I would like to hear from overweight female divers...

[tstormdiver]

I guess I also fall into this catagory as I'm 5'6" and about 200lbs. A lot of the times I have to go into the men's sizes to find a wet suit that fits properly around the middle. I also work out in the martial arts several times a week, depending on my work schedule, which is the crux of my weight problem. I work 12hr swing shifts. Because of constantly swinging back & forth between nights & days both my sleeping & eating schedule get all screwed up. I used to work nights then wait a few hours & work out during class later in the mornings, but in the last few years I have gotten to where I was so tired while driving back & forth that it was becoming a real hazard. The work -out times are not at conveneint times when working nights, so I now have to resort to walking the neighbor hood when the weather permits, before hitting the sack, when workng nights. During day shifts or when I'm off I still do full work outs.But this reduction in my activity level along with my metabolism coming to a screeching halt as I get a little older (I'm sure there are others that have experienced the same thing) doesn't help at all either. At least I try to stay in some sort of shape, just not what I would really hope for. Right now I'm just trying to maintain & not start heading in the wrong direction.

 

[scubacoz22]

wetsuit sizing totally sucks!

my neice is 12yrs old (13 next week!), about 5.6ft tall and slim - she usually wears size 8 or 10 ladies clothing (her mums clothes actually) but in a wet suit we are struggling to get her into the size 14 and now looking at a 16 for next summer.

who the hell does the sizing on these things! fatties like me have no chance of ever buying off the rack - a nice little earner for the dive shop/suit maker but how many women are turned off giving diving a try because they feel they dont fit the swimsuit model image that the dive manufacturers are pushing.

I agree with you completely. Why the heck cant they make wet suits normal sizes. Seems like most women who are a little overweight ( I am about 15-20 lbs overweight at 5'6") having just lost 18 lbs on weight watchers) but still have problems finding a nice 3 m wetsuite that doesnt look like a mans. I do have a polartec and love it and it works very well for summer warm water diving. And the advantage of it is less weight since it does not add to the boyancy. And it keeps you warm. I had to buy a mens large. The womens large was more like a normal womens medium. Why cant these manufactures design something attractive for all of us overweight women out there. There are just as many men overweight if not more. I have been diving for almost 16 years now and love it, and i can usually outdive most men in the group including my husband. And my air consumption is great! I will come back with alot more air than anyone else in the boat on a smaller tank. Kathy in Texas

 

[jellyfishluv]

The truth about it

Yes I'm overweight, but my cardio flexibilities, and physical strength levels are in the top 10% of the female population according to my sports med/physical therapist. He finds women divers and sailors to be a weird breed of "superbabes" (yes his own word) who are stronger, tougher, more agile, and in better shape than 90% of the rest of the planet. He says it's counter intuitive to all his training to see women 20-80lbs overweight and top out the fitness charts. He finds them so fascinating he is writing a paper about these "superbabes".

I just can't come to terms with this concept. I used to be very overweight and that prevented me from ever trying this sport. Eventually, and very rapidly I lost 120 lbs by becoming a vegetarian and running and eventually starving myself to look like all the other college girls that walked around campus in their string top bikini's. I was a size 7 but also losing my hair and having convulsions at night. Eventually I straightened that all out and started to eat alittle food, but as the years went by, I don't think I ever truly recovered.

In this case, of course being shinny should not be correlated to being fit, but I could run like the wind for miles (marathons even) and swim miles in the pool, and ride my bike 30 miles all in a day (really and at the end I felt like I burned enough cals to eat a whole BRC burrito at El Pollo Loco) so I had to be some kind of "fit" but in the water, diving, my legs would cramp, and my feet too, and I would just sieze up and feel like a total failure because my body "wigged-out" on me.

50 lbs later (upward of course- not running 45 miles a week & eatin a hardy load of carbs and fat) I suffer enomously on air consumption. Sure my legs are strong, I can still run 26.2 miles (but not under 4 hours) BUT I CAN NOT BREATHE UNDERWATER LIKE A FIT PERSON!

I truly believe my weight has something to do with it, until I look at all the tubbies (men) that stay down for 70, 80 + mins @ depths of 80-90ft????

WHAT IS UP WITH THAT?

I love diving so much, but if it's not one thing it's another, and I think that fatties shouldn't necessarily be considered unfit to dive, but it has to affect the performance negatively- i.e. fat tissue absorbs more nitrogen, higher air consumption, etc.

I've seen smokers that can run fast, or dive with long BT, but that is not an argument to say that there is not a direct correlation to smoking and poorer performace, because on average, it is a factor.

If you can stay down for 90 mins on a small tank all power to ya, I've seen female divers bigger than me do it (usually European) but unfortunely it is not the norm.

As for me, well I think my lungs are shot- think I have emphysema (lived with smokers for 32 yrs of my life- smoke for 3 myself) and I plan on seeing a doctor this summer to prove or disprove this.

I have great diving skills, I've been told, like a natural, but it is embarrassing to hit the 100 bar/500 psi mark in 30 mins while everyone else diving has at least another 20-30 mins, and the first thing that pops into their heads? "SHE'S UNFIT BECAUSE SHE'S FAT"

So break to stereo-type girl

View attachment 33890

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

That picture of you, you do not look fat. Most of us are overweight and do not have a knockout body. I think air consumption has more to do with how comfortable and relaxed you are underwater than with being fit or fat. I dive with a lot of women, of all shapes, sizes and experience levels. The ones with the best consumption are the ones that are the most streamlined and relaxed underwater.

 

[kchFLA]

I agree about the sizing of wetsuits. Where did they get the height / weight ratios. Being short doesn't help matters.

The explanation that I get for the lack of variety of sizes for women is the cost. With diving being a small market to begin with and the female segment being all that much smaller it is not cost effective for them to provide a variety of sizes.

Thing is even clothing is just now becoming more friendly for a variety of sizes. The petite section of department stores has grown over the last 10 years or so.

 

[girldiverllc]

I've heard also, regarding ALL female gear, that there aren't "enough" female divers to justify the cost of development.

Hmmm... I do believe that the statistics show that anywhere from 33%-40% (depending on your source) of new divers in the US are female.

DEMA states that in 2004 there were 173,225 newly certified divers...let's say ONLY 33% of those were female...hmmm....

Cindy
http://www.girldiver.com

 

[Joanne Hughes]

I am new to diving, just certified, middle aged and also on the larger side (could definatley do with losing some weight). I agree that air comsuption has a lot to do with how relaxed you are and not necessarily how overweight you may be. I was a very very nervous diver, even in pool sessions, and I have seen my air consumption decrease dramatically as I have got more confident and relaxed more. My daughter is very fit and slim and her air consumption is normally very low, but you should have seen how much it increased when she did her check out dives over the weekend for her OW. I have seen lots of women and men who are overweight and diving and say good luck to them, the diving itself will make them fitter.

 

[Giggi]

I'll be calling Carolyn at LiquidFit sometime in August or September to get my wetsuit altered. She does the first alteration for free and my goal is to drop 60 lbs by then (I'm just over a quarter of the way there right now). The great thing is that hubby was so impressed with her work, that he will be getting a custom made suit too! (He's 6'3" and about 250# and has a hard time finding a suit to fit his long arms and legs.)

 

[CoyKoi]

I just get so worried that I will get DCS and it will be because I am fat.

Ditto to all the wonderful, supportive posts you've received! Diving has a way of really building a person's self-confidence, doesn't it? Before I learned to dive I was terrified of the water. Now I'm a DM!

Have wonderful time in Coz!

If you're that concerned about DCS, I suggest you take a Nitrox course if you are not already Nitrox certified. Dive Coz with Nitrox in your tanks, but on an air profile. You won't get any more bottom time, but you'll be breathing fewer nitrogen molecules with each breath than on air, thus reducing your risk of DCS.

Be sure to pick up a safety sausage before you go to Coz, and know how to use it. Every dive is a drift dive, and we all want you back safe and sound to make us all jealous with your trip report.

Dive safe, my friend!

 

[mrjimboalaska]

Dive! Dive! Dive! I am overweight and a smoker, but I enjoy the sport and could care less what the hard bodies think, I can outwork most of them diggin fenceposts, or buckin hay!
Enjoy and have fun in Coz, I'm Jealous, not judgemental............Jimbo