Judging people and their weight

I have a scale. I measure out servings. I have a food diary and count calories, and fat, and all that jazz. So it's all been done.

Basically, as much as other people like to judge - especially when they make assumptions - no one will judge harder than oneself. So everyone should just stop judging others and worry about themselves. The world will still go round. If they are happy, let them be happy. If they aren't, either try to help (instead of criticizing) or let them be.

How many calories, male/female, how tall, how much do you weigh, and how long? Open your diary if you want help.

It's impossible to judge anyone when you don't know their story. It's stupid to try.

Why worry about the opinion of stupid people? Just don't.

This is a topic that's dear to my heart. I spent the better part of my life having Doctors tell me that it was my fault that I was fat. It wasn't until I was 325 lbs, and diabetic that I found a Doctor who said maybe there was another reason for it. I had a lot of test and eventually they found out that I had a tumor on my Pituitary (Cushings Disease). In short no matter how hard I worked at loosing weight (and I did) I would always gain weight as long as I had that tumor. The thing is that no one listened to me because they all said it was that I wasn't trying hard enough, and didn't want it enough. Working out 3 hours a day five days a week, and I gained weight, and it had to be what I was eating. Counting calories, counting fat, and countless weight loss efforts, and it still had to be something I was doing. It's all fine to say there are people who's choice is to be fat, but it's more harmful than you'll ever know when you assume people are doing that. I had the tumor out in 2012 and I dropped a lot of weight going from 325 to 245 in a year. My body is used to being fat now because it began when I was young but accelerated when I got pregnant in 2010. Since no one listened to me until 2012 I'll never know how long the tumor was there, and all because people and Doctors just wanted to dismiss me as Fat by choice. It is far kinder, and more productive not to jump to conclusions, and be supportive. For some people their weight isn't important, and it shouldn't be anyone's business but their own. For the others that are struggling mocking them and or stigmatizing them is not helpful, it's just destructive and spiteful.

No such thing as naturally thin. No such thing as naturally fat. If you overeat you get fat. The only valid medical issue for obsesity isPrader-Willis and even then they're not fat because of the disease but the food they're eating.

Excuses about exercise are irrelevant. Losing weight doesn't need exercise. You can lose weight without exercising at all.

If you are overweight or obese you are eating too much. It is that simple. No study has been shown to disprove that. (Maintaining is harder and studies have shown that but it's still possible)

You think that's the only "valid" medical issue for obesity? Think again. :laugh:

Yes it is. No other disease will cause you to become obese. (Note I'm not saying put on weight, you can put on weight for medical reasons but not obesity) Even Prader-Willis won't make you become obese but it's one that more understandable.

Oops.

First of all, there are very, very few people who are naturally thin. The same way there are very few people who are naturally obese. And even when people are naturally either thin or obese, it is usually due to a health complication. As a result, the use of the word naturally feels almost superficial and kind of belittles their health issue. If a 'naturally' thin person has a messed up metabolism, they are not naturally thin. For if their metabolism worked normally and they ate like an overweight person, they would be overweight. Likewise if they have hyperthyroidism (then their being thin is due to an overactive thyroid, not to 'luck'), or if they have IBS and struggle with anorexia as a result (yup, sometimes anorexia is caused by a physical health problem - the more you know!) that is not being naturally thin, either. That is being thin because of a health problem. The same way someone with hypothyroidism is overweight because of an overactive thyroid, but not 'naturally'. The term naturally seems to suggest that people who are thin for reasons like this just have some kind of lucky genetics. Which usually is not the case. I have learned, in my path to being healthy, that those thin people you think are lucky are working their a**** of to maintain that thin figure. They do watch what they eat, and even though it might look like they overeat sometimes to you... think of it this way. My sister comments on how I sometimes eat a lot in one sitting. Yeah, that's because I snack only twice a day compared to her snacking several times a day. My twice a day snacks are usually low calorie. Just filling enough to get me to the next meal. I exercise, too. So, when I have a meal, I very well might eat more than she does. Because she is eating chips, cookies, and drinking soda between her meals. Whereas I am drinking water, or diet soda, or occasionally snaking on a handful of nuts. So it looks like I eat more than she does, but really, I don't. To someone who doesn't know that I was once overweight, they might assume I am 'naturally' thin. Actually, they have.

Onto the overweight thing. I hesitate to say it is a choice. No one chooses to struggle with food. No one chooses to struggle with weight. But not everyone who is overweight has an eating disorder, or depression, or a messed up metabolism. As strange as it seems, not everyone who is overweight is even depressed (I know there's that stereotype going around these days... it's either that one or 'jolly'... but the jolly stereotype is quickly being replaced with 'depressed'). So, what of the people who are overweight... and aren't? I think that... there is a level of choice to it. When I was overweight and struggling with occasional binge eating and compulsive/emotional overeating, I didn't choose to eat. Half the time, it was literally a mindless action. I literally did not enjoy food. I actually hated food. I hated eating, I hated the act of eating. I seldom ever tasted the food. But I knew what I was doing was detrimental to my health. I kept doing it, anyway. I didn't choose to struggle with issues regarding food or body image. I didn't choose to eat when I binge ate. I did choose to eat when I overate. When I ate two cheeseburgers in one sitting, I knew what I was doing. I knew it was bad for me. I knew that 400 calories plus the 800 I ate in fries was far exceeding a normal amount of food. But I choose to eat it, anyway. I think there is some level of choice. Depending on the situation. Binge eating is a bit different. As when I binge ate, there was no choice whatsoever. That's the difference between binge eating and overeating. But I would wager that most people who are overweight are not true binge eaters. But rather people who eat emotionally, compulsively, or just because they love food.

I never really thought of my health or weight when I overate. The only thing I thought was that I was bored. But I could have easily done anything else to cure the boredom. I could have went for a walk. I could have played with my dog, or drew a picture, or wrote a poem. Instead, I ate. That was my choice on how to deal with the emotional and mental health problems I deal with. I didn't want to, and I hate people assuming that I did, but it's all semantics. I take responsibility for my life. I do not blame society for my actions, I do not blame my mother, my dogs, or some outside force. I do not blame myself, either, but I do take responsibility. I ate a lot, and I always expected it to make me feel better. It didn't. It's like they say... insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome..

Prior to getting off of my butt and taking responsibility for my body, I would have been horrified for someone to suggest that I was "choosing" to be fat. But the reality is, I did choose. I WASTED 25 years of my life being obese- and I chose it with every 2nd and 3rd helping and every time I sat on my butt instead of getting active. I do not believe in regret, but boy do I wish that I had decided to take accountability and made a change sooner.

Health issues are a different matter. I think we are referring to able bodied people who are otherwise healthy save for being overweight.

God, you guys are cold-hearted. No matter how much weight I lose, I swear right now to never be unkind to overweight people, to ignore their feelings as though they don't matter, to write off their suffering as "choice", and to make assumptions about what they are or aren't doing to control their weight and improve their health.