are some folks actually happy being extremely overweight?

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  • PurringMyrrh
    PurringMyrrh Posts: 5,296 Member
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    I'd say if they're 100+ lbs overweight, none of them are truly happy, and if they say they are they're lying.
  • Sirius66TheBeat
    Sirius66TheBeat Posts: 72 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    For context, the OP mentioned the show "My Big Fat Fabulous Life" - the protagonist is a woman weighing 380 pounds who talks about feeling suffocated by her fat rolls.

    i've never watched the show...the commercials are annoying enough. It's just the vibe i got watching the ads for the show. Yes, hardly a slice knowing how she feels but just saying.
  • Sirius66TheBeat
    Sirius66TheBeat Posts: 72 Member
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    paperpudding wrote: »
    I disagree.

    Not everyone's self confidence comes from being a certain size and not everyone needs boundless energy to be happy.
    And not everyone who is extremely over weight has never been thin.

    I think it is arrogant and presumptuous to decide whether other people could be happy or not.

    Whether they are healthy is another matter.

    i'm basing it on my unhappiness being fat and asking the question in general. Has nothing to do with being arrogant and presumptuous deciding if she's happy or not. And i know basing it on how I feel about myself isn't 100% scientific.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Sirius66TheBeat wrote: »
    Maybe its because I know how I feel about myself...hating how overweight I am but actually doing something about it now...but are there extremely overweight people that have no problem with it?

    I only ask because I saw a commercial for that show about the fat woman..My Big Fat Fabulous Life..and she seems to be so happy to be fat. "Empowered" because she's fine with being fat. Is she just full of crap?

    In the case of the woman from the show, she suffered from a pretty severe eating disorder before the show. Accepting and finding peace and happiness with her weight seems to be part of dealing with those disordered patterns while trying to lose at a safer pace.

    In general, yes people can be happy without loving every aspect of their current position.
  • salembambi
    salembambi Posts: 5,592 Member
    edited February 2016
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    look up: feeder fetish

    ok bye
  • CCThomas3553
    CCThomas3553 Posts: 9 Member
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    I think they would probably be happier with the food they eat because it probably tast amazing. Wouldn't it be nice to just eat what you want and not have to worry . now that sounds nice. :p
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,005 Member
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    DatGuy_Bry wrote: »
    glassyo wrote: »
    bperritt21 wrote: »
    I think it's naive to say otherwise. The natural endorphins you get by exercising and leading a healthy lifestyle is not something you'll feel when you're obese. Like I said, they're content. Complacent. Indifferent. I am happy because I feel full. If they're having a bad day, they go home and eat something that'll make them feel good. That is a dangerous and unhealthy mentality and leads to depression more often than not. You can be happy about your job, kids, family etc. Those have no weight restrictions but if you feel sluggish and crappy, it's because your body is telling you that you need to make a change.

    Nope, I disagree too. You're generalizing. Everyone's different with different motivations.

    You can be thin and still feel sluggish and crappy because of other reasons...not just because you're overweight.

    You can be fat and happy. I'm sure being so fat your bones are getting crushed and you run out of breath after walking for more than 5 minutes is ideal for some people. Until, of course, the accompanying health problems come. Ever met someone who was happy they got Type II diabetes? Nope. So lettuce be cereal. I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just telling it like it is.

    Nobody said being extremely overweight was healthy or ideal for anybody.

    But people can be happy without being healthy and they can be happy in life without bring happy about everything.

    I am not happy about having crooked teeth, for example - but that doesn't mean I am unhappy in life.

    So, no, I don't think you are telling it like it is - you are telling it like you think it is for other people - and I consider that attitude to be arrogant and presumptuous.
    You are presuming how other people feel.

  • ladymuaythai
    ladymuaythai Posts: 1,298 Member
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    I honestly wonder this a lot. Like they can eat whatever they want and food is life lmao. I'd be happy if I could eat whatever I wanted I think . We all got consequences to pay though
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    paperpudding wrote: »
    DatGuy_Bry wrote: »
    glassyo wrote: »
    bperritt21 wrote: »
    I think it's naive to say otherwise. The natural endorphins you get by exercising and leading a healthy lifestyle is not something you'll feel when you're obese. Like I said, they're content. Complacent. Indifferent. I am happy because I feel full. If they're having a bad day, they go home and eat something that'll make them feel good. That is a dangerous and unhealthy mentality and leads to depression more often than not. You can be happy about your job, kids, family etc. Those have no weight restrictions but if you feel sluggish and crappy, it's because your body is telling you that you need to make a change.

    Nope, I disagree too. You're generalizing. Everyone's different with different motivations.

    You can be thin and still feel sluggish and crappy because of other reasons...not just because you're overweight.

    You can be fat and happy. I'm sure being so fat your bones are getting crushed and you run out of breath after walking for more than 5 minutes is ideal for some people. Until, of course, the accompanying health problems come. Ever met someone who was happy they got Type II diabetes? Nope. So lettuce be cereal. I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just telling it like it is.

    Nobody said being extremely overweight was healthy or ideal for anybody.

    But people can be happy without being healthy and they can be happy in life without bring happy about everything.

    I am not happy about having crooked teeth, for example - but that doesn't mean I am unhappy in life.

    So, no, I don't think you are telling it like it is - you are telling it like you think it is for other people - and I consider that attitude to be arrogant and presumptuous.
    You are presuming how other people feel.

    I agree. To be happy, you don't have to be doing backflips about every single aspect of your life. In fact, that seems to be to be a recipe for permanent dissatisfaction. Sure, I could use a million bucks, but you're not gonna see me crying in the corner everyday because I don't have it.

    And, being from another continent where [when I was] growing up, the pressures of being thin simply didn't exist, the idea that nobody but nobody could be happy fat just blows my mind. That happiness would have such a direct, and evidently, compulsory tie to what is in many cases vanity, just seems ludicrous to me.
  • thehexenbiest
    thehexenbiest Posts: 114 Member
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    I don't want to get too philosophical but it's hard to come up with a definition for happiness, so it would be hard to generalize and say a person is happy or not, whether they're overweight or not. Being morbidly obese myself, I know there are definitely moments when I'm not happy and for me personally, those happen more often than those when I can say I'm happy. For example just shopping for clothes is extremely stressful and frustrating. So is navigating supermarket aisles when your stomach and your brain want different things.

    On the other hand, I wouldn't generalize and say thin people are happier per se. Their life can suck just as much. Plus, when you take things like depression into account, I think it's naive and dangerous to say that obesity makes you sad and depressed. They can come into play but they're never the only reason and working out and losing weight isn't going to fix this.

    With that said, I don't know if fat people can really be happy. But I do know that a lot of everyday life's things are harder for us. The aforementioned clothes or grocery shopping, traveling (think of fitting into airline seats), restaurant visits, etc. We do carry a higer risk of health problems. It's just a fact, but nothing that has to be related to how happy you are.
  • Sirius66TheBeat
    Sirius66TheBeat Posts: 72 Member
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    Just to clarify.. I asked if she's really happy being overweight and not if she's happy with life.
  • pie_eyes
    pie_eyes Posts: 12,965 Member
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    salembambi wrote: »
    look up: feeder fetish

    ok bye

    This
  • enterdanger
    enterdanger Posts: 2,447 Member
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    I don't know that happiness has a ton do with your weight. It's a state of mind. Fatness is a state of body.

    I was happy fat. I'm happy now that I've lost some weight. I had moments of dissatisfaction when I was heavier because there were things I wanted to do that weren't all that fun due to my size. But I didn't dislike myself in anyway. My general awesomeness still shined through. Now my pants fit better. I think it's wrong to say fat people can't be happy.
  • ald783
    ald783 Posts: 690 Member
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    FunbagsMcGee wrote: »
    I think you can be happy DESPITE being extremely overweight, but I don't think many peoples happiness is caused by being overweight.
    paperpudding wrote: »
    I disagree.

    Not everyone's self confidence comes from being a certain size and not everyone needs boundless energy to be happy.
    And not everyone who is extremely over weight has never been thin.

    I think it is arrogant and presumptuous to decide whether other people could be happy or not.

    Whether they are healthy is another matter.
    diannethegeek wrote: »
    In the case of the woman from the show, she suffered from a pretty severe eating disorder before the show. Accepting and finding peace and happiness with her weight seems to be part of dealing with those disordered patterns while trying to lose at a safer pace.

    In general, yes people can be happy without loving every aspect of their current position.

    I think these are all good points. I've never entirely grasped the "intuitive eating" concept but I know people that have turned to this and stopped focusing on their weight (which, yes, sometimes also means not focusing on health) because they felt so miserable and obsessive when they were counting calories, points, etc. which for them led to seriously disordered eating. So, the idea of not dieting or scrutinizing what they eat is probably a big source of happiness for some people.

    I personally look at people that work out a million hours a week and wonder how they can be happy, but it's the same thing as the original scenario- different things make different people happy.
  • Rdsgoal16
    Rdsgoal16 Posts: 302 Member
    edited March 2016
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    Everyone is different in terms of personal satisfaction (happiness?) with weight, family life, work, etc. All I have is my personal experiences of being on this planet for 46 years. I have to say in all of my interactions I have never met someone who is truly happy with their physical self at 50+ pounds overweight.

    People I am close to have opened up and every time I see the same patterns, mostly projecting that it "doesn't bother them" when in fact it does. We have all heard the lines, "I am not going to be a slave to the scale, life's too short to not eat what I want, if I go then I go happy, etc etc etc". These are the same people asking me how I dropped weight followed up with "I really got to do something". We all wear masks at different times. I think the show is beyond stupid, and the couple times I have been subjected to it I feel she is merely acting.......
  • JustMissTracy
    JustMissTracy Posts: 6,339 Member
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    Our weight should not define us. So yes, people who are very overweight may very well be quite happy in life. Because w person's weight is not the only factor in their life. I've watched the show a few times, and I haven't actually heard her say she's happy being fat and wants to stay that way. The exact opposite actually, the couple of episodes I've watched had her at the doctor doing tests, visiting with friends, and working out. Slow or fast, hard or easy, she's trying. She isn't lazy, or complacent.
  • JustMissTracy
    JustMissTracy Posts: 6,339 Member
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    Sirius66TheBeat wrote: »
    Just to clarify.. I asked if she's really happy being overweight and not if she's happy with life.

    No, here's what you said
    "and she seems to be so happy to be fat. "Empowered" because she's fine with being fat. Is she just full of crap? See, she never said she's "fine" with being fat. She has health problems, made worse by being fat...she knows that. Where is she full of crap? Is it because she dances, and laughs alot, and seems to have a great time, despite her size? Should she be crying and sitting in a puddle on the floor, complaining about herself?
  • zbakrjc
    zbakrjc Posts: 87 Member
    edited March 2016
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    The can be happy even if they are not happy with their weight.

    zbakrjc
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    FunbagsMcGee wrote: »
    I think you can be happy DESPITE being extremely overweight, but I don't think many peoples happiness is caused by being overweight.

    Yes, this is what I think.

    I also think some people can feel more uncomfortable being a healthy weight because they are bothered by attention and liked some of the protection from that that being overweight brought.
  • JustMissTracy
    JustMissTracy Posts: 6,339 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    FunbagsMcGee wrote: »
    I think you can be happy DESPITE being extremely overweight, but I don't think many peoples happiness is caused by being overweight.

    Yes, this is what I think.

    I also think some people can feel more uncomfortable being a healthy weight because they are bothered by attention and liked some of the protection from that that being overweight brought.

    I've seen this too, it's like a protective coat they wear against the world. And also, if being large is all you've ever known, trying to be otherwise, risking failure in front of the world, can be a very scary deal.

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