Posted on 01/03/2022 8:23:46 AM PST by Mariner
In American culture, it's bad to be fat. Rarely is this more apparent than at the start of the new year, when diet culture, fat phobia and capitalism converge. Exploiting body shame and people's desire for renewal, weight loss companies ramp up ads, gyms reduce rates and diet companies promise to help people realize the elusive goal of weight loss that lasts.
Sociologists and medical professionals who treat patients using a model of health at every size say this yearly cycle underscores society's obsession with thinness and fuels dangerous misperceptions about the relationship between weight and health.
"I tell patients right off the bat, 'I'm not going to focus on your weight,'" said Dr. Greg Dodell, whose practice is based in New York City. "And first thing they say is, 'Oh my God, what a relief.'"
January's anti-fatness may be cloaked in wellness and body positivity, but its core message to potential customers is the same it has always been: Their body is not good enough, and they have not been disciplined enough to lose weight. Sociologists say that message also suggests weight and health are solely the product of individual choices rather than the result of sexist, racist and classist systems.
"People are doing this to avoid the social stigma, the economic stigma, the moral stigma of being fat or just not being as thin as they could be," said Natalie Boero, a sociology professor at San Jose State University and author of "Killer Fat: Media, Medicine and Morals in the American Obesity Epidemic."
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
There's a will and there's a won't. Take your pick and then live with the results. But don't lie to yourself.
I’m fat because I can’t keep my mouth shut.
qwerty1234 wrote: “There is no such thing as being fat and healthy. Doesn’t mean everyone should be anorexic either - but if you are carrying around the equivalent of a small child in excess weight, you are unhealthy. Period.”
I lost 80 pounds. Gained 20 pounds muscle mass. My dietician recommended that I add some fat back, I was to lean for my age.
Light but consistent daily exercise of lifting weights and walking/sprinting.
Eating reasonably. 2000ish calories a day. Take it easy on the carbs/starches. Avoid sugar.
Easy peasy.
“...but just admit you are fat, and unhealthy - don’t try to convince everyone is it’s just a perception problem - it’s not.”
The appearance of being overweight is not the perception of the person of size, it is the perception of the person critical of the person of size. It is the same problem with many different, so called, problems in our society. If a person is a color, then perception from some, many times too many, is that they are radicals and want to cause pain so they should be feared. If a person is a religion, then they are to be feared. If a person has a different political belief, then they are a threat. There are many more but each one is a conditioning, not necessarily a reality.
We come out of the womb a blank slate. We don’t see race, wealth, or political belief any more than we see that pooping in our diapers is wrong. We are taught what to fear rather than embracing the possibility. So, it isn’t even our perception, it’s someone else’s.
There is no standard of anything that is not controllable. And there are many things that aren’t that people still have strong opinions of. Health is one. We are taught that health is the key to happiness...along with money, power, and control of life. (Sounds like God, doesn’t it) But happiness is a perception that should only belong to the person in question and is personal. So what other people feel about me, for instance, matters very little.
“don’t try to convince everyone is it’s just a perception problem - it’s not.”
We each have our own perception along with opinions, don’t we? If I don’t attempt to force mine on you, thus making no difference to you, then why is your perception of my happiness an issue with me? I lived my life. Now I settle down with my memories and my content or unhappiness. Either way, it matters little to anyone except me. So whose perception are we working with?
wy69
While being fat is not healthy, neither does being thin by default mean you are healthy.
Someone who is naturally thin can have a very unhealthy diet and lifestyle because they don’t see the need to eat well or exercise.
I agree.
Fat is unhealthy, period.
Fat is unsightly, ugly.
Being fat is a choice.
Common sense and non-sensationalized clarity of insight is out of vogue these days. Being too fat or too thin is not healthy or balanced. Unless some medical issue is prevalent the biggest issue is self discipline or lack thereof. Eat less or more and whatever the results the individual owns it. Attempting to justify bad behaviors and habits or blaming others is simply a loser mentality. Plenty of that these days.
I lost 40 pounds over a year. I’m still working on the last 10.
Blood pressure is down, stomach issues are gone, energy is up; I feel great!
I did it the same way you did. It doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. What is takes is commitment and self-discipline.
“100% of the time is is consuming more calories than expended.”
You keep repeating that but you are wrong. The laws of thermodynamics apply to a closed system, and our bodies are not closed systems. Furthermore, our body’s efficiency and how it stores energy and processes food is heavily affected by hormones.
I’ve used the calories in/out theory to diet my way down to 125 lbs - a 5’8” male - without losing much of my belly fat. And no one with their hormones out of whack can stay on a limited calorie diet forever.
What HAS worked, and worked extremely well, is a combination of Keto and Intermittant Fasting to get my insulin under control. At 155 - 30 lbs heavier than my lowest weight counting calories - I don’t have ripped abs but I can see them! No counting calories. Almost no carbs and almost no fiber. But Keto and IF resulted in a long-term weight loss (from 185).
Yes, my calories also came down - but they came down because I wasn’t hungry and because I could cut calories without severe headaches and feeling weak. After 4 years, my calorie count is probably half of what it once was - a guess since I don’t count them - but I EAT LESS BECAUSE MY BODY DEMANDS LESS.
This is a critical point:
I EAT LESS BECAUSE MY BODY DEMANDS LESS.
Huge difference. This “People are fat because they have no willpower” is BS. Many of us fat people were tired of diets because we had tried them all AND FAILED. Give a fat person a way of eating that will cause them to drop weight without agony and you’ll find a lot of fat people have exceptional willpower - and will become FORMERLY fat people!
I spent 50 years following the government approved approach to eating. Endorsed by doctors all over the place. And for 50 years, dieting a half dozen times a year kept me at the edge of obesity. The thing I am most bitter about government is the government guidelines and approved eating caused me to struggle against obesity almost my entire life!
Now I’m eating things I like - between noon and 6 pm most days - and I’m in the best shape of my life. In my 60s. But it was NEVER about not trying or not having discipline. It was due to being LIED TO about how to lose weight.
https://www.youtube.com/user/lowcarbdownunder/videos
https://www.youtube.com/c/DietDoctorVideo/videos
I don’t disagree at all, Mariner. I hope I didn’t come across as an excuse (that they can’t help it)
My focus was on the gaslighting done to try and make people feel guilty for not buying into the “Fat people are just as beautiful and you are hateful for not accepting it” narrative.
The problem is the less calories you consume, the less calories you expend as the body goes into ‘starvation mode’. Also, where is it getting the fuel from, muscle or fat?
The most woke filled weight loss article I’ve ever read, but then it is from the yuks at Yahoo.
“A fat society is a visually ugly society.”
Ours is a visually ugly society because the women dress like men and the men dress like slobs.
Not to mention the disgusting tattoos.
'Phobia' is Greek for 'fear'. But this reaction isn't fear at all -- that's a belittling pejorative.
The correct word for this is ai̱día, which is Greek for 'disgust'.
Fat-phobia, homophobia, islamaphobia, ad nauseam. It's not fear, media lackeys, it's disgust. A plain, simple and natural reaction to something that is to be avoided, and certainly not worthy of praise.
I wonder why?
Could it be due to resultant knee and hip replacements, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart problems, etc.?
Which most likely now the taxpayers will be on the hook for, in addition to the increased insurance premiums.
As a volunteer firefighter we sometimes get calls to do EMS assist which is usually helping a crew get a biggie in the ambulance.
About 4 weeks ago we had one, it took 5 of us about 20 minutes to move the patient approx. 6 feet from the bathroom to the kitchen. Patient had to be about 550.
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