Fat Acceptance

nixx

Full Member
I didn't know where on the site to post this, so put it in here because I read Lighter Life threads avidly (you're all very interesting!).

This Don’t You Realize Fat Is Unhealthy? « Shapely Prose is an.... interesting..... site. I wasn't aware of the Fat Acceptance movement until I found the site through a link on The Times Online. Have a look, but don't dare to post disagreeing with the lady who runs the site. She'll come down on you like a ton of bricks (no pun intended!). She, and her followers, seem very aggressive to me. I'd be interested to read your reaction and comments.
 
Thanks for posting that Nix, I havnt got time to read it now but it will do for later.

Congratulations on your fab weight loss and feel free to post on here anytime. Although it is called the LL thread it is basically full of supportive people doing anything to get healthy.
 
Some of the stuff on this website is quite interesting.

Ofter thin people are thought to be healthier but just because someone is thin doesn't mean their arteries aren't clogged up with cholesterol leading to heart disease. Lots of smokers tend to be slimmer because they substitute cigarettes for food and so their insides can be really unhealthy but you just can't tell from the outside.

Personally, logic tells me that if you are carrying stones and stones of extra weight then you will put greater strain on your heart, kidneys, pancreas etc but there will always be exceptions to the rule and some huge people will no doubt live very long, healthy lives. I also tend to think that some fat does help you battle illness - let's face it if you were losing weight dramatically with, say, cancer, I think you'd stand a better chance of survival if you were carrying some extra weight.

I saw one of the Jamie Oliver programmes recently where they did an autopsy on a 20 odd stone man and the volume of fat in his chest was really high. The guy carrying it out couldn't even find the man's heart at first. The lungs had been squashed because the person's diaphragm had been pushed far higher up the body than it should be because of the fat on their torso. Having seen this and knowing what the breathing of some very overweight people sounds like I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised.

On the whole I think both fat and the lack of it will cause differences in health and I think that probably both arguments are perhaps equally valid.

On the subject of BMI - I think the system has it's faults because it dosn't take into account the muscle mass of the more athletic in society and could rate those people as overweight. Also, somebody has generated the system based on average calories needed by people just for their organs to function and any system based on averages is always going to be way out for some. (There is no way I have ever been able to eat 2000 calories a day and not put masses of weight on - but maybe I'm the exception that proves the rule).

It is good that websites, such as the one we are guided to in this post, exist as it wouldn't do if we all blindly accept all the stuff that is given out by the so-called experts.

For instance, on here (and I'm not saying I disagree) but a sticky is put on about, say, water and we understand some of the argument for drinking so much of it and just go along with it. Someone else asks a question and we regurgitate what we have been told or read because we tend to agree even though we aren't scientists and haven't really the ability to be able to prove/disprove it. We spread the word as if it is the gospel.

I tend to like things where general beliefs are questioned.
 
Thanks all for having a look.

I don't for a minute dispute that there are thin, unhealthy people and fat, healthy people. What I don't like about the fat acceptance movement is their seeming inability to accept that not everyone thinks the same, despite the fact that they want acceptance for their views. They say "diets don't work" - yes they do, they help you lose weight, that's wht they are SUPPOSED to do. It's what we do AFTER a diet that doesn't work. The diet itself sets out to help you lose weight, and if you do it properly, it does. It's maintaining that doesn't work, because we tend not to do it properly i.e. learn from our previous mistakes/bad habits. OF COURSE if we start eating like we did before, we'll end up like we did before. That's no reason to say the actual diet doesn't work.

I might be wrong, and admit to not having done very much reading, having only just stumbled across it recently.

I, and people who don't subscribe to their views to the letter, am very shallow though, according to them. I can accept fat, and fat people, and their views about health (how could I not, being a former fattie?). My main reason for losing weight, though, was for my appearance. There, shoot me, I'm shallow!!! I don't care, I REALLY AM HAPPIER, but they don't believe me!

ANd yes, BMI is rubbish, and if I ate 2000 calories a day I'd put on a stone in a week. I kid you not :-(
 
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Thanks for posting that Nix, I havnt got time to read it now but it will do for later.

Congratulations on your fab weight loss and feel free to post on here anytime. Although it is called the LL thread it is basically full of supportive people doing anything to get healthy.

Thank you, and well done to you too, you're WELL on your way!
 
Thanks Nixx, very interesting reading. I disagree with just about everything she has to say...particularly

3. What’s more, those groups do not represent anomalies; no one has proven that fat people generally eat more or exercise less than thin people.

If she is correct...why are there no fat people in famine stricken areas of the world?

A lot of overweight people don't want to admit how much they actually do eat...which is ridiculous because you can only address the problem once you admit (at least to yourself) where you are going wrong. I know I am overweight coz I frequently binge eat and the amount of food can stuff down during a binge is flabbergasting...sometimes 3000 cals a go.

I do however agree with her point "Human beings deserve to be treated with dignity and respect" . And for me that applies to all humans regardless of weight /sexual prefrences /colour /creed etc.

However I do believe girls are sooooooo better than boys. :p

Boo x
 
I had a 'friend' in the a couple of years back. She runs a famous 'fat acceptance' website. She has done the yo-yo diet thing, the gastric bypass, the whole nine yards, and has decided that fat but fit is the way forward. Fine, if she can apply this to HER life only and not to the lives of those around her. She can't always do that.

She is passionately opposed to WLS and since she has had friends who have died young as a result of bypass complations I can't blame her for this prejudice. I know a few people currently suffering all kinds of hell following complications. But that is another issue entirely.

Her basic argument is that you can be fat yet fit. She is very large but walks daily, works out with resistence-type things and has within normal-range heart rate and blood pressure. So far, so good. But she is in my opinion morbidly obese. If she is happy with that, again, fine. I was not happy, and could never be. I have been there and did NOT like the view from the bridge!

The problem with people who come over all 'evangelical' about their particular interest is that many seem to demand that we all fall in line o or else.

Personal choice - informed choice - is the key factor here. We must be free to make our own decisions and follow our own path, provided that we are told the truth about the pros and cons and possible risk factors of whatever 'diet' or meal replacement or any other plan we should decide to follow.

Why do so many others forget the principle of live and let live?
 
Good point GG - Live and let live.

I read the articles on the link - very interesting. If I could be happy fat I would be. But I'm not and its no-ones fault but mine. No one makes me feel bad about my weight apart from me.

Physically I feel soooooooooo much better lighter, so that's what i'm aiming for. It's like my hair, I feel better blonde, so no way would I make it dark to fit in, in anyway.

I like the idea that these sites do exist to support those who feel unable/unwilling to go on dieting. support is support, it has to be good.

The joy of it is we are all different; Minimins and that site prove that; one will appeal to some and not to others.

I believe we all make our own choices and then we live with the results. End of.
 
I’ve only done a very quick scan of the article, but these things always make me sigh:sigh:. I'm saddened that the point has to be made at all:(

It’s not up to anyone to judge how another person looks. Whether it’s healthy to be fat, thin, ‘normal’ have two heads, blue eyes, or whatever, it has nothing to do with anyone else.

Fat people are criticized under the guise of ‘Only worried about their health’. Like heck they are. If that was the case, why isn’t their more discrimination against the smoker, which is much more unhealthy.

I never hear people say that they are bullied for smoking, or that people look at them in disgust etc. Smokers might be pitied, and the non-smoker might move away from the fumes, but they are treated very differently from the overweight.

So, I can’t say that I accept fat people, or vice versa. It would be like asking you if you accept people with blue eyes, or brown hair. It’s just not something that we should be concerned about.

The most important thing is that a person can accept themselves. That is all that should matter. Whether they are thin or overweight, it is nobody else’s business but theirs. (Well…except perhaps close family and friends who would mourn their passing)

If you can accept yourself whatever size you are, it’s that much easier to move forward to a better way of caring for yourself. I’m not talking about denial, or accepting that you are fat, end of story, nothing needs doing, but not judging yourself. Instead, being able to see things as they are now without self-criticism, so that you can move forward to make things even better.

After all, if you hate your body, then it’s easy to fall into the trap of abusing it.
 
Just had a scan through the link myself as well and basically also go with the thought that it is about how YOU feel as a person and what YOUR definition of being happy and accepting yourself is :)

I agree with what Barb said here about not being happy and fat. That's me too.....and boy have I tried over the years to convince myself that I was, :rolleyes: but No, it's not the way forward for me personally.

I guess it's just about respecting each other choices at the end of the day, supporting them the best you can and not trying to influence them based on your own values and principles:confused::D

Off me soap box now.....:rolleyes::D:D:D:D:D#


Lacey...xx :)
 
what YOUR definition of being happy and accepting yourself is :)

That's very true. I had a real problem with self-acceptence for a long time. For me, I thought it meant I had to look at my body (god forbid:eek:) and I had to believe that I loved the glorious fat.

I thought that if I accepted it, it would mean that I wouldn't want to change it.

It didn't work like that though. I decided that I was okay. Not perfect by any means, but I didn't have two heads (no offence meant to those that do;)), my body had stood up to a load abuse and still ticked along (how fab is that!!!!), that I was still walking (just about). It was pretty darn amazing really.

I stopped hating it. How could I hate something so blooming incredible?

I started having faith in it and since I wore this incredible 'suit', I had a responsibility to look after it. I also tried to look as others see me. My friends, my family. If they accepted me warts and all, why couldn't I accept myself?:confused:

I found it was much easier to care for something that I could accept 'warts and all', then something I hated. I no longer had to run away from myself. That made me yoyo diet, because it was so darn difficult to keep up 24 hours a day.

doesn't mean to say I liked being fat, or that I would ever want to again, just that there are areas that I can improve on, because I'm worth it ;)
 
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