How can a basketball referee possibly be overweight? Part I

Most of you know that in addition to being a Certified Athletic Trainer, I also referee high school basketball and umpire softball and baseball as well. One of the most common things someone says to me when they find out that I referee/umpire goes something like this:

“Refereeing – that’s pretty good exercise – you must be in really good shape.”

Good shape – as in round – sure. But good shape in terms of lean, fit and conditioned – not so much.

And isn’t this is one of the great conundrums of our time? How can a basketball referee possibly be overweight? Individuals running up and down a court trying to keep with a bunch of teenagers. They’ve got to be in great shape, right? Do they even have an option?

I have been officiating approximately 12 years – I started in my mid to late 20’s and it is very ironic that I was never overweight until – the mid to late 20’s. Now I am not suggesting that refereeing caused my girth to increase but it is a pretty interesting paradox nonetheless wouldn’t you say?

Conventional wisdom says that an increase in activity level should result in weight loss, not weight gain. Sounds perfectly logical, right?

I use the basketball refereeing example to bring across a larger point.

The first thing that we (those in the health profession) typically do when someone wants to lose weight is prescribe some exercise. Increase your exercise level and the pounds will surely come off. As we all know, if you burn more calories than you take in, you will lose weight. Simple enough.

To add further validation – what is the first thing that most people who are overweight say when confronted with their weight issue? “I need to start exercising.” That is usual response.

Well, I have tried this approach as well and have been frustrated more than once with less than desired results. I’d workout on the stair stepper and see some brief initial results but would then quickly plateau and wonder why.

How can this be? I would go from little exercise outside of officiating to doing cardio 4 to 5 days a week and 1 to 2 months in, nary a pound has been lost? I am burning more calories and still not losing weight?

I recently listened to Mike Boyle speak and he said something that really drove home the point – Diet is the hammer when trying to accomplish fat loss, not exercise.

Diet IS the primary mover and shaker when it comes to fat loss and yet, why do we always start with the “secondary” instrument?

In part II, the role of diet and how it applies to our overweight zebra will be discussed and in the series finale, I’ll discuss how I’ve used these principles to lose over 20 pounds in the last two months.

Photo by mikebaird