Fat Shaming Leads to Obesity

Washington Post Article

Primary Source

This makes sense to me on an intuitive level, because if you violate someone, you take away all credibility you have to them and you encourage them to defy you by doing the exact opposite of what you desire. In addition to this, obese people probably already have issues with depression and may suffer from some type of eating disorder, so, in the words of our modern society, this might "trigger" them to return to behavior that is comfortable for them.

If someone out there is obese and is caught in a self-destructive cycle, just know that at any given time you are a moment away from taking the first step you need to take to solve your problems. It might seem like a very gradual process, but remember, it took you years and years to become obese, so six months to two years of remedial effort is actually a drop in the bucket compared to either the time it took you to gain the weight or the rest of the life you'll have to live without it.

I've been grotesquely obese before in my life, and I can assure you, your skin returns to a much more natural state than you might otherwise assume at first. Only in rare cases where people gain and lose weight repeatedly over years does it seem that skin begins to lose its elasticity. For most people who have never been thin to begin with except maybe in childhood, your body has an amazing ability to return to a state of overall well being.

You are worth the investment. You'll be amazed at how many horizons and opportunities are expanded by the simple act of getting into a healthy shape.

a reply to: Nechash

Your title seems off. If you're fat shaming, isn't the implication you're already obese?

But to the point. Shaming anyone rarely works for anything. The best motivations always come from inspiration.

Your a troll

The real reason we are getting more obese people is because all the chemicals and unnatural foods can't be detoxed and these toxins need to be stored in a cell or they cause problems. Now if you have a super liver and kidneys and proper function of your skin, you can detox. The problem comes from chemistry that reduces the function of these organs ability to detox. It is in our foods, air, and soaps. The combinations are way too much to even fathom trying to fix.

originally posted by: ReVoLuTiOn76
Your a troll

What about his Troll?

originally posted by: Shakawkaw

originally posted by: ReVoLuTiOn76
Your a troll

What about his Troll?

Ha! Nice. It took me a second there...

"You didn't lose, Tommy. You're the last winner."

...is what this sounds like. Can't hurt anyone's feeeelings now, can we? I don't know how people expect to be able to handle the world if they never learn how to deal with assholes. Or how to deal with not being that princess or rock star our culture told us we should be.

I found the framing of the problem (as "discrimination") in the article rather amusing:

Not only do people who report day-to-day discrimination not lose weight, they actually gain weight.

Discrimination, of course, implies that there is an oppressive majority doing the discriminating.

But almost everyone in this country is fat. So... it's fat people picking on fatter people?

What I don't understand is a trend I have been seeing, throughout the internet, with the younger generations is purposely gaining weight. They call themselves "gainers". They consume mass amounts of crap and then take and post pictures of their bellies and call it "food baby's". They take pride in how fast they are gaining weight and milestones are when they blowout buttons or seems in their clothes.

They don't comprehend the atrocities of what they are doing to their bodies and the horrible long term health problems they will face in the future. It pains me to watch these beautiful young children commit slow suicide.

a reply to: loam

I saw at least a dozen newspapers, mainly in the UK use that phrase when describing this article, so I thought I'd just parrot it for them. Isn't that how journalism works nowadays?

a reply to: ReVoLuTiOn76

I've been on the internet since netscape, geocities, irc, and newsgroups were the dominant trends. I've been a troll so long I might have forgotten how to sincerely contribute to anything. lol. This wasn't intended to anger people, so I'm honestly not trolling now, unless my trolling has become so advanced that even I'm no longer aware of it. Maybe, the deepest most secret part of me has begun trolling everyone, myself included. ;p

Consuming more energy than a body uses causes obesity. That is the reason every time.
There may be lots of psychological reasons why someone will consume more energy than they use but there are no fat people in sustained famine conditions so the 'medical issues' line is overwhelmingly BS for the majority of fat people.

I do not support condemning or insulting individual fat people, but they consume more energy than they use, and that is a personal choice, every time.
It's always 'someone elses fault' from food producers, big pharma, shaming, genetics, thyroid, blah etc, but an individual always chooses to consume more energy than they use, unless they are kids and then it is the fault of the parent/guardian providing the food regime.

People are fat because unhealthy food is cheaper than healthy food.

a reply to: Lyxdeslic
Oh, I forgot that excuse, I can only speak for the UK but there are cheap supermarkets within walking distance of pretty much every urban community here. The walk burns energy if you are too poor for a bus, and you can get cheap food if you want it. I always look at the fat people's shopping in front of me at the queue/line at the cashier, mine is cheap fish, meat, vegetables, and ingredients, but the fat people more often have processed foods, soda-pops, crisps (US-chips), chocolate biscuits etc etc.

The 'poor equals fat' is overwhelmingly a lie in the UK, you can eat more than comfortably and be skint in the UK, unless you want to eat thousands more calories of food than you actually need and burn off.

originally posted by: grainofsand
a reply to: Lyxdeslic
Oh, I forgot that excuse, I can only speak for the UK but there are cheap supermarkets within walking distance of pretty much every urban community here. The walk burns energy if you are too poor for a bus, and you can get cheap food if you want it. I always look at the fat people's shopping in front of me at the queue/line at the cashier, mine is cheap fish, meat, vegetables, and ingredients, but the fat people more often have processed foods, soda-pops, crisps (US-chips), chocolate biscuits etc etc.

The 'poor equals fat' is overwhelmingly a lie in the UK, you can eat more than comfortably and be skint in the UK, unless you want to eat thousands more calories of food than you actually need and burn off.

Eh, I've been tiny since I was a preteen so I don't really know. I walk everywhere (I refuse to get my drivers license) so if I eat something not very good for me, it does get burned off. I'm actually trying to even it out... I'd like to gain some weight. 110-115 would be a good weight for me.
Think about it though. The closest market to my home is a Krogers. They tend to overprice things a little here, but the next closest market is in another town. In this store, there is always a 10 for 10 deal on that processed canned beef ravioli. But a bag of cherries is six dollars. A person who doesn't have much money would rather have ten meals over a bag of cherries that might be a couple of snacks.
I wish I could find the article that I read a couple months ago. This woman decided she would buy fifty dollars worth of groceries for a homeless family. She took the mother, and the mother bought fresh things. Few processed not so good for you things, the fresh things were always more expensive.
I'm not saying that this is what happens in all circumstances, but the price in food does contribute to obesity pretty often. A person who doesn't have much money will buy more for cheaper even if that means that it's unhealthy. There are cheaper, healthier alternatives like rice, and macaroni but not everyone knows that.

a reply to: Lyxdeslic
That may be the excuse for the obese folk in the US, but as I said, I can only talk about the densely populated UK which has multitudes of cheap supermarkets within 2-3 mile walking distance in urban areas.

Even if all someone eats is high fat crap food, if they are using more energy than they consume, they will always lose weight. It is simple biology. I eat lots of high fat/corn syrup/processed junk foods in the week, but my work is physical and I burn the energy off. When I used to work a desk job I ate less as it was easy to gain weight while sitting on my arse all day.
Do you really disagree with any of that?
Does anyone?

*Edit*
I remember walking 4 miles to a particular supermarket and 4 miles back, when I was out of work and skint some years ago, solely because I could save so much money there. The exercise was good carrying the shopping home in a backpack, I also had the time to do it while looking for work, as any other out of work person has.

I'll concede disabilities will prevent that but obesity is not the preserve of disabled people, there are also those who make life choices which they know will make them fat.
As I said in my first post here there are psychological reasons at play in the majority of fat people which draws them to choose to eat more energy than they use. From lazyness to depression, and everything in between, it is psychological, and blaming anything else is generally incorrect.

a reply to: grainofsand

I can only speak for myself. Having taught Human Development in University for many many years, I know all the "proper" things to do. I also know that some people (like me) can do all the right things. I exercise for an hour 5 days a week, I eat a very balanced diet, I eat half or less than half than what my thin husband eats and I very gradually gain no matter what I do.

I had my thyroid checked, I'm fine, not diabetic, quite healthy for my age, except I am just over the line technically obese.

At several points my husband wanted to lose weight and I went on the same diet he did, one time he lost over 20 pounds while I lost zero. His family is mostly naturally thin. He even recently had gained and for some odd reason 20 pounds just "fell" off him, he went to the Dr. who could find no reason for it and said he was fine.

Both of my grandmothers were "barely" obese.

When my sister isn't starving herself (almost literally) she always pops up to my size, same with my mother who tends to starve herself (Fiber bar for breakfast, 1/2 sandwich for lunch, and a very tiny dinner).

One of my daughters was born very tiny like my husbands grandmother and has had two children and is still tiny and eats more than I do and works at a desk. My youngest who is on her feet all day is like me, has to eat very very very little or she will gain weight.

I suppose I could choose to starve myself and have less in then out, but when I eat like my sister or mother when they are dieting, I am irritable, hungry, snappy at everyone and generally unpleasant to be around or even be with myself, due to unrelenting hunger pangs - nausea - and a general weakness.

I choose to live happy, to eat less than my husband, a well rounded diet, to exercise and yes to be technically obese.

I think genetics does play a big part.

Those of you who have never struggled with your weight. Try eating a low calorie fiber bar for breakfast, 1/2 a sandwich for lunch, a cup of veggies, a piece of meat smaller than your fist and 1/2 cup grain and drink only water. Do that for several weeks, then tell us "fatties" how it is just mind over matter.

If you've never had to lose weight, you don't know what a diet does to your psyche and personality, and body. For me, it's not worth it.

originally posted by: grandmakdw
I suppose I could choose to starve myself and have less in then out, but when I eat like my sister or mother when they are dieting, I am irritable, hungry, snappy at everyone and generally unpleasant to be around or even be with myself, due to unrelenting hunger pangs - nausea - and a general weakness.

As I said, it is your choice to consume more energy than your body uses, it is just not an experience you consider pleasant.
I understand that, I'm just denying the 'blame everything except the fat person' thing, it is always a choice, unless we are talking about a child, and then it is the parent/guardians choice.

originally posted by: grainofsand

originally posted by: grandmakdw
I suppose I could choose to starve myself and have less in then out, but when I eat like my sister or mother when they are dieting, I am irritable, hungry, snappy at everyone and generally unpleasant to be around or even be with myself, due to unrelenting hunger pangs - nausea - and a general weakness.

As I said, it is your choice to consume more energy than your body uses, it is just not an experience you consider pleasant.
I understand that, I'm just denying the 'blame everything except the fat person' thing, it is always a choice, unless we are talking about a child, and then it is the parent/guardians choice.

You are right in the sense that I think life lived in semi-starvation is so unpleasant as to not qualify as living. When it makes me feel ill, my brain function goes way down, the brain in starvation mode is fighting and takes all it can from the body, leaving the body weak and tired, also the brain focuses on survival and not on the higher functions that make rational decisions and control emotions. It is wretched and for me to lose and keep it off I'd have to spend the rest of my entire life in this mode, tired, irritable, and nauseous.

a reply to: grainofsand

It is amazing, because they found the true difference between thin people and fat people on average boils down to something like 30 minutes of exercise and 300 calories per day. If the average obese person simply walked around the block and drank one less glass of soda each day, they'd be normal, statistically speaking.

a reply to: Nechash

I tell my wife (well soon to be wife on Dec 19th - but I always call her my wife cus we have been together over 10 years).. I tell my wife all the time she's Fat. she knows it. I tease her that when she dies i'm gonna eat good - BACON !

I do tease, but lovingly. I don't care that she's overweight and I tell her that often. She's right at 300 lbs and I currently weigh 110 lbs.

I tell her of the first poem I ever learned from a childs book. " Fatty and Skinny went to bed, Fatty rolled over and Skinny was Dead! - yeah.. it's funny but it could happen in our case LOL

She's lovingly called my "Squishy" because I love to put my arms around her at night - each and every night for over 10 years. Nope, I wouldn't trade her for Angelina Jolie - that ugly hag.

The amazing thing about her being 300 lbs is her total colesterol is at 128 which is Great and LOW, even for a skinny person. My levels are over 200 which is very bad. I used to worry about her heart but now not so much, she'll probably outlive me.

~~~~~~~~~~

I do disagree with the notion that people gain weight Always because they over eat or only eat unhealthy foods. there has to be something going on that science does not take into account. my gal is healthy, no thyroid problems or anything. For over ten years, we have eaten the same exact foods and the same exact portions. I do not gain weight, and she does. I do not currently work, I'm retired to enjoy my house and play video games. My gal works her butt off on her feet moving around constantly at her work. yet she gains weight.