I played high school football and I knew I was in real goodshape and had a lot of muscle. After high school, my football dayswere over. My freshman year in college took some adjustment, evenmore so being away from home and all my buddies. I wasn’texercising and gained 12 pounds that year. At 192 pounds, I stillthought I was in pretty good shape. My sophomore year I stopped atthe school’s annual health and fitness fair during the fallsemester. There I had my body fat checked. It turned out to be 26.5percent. I always thought I was pretty fit, and I wasn’t happy tobe rated “overweight.†That one body fat test motivated me toenroll in the fitness and wellness course. In class, I learned howto set up a good aerobic and strength-training exercise program andeat better, and I learned about the value of increasing dailyphysical activity. At the end of the semester I had lost only 8pounds, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had alsogained 7 pounds of lean body mass (in essence, I lost 15 pounds ofbody fat) and my body fat decreased to 19.6 percent.
Critical Thinking Questions
1. List three factors that probably contributed to David’sweight gain.
2. Why might it be the case that some people who never had toworry about their weight in high school end up struggling withtheir weight in college (or later adulthood)?
3. Receiving the results of a fitness test or a bodycomposition assessment that show that you are not where you wouldlike to be can be a motivator for change. What other motivatorshave you experienced that made you decide to get healthier orachieve better fitness?
4. In addition to planned exercise, such as jogging or workingout at a gym, what are some ways that you can incorporate morephysical activity into your daily life?
