Fat and proud?

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

I go for a more neutral response to the fat thing.

On the one hand, I believe in not being a dick to people. If someone is overweight, I'm not going to bring it up in casual conversation or tell them what they should and shouldn't be doing.

On the other hand, being fat is, with some exceptions, a choice. It's a choice that generally drains more medical resources. It's a choice that makes the person unattractive to many people.
The choice is fine, but the people that make it need to learn to live with the consequences. Certain things are attractive, other things are not. While I agree that people should generally have more realistic expectations about future partners, if we didn't all dream bigger than our means, we would never progress. Striving for perfection leads to better things.
As for judgement, we all make judgements. And that's fine. When I see a grossly overweight person, that tells me they have a lack of physical discipline or ability. It's no different than seeing a wedding ring on someone and assuming they're married.
The problem with having pride in absolutely everything we are no matter what is it tethers us to the past. It prevents us from changing and from evolving. Not everything about us is good. We shouldn't be proud of everything we are. That's what being human is about. Changing. Evolving. Improving.

Actually after rambling, I take back my initial statement. I go for the negative response. Fat pride is a bad thing. I still stand by the "don't be a dick about it" statement, though.

 

[Captain Kips]

Fat is beautiful. Look at Jim Sterling for FUCK SAKE! YOU PEOPLE... UGH!

I think people should care more about their health but that doesn't excuse being a twat.

 

[Eternal_Lament]

Speaking as a fat man, I don't get the whole fat acceptance movement.

I don't think a person should necessarily be bullied or ostracised for being overweight, as no one really deserves to be treated that way. Further, I personally am not ashamed of myself or my body. Would I prefer to be a healthier size? Of course I do, but I don't actively hate myself for not having a healthy body. That said, I don't get the notion from fat activists that by slimming down you are somehow betraying the cause or attacking another person's size. If an overweight person wishes to lose weight, their doing so shouldn't be interpreted as merely "internalizing" fat-shaming.

Besides which, of all the things to be proud of, why being fat? Again, I don't really see anything about my weight as something to be proud of, it's just a thing. Maybe it's because I personally don't like taking pride in a lot of things, even in things I should be positive about, but I still don't think having pride in one's body weight should be a thing. Pride in that department should come from overcoming an unhealthy obstacle, such as an overweight person reaching that healthy size they worked for, or the malnourished person that has put on some weight and is also at a healthier weight. It's natural to take pride in overcoming issues, but simply being fat isn't really overcoming anything. Some fat activists say that they are showing the world that you don't have to be skinny to be healthy or beautiful, but that's not really overcoming a personal obstacle so much as that's overcoming a perceived obstacle.

 

[HardkorSB]

Feminists complained about even the most ugly of men demanding DD breats and huge slammin' asses while also being thin. A thing that existed since twiggy became a famous model in the 60s.

Something that continues today.

They started a body acceptance movement to try to stop the man children from feeling they deserve a 20/10 woman because they don't exist in real life.

Yeah but making yourself thin like a supermodel is unhealthy so it's logical that someone would like to put an end to an unhealthy trend.
Being fat, no matter how you try to spin it, is also unhealthy. The "fat acceptance movement" or whatever we're talking about here is, among other things, trying to promote an unhealthy lifestyle and I think it's fine if you ridicule that kind of mentality.
If someone wants to be fat they can be fat but displaying it like some kind of achievement is dumb.

You can be overwheight and healthy you know.

Even assuming that you won't get any illnesses when you're overweight, your mass will apply greater pressure to your bones and joints than if you had optimal weight which may lead to complications, especially when you're older.

 

[Naqel]

Well, fat people have always been the easy target.

I feel like this wasn't meant to be a fat joke, but it still sounds like one. Either way: well played.

 

[tippy2k2]

Speaking as a fat man, I don't get the whole fat acceptance movement.

I don't think a person should necessarily be bullied or ostracised for being overweight, as no one really deserves to be treated that way. Further, I personally am not ashamed of myself or my body. Would I prefer to be a healthier size? Of course I do, but I don't actively hate myself for not having a healthy body. That said, I don't get the notion from fat activists that by slimming down you are somehow betraying the cause or attacking another person's size. If an overweight person wishes to lose weight, their doing so shouldn't be interpreted as merely "internalizing" fat-shaming.

I think you've nailed exactly the problem I've had with the Fat Pride Movement (and said it in a great way; something as I stated, I had trouble figuring out how to do).

There's nothing wrong with a group that feels like their being constantly attacked to say that they don't like that anymore. However, it seems to have pushed beyond that (or maybe it's just a small loud minority doing it) but it feels like it's gone to "I'm FAT and I'm PROUD of being fat". Not them having a normal self-esteem, not them being OK with how they look; they're proud that they are fat.

Does anyone remember the mild firestorm from the "What's your excuse?" lady?

Spoiler

There were plenty of people who lashed out at her for having the AUDACITY to be fit and her image was "Fat Shaming". A mother of 3 who is incredibly fit posted an "inspirational" photo of herself and her kids and she's the bad guy for making fat people feel bad? Some have argued her wording made it an "attack" on fat people (by using "What's your excuse", people can twist the words into saying it's your fault that you're a fatty) but that just feels like people looking for something to be pissed off about.

 

[SmallHatLogan]

I can point to the dick cutter feminists, but that doesn't mean all feminist cut dicks off.

Dick Cutter sounds like the name of a hard boiled detective on a cop show. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

On topic, I skimmed through her follow up article 8 Things I Learned From Writing An Article Critical Of Fat Acceptance [http://thoughtcatalog.com/carolyn-hall/2014/05/8-things-i-learned-from-writing-an-article-critical-of-fat-acceptance], and while most of it was what I expected, number 7 really stood out to me: "A lot of people believe their doctors are fat-shaming". Yeah, I get that some fat people have to deal with fat shaming on a regular basis, but seriously? A doctor informs you of how your weight will affect your health and now they're a bully? Give me a break.

 

[HardkorSB]

Fat acceptance is 2 things:

The tumblr bullshit from the morbidly obese. Which is still bullshit from tumblr. A site where standing in a elevator next to a stranger equals a rape attempt.

Ever notice how the original article doesn't point out the blogs and sites?

And feminists trying to stop entitled man children by supporting women with actual proportions instead of human barbies. Like that plus sized model with is still a 10/10 to normal people.

Which one do you think is more popular? They are very closely related and diversified from the feminist starting point, but who do you think has the higher membership?

The feminist side.

It's good that the feminist side is popular. I don't support any eating disorders, the ones that make you fat and the ones that make you skinny.

That's what i was talking about. People only see the morbidly obese ones from tumblr, but on the other hand people still cry bloody murder at feminists for taking away all the hot girls. So you get straw men by pointing to the crazies so they won't have to deal with actual feminists. Its the same type of argument against feminists when they criticize photoshop hotties. Which is the very same movement.

That they are "fat and ugly" so they have to make everyone "fat and ugly" in the media. Even though they are trying to stop it so little girls won't develop eating disorders trying to be what only computers can produce.

In my case, I find supermodels kind of off putting. Cute face with an ugly body.
Their bodies are also aging faster and getting damaged easier because of the lack of nutrients.
My kind of women look like this:

Spoiler

Before you might comment, it's not steroids, you don't need steroids to look like that, just hard work.
I think that the majority of our society has unhealthy lifestyles, a lot of which are reinforced by popular culture, and that makes finding women like the one from the picture very difficult (there are maybe 9-10 with similar physique in my city and it has over 600000 people).
I may be biased since I'm sort of addicted to a healthy lifestyle but this is one of those addictions that I can actually be proud of.

 

[Lotet]

Aww, I was hoping for a good feeling thread. Oh well.

I'm fat, 150Kg, about 330pounds I think. I was about 120 Kg in school. I'm not proud of being fat for it's own sake, what I've been proud of is what it has let me do. Does it annoy you somehow that I have good memories of being fat? I've personally had multiple occasions where I could throw my weight around. Those were simple, a "bully" bugs me and if he hasn't gotten away, I can crush him under my weight. Punching power is weak when you're a kid, being sat on is painful no matter your age, I can tell by their red faces. Then there's the more satisfying ones. Have you ever cast someone aside with a wave of your hand? Not a hit, they weren't hurt. Ever gotten kicked in the back and have the KICKER fall over? Happened TWICE to me with different kids. Had a strong kid be pissed off and held double doors shut while my class was moving to another room. Two kids in my class couldn't open the doors, I could on my own. A kid tried to steal my back pack while I was sitting down, but it was strapped to my arm, he had no chance at all of taking it. Been punched in the chest and just stood there, wondering if that was an attack, it was really that bad.

But I guess few people will ever understand the feeling of physically defending themselves from a bully and coming out on top. So you will never understand me and why my fat has shaped the person I've become in a way that isn't negative *gasp* can you believe it???

The problem is that I'm not in school so defending myself isn't an issue any more, now it's only a detriment. While I walked to school my leg muscles grew bigger and bigger, but right now, I may as well try to lose the weight, because it ain't helping me get stronger.

Still, I have some pride in being fat, enough that I will make a fat character in any game that gives me the option and be disappointed when I can't.

 

[IceForce]

Being fat is usually considered to be undesirable in most western cultures.
Just like how being gay used to be considered undesirable too (and still is, in places).

Any "Fat Acceptance Movement" is likely trying to copy the 'Gay Pride' movements, in achieving social acceptance.

Edit: Off topic, but how the hell are some of these captchas supposed to help at all? Asking about spending habits has no answer they can know to be wrong. That's not helping against bots at all.

They don't keep the bots out. That much is evident.

I keep getting captchas asking me to describe a brand with any words. And it'll accept literally anything I type in, even completely random characters.
There's no way that will keep out a bot, since it's so easily foiled.

Which leads me to suspect that the captchas might actually serve another more sinister purpose.
Either they're another way The Escapist gets ad revenue (due to all the ad captchas), or they're there to coerce people into purchasing a premium membership (which removes captchas), or both.

 

[mecegirl]

Well, fat people have always been the easy target. It's one of those things you can insult without feeling like a horrible human being (you still are).

I feel like Fat Acceptance is just wanting to be recognized as an actual human being and accepting the fact that you may not find 300 pounds people attractive, but just shut the fuck up about it and continue on with your life. Stop acting like you're 'worried' about their health, we all know it ain't true.

I personally think that Everyone Has A Right To Exist And Find Themselves Beautiful Acceptance would drive the point across, but as I said, when it's time to make a quick cheap joke, always go for the fattie.

This is how I feel about the situation. We can claim that its all about health but its really about appearance. What passes for looking healthy isn't always healthy. You can't tell what a person's eating or exercise habits are by looking at them. Some people just have higher metabolisms. I don't exercise nearly enough and plenty of people would think that I'm healthier than my roommate. I also have a bad habit of letting myself get to busy to eat three square meals a day. I'm the type of person who will eat cake for dinner or wake up at midnight to make chilli cheese fries.

Meanwhile, my roommate who would be classified as "overweight" is definitely more fit than I am. Even before her crusade to loose some weight (which even after she reaches her goal according to random charts she would still be ten pounds overweight)she ate better than me. And she has made it a personal goal to incorporate even more vegetables into her diet. She used to run all the time but life got hectic, now she's started up again and can run 3 miles a day. Her stamina increases monthly. I never run ever and my endurance is shit. But at first glance people would assume I'm the healthy one. No, I just have a high metabolism and happen to have a job that isn't sedentary.

Fat acceptance isn't simply about being 300 lbs and okay with it. Its about the fact that people considered overweight and beyond are negatively labeled despite their actions. And that folks love to put their noses in the business of folks that they don't know that well all to offer "advice". Some will even change the subject of discussion to do so. And that no matter how successful/talented you are in other areas someone will always bring it back to your weight. Anyway, I'm gonna post a link to a speech made by Gabourey Sidibe. It's not explicitly about fat acceptance but to me it gives a good outline of why such a movement exists. http://www.vulture.com/2014/05/read-gabourey-sidibes-ms-gala-speech.html

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Funny how people accept gay people and if they dont then they are considered evil homophobes. Yet fat people are seen as fair game? Personally we all know now that being over weight is unhealthy and if a person is happy then let them be the shape they are. An for people that are really obese then all the insults etc are just making them fell like crap and they will stay as they are. Kinda funny really that in the old days if a person was fat it showed they had wealth and could eat what ever they wanted and the skinny people were poor due to crappy food. Now its reversed.

Personally for me, i would rather date a bigger woman who is confidence and will eat a steak at a restaurant with me than a skinny woman obsessed with weight and orders a salad. Self confidence in a woman is the greatest, that and sense of humour. People need to accept who they are, if they want to be thinner, fine, then lose the weight if it makes you happy. A lot of woman (and men for that matter) nigh on kill themselves to attain a figure that "society" says we must aspire to be even though our body shape or genes make that impossible and will leave you miserable.

So i guess a little extra weight is fine, skin and bones sucks....we love a cuddle with substance instead of poked with ribs. But if your really fat and obese then while you may be happy its a good idea to lose a bit of weight just so you can lead a healthy and longer life with your friends and families.

Captcha said never gonna give you up. (Have been rickrolled by captua. lol)

 

[Terminal Blue]

3. ?Health at every size? seems physically impossible.
A big part of the Fat Acceptance Movement seems to be the idea of Health At Every Size, which advocates for a focus on healthy living, and not on body image. And in theory, this works, but its application is totally inconsistent. We acknowledge that someone who is anorexic is clearly not healthy at their size, and needs medical intervention, but we perpetuate the idea that a morbidly obese person could pursue an active lifestyle and remain at their size, and that saying otherwise would be ?shaming? them. The truth is that weight extremes on either end are not healthy, and using rhetoric to cover up their real danger is not helping anyone. Physically, you cannot be healthy at literally any size, and sparing someone?s feelings on the matter is not going to address their immediate medical concerns.

I get that hating on fat acceptance is the "in" thing right now, but this is a really extreme exaggeration of what HAES is about.

See, if you actually look at what the rhetoric is saying, you'll find that type of advice being given is actually really good advice for people to lose weight. The difference is that the goal is not conforming to some notion of what a normal size is, but simply finding ways to be more comfortable and healthy to the degree you actually want.

There seems to be this weird assumption that anyone (save perhaps some crazies buried in the bowels of the internet, and you can find crazies on the internet to say anything) is actually denying the connection between body weight and health. It's fucking obvious to any person who can't sleep because their own body-weight compresses their lungs or who gets out of breath climbing a flight of stairs that they're not healthy. Fat people are not too stupid to work it out, that in itself is the kind of weird pejorative assumption which fat acceptance is actually about challenging.

But trying to bully or scare people into losing weight doesn't work. Treating people like shit and then justifying it with some weird logic that you're actually helping them doesn't work. What's really fascinating here is that anyone still honestly believes it does. HAES is not about claiming that you can be so obese you can't walk and still be healthy, it's actually about approaching issues of healthy living in a non-judgemental way which doesn't assume that everyone is aiming for the same thing and is a failure if they can't reach it.

 

[Zhukov]

If being fat was just a matter of appearance, then sure. It's your body, do as you will with it and feel as you will about it.

If it was about people who were just a bit soft around the edges, then sure. A bit of body fat is normal and healthy.

Thing is, being hugely fat is really unhealthy. Eating yourself into an early grave is not something to be proud of.

I don't go out of my way to give fat people are hard time. Being fat sucks. I know it well. But if they try and tell me that it's something to be proud of then I'm going to laugh long and loud.

For context: I'm six foot tall and weigh 100kg (220 lb in the primitive tongue). I could stand to lose a good 10kg, at least. I'm about to eat a donut.

 

[Yan007]

Note: I'm speaking mostly from the side of men because I'm a man and it's my perspective.

I think it is perfectly fine for anyone , men and women, to be proud of being overweight and enjoying themselves that way. On the other hand, I find it ridiculous when I hear "fat and beautiful" or "beautiful curvy woman" because for most people fat is NOT beautiful. You can find yourself beautiful all you want, but at the end of the day you can't force others to find you beautiful even if you keep telling them how beautiful you are, meaning the statement "fat and beautiful" in itself is useless maybe except for yourself or others who already enjoy fat women.

Also let's not forget that for the extremely vast majority of people, being overweight is a lifestyle choice. When I see an overweight woman (or man, but I'm not THAT way so I care less), one of the first things that pops in my mind is not her weight itself, but rather how many other deep rooted issues she might have in life. Being overweight is often a symptom of other things and if a woman will let herself go like that, there is no telling what else is lurking.

I used to be obese 10 years ago and am now a bodybuilder and I'm training for the iron man triathlon. I had all the faults I attribute to most fat people such as laziness, sloth, being envious of others and having no "primal energy" or "drive" in life. Was I handsome when I was obese? Hell no. Did I think I was alright the way I was and girls should accept me the way I am? Of course! Did it work? Take a guess... The only women I used to attract with my looks and lifestyle where of poor character and extremely low quality. It took me years to get where I am today and everyday I work on building value and adding to who I am all the time.

Truth be told - the reason why people keep telling themselves "fat is beautiful" is because they don't have the character it takes to change their life and improve themselves. That's okay, not everyone is cut to be an astronaut, but we shouldn't be fooling ourselves.The men who commingle with women who display low value are of low value, display low value or don't know how valuable they are so they settle for less than they could. In their heart of hearts, %99.99999... of men truly would never pick an overweight or obese woman over a thin one, all things being equal. Men simply settle for the best they can get and unfortunately, the average woman is becoming less attractive and the average man is not working on increasing his value.

Sad. Really.

 

[michael87cn]

It's good to be 'tolerant' of other people, isn't it? I mean, really, if someone is larger than you, what are you going to do? Run up to them and explain how unhealthy they are, and that they need to change right now? Will you do that to Smokers, Alchoholics, etc? Will you go to hotels and stand outside, and advise people to not enter and have relations, because they might get STDs?

Nobody is perfect, so why do fat people have to be? I think it's fine to be 'tolerant' of fat people. The alternative is quite bad.

I mean, we all have our vices, and heavy people aren't hurting anyone. Are they hurting themselves? Yeah sure, but who isn't? Even skinny people shorten their lives by doing certain things. For example: gaming can shorten your life span by quite a lot. Sitting down for long periods of time, regardless of your body weight, is extremely bad for you. It's bad for your blood circulation and it can really take a toll on your health. You can even die if you sit down for too many hours in succession.

There's also the fact that there are heavy set people with healthy pulse and blood pressure levels. If you can maintain that, then it doesn't matter if you are fat because your body is capable of handling it.

People get too concerned with appearances. Really, it boils down to vanity. In my opinion if someone isn't accepting of you because of your body, they're vain, and they'll only find vain people to be interested in them. IMO, the first thing you should look for in a relationship is a healthy mind, and a friendly, helpful personality. You can have a smoking hot girlfriend, but if she's a total biotch? What kind of life are you going to have? I'd rather spend the rest of my life with someone I can get along with, than someone I can bang once or twice a week and feel 'good' about myself.

 

[Anti Nudist Cupcake]

The movement is born out of insecurity. These people don't feel particularly attractive, they feel judged and they are trying to convince others that they should, in fact, be seen as attractive and healthy humans.

It's how they cope, talking about your body is easier than changing it.

 

[shootthebandit]

In their heart of hearts, %99.99999... of men truly would never pick an overweight or obese woman over a thin one

I dont think that is true (either that or im the 0.000001 percentile) I think in a lot of cases overweight women can be very attractive. I think obese is a different issue but certainly an overweight woman can look amazing. It just depends on the person

 

[Phasmal]

It really depends on what you mean by `Fat`.
People define weight very strangely sometimes. Weight and health are not the same thing.
I used to be underweight because my metabolism is quite strange and I was always praised for being skinny even though I was super unhealthy.

Now I'm in my `ideal weight` zone for my height, though I don't work out and I'm not really healthy in my eating habits, but because of the way my weight sits on me, I'd like to lose a bit.

So honestly I think what the fat acceptance movement is and should be is- basically, mind your own business!
People's bodies are very different and you (mostly) can't judge someone's health just by looking at them.
So being mean about people's weight just makes you look rude and nasty.

 

[masseyguy911]

Fat people are an easy target, I should know I was overweight as a kid and just about every other kid reminded me on this fact. Saying "I am fat and proud!" is a defense mechanism, it is a lot easier to say that than to attempt to lose weight. I am the person who would say "I'm fat and could stand to lose a few pounds..." but, that would not mean I am proud of who I am, I just take no pride in my fat.

Honestly, at the end of the day if you can say that you are happy with who you are, how you look, and where you are in life, isn't that the most important thing?