Welcome to Debate Club! Please be aware that this is a space for respectful debate, and that your ideas will be challenged here. Please remember to critique the argument, not the author.

I'm within the obese range (I weigh 200lbs) and I disagree with the fat acceptance movement!

2»

Replies

  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    Fat can be fit. Fat is an aesthetic thing. Fit is about exercise and athletics. When I was fat I could outwalk, outrun, out climb stairs many sedentary thin people. My tests were fine. Didn't mean obesity wasn't dangerous.

    Obesity is a risk factor for health issues, even if you are really active. It is better than being obese and not active at all, and is better than being thin and inactive and a smoker or some such, no one is saying different. But even if you have no issues you are likely going to be better off (and will reduce your risk factors) if you get out of the obesity range, all else equal.

    I don't think the same is really true with just being a little overweight. There's some debated analyses about that, but personally (aside from vanity, where I think I look best around 21 BMI), if I struggled to stay at 24 BMI but comfortably could maintain at 26 BMI, I'd likely choose the latter, and not have any health concerns, since stress is also a health issue. At that point I do think things like exercise and lifestyle and genetics trump all else.

    If one feels like they aren't ready or able to lose weight, there are still positive changes they can make, and being active and eating a good diet are certainly among them. When I first lost weight (years ago) I decided I'd be healthy even if I remained fat, and I think that was a good attitude (although of course fixing my diet and exercise led to weight loss as it happened, but since I wasn't convinced it would the focus on "health at any size" (not a thing then, at least not that I knew of) was a good thing).

Categories