Fat Adult Leaders

[Knight]

Hi. I'm a newbie here and hope I'm not out of line, but I really wanted to share my observation of a common issue I see. I know I'll offend many; nevertheless, I think the topic is a 900 pound gorilla in the room that everyone ignores.

 

Fat Adult Leaders

 

I know fatness and obesity are a problem common to all Americans, not just Scouters. However, the beer belly adult leader (male and female) seems to be the norm. I believe we, as leaders, are not setting good examples of living the first part of the third duty in the Scout Oath ("keep myself physically strong") when we are so overweight.

 

I'd love to find ways to encourage leaders to be more healthy. Why is there bug juice and cookies at each Roundtable? I say OK, but only if we all hiked at least a mile to get to the Roundtable. My local district even goes further by having periodic "hot dog plus potluck" meetings in place of the usual roundtable discussion.

 

I have no panacea, but I'd like to find ways to encourage leaders to be a little more physically fit. Any ideas?

 

I suggest no food at roundtables or adult leader meetings, etc. Use good old fashioned H2O instead of sodas, "sports drinks" and bug juice at Scout meals. Have weight-loss competitions be part of the standard roundtable agenda. Discourage snacks at unit meetings.

 

Go ahead and citicize me if you wish. However, this is my belief.

 

I think we need to set better examples for our children.

[Ohio_Scouter]

Hi Knight,

 

I think the simple solution is that each year every adult leader should volunteer to be an attending advisor or crew chief on their troop's annual high adventure hiking, backpacking, cycling, canoeing trip. This would help motivate folks to train year round for the event so that they wouldn't be pre-empted from attending and wouldn't lose their hefty deposit. If you don't already know, you'd be amazed how training for Philmont, for example, can get/keep you in great physical shape.

[Knight]

Ohio_Scouter,

 

That's a great idea. No single soution is going to fix the problem. Cub Scout leaders, Committee Chairpersons, will never go to Philmont nor would I want to make it a mandatory requirement. Nor would all adult leaders feel comfortable in an outdoor / athletic setting. Aduiltn leaders bring a wide variety of skills and capacities to the organizations. But your suggestion, along with many other ideas, is part of a large range of things we need to be doing to get this problem under control.

 

I believe the fat leader problem needs to be added to every council, district and unit permanent agenda. Honestly and squarely address the issue and take real steps to solve it.

[Stosh]

Knight, welcome to the forum. I agree with everything you have said and more. In this area (working on a 10# problem right now) and (as an ex-smoker myself) in the area of tobacco usage we do not lead by example very well.

 

However, I disagree with you on one point. Physically strong part of the oath. Do you realize how much muscle it takes to haul around 150# of extra fat?

 

Ohio-Scouter does offer an excellent option for scouters. I am also a Crew Advisor for reenactors which requires me to be in better than average shape. (Thus my working on a 10# problem right now!) :^)

 

I often wonder who well these people are able to challenge their youth with backpacking, hiking, canoeing, etc. when they are having difficulty keeping up themselves.

 

Without derailing your thread, the issue of age may also become a consideration. At 57 I know I can't do a heavy duty trek at Philmont and keep up with the pace of the boys. That's why one recruits young ASM's!

 

Stosh

[Knight]

Thank you for your reply, jblake. Point well taken. It saddens me to see people lugging around all that baggage all the time.

 

Coming back to the topic, I'm hoping to elicit suggestions and discussion as to how we all can encourage weight loss amoung Scout leaders and ways to make it happen in the Scouter program.

 

 

[BuffaloSR793]

Great topic and certainly one which needs to be addressed. I'm a leader in Cub Scouts, and the short hikes

[CalicoPenn]

Maybe we can start a BSA Research Project in genetics to breed out the Endomorphic Body Type in the human race.

 

Maybe we can require all adult leaders to pass, every 4 months, the same physical fitness test the US Marines requires.

 

Maybe we can devote 30 minutes of every Adult Leader meeting to 30 minutes of physical training.

 

Maybe we can require every adult to show proof that they have a health club membership when they apply for membership or recharter.

 

Maybe we can charge adults a sliding membership fee based on weight - the heavier you are, the more you pay.

 

And while we're at it, maybe we should just deny membership to every youth and adult that is overweight for their age and height, because, like athiests that can't do a "Duty to God" and gays that can't be "Morally Straight", overweight people can't be "Physically Strong". While we're at it, we may as well deny membership to every youth and adult that is physically or mentally disabled, and that includes those whose disablities fall into the autism/adhd/learning spectrums too, because they don't meet the criteria of the Scout Oath either.

 

Or maybe we can all just mind our own business and worry about ourselves for a change.

 

Maybe we should stop being so judgemental about other people based on physical characteristics - especially when we know nothing about those people.

 

Maybe we should be an organization that is open to all boys, and accepts competent adult volunteers of every stripe and remember that the Scout Oath starts out by saying "On My Honor, I Will Do MY Best" and let each individual determine what MY best means to them.

 

Personal Example: At the beginning of 2005, I weighed 225 pounds - a solid Mesomorph. Most people looking at me would not have said I was fat - and most would never have guessed I weighed more than 200 pounds. Comes from a lot of mountain climbing, hiking, physical activity. In April of 2005, I started to lose weight - rapidly - too rapidy - up to 2 pounds per day. I also started getting winded just climbing the short 7-step flight of stairs needed to get into the office building I worked in. X-rays of my chest showed my lungs full of opaque spots throughout and the bottom third of both lungs showed as a solid, opaque mass. After thoracic surgery to perform a lung biopsy, I was relieved to learn it was't cancer. Instead, it turned out to be a relatively rare form of organizing pneumonitis. Rare enough that I was the first case my lung specialist, and his partners had seen - and I'm fortunate enough to have one of the top-ranked lung specialists in the state as my doctor - the people that other lung specialists would have sent me to for this anyway. The only effective treatment is steroids - massive doses of steroids. For any other steroid treatment, the doses would be overdose levels. The steroids worked great - the lungs cleared up. They also had a side effect - I gained weight. Lots of weight. By the time I was removed from the steroids, I weighed 265 pounds. I was no longer muscular, I was fat. For about 4 months, I was fine - then I had a relapse (occurs in about 40% of the cases). Back on the steroids - massive doses at first and now I'm on a smaller maintenance dose, which I may end up remaining on for the rest of my life. I gained even more weight - I'm now 285 pounds. I still remain active as I can (it isn't my weight that stops me - its my lungs - they've been irreparably damaged by my illness), I eat healthy, no junk food, no soda, water only, lots of salads, soups, cook only with fresh ingredients, no pre-packaged meals, and watch my portions - but because of my medication, I am only able to maintain at a set weight. I now weigh 285 pounds - and have been 285 pounds for the last year and a half. I consider it a victory that I'm not gaining more. I consider it a victory that I'm alive. I've been working with a personal trainer for the last 2 years to try to rebuild my stamina. It has taken me that two years to get to the point where I can maintain a steady pace on an elliptical trainer, without stopping to catch my breath, for 17 minutes.

 

Am I offended that someone who doesn't know me and my circumstances would call me fat? No. What I am offended about is the notion that people think they have a right to judge other people based on their own beliefs and body weight. What I'm offended about is the notion that its ok to offend other people because its being done for that other persons health and well-being. What I'm offended about is the notion that because someone doesn't fit into an individuals idea of what it means to be fit, or physically strong, or morally straight, or whatever, that it's ok to brand that someone as somehow inferior.

 

Calico

 

 

[GernBlansten]

Just as exercise doesn't seem to enter the daily routine of many scouters, diet doesn't either. We focus way to much on meats, dutch oven desserts and cracker barrels and not so much focus on vegetables.

 

At Philmont there was much displeasure when one of the meals distributed was the vegetarian chili. Adult advisers complained the most, thinking they must have some kind of animal protein at every meal. This meal was saved/delayed for the final day when all other meals where exhausted. With a heavy sigh and skeptical glance, the final meal was placed in the crucible and re-hydrated. Sunken eyes and grim faces stared at the steaming gruel as it was placed in each scouts empty bowl. A taste, then another, then soon after, "May I have some more?". They were floored that a meal without meat could be good. It was the best meal of the trek.

[Axeman]

Weight prejudice; the last socially acceptable form of prejudice. How...disgusting.

 

People continually condemn the overweight and blame them for their condition, despite evidence that obesity owes more to genetics than to will power. These people perceive in the overweight a loss of control that they fear in themselves (Angier 1992). Studies published over a 20-year period demonstrate that Americans see fat people as "unattractive, aesthetically displeasing, morally and emotionally impaired, alienated from their sexuality, and discontent(ed) with themselves" (Crandall 1994). In my opinion, the BSA, and members of the BSA, should never encourage, promote, or endorse these erroneous perceptions, nor apply such a prejudicial, discriminatory, and hurtful label as fat to any adult leader, scout, parent, friend, casual acquaintance, or total stranger.

 

I encourage physical fitness in all scouts and scouters (physically strong). I am not qualified, nor authorized, nor willing to determine who is, to use the disapproving, often insulting term from the subject line, fat. The determination is far too subjective.

 

Prejudice in any form is repugnant.

 

 

 

Angier, Natalie. 1992. "Why So Many Ridicule the Overweight." New York

Times November 22, 1992, p. 38.

 

Crandall, Christian S. 1994. "Prejudice against Fat People: Ideology and

Self-Interest." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 66(5): 882-

894.

(This message has been edited by ddibben)(This message has been edited by ddibben)

[Stosh]

I read once that a person could die with the lack of oxygen for 3 minutes, lack of water for 3 days and lack of food for 30 days. With that in mind, I have found that on a weekend one cannot starve to death. They may be uncomfortable, but they won't starve. It often surprises those around me who actually think I'm in great shape because I can out hike them, when in fact I'm only carrying about 1/10th the weight in food that they are.

 

Stosh

[Bob White]

With only 29% of direct contact leaders attending basic training, shouldn't we be more concerned about integrity than waist size?

[Trevorum]

Of the 10 to 15 or so active leaders in our troop, I can't think of a single one who is noticeably overweight.

 

The Scouts do enjoy the skit about the fat, coffee-drinking Scoutmasters, but it seems to be more of a stereotype than reality around here.

[Beavah]

Yah, not sure I understood that right, jblake... are you suggestin' adult leaders not eat on campout weekends?

 

For my part, I wouldn't recommend that, eh? I figure adult leaders have to Be Prepared and alert for the needs of the boys, safety, etc. Adding an extra challenge/burden/stressor just doesn't seem prudent to me. There should be enough activity on a weekend that it beats the office anyway, without tryin' to "crash diet" when we're responsible for kids.

 

Maybe I didn't understand?

 

Beavah

 

[local1400]

It's okay to be fat. Rows upon rows of knots don't look right on skinny folks. Local. (2X, no knots.)

[Stosh]

Gee Beavah, I don't recall anywhere in my post that said adults shouldn't eat at campouts, I only made the observation that no one's going to die if they go easy on the food for the weekend, or to pack a little lighter with the food stores for extended hikes.

 

Carrying extra weight around the middle or in the pack isn't really that much different 4-5 days out on a hike. At least I can toss out the food, the waist waste, I gotta keep with me. :^)

 

I was only making the observation that for the most part we as a society and I've seen it at the troops as well, a lot of food is really not all that necessary to get by.

 

At a normal campout I do not avail myself of the crackerbarrels, I eat a lighter b-fast than the rest of the troop, eat what's served for lunch and cut back on dinner. Now we do have growing boys, but a balanced diet of appropriate proportions is not unreasonable for campouts.

 

Stosh