Hello there,

Might seem a bit odd, but I'm wondering if its normal for a bigger girl to be deceptively strong (due to carrying around the weight??)

My better 1/2 has always been bigger than me. When we met I was 5'10 and 197 and she was 5'10 as well but probably closer to 250. It was never really a big deal to us. Then a couple of years we had a child and the whole process has left her +75 lbs. In the meantime I haven't gone to the gym much in last couple of years and have lost some bulk and now am about 187 soaking wet.

The other day we were kinda horsing around after the little one had been tucked away for the night. What started as some tickling and play wrestling soon turned into both of us grunting with effort as we rolled around on the floor with hands locked. Before I knew it, I got the wind knocked out of me and she sitting atop me giggling. I was pretty much >>>

I guess she quickly realized that I wasn't faking, and let me up. I tried my best to act like I wasn't ready and that she had gotten lucky. Her (mocking) response: "Hehehe just like I get lucky when I beat you like 10x in a row at scrabble?"

I think it just depends on the person. I have worked out almost my entire life (since age 13) but gained weight regardless because I ate more than I expended, plus other issues with grains, but anyway...I am very strong even though I'm big and have had many comments in the gym from both women and men because I lift a high amount of weight. Just because we're big, doesn't mean our muscles are shriveled up!LOL! I see many skinny people in the gym who barely can lift 30 lbs, so it really is just a person to person judgement call. I guess you should take her with you whenever you're in a jam or dark alley!

Being strong has nothing to do with how much fat you have. Look at sumo wrestlers.

My hubby was freakishly strong when I met him. He weighed almost 400 lbs, but his idea of going to the gym was spending 3 hours there. He also worked a very strenuos job.

I had to take P.E. classes in college and I chose independent study swimming (I loved to swim, but was too self-conscious to compete or even swim in a class). My P.E. independent study supervisor, one of the coach's complimented me that her thin, athletic sister at a neighboring college couldn't keep up with my routine (I had mixed feelings about the compliment, because it came across that she thought it a miracle that a fat girl could out-perform a thin girl in any physical activity).

Muscles and fat are independent. Just because you're fat doesn't mean your muscles are in bad shape.

Now that hubby and I are on disability (our health problems forcing us to be more sendentary) we've lost muscle tone and endurance. We're trying to get some of it back (more likely for me, because his health issues are degenerative and mind, at least in theory, could go into remission).

Think about it a little like this, the heavier you are, the more muscle you have in addition to the fat. The muscle is there to support the extra weight. So I think some extra strength can be attributed to body mass, not just strength training and exercise.

When I has at my heaviest, I could still lift a lot, even though I didn't do any strength work. My dad is also very heavy, and my mom refers to him as strong. My dad doesn't do ANY exercise or strength work. I suspect that if he was the same weight as my boyfriend, ~170, he'd also be as weak as my boyfriend, who also doesn't exercise or do any strength work.

Well I can tell you it is an individual thing... My own muscle mass has a huge impact on my weight as well.

i.e. I am the same height, same clothing size, etc. as a friend of mine and weigh 30 lbs more. For no other reason then my actual BMI is lower. More muscle, and less body fat. I just leave my ticker showing what the initial calculations show... but at the same time I have been hooked to the state of the art machines to know what it really is and it is about 4 points lower than the charts show.


Maybe she also has a lower BMI then her weight wold indicate and a higher muscle density.

I've always been very strong, for my age, my size, etc. I was strong when I was skinny too. I suppose it could do something with bone strength. One thing that obese women rarely get is osteoporosis. When walking is a weight bearing exercise, I guess that keeps the bones stronger.

It seems that people who are heavier do have some more muscle that develops to help them support the weight. I know my trainer commented on that when I started working out with him. However, I don't have any official source.

I agree. Strap a 100 pound weighted vest to a 170 pound person, male or female, and that would surely be a challenge. It does take muscle to move extra pounds around.

Dang I never thought of it from vest point of view.

I guess I need to start working out or wife might have the edge here.

ps- I like the little smileys on this site

Don't be afraid of strong women.

My roommate/best friend is this teeny tiny thing who used to do lacrosse and dance and probably should be stronger. She struggles with lifting objects over about 15 lbs, though. Then there's me. I weigh over three times what she does and before this past month, I had spent less than 3 hours of my life in a gym and not much more than that exercising at all... but I just kind of hopped right into being able to lift 40+ lbs. like it ain't no thang.

I'm wondering how crazy my endurance will be when I weigh less. I also worry about how small I'll be able to get my calves to go. Hefting an extra 200 lbs. around for a few years certainly builds leg-strength, I'll give it that.

It's interesting you say that about your calves, and I never thought of it in this context before, but I always thought I had great calves, even at my highest weight.