Why Do We Hate Being Fat So Much?

there are statues and paintings covering hundreds of years featuring women considered to be beautiful who have bellies and thighs that these days would be considered fat, but at those times and in those cultures were considered beautiful and feminine. this question reminded me of this article i read a couple months ago about a woman who in 1912 was considered "perfect", and she weighed 171 pounds.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/26/perfect-woman-1912_n_2365529.html

She was a perfect pear shape by measurements. Then again, if, as it was reported, she really did have a figure similar to the Venus de Milo, she also had a six pack. She probably really did have more muscle than most of us do now. Maybe it shows that fit was the old skinny as much as that voluptuous was prized more than it is today.

By the way, these body models from the ancient greek and "de milo" times were not really the norm for the time. Being a naked model was not a high profession. These models were probably workers and had farming backgrounds or were slaves or courtesans in a time when having a suntan was a show of the common worker and the elite did nothing all day but live large and have pale skin to show they did not do outdoor work. I will assume that the proviliged persons from that time were sloppy as well.

We don't live in the dark ages anymore (well, you'd think we don't) where being fat is a show of wealth and good health. Lets stay in this century, shall we?

The quoted article on the 'perfect woman' doesn't quite go back that far. It's from 1912. The young woman was compared to the de milo. I stated that, if she was comparable, she did indeed have more muscle tone than most of us have today.

If you kind of squint your eyes and look at representations of the female body across cultures and times, you'll get an impression of a prototypical ideal that is about 20-25% body fat and pretty strong. There are cultural standards and there are human standards. A healthy human woman is in that 25% body fat range and can do a fair amount of work. That seems to be the lynch pin that cultural standards swing around.

I think it basically comes down to people don't think fat people have any self control therefore they eat like gluttons and put themselves where they are. It may be partially true, but we are all programmed to love carbs and our diet being pushed all around us on commercials and store shelves are creating a population that eats what it considers normal. A paradigm shift is needed in how people view food in order to enable themselves to control their body compostion.

%100 agree. Food is for fuel, and it's great if it's tasty, too, but too many of us developed the mindset that food is a way to stimulate the pleasure centers in the brain, without regard for the nutritional value of it or whether or not we needed the calories. With the exception of serious athletes, who among us ever goes, "Uh oh! I'm so low on calories, but I've already exceeded my vitamin and mineral needs, what I could really use is some empty calories in the form of cookies!"

I think it basically comes down to people don't think fat people have any self control therefore they eat like gluttons and put themselves where they are. It may be partially true, but we are all programmed to love carbs and our diet being pushed all around us on commercials and store shelves are creating a population that eats what it considers normal. A paradigm shift is needed in how people view food in order to enable themselves to control their body compostion.

%100 agree. Food is for fuel, and it's great if it's tasty, too, but too many of us developed the mindset that food is a way to stimulate the pleasure centers in the brain, without regard for the nutritional value of it or whether or not we needed the calories. With the exception of serious athletes, who among us ever goes, "Uh oh! I'm so low on calories, but I've already exceeded my vitamin and mineral needs, what I could really use is some empty calories in the form of cookies!"

Anybody on a bulk.

Hell, I'm cutting on 2400 to 2600 calories, I do this already.

there are statues and paintings covering hundreds of years featuring women considered to be beautiful who have bellies and thighs that these days would be considered fat, but at those times and in those cultures were considered beautiful and feminine. this question reminded me of this article i read a couple months ago about a woman who in 1912 was considered "perfect", and she weighed 171 pounds.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/26/perfect-woman-1912_n_2365529.html

She was a perfect pear shape by measurements. Then again, if, as it was reported, she really did have a figure similar to the Venus de Milo, she also had a six pack. She probably really did have more muscle than most of us do now. Maybe it shows that fit was the old skinny as much as that voluptuous was prized more than it is today.

By the way, these body models from the ancient greek and "de milo" times were not really the norm for the time. Being a naked model was not a high profession. These models were probably workers and had farming backgrounds or were slaves or courtesans in a time when having a suntan was a show of the common worker and the elite did nothing all day but live large and have pale skin to show they did not do outdoor work. I will assume that the proviliged persons from that time were sloppy as well.

We don't live in the dark ages anymore (well, you'd think we don't) where being fat is a show of wealth and good health. Lets stay in this century, shall we?

The quoted article on the 'perfect woman' doesn't quite go back that far. It's from 1912. The young woman was compared to the de milo. I stated that, if she was comparable, she did indeed have more muscle tone than most of us have today.

If you kind of squint your eyes and look at representations of the female body across cultures and times, you'll get an impression of a prototypical ideal that is about 20-25% body fat and pretty strong. There are cultural standards and there are human standards. A healthy human woman is in that 25% body fat range and can do a fair amount of work. That seems to be the lynch pin that cultural standards swing around.

This is my thought, yes those depictions of women have fat on them, they also usually have some muscle on them, because for most of human history, other then the VERY elite, women had to be able to do some form of work. I think I look just fine with a bit of fat on me, I don't think I look good when either a. I get too much fat and can no longer do the work or b. I get flabby and no longer have the muscle tone I need to do the work.

there are statues and paintings covering hundreds of years featuring women considered to be beautiful who have bellies and thighs that these days would be considered fat, but at those times and in those cultures were considered beautiful and feminine. this question reminded me of this article i read a couple months ago about a woman who in 1912 was considered "perfect", and she weighed 171 pounds.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/26/perfect-woman-1912_n_2365529.html

She was a perfect pear shape by measurements. Then again, if, as it was reported, she really did have a figure similar to the Venus de Milo, she also had a six pack. She probably really did have more muscle than most of us do now. Maybe it shows that fit was the old skinny as much as that voluptuous was prized more than it is today.

By the way, these body models from the ancient greek and "de milo" times were not really the norm for the time. Being a naked model was not a high profession. These models were probably workers and had farming backgrounds or were slaves or courtesans in a time when having a suntan was a show of the common worker and the elite did nothing all day but live large and have pale skin to show they did not do outdoor work. I will assume that the proviliged persons from that time were sloppy as well.

We don't live in the dark ages anymore (well, you'd think we don't) where being fat is a show of wealth and good health. Lets stay in this century, shall we?

The quoted article on the 'perfect woman' doesn't quite go back that far. It's from 1912. The young woman was compared to the de milo. I stated that, if she was comparable, she did indeed have more muscle tone than most of us have today.

If you kind of squint your eyes and look at representations of the female body across cultures and times, you'll get an impression of a prototypical ideal that is about 20-25% body fat and pretty strong. There are cultural standards and there are human standards. A healthy human woman is in that 25% body fat range and can do a fair amount of work. That seems to be the lynch pin that cultural standards swing around.

This is my thought, yes those depictions of women have fat on them, they also usually have some muscle on them, because for most of human history, other then the VERY elite, women had to be able to do some form of work. I think I look just fine with a bit of fat on me, I don't think I look good when either a. I get too much fat and can no longer do the work or b. I get flabby and no longer have the muscle tone I need to do the work.

Agree with both of you. We were meant to be more active than most of us are, and it shows, and it makes us look softer than we would look with the exact same amount of fat.

I think it basically comes down to people don't think fat people have any self control therefore they eat like gluttons and put themselves where they are. It may be partially true, but we are all programmed to love carbs and our diet being pushed all around us on commercials and store shelves are creating a population that eats what it considers normal. A paradigm shift is needed in how people view food in order to enable themselves to control their body compostion.

%100 agree. Food is for fuel, and it's great if it's tasty, too, but too many of us developed the mindset that food is a way to stimulate the pleasure centers in the brain, without regard for the nutritional value of it or whether or not we needed the calories. With the exception of serious athletes, who among us ever goes, "Uh oh! I'm so low on calories, but I've already exceeded my vitamin and mineral needs, what I could really use is some empty calories in the form of cookies!"

Anybody on a bulk.

Hell, I'm cutting on 2400 to 2600 calories, I do this already.

I put that in the realm of athletes, really. The rest of us define bulk as what happens when we're pudgy in a thick sweater.

I get that, but I haven't considered myself an "athlete" for years. I do consider myself someone who needs to be able to do real physical labor for their career, so I have muscle. My students *especially the males for some reason* always flip when they see me pushing a full 5 gallon bucket over my head with one arm (40-50 pounds), I was doing that BEFORE I ever started actually doing any form of lifting, that was just part of my job. Even when I added fat, I was *always* strong, I think the biggest issue (at least for me) really has more to do with feeling physically capable. So I've never been shy about eating, because I really do eat to fuel myself. If I'm going diving all day, I need to eat dammit, doesn't matter if I'm overweight already, I need that fuel!

I grew up with thin people around me (almost unreal it seems I am the only chubby person throughout my entire school years). Wanting to be thin has been something in my head since I was a little girl and it's still nagging me now. I don't want to be an "outlier" but in reality I am different than my thin friends. This has created a monster of self hatred inside me and I can't get rid of it.

I do think societies views are changing, at least here in the south. At my daughter's high school, she is considered abnormal because she is slim and muscular. Kids who would never think of making fun of overweight kids will make comments to her about being anorexic, etc. She competes in judo and jiu jitsu and eats a LOT. Her school is at LEAST 50% overweight. I worry that overweight is becoming so common that it is being seen as normal.

I think it basically comes down to people don't think fat people have any self control therefore they eat like gluttons and put themselves where they are. It may be partially true, but we are all programmed to love carbs and our diet being pushed all around us on commercials and store shelves are creating a population that eats what it considers normal. A paradigm shift is needed in how people view food in order to enable themselves to control their body compostion.

%100 agree. Food is for fuel, and it's great if it's tasty, too, but too many of us developed the mindset that food is a way to stimulate the pleasure centers in the brain, without regard for the nutritional value of it or whether or not we needed the calories. With the exception of serious athletes, who among us ever goes, "Uh oh! I'm so low on calories, but I've already exceeded my vitamin and mineral needs, what I could really use is some empty calories in the form of cookies!"

I've been on 20% carbs in my macros for 3 months now. So when I do eat a processed sugar treat like Angel food cake with my organic fruit it's like crack. You can realize just how sweet something is when you don't eat sweets. The general population is numb this this and eat heavily processed sugars and carbs for that serotonin rush without even knowing it.

Yep, even though I'm high carb vegan, I do intermittent fasting and I'm keto-adapted from a lot of time doing low carb in the past, so I actually stay in ketosis most of the time and go in and out of it easily. I bet if I ate a huge slice of chocolate cake right now I'd bounce off the walls. Which, to paraphrase Dr. Lustig, would be good, because it would mean I was burning off the calories. But if I eat cake every time I just want the pleasure of eating cake, I sit there in my chair like a lump, I don't want to move, I feel sad and grouchy and I just want more cake. Some foods are just not good for me. Not saying it happens to everybody, but eating for pleasure does a serious number on my health.

I do think societies views are changing, at least here in the south. At my daughter's high school, she is considered abnormal because she is slim and muscular. Kids who would never think of making fun of overweight kids will make comments to her about being anorexic, etc. She competes in judo and jiu jitsu and eats a LOT. Her school is at LEAST 50% overweight. I worry that overweight is becoming so common that it is being seen as normal.

Crazy huh?

Scary