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Fat Acceptance Movement

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  • jseams1234
    jseams1234 Posts: 1,216 Member
    FatPorkyChop wrote: »
    The thing is that even if you don't talk about it at all (you training and being healthy), people (especially at work) will purposely ask you about it just so they can make a joke at your expense or will try to have a look at your lunch box or invite you for after work drinks so they can make a joke out of you when you say "no" probably because they need to ease their guilt about not doing anything themselves.
    Once a work colleague sent me a picture of Ronnie Coleman via email and wrote that I wanted to look like that... It's not that it's hurtful but it's disrespectful and out of line and it rightly pissed me off.
    Shaming someone because she is thin or fit is completely accepted by society.. because you are thin and not fat, people don't seem to realise that their behavior is wrong for some reasons.... it is not seem as harassment whereas, fat shaming is...
    And because of that, fit/slim shaming happens more in your face!
    I have never seen those same colleagues telling a fat person to stop eating because they look fat, yet they have no problem telling you that you need to eat junk food because you are too slim...

    I totally understand. I pointed out earlier in this thread that I suspected a lot of the "thin shaming" happens primarily to men. I know because I was unusually thin most of my life, even while in the military. Having male coworkers or buddies make joking comments on my weight was a constant thing - all in jest, male humor and all - but it bothered me. It probably bothered me more because I had always been thin and had always had people making those types of comments. I could tell myself all day long that they were just "jealous" but deep down inside it didn't help. I began to hate being thin and became extremely self conscious about it. I even started to wear baggy clothes to try to hide my shame (just made it worse). I finally decided to do something about it. Well, I'm not thin anymore and the comments stopped. I had a coworker tell me at a pot luck that I went from zombie to brick *kitten* house and a customer that hadn't seen my in a few years do a double take and comment on my size... and it felt great. My wife rolls her eyes at me because my fitness journey has been purely about vanity. Being healthy is just a side effect of that. lol
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    FatPorkyChop wrote: »
    The thing is that even if you don't talk about it at all (you training and being healthy), people (especially at work) will purposely ask you about it just so they can make a joke at your expense or will try to have a look at your lunch box or invite you for after work drinks so they can make a joke out of you when you say "no" probably because they need to ease their guilt about not doing anything themselves.
    Once a work colleague sent me a picture of Ronnie Coleman via email and wrote that I wanted to look like that... It's not that it's hurtful but it's disrespectful and out of line and it rightly pissed me off.
    Shaming someone because she is thin or fit is completely accepted by society.. because you are thin and not fat, people don't seem to realise that their behavior is wrong for some reasons.... it is not seem as harassment whereas, fat shaming is...
    And because of that, fit/slim shaming happens more in your face!
    I have never seen those same colleagues telling a fat person to stop eating because they look fat, yet they have no problem telling you that you need to eat junk food because you are too slim...

    It sounds like your workplace might have some issues. I'm very into fitness and I've never encountered anything like that at work. I've got a couple co-workers who are also into fitness and we'll chat about recent races or training, but the rest of my co-workers are indifferent and we just talk about other things.

    I'm with you. Sounds like the coworkers concerned about what others are eating are probably 16.
  • zharptichka
    zharptichka Posts: 127 Member
    I actually like the HAES movement* at least as I understand it and it doesn't seem incompatible with weight loss. For a lot of people when they try to lose weight they get hung up on the number and with all the crap constantly surrounding us about how to lose weight. Drink only cabbage soup, eat ALL the kale, no carbs, no fats, apple cider vinegar etc etc etc. There's so much garbage and a lot of it coming from people who should know better or who we trust. And most of these weight loss fads are going to fail just because they're not sustainable. When you're focused only on losing the weight, you're more likely to fall into one of these quick fix traps which inevitably fails leading to the yo-yo of ever increasing weight.

    With HAES the focus is on health not weight. The focus is on making healthy choices (both mentally and physically). So instead of focusing on weight I'm going to add in a vegetable for dinner or I'm going to go for a walk to the park. The mental component of trying to accept your body at the size that it is is also important because a lot of people put their life on hold for "when they lose the weight" which makes the problem worse. For myself when I first started being really aware of being fat I quit activities like swimming and dance because of how I looked. As I reduced activity the problem worsened. It's also just a lot of stress to wake up every day hating your body or constantly thinking I need to lose weight this isn't good enough. HAES helps here. The focus is look at what you can do and how awesome is that? Now do more of that.

    For most of my friends that are really into HAES, it has actually resulted in weight loss. As they focused on other goals, walking more, taking dance classes, learning to sail, cooking at home, they have lost weight. But that's not where the focus is. Trying to be healthier will generally result in weight loss.

    I guess for me HAES is about the non-scale victories and about trying to love yourself regardless of where you are in the journey.


    *note: I'm not talking about the version of HAES that says any intentional weight loss is bad. That I just don't get.

  • lucerorojo
    lucerorojo Posts: 790 Member
    edited December 2017
    People are discriminated against for many things. I believe that should not happen and try to take each individual for his/her/their actions and not what they look like, last name, etc. Where the FA movement is important, IMO, is that it raises awareness that overweight people are often shamed, disrespected and may be discriminated against. There are no laws against it, but if an obese person applies for a desk job then they should not be discriminated against. They can do the job. But some people have an unconscious bias against fat people and would automatically hire a thinner person. If it is a physical job or one in performing arts, modeling, or other field in which the appearance is important or the POINT of the job, then that's different.

    I do think that plus clothing models are important. The majority of women in the USA are not size 0 or 2, so haut coutere is one thing, but if you are trying to sell clothes to the average woman, then the models should look like them as far as size.

    Honestly, someone else's looks or body is none of my business unless I'm their doctor, spouse or parent (or employer if a model/actor). Even if this person's health is going to the dogs because of their eating/exercise habits, not my place to say something about it to them unless I'm one of the above to them.
  • VUA21
    VUA21 Posts: 2,072 Member
    Body shaming is just wrong, regardless of size/shape. Sad that the same type of body shaming the Body Positivity/Fat Acceptance says is wrong for overweight/obese people, is used by them on healthy/thin people.

    I honestly don't care what size someone is, not my business. I do care when people try to tell other that being severely under/over weight is healthy because they don't have any serious health issues at the moment. Neither is healthy. Slightly over/under - could be gentics or musculature, so that person could be very healthy.
  • Candyspun
    Candyspun Posts: 370 Member
    I don't believe in treating overweight people badly. But I'm fed up with the whole movement, as I have three children, and I can see it influencing the teenage generation. I'm teaching my kids healthy habits, and I don't like that this trend derails that.
  • hroderick
    hroderick Posts: 756 Member
    Discriminating against obese people is politically and widely socially acceptable today. Sad but true.
  • ssarzen1976
    ssarzen1976 Posts: 28 Member
    I am not a fan of this.
    In one way, i will NEVER insult/shame someone who is overweight/obese because making fun of people is generally wrong. (and being on the pudgy side would make me a hypocrite!)
    But it is not a healthy form of acceptance IMO.




  • uncletinfoil_
    uncletinfoil_ Posts: 1 Member
    caffeinatedcami wrote: »
    I was thinking about body image issues (my own and society's in general) and I learned about something called the Fat Acceptance Movement. The Healthy at Any Size Movement is related to this as well. I am curious what people's thoughts on this are.

    Personally I am of two minds about it. I have never been clinically overweight but I definitely flirted with the normal-overweight bmi boundary at one point. I have had body image issues since I was a teenager and three of my immediate family members have suffered from anorexia. So I know the toll that negative body image can have on a person. Everyone should love themselves regardless of their size. And fat-shaming should not be tolerated. However, I agree with a lot of the points made in this blog post "6 Things I Don't Understand About the Fat Acceptance Movement". At a certain point does it really demonstrate self-love to give up on weight loss? What are your thoughts?

    http://thoughtcatalog.com/carolyn-hall/2014/04/6-things-i-dont-understand-about-the-fat-acceptance-movement/

    I don’t think anyone is ok being over weight. It takes alot of work to lose weight, some are willing to do what it takes and some are not. It also takes effort to love yourself, it's you against you one day at a time one moment at a time.

    Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous. It does not brag, does not get puffed up,  does not behave indecently, does not look for its own interests, does not become provoked. It does not keep account of the injury.  It does not rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails.
  • Mandylou19912014
    Mandylou19912014 Posts: 208 Member
    I feel that if everyone looked exactly the same then the world would be a boring place. We are all entitled to look however we like, as long as we are happy and healthy then it shouldn’t matter. I think fat shaming should never be allowed and skinny shaming as well. If everyone could learn to accept each other then the world would be a nicer place! However .. if you are morbidly obese and in danger of health problems such as heart attacks and strokes then for health reasons only should that person aim to lose some weight.
  • fuzzylop72
    fuzzylop72 Posts: 651 Member
    cqbkaju wrote: »
    Even though I am more healthy and fit than the majority of the population (by various markers), my insurance rates go up to cover the costs of illnesses related to people being too fat. So yes, I will complain about it. If that "makes" them feel ashamed then that is on them, not me. Fat people are not a "protected class".

    Fat shaming is super effective at lowering insurance rates

    oh, wait...

    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/oby.20891
  • Motorsheen
    Motorsheen Posts: 20,492 Member
    I Fat Shame myself.


    It works like a charm.

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