Weekend Open Thread
I saved a bunch of posts as drafts, including this one, and Blogger deleted them. Thanks a lot Blogger! Now all my great Red Sox jokes are gone forever. Aah well. I'll just post this quote from The Fat Diaries, and invite you to comment on it as you will!
Usually an "open thread" seems to be "just say whatever" but that never quite makes sense to me. So, here's a quote for you to read (from someone who has lost over two hundred pounds so has certainly "been there") and then you can just say whatever!
"The more I thought about these size acceptance groups, the more annoyed I got.... as I dove into their website, I found a lot of propaganda, lies, and misinformation... You're talking about a physical characteristic and one, by the way, that can be changed. Unlike other protected classes, you do have the power and the ability to change your weight. I don't give a damn what any size acceptance organization says. If you're morbidly obese, it's because you eat too much... God didn't make you that way; YOU made yourself that way. Just admit that, there is no harm or foul in saying it. And don't give me that crap about how you don't eat much either and how all of your friends and family say the same thing. You may think you're fooling everybody by not eating a lot in front of them, but they don't know about everything you eat when you're alone. "
Usually an "open thread" seems to be "just say whatever" but that never quite makes sense to me. So, here's a quote for you to read (from someone who has lost over two hundred pounds so has certainly "been there") and then you can just say whatever!
"The more I thought about these size acceptance groups, the more annoyed I got.... as I dove into their website, I found a lot of propaganda, lies, and misinformation... You're talking about a physical characteristic and one, by the way, that can be changed. Unlike other protected classes, you do have the power and the ability to change your weight. I don't give a damn what any size acceptance organization says. If you're morbidly obese, it's because you eat too much... God didn't make you that way; YOU made yourself that way. Just admit that, there is no harm or foul in saying it. And don't give me that crap about how you don't eat much either and how all of your friends and family say the same thing. You may think you're fooling everybody by not eating a lot in front of them, but they don't know about everything you eat when you're alone. "
5 Comments:
Well, my. That's certainly a broad and damning generalization.
I dissagree, in my personal case. And I have meticulous food and exercise logs to back me up. And if she wants to say that I lied in my logs, like one unsympathetic physician, well, whatever.
I'm a celiac and have PCOS and low thyroid besides. G-d ade me this way. I can eat 1200 calories a day on a low fat diet and exercise very, very hard (45mins a day at target heart rate plus another 45 mins of warm up/cool down and strength training) and lose nuthin'. If I don't exercise, I gain steadily at 1200 cals-- if I'm eating mostly carbs.
If I eat a 1600 cal diabetic sort of diet with restricted carb intake, (virtually no grains, but lots of fruits and veggies) at that exercise level the weight falls off of me. But it was a long hard battle learning that, and I defied a lot of things that were thought of as metabolic certainties figuring it out.
At this point I am heavy because I make me so as much as because G-d did, because I have not had the self discipline to maintain the strict diet & exercise regimen through pregnancy and early mommyhood. But I'm losing again, and improving diet and exercise. So I'm hopeful that I'm back on the wagon.
So, what she says may be true for lots of folks. But there are at least some of us out here for whom it is not so easy.
The quote above is from a much longer and one of the more interesting posts Marybeth made to her blog, "TheFatDiaries." And if you take the time to read her archives, then you will see she does indeed know whereof she speaks.
My own response to her post on her blog:
"Right now I am a few pounds shy of morbid obesity and it's for sure I didn't reach this point by making healthy food choices and getting a reasonable amount of exercise. With truely rare exceptions, people who are physically active and eat healthy portions of healthy foods do not become morbidly obese. They don't become obese at all. Sometimes they are "overweight," but not seriously so.
Yes, i have an underactive thyroid for which i take meds daily. And Major Depressive Disorder, for which I also take meds daily. Yes, these two conditions make it difficult to lose/avoid gaining weight. But that doesn't mean i might as well throw in the towel!
Fer pete's sake, folks! Junk food tastes like crap! Eating until stuffed is time-consuming and recipe for a tummy ache.
I mean, really. Ya know?"
(endquote)
(Quoting myself feels so weird.)
I totally agree with that quote.
I weigh 308lbs and I know it was my doing. I also want to lose the weight because it's unhealthy for me to be this big....but....I don't care if I'm never super model thin, and I don't see anything wrong with carrying a few extra pounds or being a size 14 or 16 or whatever. When it starts to colour every aspect of how you run your life, it's not Gods doing or how you were born, it's denial.
Nope, I just gotta disagree.
S/he is an expert on HER experience, not mine. Nor that of anyone else. I'm with Samsarra, I have the exercise and food logs to prove it, and NO I'm not lying, to myself or anyone else.
I'm not trying to invalidate this person's opinions, just point out that one fat person cannot speak for all. We can help each other a lot by sharing our experiences, but this is not a one-size-fits-all situation. I'll go so far as to say I believe there is not just one single cause of obesity that's the same for everyone, and so there's no reason to think that there is a single "cure" either.
As far as size acceptance - I'm a strong supporter of the concepts. I think it's absolutely vital to anyone trying to lose weight to develop a healthy body image at ANY weight. At ALL weights. I have a caveat, though - I think some of the opinions expressed at NAAFA are effed-up in an extreme way. That's just my opinion, but for that reason I wouldn't use that group as an example of healthy size acceptance.
I would say that those comments are true for the vast majority of people, speaking both from medical studies and personal observation. As far as acceptance goes...
Where I really differ with a lot of the FA groups is in the type of acceptance. I think that its important - vitally important - that people realize that someone who's morbidly obese is not a "bad" person. Or at least, not necessarily a bad person - that their weight has nothing to do with it. Its most important that the person suffering with the extra weight realize that.
However. That does not mean that someone carrying 150 extra pounds is not fat, overweight, and out of shape. Again, remember, I'm not saying "bad" - but hey, its not a healthy condition. It may or may not be easily reversible - but its still not healthy.
So that forms my opinions around a lot of other areas too. Should an airline be able to deny you access to a flight because you're fat? Of course not. Should they make extra-wide seats available at their expense because of it? Nope, not that either. Is it reasonable to ask someone to buy an extra ticket if they take up more than one seat from the midpoint of the armrest on each side of them? Yup. But its not because they're bad people - its just because they need the extra space that other people don't.
Big difference.
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