Fat girls make inferior mothers

Science has spoken:

A total of 43 550 (3.5%) offspring had any major congenital malformation, and the most common subgroup was for congenital heart defects (n=20 074; 1.6%). Compared with offspring of normal weight mothers (risk of malformations 3.4%), the proportions and adjusted risk ratios of any major congenital malformation among the offspring of mothers with higher BMI were: overweight, 3.5% and 1.05 (95% confidence interval 1.02 to 1.07); obesity class I, 3.8% and 1.12 (1.08 to 1.15), obesity class II, 4.2% and 1.23 (1.17 to 1.30), and obesity class III, 4.7% and 1.37 (1.26 to 1.49). The risks of congenital heart defects, malformations of the nervous system, and limb defects also progressively increased with BMI from overweight to obesity class III. The largest organ specific relative risks related to maternal overweight and increasing obesity were observed for malformations of the nervous system. Malformations of the genital and digestive systems were also increased in offspring of obese mothers.

Conclusions Risks of any major congenital malformation and several subgroups of organ specific malformations progressively increased with maternal overweight and increasing severity of obesity. For women who are planning pregnancy, efforts should be encouraged to reduce adiposity in those with a BMI above the normal range.

Conclusion: don't marry a fat chick if you want healthy children. Maintaining weight isn't merely about your preferences or her health, but the health of the children.

One thing I've noticed at the beach is that fat women very often only have one child. If you see a slender, fit mother, she's usually got three or four.

The worst outrage ever

Woman forced to not pay for man's dinner:

A California woman has become the latest victim of alleged dine-and-dash-dater, who is accused of repeatedly skipping out on dates before the bill arrives.  The woman, who does not want to be named, said she unwittingly joined LA's most exclusive - and miserable - club on Sunday, when Paul Gonzales fled after eating a small feast at BJ's in Pasadena. The woman met the handsome Gonzales on the dating app Bumble, and said he sent flattering texts before inviting her to dinner.

Perhaps she should have been wary when he ordered around $50 of food for himself alone: 'A glass of Pinot, a Caesar salad with a side of shrimp, a steak, and a baked potato.' That's $50 of food - not including tax and tip. With just half a potato left to go, Gonzales excused himself to take a call on his cell phone - and never returned.

There ought to be a law!

Pull-ups are a social construct

That's the only reason that suffices to explain why women can't pass Marine fitness tests:

With the news coming out today that the sole remaining female Marine has dropped out of the Infantry Officer’s Course (CNN, Marine Corps Times*) it seems like a good time to look into why women in the military are having so much trouble meeting physical fitness requirements.  According to the CNN video below from January of 2014, the reason women lack upper body strength is women aren’t taught how to do pull ups.  Here is the relevant exchange between CNN Anchor Don Lemon and CNN Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence:

Chris Lawrence:  What they’re gonna do now, is… looking at better ways to train women to do these push-ups [sic].  There is a feeling that from the time they are girls, girls don’t do push-ups, even women who workout religiously and are very physically fit are not working those kind of muscles and trying to build up that bigger upper body by doing pull-ups.  So, what they want to do is go in and really teach women better ways to train to do this particular exercise.

Don Lemon:  Yeah, working the upper body that’s a guy thing, right?  And I mean, guys you see at the gym with skinny legs, big upper bodies.

Chris Lawrence:  It’s the beach muscles.  It’s the beach workout.

What I find interesting about this is the way it shows how every female failure inevitably turns into a discussion of male shortcomings.

Because no woman can ever fail at anything for any cause other than male perfidy! To admit otherwise would be to jeopardize the Narrative.

Lose weight to increase value

If you want to figure out how to increase your SMV/MMV, you can easily pick up a point or two by losing weight:

There's no doubt about it: Americans are getting heavier and heavier. But new U.S. estimates may still come as a shock -- since the late 1980s and early 1990s, the average American has put on 15 or more additional pounds without getting any taller.

Even 11-year-old kids aren't immune from this weight plague, the study found. Girls are more than seven pounds heavier even though their height is the same. Boys gained an inch in height, but also packed on an additional 13.5 pounds compared to two decades ago...

According to the report, the average weight of men in the United States rose from 181 pounds to 196 pounds between 1988-1994 and 2011-2014. Their average height remained the same at about 5 feet, 9 inches.

The average woman, meanwhile, expanded from 152 pounds to 169 pounds while her height remained steady at just under 5 feet, 4 inches.

All right, that's just crazy. 5'4" 169 is 60 pounds more than is ideal for that height. Seriously, it's not that hard to lose weight. I'm in my 40s and I just went from 192 to 179 in six weeks in order to get my abs back and prolong my soccer career.

No second helpings. No snacks. A tall cold juice for lunch. A moderate amount of exercise. That's all it takes. You can even have dessert! And it's well worth it.

Finding your mission

I spoke with a reader yesterday who was wondering how he can concentrate on his mission when he doesn't have one and doesn't even know what he wants it to be.

My advice was to begin by assisting the missions of others you respect, admire, or whose missions you find worthy of support. Most men are not leaders; most men cannot be leaders of other men anyhow since if everyone was a leader, there would be no one to lead. The social hierarchy is a pyramid, with fewer captains than lieutenants, and fewer lieutenants than soldiers.

So, find your mission by becoming a soldier. Over time, if you prove yourself useful, capable, and interested, you will become a lieutenant. Most men will be content in either role; only gammas and alphas naturally seek leadership and no good leader truly enjoys it due to the burden of responsibility for others it imposes upon him.

This is particularly true of sigmas, who don't seek leadership, but often find it being thrust upon them regardless of what they want. Gammas, of course, inevitably turn out to be a disaster whenever they manage to thrust themselves into a leadership position since they don't even accept responsibility for themselves, let alone for anyone else.

Anyhow, if you're not sure about your mission, go find someone who has one and offer them your assistance. Not me; I have no shortage of high-quality lieutenants and soldiers. But there are many good men out there who are in need of your help in moving their missions forward. Help yourself by helping them.

An expected confirmation

Cutting your calorie intake 40% of what you need won't work in the long term because eventually you'll cheat, but it's no surprise to me that cutting calories, exercising hard, and increasing protein is a recipe for success.

How to lose weight and gain muscle — fast

Want to gain muscle and lose fat? And you want to do it fast? New research from McMaster University says it's possible, but it won't be easy. In fact it's 'gruelling.'

That's the word that Stuart Phillips, a professor in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster and senior investigator on the study, used to describe what he put 40 young men through for the sake of science.

Phillips spoke to the CBC's Conrad Collaco about how he got one group of the men to lose more than 10 pounds in six weeks and gain muscle while they lost weight.