Why is obesity considered deviant behavior?

Timshel_

Most cases of obesity have to do with self-control, attitudes, and the need for education and support.

barkin43

my obesity was caused by two things

1. I was being to lazy and not wanting to get off my butt and get moving

2. I was eating way beyond my proper portions or not eating enough most days

It is us who needs to take responsibility for our own actions. not the government. we can choose to eat mcdonald's or not to.
one the times I go out like when my child has away games I pre plan ahead of time by checking out the lowest calorie options.

I chose to be obese and weigh 250 pounds by my own actions. just like I am choosing now to do something about it. I lost 75 pounds thus far in doing so.

Very well said and huge congrats on losing 75 pounds. :drinker: :flowerforyou:

PetulantOne

I don't even know where to start...Why can't people take responsibility for their actions?

I was a junky. I never considered that a disease. It was a string of crappy choices I made. (and if I could make the I any bigger I would)

I quit on my own because of a choice I made.

I got fat after that choice.

Made another one to lose weight.

There is no cure for obesity, aside from moving more and not eating so much. Barring the outliers that actually have medical reasons that make them gain weight, that's it. No studies needed. No Govt intervention.

As far as shaming goes, while I don't think it's a nice thing to do, I still think it works. Especially in teenagers. Kids are cruel, and if they don't like something, or think it's uncool, they make it known. I think shaming cigarettes has made a huge impact on that front. Kids are more concerned with popularity, than what's healthy (most of the time) And this is coming from a smoker. FTW

If I can quit smack through willpower, then food overconsumption through that same willpower, you are not going to convince me that Ronald Mcdonald made you do it.

ETA-did I really just post this? Oh well.

crisanderson27

I don't even know where to start...Why can't people take responsibility for their actions?

I was a junky. I never considered that a disease. It was a string of crappy choices I made. (and if I could make the I any bigger I would)

I quit on my own because of a choice I made.

I got fat after that choice.

Made another one to lose weight.

There is no cure for obesity, aside from moving more and not eating so much. Barring the outliers that actually have medical reasons that make them gain weight, that's it. No studies needed. No Govt intervention.

As far as shaming goes, while I don't think it's a nice thing to do, I still think it works. Especially in teenagers. Kids are cruel, and if they don't like something, or think it's uncool, they make it known. I think shaming cigarettes has made a huge impact on that front. Kids are more concerned with popularity, than what's healthy (most of the time) And this is coming from a smoker. FTW

If I can quit smack through willpower, then food overconsumption through that same willpower, you are not going to convince me that Ronald Mcdonald made you do it.

ETA-did I really just post this? Oh well.

Huge respect there.

And for the record...I agree with you pretty much word for word.

RoadsterGirlie

I don't even know where to start...Why can't people take responsibility for their actions?

I was a junky. I never considered that a disease. It was a string of crappy choices I made. (and if I could make the I any bigger I would)

I quit on my own because of a choice I made.

I got fat after that choice.

Made another one to lose weight.

There is no cure for obesity, aside from moving more and not eating so much. Barring the outliers that actually have medical reasons that make them gain weight, that's it. No studies needed. No Govt intervention.

As far as shaming goes, while I don't think it's a nice thing to do, I still think it works. Especially in teenagers. Kids are cruel, and if they don't like something, or think it's uncool, they make it known. I think shaming cigarettes has made a huge impact on that front. Kids are more concerned with popularity, than what's healthy (most of the time) And this is coming from a smoker. FTW

If I can quit smack through willpower, then food overconsumption through that same willpower, you are not going to convince me that Ronald Mcdonald made you do it.

ETA-did I really just post this? Oh well.

It has anything to do with this thread, but congrats on getting clean and turning your life around. :glasses:

honkytonks85

I don't even know where to start...Why can't people take responsibility for their actions?

I was a junky. I never considered that a disease. It was a string of crappy choices I made. (and if I could make the I any bigger I would)

I quit on my own because of a choice I made.

I got fat after that choice.

Made another one to lose weight.

There is no cure for obesity, aside from moving more and not eating so much. Barring the outliers that actually have medical reasons that make them gain weight, that's it. No studies needed. No Govt intervention.

As far as shaming goes, while I don't think it's a nice thing to do, I still think it works. Especially in teenagers. Kids are cruel, and if they don't like something, or think it's uncool, they make it known. I think shaming cigarettes has made a huge impact on that front. Kids are more concerned with popularity, than what's healthy (most of the time) And this is coming from a smoker. FTW

If I can quit smack through willpower, then food overconsumption through that same willpower, you are not going to convince me that Ronald Mcdonald made you do it.

ETA-did I really just post this? Oh well.

That's really good for you, I mean it.

You are not everybody. Everybody is not you. You can't really say "well I did it so therefore I will dismiss and minimalise the issues you are facing".

I have been 150lbs heavier than I am today. I was physically/emotionally abused as a teenager and as a result I ended up extraordinarily depressed and suicidal. When I was a teenager, I made crappy choices and ended up becoming morbidly obese. I spent most of my time not leaving the house and just eating and sitting on my computer. Was that my choice? Sure. But it would not be right for me to say that external factors (such as a parent trying to strangle me to death) didn't lead to some of the emotional issues I faced. The emotional issues which caused me to become isolated and depressed. Did fat shaming work? People bullied me about my weight pretty much every day at school. And hell no it didn't work, it just made me feel more isolated and alone.

What helped me was when I made some good friends, got a decent job where my intelligence was appreciated and started liking myself just a little bit. When I liked myself a bit, I was able to care enough to change my habits. Not everybody will break out of the prison they create for themselves though and even though I have been successful I wouldn't minimalise someone elses struggles. I would try and understand them.

Would you blame a person for being anorexic or bulemic? Or depressed or for having some other mental illness? These kinds of issues are a result of both their brain chemistry and environmental factors. Similarly with obesity, there are external factors which come into play.

Hexahedra

In my honest opinion obesity is caused by both availability of cheap high-calorie food and our physically less-demanding jobs. We evolved to move and survive in a hostile environment where food can be scarce, so our brain is conditioned to crave high calorie food. Just because physical activity is no longer part of our survival, it doesn't automatically mean we lose that built-in craving.

I watched a National Geographic program covering the Lewis & Clark expedition. Each person ate at least 3 huge chunks of steak for lunch totaling about 2500 calories. That would be outrageous if it weren't for the fact that they spent about 5000 calories worth of work every day. If you're familiar with the rowing machine, you know that you can spend 600 cals an hour. Imagine them rowing for an entire day, and suddenly 5000 cals make sense.

While today we don't spend nearly as much calories at work, our bodies are still entirely capable of generating the appetite to eat that much. Staying in shape and healthy take a conscious effort because subconsciously the body still think it's a starving caveman, even though it no longer spends calories like one.

It's not an epidemic. Worse, it's part of our survival instinct. Unless you fully understand this urge and work to contain it (or mitigate it by physical activities irrelevant to your job a.k.a. exercise), then you have a very high probability to become obese.

cchamil1985

I am so tired of hearing this crap.

There are people with medical reasons that they do not lose weight, my aunt is one of them, I have personally verified this. I lived with her and my uncle for two months. During that time I measured and tracked all of the food she ate, I was with her 80% of the time and she had no chance to cheat, and I trust her when she says that she didn't. According to several calculators her TDEE should be around 2300 calories, I tracked her intake for nearly two months and she averaged about 1300 per day, her body works different than normal people's and even though she looks obese it isn't because of her intake.

People like her are relativity rare compared to the overall population.

For most of us the answer is clear, eat less and exercise, period.

Please stop saying that HFCS is the same as regular sugar, it isn't, and it makes you sound stupid. There is no protein binder on normal cells for that kind of sugar, it can be used by the body but only after being further processed and there is clear indication that the processing of HFCS causes side effects in the body that are clearly documented. It isn't the same as natural sugar, but it isn't the bogey man either, it does make it more difficult to lose weight but not impossible.

For the love of all that is good and holy, OBESITY IS NOT A DISEASE, I have spent more time in this life obese than not obese and I have spent years studying it. Unless you have a medical condition that changes how your body processes energy then you are fat because of the choices you have made. Stop making the same stupid life choices and you will stop being a fat blob.

It isn't the food industry's fault, or your mommas fault, or the governments fault. It is your fault. I hate being fat and when I decided to stop being fat I made choices that changed my body. No one owes you anything so stop crying foul, the source of your problem is in the mirror, take out your aggression on him.

fitfreakymom

OP, you might not have come to the right place when you started such a thread on a calorie-counting website.

With that said, I do agree with you - to a certain degree.

For all the "you can do it yourself" and "lack of self control", I still see alot of "fatty-shaming" going on that people should really think twice about.

After all anorexia and bulimia are food disorders. You cannot make fun of anoxerics or bulimics lest you be declared a social pariah. Its alright to make fun of fat people though - just look up any comments section on that news about the first airline to charge by the kilo. People choose not to acknowledge that obesity may have roots far beyond the physical such as depression, anxiety disorders and the such. Mocked as these reasons may be, they also include hormonal imbalances, which are very real.

I'm not saying that you should delegate your responsibilities to the government - your aim to feel happy, "healthy" and the such. But --

It would be nice to get appropriate support when you want help - not backhanded comments that often do more damage than good.

I have seen a lot more women get bashed for either having or wanting to build muscle than I have seen fat bashing

Wow, where are you seeing this? It certainly has not been my experience at all.

Start a thread on muscular women like women who compete in figure or bodybuilding, people have had to delete their own threads because of the amount of hate they got.

MFP opinions do not equal real-world. On this website, sure, population at large, no.

Wrong.

I showed my mother and sister in law some pictures just last night of some of the women on this forum who are incredibly fit with very low bodyfat levels. They BOTH made a disgusted face and said they were 'gross' and 'manly'. Neither is a member of this site, and my sister in law actually goes to the gym a hell of a lot more than I do (I go 3x a week, she usually goes 5).

If I can pull two real world examples at once out of my own family...how many others out there feel the same? The difference between 'fat shaming' and 'fit shaming' in your general day to day society...is that there are FAR LESS women who are that fit to shame. There just happens to be more of them located here on MFP...so the trend is more apparent here.

Ok, sorry, your data collection methods are impeccable. Did you do the same with pictures of obese people to guage difference in reactions? I'm not saying the "anti-muscle bias" doesn't exist, but look at your argument. Also, whether or not the find it "gross", fat-shaming is actually more about what negative qualities people associate with obesity that may or may not correlate. Fit-shaming as you call it seems to be more about physical appearance.

I have tossed around the idea of building muscle and the comments I got came mainly from larger people generally went like this " why would you want to do that?" "you will look like a man", "you don't need to work out you are already in shape", "women with muscles are ugly, scary and look like they are gay" lol the majority of people that were around me were over weight and I when I have gone out with some of them, they would tell me I don't eat enough, looks like I am wasting away , most of their functions revolved around food , I have been told that I make them look bad when they are eating to much and I am having a small amount of food. I have also been accused of thinking I am better than some of them and that some were uncomfortable with me being around their spouses I have one of my own I do not need more lol. I have been over borderline obese and was told by my doc to eat less, move more and get my rest and guess what? it worked, I have also done this while having people in my house who do not share my drive for being healthy. I have also had to realize that other peoples insecurities are not my problem. I have had many friends ***** and complain about their weight but are not willing to push themselves to workout out as hard as they can and they are not willing to watch what they eat.
I have asked people til I am blue in the face to come workout and hike with me but I generally are excuses like their back hurts, ankles hurt, to tired, headache, nobody to watch their kids. When I was heavy my whole body hurt due to physical issues I was born with and my hubby was temporarily posted to a base almost 6 hrs away from me for close to two yrs and I had a baby but I still made myself get off my *kitten* and workout and lost about 60 lbs . Most people that I know of that have decided to lose weight have done so by moving more and eating less!

fitfreakymom

I am also not saying that there are not the odd case of people that have a legit reason for their weight gain and legit reasons for having a much harder time losing it but most people have nothing more than excuses.