Fat Acceptance Movement

[The Right Honourable Mlle Antéchrist]

I'm 5'6" and 201 lbs. Under BMI I'm obese. If the Fat Acceptance movement was just about doing away with unrealistic standards such as the BMI, I'd be all for it. But nooo, they're all about forcing everybody to accept being morbidly obese and eating McDonald's every day.

BMI isn't useless, it's just not the be-all-end-all of health. For an average member of the population -- someone who isn't extremely tall or short, isn't a body builder, etc. -- it's a decent assessment of risk factors for heart disease and so on, and used to aid doctors in practicing preventative medicine and analyzing cost/benefit for treatments and tests. The more someone deviates from the normal range, the higher their risks are (i.e., a BMI of 26 isn't a huge concern, but a BMI of 40 carries significant risks that can't be ignored). There are outliers, as always, but that doesn't make the system entirely useless.

[Svata]

I've got the opposite problem of most people. I'm 5'7" 110 lbs, and couldn't gain weight if my life depended on it. I knowI shouldn't complain, but it's just odd.

[Witchyjoshy]

I've got the opposite problem of most people. I'm 5'7" 110 lbs, and couldn't gain weight if my life depended on it. I knowI shouldn't complain, but it's just odd.

You could still be at risk for problems that are commonly associated with "fatness", depending on what food you eat and your activity (or lack thereof)

[Sylvana]

A part of me wants to like the fat acceptance movement, it really does.
Unfortunately I see far too many people in those movement who are just downright unrealistic. They demand that society see them as beautiful. Beauty is subjective, but a large part of it is an instinctive mate selection. Obesity can often cause complications in fertility, during pregnancy, and birth and so people have a natural instinct to avoid such mates. The same is true fro underweight people.
This does not even begin to mention how they demand they are healthy but suffer from many obesity related medical conditions, particularly join pains. I agree that BMI is inaccurate, and that it is possible to be heavier and healthy, but the majority of people in the fat acceptance movement I have seen are monstrously obese.

Then they use things like claiming that because of hypothyroidism or cushingtons you cant assume that fat people simply eat too much and dont exercise enough. Which is fair, until you take into consideration how rare those disorders are. The majority of obese people dont have any medical reason for their weight, but the fat acceptance movement gives them validation to continue their often extremely unhealthy lifestyle.

Loosing weight is hard, it is painful and our bodies are evolved to do everything in its power to keep eating as much high energy foods as possible. Our Brains are giant energy sinks, so we have evolved to try and consume as much energy as we can to keep out large brains functioning at peak capacity. In many regards high energy foods are like drugs to our brains. That is why we crave them, and especially why when going on a diet, our brains make us crave them even more. It even starts creating justifications for those foods, just like an addict would in any other withdrawal scenario.

The golden rules of weight loss have never really changed. Energy in must be less than energy out, metabolism and hormones aside, the laws of thermodynamics are absolute. Sure people need to understand that 100g of sugar is different to 100g of lettuce leaves because they both have different energy potentials. Even if you only eat lettuce, eat enough to exceed your energy output and you will still gain weight.

Back on topic though, I just feel that the fat acceptance movement is far more harmful than helpful.

[Witchyjoshy]

.......So what about the part where it's fighting against bullying fat people?

[Sylvana]

.......So what about the part where it's fighting against bullying fat people?

That's the part that's helpful.
Although, personally, I dont think we need to fight against bullying fat people. We need to fight against bullying. Fat people are just "other" enough for bullies to make an easy target out of them. If fat people become the majority then bullying will switch to being directed towards thin people. That is just human nature.

Also the fat acceptance movement also likes to classify bullying as telling someone who is obese there are overweight and facing health risks, even when that person is a doctor. That's not bullying, and detracts from the very real fat shaming and bulling that does happen.

[Sleepy]

Hypothyroidism is pretty common in women, but it's often undiagnosed because of lacking health insurance or lack of symptoms other than low energy and weight gain, both of which are associated with aging.

[mellenORL]

The anti bullying part is important. More so, is the anti-discrimination part. Whether a person is large from metabolism issues or from preferred lifestyle, size and physical fitness are not legitimate reasons to bar an applicant from the vast majority of jobs. Citing group insurance premium increases due to having obese employees on the company HMO plan is no longer an excuse since ACA passed, any more so than barring employment due to a candidate being considerably older than the majority of employees. Body type discrimination in the workplace was perhaps overlooked in the passage of the 14th Amendment and the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act); in the case of the former, relative obesity was not as prevalent as now, and flew under the radar. In the latter case, although obesity can lead to disability, the condition is not medically defined in itself as such, until it reaches the farther levels of morbid obesity, where the ability to stand and walk as required in a workplace are impaired. Some have argued that persons who are not morbidly obese due to damaged metabolisms should not have any consideration under ADA....but even following that "logic", why the fuck would alcoholism or drug addiction be covered by that law? Further, is not lifestyle preference also an element of freedom of expression>?

I strongly disagree with the loons who say it's good to encourage sedentary lifestyles for big people. That's harmful bullshit. We are not trees, we are motile organisms. But if a physically active, healthy obese person is bullied or discriminated against, that's obviously an injustice. It's also an injustice if an intentionally sedentary obese person is bullied or discriminated against in situations where their size and lack of physical fitness are not negatively affecting the safety and efficiency of their workplace or home or at the public space they are in. If one's home is one's castle, so is one's own body, surely!

[rageaholic]

I voted "needed".  Not that I'm aware of the movement and what it espouses (have a general idea), but I have been fed up with those who  treat overweight people as if they are diseased and need to be contained.  It's not just bullying, but it's bullying disguises as concern, which is 10 times worse because they feel morally justified in bullying others.  There's also a disturbing amount of apologists for shaming.  Their train of thought is that by treating those who have problems as pariahs, they can encourage others to be healthy.  That's just wrong.

I know there are probably loonys in the fat acceptance community (as there are with any group), but at least they balance out the shame apologists. 

[Witchyjoshy]

It's not just bullying, but it's bullying disguises as concern, which is 10 times worse because they feel morally justified in bullying others.  There's also a disturbing amount of apologists for shaming.  Their train of thought is that by treating those who have problems as pariahs, they can encourage others to be healthy.  That's just wrong.

This this, and this.

[syaoranvee]

I wouldn't accept a anorexic acceptance group, I'm not a accepting a fat one either.

[Witchyjoshy]

I wouldn't accept a anorexic acceptance group, I'm not a accepting a fat one either.

Of course.  Putting yourself in other people's shoes is just too much work.

[syaoranvee]

I wouldn't accept a anorexic acceptance group, I'm not a accepting a fat one either.

Of course.  Putting yourself in other people's shoes is just too much work.

Ja.
At my heaviest about 4 years ago, I was around 310 pounds.

Shit's scary when you can literally feel your heart fucking jump because of it at some random point in the day too.

[Witchyjoshy]

I wouldn't accept a anorexic acceptance group, I'm not a accepting a fat one either.

Of course.  Putting yourself in other people's shoes is just too much work.

Ja.
At my heaviest about 4 years ago, I was around 310 pounds.

Oh I see, so it's projected self-loathing then?

[syaoranvee]

I wouldn't accept a anorexic acceptance group, I'm not a accepting a fat one either.

Of course.  Putting yourself in other people's shoes is just too much work.

Ja.
At my heaviest about 4 years ago, I was around 310 pounds.

Oh I see, so it's projected self-loathing then?

Sure if you consider the fact that I literally hated myself for not doing something about it sooner before I could actually feel the examples of what being overweight was doing to me like one of the examples I put in the post above me.  Chances are I'll probably end up with problems later in life because of it.
So excuse me if I see the people behind this misguided at best if not actively encouraging people to their deaths at worst.  Because ultimately? The complications will get you eventually.