Why should we accept and accommodate people being fat?

[Joshct]

*snip*

Good luck to you,

I know there's some reddit haters amongst OcUK members but if you need inspiration go checkout

www.reddit.com/r/loseit
www.reddit.com/r/progresspics
www.reddit.com/r/fitness

there's dozens more but reading other peoples thoughts / seeing their pictures can be a motivational boost.

 

[Lysander]

There was one time in particular that sticks in my mind and it was when I was at the gym (must have been 25/26 at the time). I had lost 3 stone and was on quite a high when I heard a couple of guys talking behind me making fun of my weight. It just destroyed me when this happened.

What a couple of total *****.

Fat people and fat people who go to the gym are two different breeds. At least the latter are doing something about it and never should be ridiculed.

Get back on that wagon and good luck.

Join MyFitnessPal as well.

 

[AtreuS]

The thing to remember about obesity is that's its not just a simple case of saying "I shall stop eating now".

It becomes a prison, both physically and mentally. You want to be thinner because you hate being fat, so you get depressed and eat.

You want to try to better yourself so you look at joining a gym to get help... you go and are intimidated by the stares and the laughing ( real or imagined ) so you back off and get depressed... so you eat as that's the only thing that makes you feel good.

You try to cook healthier foods... you find that eating healthy is more expensive on the whole, and you lose heart because as you are learning what food is good for you and also healthy you make mistakes and waste food and its cost you money. You get down, and so you blow out as that's the only thing you have in youre life....

I can go on but you get the idea. You need to be in the right frame of mind mentally before you can do something about being overweight.

 

[Joshct]

What a couple of total *****.

Fat people and fat people who go to the gym are two different breeds. At least the latter are doing something about it and never should be ridiculed.

Get back on that wagon and good luck.

Join MyFitnessPal as well.

Massive +1 for MFP btw.

You'll find lysander that people may agree with your view, but fat shaming is fairly rampant in all aspects of life, i've heard people at the gym literally say why do fat people bother going, they'll never be able to change etc etc.

 

[V F]

The whole reason people are getting fatter is because people are scared of saying; look, you're getting fat, stop it or you'll die early.

Society shouldn't allow morbidly obese people to accept their body and call it beautiful, because that's like saying you should embrace your tumour. It's not right.

Poor people end up spending more on crap food because they aren't taught how to cook in school and just come from a line of people that would rather order take away or put something in the microwave. It's getting worse now because fatty can just click away from facebook for a second and order a tonne of junk to feed their horrible family without even getting off the chair.

Frightening thought, isn't it.

 

[AtreuS]

Massive +1 for MFP btw.

You'll find lysander that people may agree with your view, but fat shaming is fairly rampant in all aspects of life, i've heard people at the gym literally say why do fat people bother going, they'll never be able to change etc etc.

I was lucky and found a good backsteet lifting gym with real men/women not lycra show offs... I got lots of support and help and comments like "don't worry dude we will help... I was biger than you when I started" and so on.

They boost me up by cheering when I come in "yay hes no quitter!" and so on... it really helps.

 

[leigh_boy]

Well I'm overweight by about 30kgs, I eat a fairly healthy diet and I lift weights 2-3 times a week, and I walk to work. Given up drinking beer I tend to stick to low carb alternatives like gin and wine.

I'm more active than your average skinny person and my diet is more nutritionally balanced and all home cooked, it's just my body type, easy to gain weight and a nightmare to lose it. Why should I be penalised compared to someone who just sits around in the soft stuffing junk in their face but never gains any weight?

Only time I ever got close to being a normal weight I was doing high intensity excercise 6-7 days a week and barely eating (under 2000 calories a day, around half of what I should have been eating given my height, weight and exercise regime), I was just tired and miserable, it wasn't worth it.

Know what I mean, mind you, I don't much abide by people who sit around overeating and never make an attempt to get some excercise.

What gets me though is these people who stay skinny without ever doing **** all getting all uppity.

not being funny, but you put your self there, you dont mention any illness.
your the one that controls if you want to stick somethign in your mouth, or drink.
no sympathy from me im afraid, i do believe fat people should have to pay for more for seats on plains and should have to pay for medical treatment.

 

[Maccapacca]

It's just bullying because it's obvious from looking, you can't see an alcoholic, drug addict, criminal, hypochondriac, sex addict, benefit cheat, if they all wore a label you could all point fingers and laugh.

 

[ttaskmaster]

How often do you find thin people getting offended for being called thin? Exactly.

*raises hand*

Actually it was being called scrawny, stick insect, beanpole and so forth.
I used to be 3.5st underweight. Living in London central, you end up being bashed about and bounced off all these more solidly built folks. Back then I had a VERY fast metabolism, could drop a 3-course mega-meal at Fatty Arbuckles and still be hungry. When I later joined the Army I actually *lost* a further stone.
Over the years, I slowly built muscle up, but I was never less that 2st underweight still.
Fast-forward to now and a sedentary (yet comparatively well-paid) job where I can still only afford to eat once a day has seen me generally 2.5 to 3.5st OVERweight. I'm still boxing and training in martial arts, as well as having two Border Collies to exercise, but the weight has suddenly piled on. The only advantage is that clothing now fits me rather than hanging off me.

By contrast, the Mrs does have a medical condition, the main symptoms of which include mostly irreversible weight gain. It could be a LOT worse, but she is a size 16-18 and there is *nothing* that can be done. She trains with me, exercises the dogs, does most of the housework and eats about half the calorie intake I do, yet nothing (not even those crash-loss diets) has any effect.

Poor people end up spending more on crap food because they aren't taught how to cook in school and just come from a line of people that would rather order take away or put something in the microwave.

I'm considered poor.
I know how to cook well enough and can pull off a fair amount of Farmhouse cuisine pretty easily. My Mrs is professional chef standard and has worked in a couple of pretty fancy restaurants. Both of us can make meals out of very little.
However, we spend money on crap food because decent food costs a flippin' FORTUNE!!

Choosing to ride a dangerous vehicle with a much higher statistical chance of an accident/serious injury was his choice.

The vehicle is not dangerous.
Statistically, 87% of motorcycle accidents are the fault of another road user (68% of those incidents being a car pulling out on the bike from a side-road).
I was bashed off my own bike last month, in fact - I was stationary for about 9 seconds in good visibility conditions, after which I was hit from behind by a vehicle going at least 60mph in a 40 limit, likely while the driver was texting... how does that make *my* choice of vehicle dangerous?

Oh, and incidentally, my choice of vehicle was down to what I could afford. My licence, vehicle, fuel, tax and insurance are all vastly cheaper than those of any other suitable vehicle available to me.
It's not always a choice - Right now I'd LOVE to be in a dry, warm, comfortable safety cage with Radio Heart blaring out the X-Factor Christmas Number One... but that is not something I can afford.

 

[One More Solo]

To answer the OP's thread, no we should not accomodate fat people, however something needs to be done within the community, or the mind of people to exercise more. Followed by imo, some sort of crackdown on food producers to add less fat, salt, etc.

People have access to better quality food now than they ever did, and instead of blaming food producers people need to take a bit of personal responsibility for themselves and what they eat. I'd argue people are better educated now than ever about good food and bad food but it makes bugger all difference. I do think part of the issue though is people moving away from cooking for themselves, even if the food of the 60s and 70s was hardly the healthiest.

As for dieting is harder than people imagine. Well, yeah, it is difficult but it's not like quitting heroin. I would do the classic thing here of "I was a fat teenager (90+kg) and turned it around (67kg)" (I was) but I don't think anecdotal evidence is necessary when 1000s of other people around the world manage to lose weight with a bit of discipline.

 

[tom_e]

Well I'm overweight by about 30kgs, I eat a fairly healthy diet and I lift weights 2-3 times a week, and I walk to work. Given up drinking beer I tend to stick to low carb alternatives like gin and wine.

I'm more active than your average skinny person and my diet is more nutritionally balanced and all home cooked, it's just my body type, easy to gain weight and a nightmare to lose it. Why should I be penalised compared to someone who just sits around in the soft stuffing junk in their face but never gains any weight?

Only time I ever got close to being a normal weight I was doing high intensity excercise 6-7 days a week and barely eating (under 2000 calories a day, around half of what I should have been eating given my height, weight and exercise regime), I was just tired and miserable, it wasn't worth it.

Know what I mean, mind you, I don't much abide by people who sit around overeating and never make an attempt to get some excercise.

What gets me though is these people who stay skinny without ever doing **** all getting all uppity.

So what you're trying to say is your body is magic? because it doesn't just magic an extra 30kgs of mass out of thin air.

 

[Maccapacca]

People have access to better quality food now than they ever did

Access yes, funds no.

Eating well is seen as expensive, we seem to have fallen into this cycle of for ever wanting to spend less and less on good quality basics of life, you can come out of Asda with bags and bags of 'food' for little money but it's all air and packaging, I'm tring to find a source but decades ago %age of income spent on food was quite high and now it's quite low, low quality, low nutrition high junk.

 

[koolpc]

Dieting is almost always hard to do. It's not easy and a lot of it is mental willpower. I have been dieting and it is extremely hard to keep the diet going. With Christmas here I know I will put on maybe half a stone or more and that will be by just looking at the food and drink! Lol

I am going to try and be good about it though. I am not grossly over weight either. Just need to lose another half a stone.

 

[Lysander]

Dieting is almost always hard to do. It's not easy and a lot of it is mental willpower. I have been dieting and it is extremely hard to keep the diet going. With Christmas here I know I will put on maybe half a stone or more and that will be by just looking at the food and drink! Lol

I am going to try and be good about it though. I am not grossly over weight either. Just need to lose another half a stone.

I would not bother till after Xmas.

Dieting is hard because you should never diet, it is a temporary solution. You should permanently change your eating habits.

 

[Maccapacca]

http://visualeconomics.creditloan.com/100-years-of-consumer-spending/

There we go 40% on food now to 13%.

 

[Bear]

Calling people fat is not an insult. It's not discrimination. It's a fact.

People are black, people are white, people are thin, people are fat.

The only reason why fat people get offended when they're called fat is because they don't want to be fat.

How often do you find thin people getting offended for being called thin? Exactly.

Eaxctly what ? Would you find it acceptable to call someone ugly or thick and poor if that was what they were ? There are loads of truths that are offensive none the less.

 

[elmarko]

The vehicle is not dangerous.
Statistically, 87% of motorcycle accidents are the fault of another road user (68% of those incidents being a car pulling out on the bike from a side-road).
I was bashed off my own bike last month, in fact - I was stationary for about 9 seconds in good visibility conditions, after which I was hit from behind by a vehicle going at least 60mph in a 40 limit, likely while the driver was texting... how does that make *my* choice of vehicle dangerous?.

Talk bout missing the point.

Decided to ride a motorbike which is statistically more dangerous, regardless as to why is at fault for the accident is still the persons choice.

To those people stating that people should just eat less, have you not considered the psychological addictions that people get from eating? It is very well known that sugar is addictive.

I agree that we should not be encouraging obesity but it isn't as simple as dismissing the overweight as lazy or lacking the will to change.

The thing is, it's even more complex than that.

Sugar addiction as you say, is indeed one element - but the causes of addiction, the huge differences we have in self-control - the fields of temporal discounting/hyperbolic discounting (Intertemporal choice), neuroeconomics , learned helplessness - all give an account as to understand why people may lack the ability to make good choices.

Only a complete & utter moron of the highest calibre would attempt to reduce this complex social problem into laziness.

Eaxctly what ? Would you find it acceptable to call someone ugly or thick and poor if that was what they were ? There are loads of truths that are offensive none the less.

Indeed.

I don't call a person a gullible moron for believing in magic for example.

 

[Freefaller]

The genetic issues are small, and is the exception that makes the rule.

Generally people are not educated on eating, and also are generally lazier than they used to be, meaning that they don't watch what they eat, don't exercise, and as such end up where they are now.

To get where they are though probably covers a huge amount of elements. Sure, there will be a minority who have genuine genetic issues, however, mental issues (such as depression) is likely to be a cause, and also other mitigating circumstances. However, in general it is down to laziness, poor education and self inflicted.

I don't like calling people "fat" in a degrading manner, but a the same time it shouldn't be considered offensive. I think being a decent human being you can call person overweight or large - but if you were being a bit more curt "fat" is the truth. However, you have to bear in mind some a lot of "fat" people aren't generally happy with how they are and are stuck in a rut - so I can see why this is effectively "bullying" them.

However with that said, we should not tailor or modify things to suit "larger" people - as we should be encouraging people to keep fit and healthy or at least not accepting obesity as the status quo.

In conclusion, fat shouldn't be seen as offensive, but people should also be mindful of how they behave around others. And catering to obese people shouldn't be accepted as a status quo.

 

[Lysander]

Eaxctly what ? Would you find it acceptable to call someone ugly or thick and poor if that was what they were ?

Absolutely. Why sugar-coat it? Some people are ugly and thick.

I don't call a person a gullible moron for believing in magic for example.

You can't 'believe' in something that already exists. But that's off-topic.

 

[Dis86]

Talk bout missing the point.

Decided to ride a motorbike which is statistically more dangerous, regardless as to why is at fault for the accident is still the persons choice.

The thing is, it's even more complex than that.

Sugar addiction as you say, is indeed one element - but the causes of addiction, the huge differences we have in self-control - the fields of temporal discounting/hyperbolic discounting (Intertemporal choice), neuroeconomics , learned helplessness - all give an account as to understand why people may lack the ability to make good choices.

Only a complete & utter moron of the highest calibre would attempt to reduce this complex social problem into laziness.

Indeed.

I don't call a person a gullible moron for believing in magic for example.

Deciding to ride a motorbike is in itself not a guarantee of an accident though. Shoving too much food into your cake hole and not exercising enough is a guarantee of getting fat.

I used to weigh a fair bit more than I do now. Know what it was down to? Laziness. I couldn't be bothered too cook healthy foods so just ate snacks and quick food like pizzas and ready meals. Didn't exercise cos I would rather have sat and watched TV or played on the xbox/pc.
Laziness.
No complex social problem. Laziness.

Often the most obvious reason is the correct reason. Don't try and tart it up to being a more complex issue. A lot of people are fat because they are lazy. End of.