Because Fat-Shaming is Sooo Cool

shmerek

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_145981.html

Being obese is a health risk, there is no way around that.

PurringMyrrh

What about shat faming? Opinions?

RHachicho

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_145981.html

Being obese is a health risk, there is no way around that.

Motorbiking is a health risk.

Running is a health risk.

Weight lifting is a health risk. (Not that I am accusing you of that) see below.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-czj6HI_NUZE/T4_PTJLFpnI/AAAAAAAADe8/eSzSYSJPyVw/s1600/Protein+Can+Kill.jpg

Excessive bodybuilding is a health risk.

Walking out your front door .... is a health risk.

Don't see anyone shaming them. Pick your poison I say. But I find the notion that people should be decried for being fat because "it's a health risk" is just cowardly. We all risk our health every day doing things we love. For some people that's food. Face it if being fat made you sexy no one would even care. That's what makes fat shaming so shallow and disgusting. Of course, there are limits no excess should be indulged in to the point of obsession. No ones gonna look at someone weighing 400lb's and go yep nothing to see here!

Slinky_BraveHeartBunsOfSteel

She should mind her own dam.n business, that's what she should do

shmerek

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_145981.html

Being obese is a health risk, there is no way around that.

Motorbiking is a health risk.

Running is a health risk.

Weight lifting is a health risk.

Excessive bodybuilding is a health risk.

Walking out your front door .... is a health risk.

Don't see anyone shaming them. Pick your poison I say. But I find the notion that people should be decried for being fat because "it's a health risk" is just cowardly. We all risk our health every day doing things we love. For some people that's food. Face it if being fat made you sexy no one would even care. That's what makes fat shaming so shallow and disgusting.

I'd love to see the literature on how weight lifting is a health risk? Obesity is a medical issue these things you mention are not. Apples and oranges.

MuseofSong

People hate in others what they fear in themselves.

The author restricted herself and believes that means she earned the right to judge other women for daring to be happily different. My step mom does this exactly. She's freaks out about staying slim, and she displaces that freak out on others and calls them fat.

The ignorance of this author startles me. Does she really believe that fat women who don't care that they're fat got that way because they're just stupid and careless? Does she really think that fat women haven't faced hateful prejudice throughout their lives? Does she really think calling someone names is the answer to the problem of obesity?

What happens if calling names hurts the girl's feelings and she feeds her pain to repress it? The author just made the problem worse. The girl may not have proper emotional coping tools.

The author wants permission to be hateful and nasty. Well, whatever, no one is stopping her, but hate is not the 'pathway' to the answer of any problem.

octomancer

So many things to say I don't know where to start ...

I'm 45 years old. In my adult life, the lightest I have been is about 12 1/2 to 13 stone. The heaviest I've been is nearly 19 stone, which was 18 months ago or so. I'm currently 14 stone. My weight has yo-yo'd a lot, but I'm not the classic yo-yo dieter. When my weight has been low it's been because I've been doing an adequate amount of exercise, in addition to eating well. The whole "don't starve yourself to lose weight" thing was promoted early enough in my life that I've not fallen into the classic yo-yo syndrome, I never starve myself. My weight problem has been about composition of my diet. There was a point where I was drinking beer to the tune of 8000 - 10000 calories a week and eating a lot of junk food. In the periods where I've been a healthier weight I was still eating a lot of food, but it was lean protein, salad, veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, grains ... which is the composition of my diet now and a major reason why I've lost nearly a third of my body weight in the last 18 months. The other reason is I now do about 4000 calories worth of exercise a week.

I have been through a few cycles of diet + exercise related health boosts. The last time I did this I was just over 40, and my weight went down to just over 13 stone. I have been following pretty much the same regime as then, for longer, and I can't get below 14 stone. The longer you are overweight, the longer it takes to lose it again. I'm sure my weight will reduce further, but I'm not going to target weight loss as a goal, I'm just going to stick to my guns and let it happen. My goals are a healthy diet and fitness. Even with the extra weight I'm as fit as I have ever been, including when I was in my early 20s and I was playing a huge amount of sport.

While I don't agree with the tone of the Daily Fail article, she makes several excellent points. One is we need to stop abusing children by feeding them junk food because it sets them up for problems later in life. You cannot argue with this. She also says that we need to blame big business for promoting sugar and fat laden foods. This also is self evident truth. We live in what has been called a "toxic food environment". If you search on youtube for "the men who made us fat" you will find 3 episodes about how our diet was deliberately altered in the 70s by unscrupulous businessmen, solely for the purpose of making more profit from food. Jaques Peretti, the journalist who made this series has been criticised for some of the content, but the history of how we were manipulated into spending more on food is fascinating. My conclusion is that we ourselves are not solely responsible for rising obesity levels.

However ... we must take personal responsibility for our lives, our health, our behaviour. Unfortunately we live in a society which consistently erodes our ability to do this. We are bombarded with manipulation from the time we wake up to the time we fall asleep: Advertising, commercial music, so-called impartial scientific studies sponsored by big business to promote an agenda ... there is an endless commentary on how we should live our lives and it's becoming increasingly difficult to process the information.

But still, we must take personal responsibility for our lives! If you're fat, admit it to yourself. This should not lead to any thoughts that you are a bad person, do not deserve to be happy, are incapable of achieving wonderful things, cannot be successful etc etc. You're just fat. And that means that your health is at risk. Charity begins at home, and you have to love yourself before you can love other people or be loved. Do you love yourself enough to behave in way which will make you live a longer, more enjoyable life?

I started smoking when I was 23. I finally gave up when I was 42. It took me ten years. Ten years from the first time I said to myself, you must be a non smoker. It's the hardest thing I've ever done, and I've stood on the top of several Alpine peaks ;-) I remember one day looking myself in the eye in the mirror and saying "You're a drug addict." It was a turning point in my relationship with nicotine. Still took a while after that, but I had started on the road that's led me here.

Perhaps some fat people could do with looking themselves in the eye and saying some harsh but true words. But that's for you alone to decide. I'm not really aware of fat acceptance, the little I know of it I've read on this site in the last few days. The people who say it's about discarding the negative emotions associated with being overweight are the ones talking sense I think. A cycle of self-hatred based on your weight is only going to reduce your ability to lose the weight. But it's not OK to be overweight! For plenty of reasons already mentioned in this thread and more. Be positive about life, be happy, love and be loved, enjoy every second of your day! But lose that weight.

Fitness, weight, diet and exercise are all linked together in a complicated way. Broadly speaking weight is about diet and fitness is about exercise but they feed back to each other. More muscle mass means a higher base metabolic requirement, you will burn more calories just sitting still. A great diet means you won't feel sluggish and will do more exercise. The information is out there for free, just google and start reading.

And lose that weight!

RHachicho

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_145981.html

Being obese is a health risk, there is no way around that.

Motorbiking is a health risk.

Running is a health risk.

Weight lifting is a health risk.

Excessive bodybuilding is a health risk.

Walking out your front door .... is a health risk.

Don't see anyone shaming them. Pick your poison I say. But I find the notion that people should be decried for being fat because "it's a health risk" is just cowardly. We all risk our health every day doing things we love. For some people that's food. Face it if being fat made you sexy no one would even care. That's what makes fat shaming so shallow and disgusting.

I'd love to see the literature on how weight lifting is a health risk? Obesity is a medical issue these things you mention are not. Apples and oranges.

You miss the point in your nitpicking. I say if you die of a heart attack caused by obesity or end up a smear on the pavement because of motorbiking or drop a kettlebell on your head and crack your skull open you're still dead. Risking your health is risking your health. And we do it all the time. Just if people want to do it out of a love of good food it's not tolerated. Well I am never gonna be one of those ex-fat fat haters. I say it's peoples choice. I'm making mine and they can make theirs. It's their right and they are still fantastic human beings. Besides no one here is really arguing that being fat is a medical issue. We are saying it's nothing to be ostracized for. Which is what happens these days.

shmerek

So many things to say I don't know where to start ...

I'm 45 years old. In my adult life, the lightest I have been is about 12 1/2 to 13 stone. The heaviest I've been is nearly 19 stone, which was 18 months ago or so. I'm currently 14 stone. My weight has yo-yo'd a lot, but I'm not the classic yo-yo dieter. When my weight has been low it's been because I've been doing an adequate amount of exercise, in addition to eating well. The whole "don't starve yourself to lose weight" thing was promoted early enough in my life that I've not fallen into the classic yo-yo syndrome, I never starve myself. My weight problem has been about composition of my diet. There was a point where I was drinking beer to the tune of 8000 - 10000 calories a week and eating a lot of junk food. In the periods where I've been a healthier weight I was still eating a lot of food, but it was lean protein, salad, veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, grains ... which is the composition of my diet now and a major reason why I've lost nearly a third of my body weight in the last 18 months. The other reason is I now do about 4000 calories worth of exercise a week.

I have been through a few cycles of diet + exercise related health boosts. The last time I did this I was just over 40, and my weight went down to just over 13 stone. I have been following pretty much the same regime as then, for longer, and I can't get below 14 stone. The longer you are overweight, the longer it takes to lose it again. I'm sure my weight will reduce further, but I'm not going to target weight loss as a goal, I'm just going to stick to my guns and let it happen. My goals are a healthy diet and fitness. Even with the extra weight I'm as fit as I have ever been, including when I was in my early 20s and I was playing a huge amount of sport.

While I don't agree with the tone of the Daily Fail article, she makes several excellent points. One is we need to stop abusing children by feeding them junk food because it sets them up for problems later in life. You cannot argue with this. She also says that we need to blame big business for promoting sugar and fat laden foods. This also is self evident truth. We live in what has been called a "toxic food environment". If you search on youtube for "the men who made us fat" you will find 3 episodes about how our diet was deliberately altered in the 70s by unscrupulous businessmen, solely for the purpose of making more profit from food. Jaques Peretti, the journalist who made this series has been criticised for some of the content, but the history of how we were manipulated into spending more on food is fascinating. My conclusion is that we ourselves are not solely responsible for rising obesity levels.

However ... we must take personal responsibility for our lives, our health, our behaviour. Unfortunately we live in a society which consistently erodes our ability to do this. We are bombarded with manipulation from the time we wake up to the time we fall asleep: Advertising, commercial music, so-called impartial scientific studies sponsored by big business to promote an agenda ... there is an endless commentary on how we should live our lives and it's becoming increasingly difficult to process the information.

But still, we must take personal responsibility for our lives! If you're fat, admit it to yourself. This should not lead to any thoughts that you are a bad person, do not deserve to be happy, are incapable of achieving wonderful things, cannot be successful etc etc. You're just fat. And that means that your health is at risk. Charity begins at home, and you have to love yourself before you can love other people or be loved. Do you love yourself enough to behave in way which will make you live a longer, more enjoyable life?

I started smoking when I was 23. I finally gave up when I was 42. It took me ten years. Ten years from the first time I said to myself, you must be a non smoker. It's the hardest thing I've ever done, and I've stood on the top of several Alpine peaks ;-) I remember one day looking myself in the eye in the mirror and saying "You're a drug addict." It was a turning point in my relationship with nicotine. Still took a while after that, but I had started on the road that's led me here.

Perhaps some fat people could do with looking themselves in the eye and saying some harsh but true words. But that's for you alone to decide. I'm not really aware of fat acceptance, the little I know of it I've read on this site in the last few days. The people who say it's about discarding the negative emotions associated with being overweight are the ones talking sense I think. A cycle of self-hatred based on your weight is only going to reduce your ability to lose the weight. But it's not OK to be overweight! For plenty of reasons already mentioned in this thread and more. Be positive about life, be happy, love and be loved, enjoy every second of your day! But lose that weight.

Fitness, weight, diet and exercise are all linked together in a complicated way. Broadly speaking weight is about diet and fitness is about exercise but they feed back to each other. More muscle mass means a higher base metabolic requirement, you will burn more calories just sitting still. A great diet means you won't feel sluggish and will do more exercise. The information is out there for free, just google and start reading.

And lose that weight!

Awesome post!

shmerek

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_145981.html

Being obese is a health risk, there is no way around that.

Motorbiking is a health risk.

Running is a health risk.

Weight lifting is a health risk.

Excessive bodybuilding is a health risk.

Walking out your front door .... is a health risk.

Don't see anyone shaming them. Pick your poison I say. But I find the notion that people should be decried for being fat because "it's a health risk" is just cowardly. We all risk our health every day doing things we love. For some people that's food. Face it if being fat made you sexy no one would even care. That's what makes fat shaming so shallow and disgusting.

I'd love to see the literature on how weight lifting is a health risk? Obesity is a medical issue these things you mention are not. Apples and oranges.

You miss the point in your nitpicking.

How is calling obesity a medical issue nitpicking? Obesity causes health issues are you denying this fact? Comparing the risks of leaving your house in the morning to being obese doesn't make any sense.

RHachicho

See my edit i decided to explain a bit better. It makes sense because dead is dead is dead. If we take the view that our own personal health and safety is paramount to everything we end up living cowardly, shallow lives no matter how healthy we are. Some people just love food too much to care about some detriment to their health. Like I said there are limits but there's no need to ostracize people for having some extra weight. And i'm sorry if you have been healthy all your life then you really really don't understand a damn thing about how bad it is. People look at you like a second class person. No not even that. Like an animal. It is discrimination of the worst possible kind. And nothing excuses it. Not the health consequences of being fat. Not the benefits of being thin. Not beauty not nothing. It turned me inward and disgusted me with humanity for 15 damn years. I might never have regained my faith.

Fat shaming is wrong and if a person does it they are a bigot. End of discussion.

Because truth be told all fat shaming does is drive people further away from health further away from caring what they look like to others.

It's not naughty or a matter of opinion. It's vile.

DawnieB1977

2 (somewhat snarky) thoughts:

That article was horribly written, I know it’s a stereotype but I expect better from the British.

She needs to see someone about her ability to apply eyeliner. Now.

It's in the Daily Mail. Enough said. Appalling grammar and spelling usually. It makes me want to get my green marking pen out

PurringMyrrh

So many things to say I don't know where to start ...

I'm 45 years old. In my adult life, the lightest I have been is about 12 1/2 to 13 stone. The heaviest I've been is nearly 19 stone, which was 18 months ago or so. I'm currently 14 stone. My weight has yo-yo'd a lot, but I'm not the classic yo-yo dieter. When my weight has been low it's been because I've been doing an adequate amount of exercise, in addition to eating well. The whole "don't starve yourself to lose weight" thing was promoted early enough in my life that I've not fallen into the classic yo-yo syndrome, I never starve myself. My weight problem has been about composition of my diet. There was a point where I was drinking beer to the tune of 8000 - 10000 calories a week and eating a lot of junk food. In the periods where I've been a healthier weight I was still eating a lot of food, but it was lean protein, salad, veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, grains ... which is the composition of my diet now and a major reason why I've lost nearly a third of my body weight in the last 18 months. The other reason is I now do about 4000 calories worth of exercise a week.

I have been through a few cycles of diet + exercise related health boosts. The last time I did this I was just over 40, and my weight went down to just over 13 stone. I have been following pretty much the same regime as then, for longer, and I can't get below 14 stone. The longer you are overweight, the longer it takes to lose it again. I'm sure my weight will reduce further, but I'm not going to target weight loss as a goal, I'm just going to stick to my guns and let it happen. My goals are a healthy diet and fitness. Even with the extra weight I'm as fit as I have ever been, including when I was in my early 20s and I was playing a huge amount of sport.

While I don't agree with the tone of the Daily Fail article, she makes several excellent points. One is we need to stop abusing children by feeding them junk food because it sets them up for problems later in life. You cannot argue with this. She also says that we need to blame big business for promoting sugar and fat laden foods. This also is self evident truth. We live in what has been called a "toxic food environment". If you search on youtube for "the men who made us fat" you will find 3 episodes about how our diet was deliberately altered in the 70s by unscrupulous businessmen, solely for the purpose of making more profit from food. Jaques Peretti, the journalist who made this series has been criticised for some of the content, but the history of how we were manipulated into spending more on food is fascinating. My conclusion is that we ourselves are not solely responsible for rising obesity levels.

However ... we must take personal responsibility for our lives, our health, our behaviour. Unfortunately we live in a society which consistently erodes our ability to do this. We are bombarded with manipulation from the time we wake up to the time we fall asleep: Advertising, commercial music, so-called impartial scientific studies sponsored by big business to promote an agenda ... there is an endless commentary on how we should live our lives and it's becoming increasingly difficult to process the information.

But still, we must take personal responsibility for our lives! If you're fat, admit it to yourself. This should not lead to any thoughts that you are a bad person, do not deserve to be happy, are incapable of achieving wonderful things, cannot be successful etc etc. You're just fat. And that means that your health is at risk. Charity begins at home, and you have to love yourself before you can love other people or be loved. Do you love yourself enough to behave in way which will make you live a longer, more enjoyable life?

I started smoking when I was 23. I finally gave up when I was 42. It took me ten years. Ten years from the first time I said to myself, you must be a non smoker. It's the hardest thing I've ever done, and I've stood on the top of several Alpine peaks ;-) I remember one day looking myself in the eye in the mirror and saying "You're a drug addict." It was a turning point in my relationship with nicotine. Still took a while after that, but I had started on the road that's led me here.

Perhaps some fat people could do with looking themselves in the eye and saying some harsh but true words. But that's for you alone to decide. I'm not really aware of fat acceptance, the little I know of it I've read on this site in the last few days. The people who say it's about discarding the negative emotions associated with being overweight are the ones talking sense I think. A cycle of self-hatred based on your weight is only going to reduce your ability to lose the weight. But it's not OK to be overweight! For plenty of reasons already mentioned in this thread and more. Be positive about life, be happy, love and be loved, enjoy every second of your day! But lose that weight.

Fitness, weight, diet and exercise are all linked together in a complicated way. Broadly speaking weight is about diet and fitness is about exercise but they feed back to each other. More muscle mass means a higher base metabolic requirement, you will burn more calories just sitting still. A great diet means you won't feel sluggish and will do more exercise. The information is out there for free, just google and start reading.

And lose that weight!

Awesome post!

Absolutely this!

Love this part - "But still, we must take personal responsibility for our lives! If you're fat, admit it to yourself. This should not lead to any thoughts that you are a bad person, do not deserve to be happy, are incapable of achieving wonderful things, cannot be successful etc etc. You're just fat. And that means that your health is at risk..."

OhhNiff

I believe everyone is entitled to feel and act as they choose, but that doesn't mean their chooses in life need to be or should be promoted.

RHachicho

I believe everyone is entitled to feel and act as they choose, but that doesn't mean their chooses in life need to be or should be promoted.

I and most people who are fat or who have been fat do not argue for fat promotion. Except for some weirdos. We are arguing against ostracizing fat people. There is a difference.

shmerek

See my edit i decided to explain a bit better. It makes sense because dead is dead is dead. If we take the view that our own personal health and safety is paramount to everything we end up living cowardly, shallow lives no matter how healthy we are. Some people just love food too much to care about some detriment to their health. Like I said there are limits but there's no need to ostracize people for having some extra weight. And i'm sorry if you have been healthy all your life then you really really don't understand a damn thing about how bad it is. People look at you like a second class person. No not even that. Like an animal. It is discrimination of the worst possible kind. And nothing excuses it. Not the health consequences of being fat. Not the benefits of being thin. Not beauty not nothing. It turned me inward and disgusted me with humanity for 15 damn years. I might never have regained my faith.

Fat shaming is wrong and if you do it you are a bigot. End of discussion.

Because truth be told all fat shaming does is drive people further away from health further away from caring what they look like to others.

It's not naughty or a matter of opinion. It's vile.

The only reason I am thin is because I work at it A LOT. Sorry but the picture of a dude's chest really didn't make anything more clear. I never said that we should be shaming people but I don't think that people that are obese should be fooling themselves into thinking it is healthy because it is not and they shouldn't be trying to bend society into thinking it is healthy. My point is people should take personal responsibility for their health and not blame others. There is nothing "cowardly" about saying it is a health issue because it is and a serious one in today's society.

amflautist

2 (somewhat snarky) thoughts:

That article was horribly written, I know it’s a stereotype but I expect better from the British.

She needs to see someone about her ability to apply eyeliner. Now.

Lol. Delicious rebuttal. Scrumptious. And right on point.

OhhNiff

I believe everyone is entitled to feel and act as they choose, but that doesn't mean their chooses in life need to be or should be promoted.

I and most people who are fat or who have been fat do not argue for fat promotion. Except for some weirdos. We are arguing against ostracizing fat people. There is a difference.

Why does a stranger's opinion about you matter so much?

MegE_N

Then your sister is lucky to have you. Maybe. It depends on what those words might be.

Also, from my experience the fat acceptance movement is more about people who have had weight problems for many years, or throughout their whole lives. I can say that I've never met a real person (read: non-troll) who actually decided to put on 50lbs because she wanted a fatkini instead of a bikini.

It was actually a figure of speech. However, I do have a friend that is 100+ overweight. My words to her were exactly this: "Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to be healthy?" She said, "Yes" Then I said, "Then you should count calories with me, its working rather well!" Then I talked to her about all the advantages that go along with my journey and said "I encourage you to do it too, since your unhappy with your health right now and I'm concerned about you" This is because she is having lots of health issues. This woman from the article is rather harsh, and I would never say anything like that. I'm saying don't say nothing, say something, say it nicely. She even brought the subject up! Not to go around calling people out for their weight. Just to be clear...

Then your sister (and your friend) are very lucky to have you. If more people went about it like this, not only would society take a huge step in the right direction on the 'manners' scale, but I think you'd find overweight people slimming down a lot easier and keeping it off a lot longer.

RHachicho

See my edit i decided to explain a bit better. It makes sense because dead is dead is dead. If we take the view that our own personal health and safety is paramount to everything we end up living cowardly, shallow lives no matter how healthy we are. Some people just love food too much to care about some detriment to their health. Like I said there are limits but there's no need to ostracize people for having some extra weight. And i'm sorry if you have been healthy all your life then you really really don't understand a damn thing about how bad it is. People look at you like a second class person. No not even that. Like an animal. It is discrimination of the worst possible kind. And nothing excuses it. Not the health consequences of being fat. Not the benefits of being thin. Not beauty not nothing. It turned me inward and disgusted me with humanity for 15 damn years. I might never have regained my faith.

No one is fooling themselves. We all understand it is healthier to be thin. We are not completely stupid. However just because it is unhealthy does not mean it is unacceptable. Or worthy of ridicule. You reveal yourself to be quite the elitist.

Fat shaming is wrong and if you do it you are a bigot. End of discussion.

Because truth be told all fat shaming does is drive people further away from health further away from caring what they look like to others.

It's not naughty or a matter of opinion. It's vile.

The only reason I am thin is because I work at it A LOT. Sorry but the picture of a dude's chest really didn't make anything more clear. I never said that we should be shaming people but I don't think that people that are obese should be fooling themselves into thinking it is healthy because it is not and they shouldn't be trying to bend society into thinking it is healthy. My point is people should take personal responsibility for their health and not blame others. There is nothing "cowardly" about saying it is a health issue because it is and a serious one in today's society.

No one ever said it was healthy. At the very least not me. Only acceptable. And unworthy of ridicule. You really are quite the elitist it appears. You seem quite unable to grasp the difference between imperfect and unacceptable.