Overweight People Actually Do Exercise

According to popular stereotypes, obese people only move when poking things with their reaching brooms. But researchers have made a shocking discovery: Most overweight people exercise.

The study, which was started by Gonzaga University senior lecturer Deborah Walton Smith when she was a graduate student at Case Western reserve, surveyed 175 overweight and obese people who visited clinics run by nurse practitioners. The subjects were 40 or older and had a BMI of 25 or higher, ScienceDaily reports. Her finding: 29% had been exercising for six months, 39% regularly exercised and 25% thought about exercising. Only 12% said they had no intention to work out. (Yes, those numbers add up to 105%. We’re assuming they rounded up.)

The researchers were surprised by the results, and the subjects’ weight. The participants had higher BMIs than expected and the study found that those with lower BMI scores in the obese range tended to exercise more. So while the severely obese are least likely to exercise, that doesn’t mean everyone at the lower end of the scale is sedentary.

The study proves the common idea that fat people are just lazy isn’t true. Though sadly, this research probably won’t change any attitudes, as most people still like to think the thinner someone is the healthier they are (until Star deems them “scary skinny”). It’s easier to simply judge overweight people than to acknowledge that size often isn’t an indicator of fitness or health.