or people don't have to be assholes. i side with those being made fun of rather than those making fun.
oh brother. "sheer amount of hatred for fat people", please. This is the internet, people are judgmental assholes because they can be. Look at all the gay jokes and all the posts with "faggots" inside lingering around this forum (which is actually pretty good on that) and the Internet in general. You're just making it worse for yourself by trying to make such a huge deal about it and letting it affect you, when really, the level of s*** you should give is close to zero. What are you anyways, the advocate for the downtrodden obese people of America? This is a forum of mostly guys, that is discussing sports. A lot of groups get tramped on here---women, homosexuals, fat people etc. Honestly, you just look silly constantly defending the honor of fat people, or something like that. It's genetics, it's this and that, I get it. Move on already about it, you're no Harvey Milk or Martin Luther King Jr.
I've read through this thread and I don't blame Major Malcontent feeling the way he does. The truth is that even while our society gets fatter and fatter fat people are still ridiculed and all sorts of judgements are made about them that they are weak willed, hedonist or even immoral. There is a lot of hypocrisy in our society with Clutchfans being no different. We will have a thread celebrating fast food and then another thread making fun of fat people. Add on top of that ideal of beauty is waif thin so that a thread about plus sized models seems almost controversial even when most of those women are still thinner than the average American woman. Given all of the mixed messages and hypocrisy of our society around weight I am not surprised at all that someone who is admittedly overweight would feel offended. Its obvious that morbid obesity is bad and that as a nation we have a weight problem but I don't think ridicule is the way to go about solving it. Especially given that people self-medicate with food making some feel bad because they are heavy might just push them to gain even more weight. Stigmatizing the fat doesn't necessarily work to make people thinner. The reason why we are a fat society has to do with too many calories, too little exercise but the reasons why somebody might become morbidly obese there might be many reasons different for each person. Just generalizing that they are just lazy in might mask other problems. So while I think we can look at things that we should be doing as a society in general I think the approach to any individual is going to be different. Also one more point. We tend to obsess about weight and body shape in regard to health when that is a very poor measurement. You could have a BMI under 17 and still be very unhealthy and you could have a BMI over 27 and be healthy. For example: <iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8yVFFMPXjMY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Big Joe is the yellow belt and by most measures would be obese yet this guy is a former all state wrestler and is more than holding his own against an high level competitor. Also if you notice the two people who appear in the left of the video both of them are certainly heavy and even borderline obese but I suspect they are tougher than most Clutchfans posters.
condescending You are right about one thing, he shouldn't care, because it is obvious and true that the jackass level on the internet can be very high. That said, maybe you 'get it' but he's not the one who brings it up once a month, is he? You get it, but the title of this thread shows someone who not only seems to not get it, but is also all but asking for the insults and condescending remarks to begin. So many people love to get on a bandwagon and point at others, as if it makes everyone on the mob side perfect, if only for that moment of ridicule. We all have our issues. Some more serious than others. I agree, he should let it go, and probably shouldn't even bother with a thread like this, but I'm guessing he's hoping for dialog to replace prejudice and insults, and I'd say he has something to offer if it's a civil discussion. Just because "everyone's doing it" or "others are frequently offended" doesn't mean it shouldn't bother him or anyone else that might be offended by the recurrence of these threads and the increasingly negative and offensive attitude towards those in today's society with a weight issue. I'm not saying that there's no such thing as fixing a weight problem with effort and better diet, I'm not saying "fatties get a pass, why you hatin'," I'm saying judging everyone who's (x amount) bigger than you and treating them as a lesser person is not right. You (whoever) don't know them. You don't walk in their shoes. For the record, I could stand to lose a few but I am not obese. Which is probably part of what irritates me about this mentality, as it doesn't take much extra weight in today's society for everyone to treat you differently, and a great deal of that occurs at a level that has little or nothing to do with health, which is the guise under which many people these days, who are enamored by the media's portrayal of health, project their disapproval. It's to be expected, behaviorally, but I don't agree with it.
Did you know that there are shame based societies and fear based societies? Countries like Japan, Korea, China long used shame tactics to keep people in line While the majority of others used fear I guess what I'm trying to say is that ridicule works, but that doesn't mean a random stranger needs to be subjected to humiliation Shame societies execute discipline within themselves(family); seldom would strangers be involved... nor do they need to, because shame is instilled at a very young age and it works
That just means you have a high metabolism. If being obese had to do with genetics, then people all over the world would be fat. You wouldn't have such a difference in the statistic of overweight people in America compared to other countries. America is just fat and lazy for the most part.
Very well said! At the risk of bragging on the internet I am in pretty good shape and have lost about 5 pounds the past month, I have been eating more but since the weather is finally good in MN I have been biking a lot, so I am not coming to this as someone who feels persecuted for my weight. I am looking at this as someone who tries not to be judgmental but also as a coach who has dealt with people of all weights and body sizes.
I'm very familiar with those shame based societies and have lived in them before. IN fact Singapore used to publish names, addresses and pictures of overweight kids in the paper to shame them. While those societies are much thinner on average than the US they also have other problems including in some cases a high suicide rate. Also keep in mind that there are other factors in those societies that have kept them thin besides shame, such as a less sedentary lifestyle or less access to calorie rich food. In the case of the PRC though they are starting to see a rise in childhood obesity as their society develops. Finally keep in mind that shame isn't just used to keep people in shape it is used for a variety of things which I doubt most Americans would be willing to accept.
Having a high metabolism is partially a function of genetics. As I said before if you look society wise overeating and under exercising is the main reason as a society but among individuals genetics clearly play a role. There are many studies regarding the hormone leptin that clearly play a role in weight gain the mechanism to regulate the receptivity to that hormone comes from genes. Also keep in mind that genetics isn't destiny but is more about tendencies. If you lived in poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa even if you had the genes for weight gain you wouldn't if there wasn't enough calories to support you body mass.
You are correct about BMI being a bad judge of fitness. I am 5'8.5 and 169 lbs. I'm also about 8% body fat. However, my BMI is still at 25.3 which puts me as "Overweight." As to the video. Big Joe is incredibly skilled at grappling with his wrestling background and has an insane size advantage over his more "skilled" opponent. He also looks like he has a natural low center of gravity which makes it even harder to take him down. The sad reality of it all is that belly fat is a killer. Also, blood clots begin forming between the ages of 25 and 30. I know a lot of our posters here are young and most are ignorant in that their choices now can create a time bomb that goes off in their lower 40s.
Look, some things are just not worth fighting for. At least directly. One of them is changing how Internet users interact with one another. You can't take s*** personally on here or let it affect you in any way. In trying to "fight back", all you really do is reinforce the stereotypes---defensive/insecure etc. etc. Learn to laugh a little, and make other people look like fools with your own jokes, and your indifference. Remember, sticks and stones may break your bones but words--- I look at Major Malcontent's posts (and there are many on this topic), and he's always emphasizing how happy he is or some other facet of his life story. Well, if you're happy, you don't need to tell us to affirm anything. Go shrug it off. If you want to start a dialogue, don't play the victim. Be the guy who gets the joke, gets that it's offensive, and goes with it anyways, then turns it upside down. Look, you're right, we all have our issues here. There are things posters have said that, had I not known the nature of the Internet, and did not hold an air of indifference about strangers connected to me only through the love of a basketball team, would have deeply offended and pissed me off. you realize, for example, how the Internet must look to Asians? Muslims? Homosexuals? Women? The key is to stay away from what angers you. Or failing that, and given a calling to "change" people, however unlikely that may be, do it with a smile rather than a defensive glare.
As for society's attitude to obese people... I'd say America is relatively tolerant. Nobody's rights are being denied. In fact, one could even go so far as to say fat people wield most of the power. You might be socially disparaged, but social disparagement is stupid and arbitrary, and if you're a happy, functional adult, you shouldn't care too much about it. It sucks, yes, but it's the way it's always worked. Gays are denied marriage because of it. People say "only God can judge", but then most go ahead and judge anyways. That's just human nature for the moment, sadly. Change will be slow and incremental, if it happens at all. For the moment, laugh, pray, smile, forgive or do whatever, but I'd just hope that more people would know that lashing back defensively is probably the worst way to go about solving these issues.
It's a fine line one walks when they are discussing obesity. It is, however, possible to have deep sympathy for their situation but also some degree of disgust for their state. I wouldn't wish obesity on anyone; and I wish so many people didn't dismiss it.
This is going to get long, but hey, you asked.I've ranged from chubby to obese since I was 6. I never yo-yo'ed, just a constant increase. It started when I was young, before I even had a chance. I would get home from elementary school and was left to feed myself with whatever was in the fridge (usually frozen pizza, nuggets, general crap). It was very rare to have a proper home cooked meal, lunch or dinner. Breakfast was unheard of, not even cereal. I learned how to do more than just warm up frozen stuff when I was around 10, but just because I sort of knew how to cook didn't mean I had the groceries to do it. So I just ate what was at my disposal until I got old enough to buy stuff for myself. I didn't have much money though and was completely ignorant about nutrition so I usually ended up buying dollar menu items from Wendy's, McDonald's, etc. I never ate breakfast, generally skipped lunch at school, would get home and eat fast food. I never really ate more than the equivalent of a value meal at once, but I would down soda like it was water. So I would usually have one, and occasionally if I could afford it, two fast food "meals" a day. It makes me cringe now. In high school, I figured I had a problem when I really increased my level of physical activity and didn't drop one pound. That's when I convinced my mom to take me to a doctor. Hypothyroidism, yay me! The doctor told me my body was essentially acting as a fat storing machine and gave me enough medication for a month. He wanted me to come back for reevaluation and more medication. I dropped 40lbs in that month from a combination of the medicine, increased activity, and dropping soda, still ate crap fast food though. Unfortunately, I was kicked out of my house and never made it back to the doctor and gained those 40 back over the course of a few months. Being poor and ignorant really is a perfect storm for obesity. Combine the extremely low metabolism, bad eating habits, stress and depression from living in a low income, crazy, abusive household and you have a 5'2 250lb (at my heaviest) young lady. Since then, I've learned a lot about my condition, nutrition, and fitness and have been steadily losing weight for the past year (over 50 lbs, not on thyroid meds). I haven't touched fast food in months, I'll have a soda maybe once a week, I buy mostly organic, and eat reasonable portions. Admittedly, I could be doing a lot more (it takes a SERIOUS conscious effort for me to reach 1200 calories a day), but I've always been happy with who I am, a pretty confident person, and I was never picked on for being fat, interestingly enough, except for by my family. I don't feel a burning need to be thin; my cholesterol, blood pressure, sugar, and heart are all fine. I do want to be as healthy as possible though and I know my size puts restrictions on what I can do physically, so I will continue doing what I'm doing and as it becomes easier, I will increase my level of physical activity. I think it's really sad though, the snobby, condescending attitude that some have about size and how quick people make judgments on others through pure assumptions. I'm pretty certain I've been discriminated against when interviewing for jobs, purely based on my size. I completely understand where Major Malcontent is coming from here and in other threads in the past. I have to watch my super thin sister talk so much **** about fat people and how disgusting, stupid, and lazy they are (when she's never worked out and always ate like a pig), but really I see how the contempt she displays comes from her insecurities and issues. Anyway, I've always looked at other people consuming mass amounts of food and been disgusted, but it wasn't always big people doing this, just like I know people that aren't gluttonous, but you couldn't tell by looking at them. It's really unfortunate that things aren't like in that crappy movie Shallow Hal, where your outward appearance is purely a reflection of your character.
Your daily intake should be 2000 unless you're athlete then you would need more. Even if you're on a diet you should not go below 1500 even though some people do. Passing out and dizziness could be a side effect.
This is a good post for the most part, but let me give you an idea of what I am thinking when I don't "shrug it off". For the most part, the people who are the worst offenders are cowardly tu***. They hide behind the anonymity of the internet. I seldom get any flack on the street about my size because I am a grown man and might potentially be troublesome, physically, my last two girlfriends who are about my size aren't as lucky. What I do get is the July thread "How do people get super fat?". Followed by the August thread "How do people let themselves become fat slugs?" and the September thread "Kate Winslet-what a ******". The OP serves their function, as does the inevitable "I used to be fat, anyone with any willpower can be thin" person. My role, as I see it, is just to remind people that somebody minds. Somebody isn't staring at their feet in shame when people snark about their weight like the heavy girls I have dated might. I am certainly not qualified to be Harvey Milk or MLK, I am just a voice that "minds"....I also mind the racism, sexism and homophobia, but it comes a little closer to home when you are defending you and yours. I don't pretend my posts are "making a difference", cause unless you make people sign posts with their real name and photo there are always gonna be internet macho men, who are beasts in the gym and built like Greek Gods...all I am doing is presenting an opposing viewpoint, if that makes me stereotypically defensive...well all fat people aren't jolly like Santa.
I know I'm supposed to be eating more, but I'm saying it's so difficult for me to even get to 1300 and considering I was averaging less than 1000 once I dropped the soda (not trying to starve myself, I've always had a small appetite) I think I'm doing ok.
I find it fascinating that you have a small appetite and still managed to increase to 250lbs with 5'2" frame... Did something dramatic happen from when you were that size to when you were only consuming 1000~ calories/day?
I was never small...I started losing weight without meds when I started eating MORE. I went to live with my "normal" sister (2 weeks in New Mexico, 2 in Japan) and she would feed me breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks in between. I came home and sort of kept up the routine, even with fast food and I was still losing weight.
Gosh, I think you're 1 of a kind. Never heard of eating more to lose weight, though eating more frequently does help I suppose.
