high muscle low fat percentage so who knows what the statistics are supposed to prove  

The other issue regarding military and police being “out of shape” is that they need to be PHYSICALLY READY at all times to be able to handle an attack on themselves, the public or our country. Look at what the police have had to deal with back east with the riots and physical attacks just in the last week. Many of the officers in the news clips were obese with hanging bellies. That is NOT a BMI misinterpretation. We are so vulnerable on almost every fron right now. 

All of the police officers I worked with (not as a cop) were fit, professional, and exemplary. State troopers. Two shot on duty, one fatally, the other took several bullets but lived and also took out one of the shooters when he walked into a store during an armed robbery. Other relatives shot, survived, then killed in traffic. So, yes, I agree that TODAY so many public safety officers are extremely overweight, but I guess to be honest it touches a nerve when I see or hear remarks about these folks with donuts and/or ticket quotas. I know of one lousy cop personally and the men I worked with had absolutely nothing but disdain for him, a disgrace to the profession. Had to vent here just a little. And yes, I do know there are the good, the bad, and the ugly in uniform. 

Gopherlt2- I’m sorry that you lost your friends. So many officers are dying in the line of duty. 

Thank you Kenna. I don't want to make waves or be offensive but I know so many folks in various fields of public service (EMS,=; state, county, and local forces who have physical and emotional scars. It's a wonder that any jurisdiction has enough staff...and I include health care in that too. We really need to help each other and remember this is a human FAMILY. 

My older son was in the air force for nine years and was in excellent physical condition the whole time he served. 

I’m wondering if military standards have slipped—I know the police physical fitness standards have slipped a lot. The fireman I see seem to all be in good shape— both men and women. One thing I do know is that the fire men and women address it with each other on a one/one basis before the weight issue gets out of hand. Their lives depend on them being able to carry each other out of dangerous situations if need be. Maybe it is a “political correct” situation. IDK 

A lot of the blame falls on all of us. If we are employing unhealthy professionals it's because we are turning out unhealthy high school students who become those professionals. Some states don't require physical education in school at all. Others just require one year in high school. I live in Illinois and P.E was required every day and ever year in school and still is. We were the first one to do it. We had 50 minutes every day. I don't know that I ever saw a person who weighed more than 400 pounds until the last decade or so and now there are a lot of them of all ages.  

Morticia— I hear you and agree, but parents also need to assume responsibility for seeing to it that as their kids have opportunities for physical activity and outdoor play. I talked to a man at the pool just today who was there with his 3 little kids. Mom brings them twice during the week and he brings them on weekends. Since he works all week this activity allows him time with them and frees mom up to do something for herself. The rest of the week they make use of the local parks and they have a library day. I was impressed. 

If we’re talking about the newest generation coming up then we’re in trouble. I’ve never seen so many boys cares about products and keeping their hair healthy and hands soft. They don’t even do my bricks challenge cuz “they don’t want to rough up their hands”. Scared to bleed, or get durty. These are not boys. 

you can also add paramedics, EMTs, nurses, CNAs and these are people in the medical field that know the health affects of being overweight and obese 

RN16, exactly, including my endocrinology NP who's monitoring my Hashimoto's and T2DM. This should make it more than apparent that there's more to the obesity crisis than food alone, meaning that there's also something going on with food itself in 'developed' countries. On my next endo office visit she wants to pick my brain after I sent her my stats. I'm going to point her to FatSecret ;-) 

Gopherlt2— you are so correct about the pervasiveness of obesity in our society. As I see it it is our food choices and the quantity of food we choose to eat that is a problem along with the number of people who choose to try anything to control weight that doesn’t involve increasing activity or exercise.  

I was pleased to run into my GP doctor at the Gym last week for 2 reasons. It shows he takes his health seriously & he also saw I do, in fact, work out like I told him I did.