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Fat Acceptance Movement

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Replies

  • _John_
    _John_ Posts: 8,646 Member
    edited April 2016
    Fat acceptance == Normalization of a disease,

    slippery slope in the current political climate of the US. Fat shaming can easily be equated to other forms of bigotry IMO.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    In my case I had to grasp that I was on the road doing down a steep mountain gaining speed to my premature death due to the causes of me being obese before I took charge of my Way Of Eating.

    Shaming a two year old who is not potty trained yet is the opposite of healthy. As I pointed out before I know of no one who set a goal to become obese. Like most I expect I first developed an eating disorder trying to do what the doctors told me to do.

    When the bottle states Take With Food and Take Every 4 hours as Needed for Pain, that can lead to eating when one is not hungry. The more weight I gained the more I hurt but you may know at cycle. The high use of aspirin ripped my gut which made me even more sick.

    Because we have an eating disorder does not mean we are mental cases in my view. When we start logging the kinds of foods we are eating and counting the calories the light may go off and lead to us modifying our WOE.

    There are cases I am sure where outside intervention may be needed.

    When I ditched my goal to lose weight was when I started losing weight and maintaining with success because my new goal was ONLY eat for better health.

    Negative goals are negative for me. Positive goals are positive for me. Eating for better health wound up putting me on to the road of recovering health.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    aggelikik wrote: »
    Shaming someone for their body type or any choice they make about themselves should never be ok, and there is no need to make this specific about weight. Bullying is not ok, what you are bullied about is irrelevant.
    How this translates to not being able to state facts, like that being fat increases health risks, I do not get it. It is like saying we should never mention smoking has health risks because it will make smokers feel uncomfortable.

    That last sentence is perfect. Be the healthy you. That should be the message. Being fat is not okay because of the detrimental effects it has on one's lifespan, health and quality of life. The exact same can certainly be said about smoking.

    See there is a big difference between discussing the health risks smoking or obesity, or theorizing about desk jobs and their contribution to weight gain, and whipping out the "unhealthy" stick and lecturing every person who does not meet your standard for healthy in one area or another.

    Trust me, I've heard the "smoking kills" speech more times than I care to remember. It did not encourage me to quit. I did not continue smoking 1.5 packs a day out of ignorance, and I did not decide to quit because of the efforts of a some knight in shining armor who decided they were doing me a favor by "educating" me. Same with weight loss. The decision to handle both issues came about when I decided the pleasure I was getting from either was no longer worth the consequences (which, by the way, I knew more about than many nonsmokers or thin people).

    It's not about tiptoeing around "feels". No one said discussing obesity is unacceptable due to political correctness. It's not a taboo topic. It does (and should) be discussed. What is unacceptable is thinking you have the right to walk around lecturing people about their choices and health conditions without an explicit invitation to do so, not because of "feels", but because it's not helpful and has no point.

    Imagine someone lecturing you about skin cancer every time you go out in the sun without sunscreen as if you were this poor ignorant uneducated soul who needs to be educated about the horrors of excessive sun exposure.

    Yes, I agree with this, and think you explained it well.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    edited April 2016
    Heatheryou wrote: »
    I am obese, and I have mixed feelings about the any size movement. Being overweight does create health complications. But it does not make you ugly. People are beautiful in all shapes and sizes. I think it's ok to accept that. When I started believing I was beautiful, I started taking care of myself.

    It does make me frustrated when people don't acknowledge the health risks. I have high blood pressure and degenerative joint disease. I am 41 years old and a size 18. It makes weight loss difficult and exercise risky. If I was even 20 lbs lighter today, I would hurt less. It's hard to get there, when walking is exhausting.

    @Heatheryou you are so right about the difference of just 20 pounds. It was after I lost the first 20 pounds that I started to realize the price I had been paying for years for eating the way I had been eating up to the age of 63.

    Best of success in finding the macro that works best for you. After changing my way of eating took away most of my joint and muscle pain in just 30 days (had it for 40 years) I got to where I could safely walk and not fall. The more I moved the more my health started recovery. Over the last 19 months I have become safely Rx med free. I checked my blood pressure at Kroger's last night and it was 119/73 after being active.

    You are here on MFP learning more and more plus you are much younger than I am so I bet you figure out a better way of eating to get you on the road to recovering health. Best of success.
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  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    I agree that shaming anyone for their physical appearance is just plain rude.
    However, I was on Raegan Chastain's Facebook page for a little while out of curiosity and the amount of BS that woman spreads about HAES is mind boggling. I rage-quit her page because I couldn't stand it anymore.

    @SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage thanks for your post that finally lead to my understanding of HAES. While today is the first time I heard of it it is what I have been doing for nearly two years to walk backwards from death's door. After finding myself at 63 still being obese with fastly declining health I realized 40 years of yo yo diets had about killed so I swore I would never diet again. Instead I just started Eating For Better Health. I am down 50 points, lost most of my joint pain, can get out of cars unaided, 40 years of IBS resolved and a year later has not returned, etc. Thanks again for you post that make the subject click.

    haescommunity.com/

  • 100df
    100df Posts: 668 Member
    Part of me admires the FA people because even at my best thin weight, I don't have the self confidence these people seem to have.
  • snikkins
    snikkins Posts: 1,282 Member
    I am all about people having a positive body image, because I myself never had that and I still struggle with it.

    No matter what shape or size you are, I think it's awesome to love yourself. When I see a big girl who is confident, I see the type of person I wish I could have been at her size.

    What I don't like is when fat people complain about low self esteem and poor body image, but do nothing to change it. I have a friend who is often, you could say, "fat-shaming" herself and feeling sorry for herself, yet she will turn around the next day and talk about all the junk food she's inhaling. If you don't like it, do something about it. If you're happy with your size and your health, then more power to you!

    I especially agree with your last paragraph, here. It annoys me to no end when people complain about anything, really, and refuse to do anything about it. I try not to let my reaction to this type of behavior color my judgments. I don't always succeed.
  • halfninja2
    halfninja2 Posts: 35 Member
    I agree with what others have posted, first and foremost don't be jerk. Doesn't matter if you are fat, thin, fit, healthy, obese, etc. Also, everyone's body is different and reacts differently to diet and exercise. If you don't look like an athlete, that doesn't mean you aren't healthy. That's what we use measurements, blood work, blood pressure, etc. to determine. But as a person that lost 65 lbs and 10" from his waist - you can only carry so much extra body fat and it not have an effect on your health. All of my bad measurements, bad blood work, fatigue and malaise disappeared when I lost all that extra weight.