Ok I keep seeing articles about people who are sick of loosing weight, having trouble, just dont care and various other reason and decided to not bother to lose weight but instead embrace their fat bodies and be happy at that level.
Now I have been on both sides from obese to what one would consider a healthy weight for my height age and so on.
What are your thoughts of this? By the way I am not talking about people who are chubby but rather the articles I have read are people that a massive (as my dad would say size of a barn)
Personally for me all I see are future medical problems and keep thinking of my grandmother who is a lovely lady but now in her 80's has developed diabetes and due to her age/weight is having trouble standing.
I honestly don't know they could say they eat healthy and it should not be an issue (later to discover they drink large pasta meals and diet cokes).
This was not meant to start a flame war I just wanted people opinions.
I think the heart of fat acceptance is "respect your body and love it, no matter what. See the beauty in yourself." And that's great, that leads to positive self-esteem,and ultimately a desire to take care of yourself and treat yourself right. Sadly, I think fat-acceptance has started to turn from "respecting yourself" to something much more sinister and dark. Then it becomes "wrong" to want to be healthy, to want to change, even if you're doing it because you love your body. I don't much care for the new fat-accpetance movement that's slowly taking over. I think bullying people to stay at unhealthy weight that make them unhappy is just as dangerous as bullying people out of them. "Body-positivity" is the message I like... And it means loving what you look like no matter what size, and using that love to keep yourself from going to over, or under, weight for your personal body type.
Anti-fat acceptance like to tote that all of this body-positivity promotes obesity, and encourages people to be fat. I don't think that's true at all, and I don't think it ever will be true. There are other negative things associated with high weight and just because you think you look beautiful and love your body at any size, doesn't mean you want to be short of breath, have difficulty bending over and sleeping, be at risk for heart disease, etc. It might mean that people who are just "chubby" might not feel the pressure to drop down a size... And is that really such a bad thing? I feel like in north America especially, we have a really bad view of what is a "healthy" weight. We seem to think any little bit of fat is killer... And its simply not true.
I began at over 300 lbs. I've been fat-shamed/body-shamed for most of my 32 years on this planet, and I am a strong believer of loving your body no matter your size thin or large. That said, the accept your body movement isn't about gorging on food that is destroying your health (regardless of if you're fat or skinny bad food is bad food) it is about saying "Hey you're beautiful as you are, if you want to be healthy that is wonderful but don't equate how you look in skinny jeans with good health because that is bullcrap" I can be a heroine addict and rock some cute jeans, and I can be a large girl who kicks butt in the gym living a clean eating lifestyle and only find muumuu clothes to wear.
About fat-shaming it doesn't just apply to what the BMI charts refer to as extremely obese people, Jessica Simpson who has never been "obese" (we're not counting pregnancy right?) in her life wore a pair of jeans and was fat-shamed/body shamed, it happens to thin people too. It's just out of control, it reminds me of a quote from J.K. Rowling -
“Fat’ is usually the first insult a girl throws at another girl when she wants to hurt her.
I mean, is ‘fat’ really the worst thing a human being can be? Is ‘fat’ worse than ‘vindictive’, ‘jealous’, ‘shallow’, ‘vain’, ‘boring’ or ‘cruel’? Not to me; *snip*"
For me, self-love and self-acceptance, allowed for me to get on this journey, because if you think you're gross or disgusting then why would you work hard to do something so kind for yourself as to eat right and exercise? Those things take hard work, persistence, determination if you loathe yourself you probably won't do that for very long. Your self-worth shouldn't be determined by your weight, take care of yourself out of love not hate.
I definitely think it's important to be happy and confident with yourself. You can't hate the way you look and be happy as a person, it's just not possible.
I also definitely think that the current body size standards are too thin and don't take into consideration that different people have different body sizes, some are short, some tall, some thick, some thin, some naturally skinny, others naturally more built.
I think it's important to embrace the body you have, be it carrot shaped, boxy, apple shaped, pear shaped, hourglass, etc.. This is the body you were born with and have grown into, and you should love it.
BUT I also think that it's important to be healthy. People aren't attracted to signs of poor health: thinning hair, thin and pale skin, being very overweight. Being obese also limits the extent to which a person can enjoy herself/himself because physical exertion is more difficult.
It's really all about respect I think. You need to love yourself, and you need to respect yourself through good habits.
I hope Kaplods chimes in here, as she has one of the most nuanced views of the Fat Acceptance movement due to her personal experience.
I haven't much experience with it myself except thinking for myself, who's dealt with one form of eating disorder or another for decades, it's a mindset that I can't even imagine. But I need to know the opposite of my dissatisfaction exists out there someplace, whether it's fat acceptance or intuitive eating or some other mindset.
Fat Acceptance, to me, is accepting and loving yourself for who you are. It doesn't mean you won't lose weight, can't lose weight, or that you're encouraged to be obese/unhealthy. It simply means that you don't have to wait to be happy until you're thin, and that you still deserve love and respect. Fat Acceptance and Health At Every Size are two different things in my mind as well, yet I constantly see people against Fat Acceptance conflate the two and automatically assume that Fat Acceptance equals saying fat is healthy and encouraging people to be fat, when really it's not.
I will say that it's something I'm pretty passionate about. Hating myself caused so many issues in my life. I've gone on a bunch of unhealthy diets, tried to starve myself, restricted any social activities, put off seeing old friends (I wanted to wait till they could see me thin again), and just a slew of other behaviors that really held me back. It wasn't until I could actually start to love myself and realize that fat doesn't define me, that those things started to get fixed, and I got on course for steady, healthy, weight loss. So for me, Fat Acceptance actually inspired me to lose weight. The mindset that it promotes obesity simply by saying that a person can love themselves as they are and their weight doesn't define them is something I find baffling.
I took a stand on this issue before my wedding. I was sick and tired of hearing so many people ask me how much weight I was going to lose, what size dress I should order etc. the final straw, was when I was trying on dresses, in July, in a store with no AC, crammed into the tiniest fitting room with a bridal attendant who insisted I would be able to squeeze into a size 10 sample.
For those who don’t know, bridal size 10 is really a size 6-8, I was a size 18/20 at the time.
So when she actually made me bleed but forcing this ugly, beaded monstrosity over my slightly sweaty fat rolls, and then blamed me for not being mannequin sized, I lost it.
I decided, that in order to deal with the stress already on my shoulders, I would just give myself a break, and enjoy myself! I was not going to let anyone make me feel anything less than beautiful on my wedding day, and screw anyone who thought elsewise!
And let me tell you, I rocked a Plus size dress that I bought on line (on Clearance!) and looked damn good!
But since then, I am back to tring to be healthy, and now that I am a Mom, I want to instill a healthy body image mentality in my daughter.
I'm fuzzy on what "fat acceptance" really means. Is it about the person being allowed to see themselves as a valuable person no matter what their weight, or is it about telling society to look beyond appearances and that it is not okay to discriminate against someone because they are obese?
I mean, if you want to be technical, it's really nobody elses business what a person weighs, is it? The arguments that "fat people raise everyone's insurance rates" don't fly as long as adults are legally allowed to smoke and drink alcohol, take skydiving lessons, bungee jump or freerun across cities. And while we're at it, what about people that don't get at least 30 minutes of cardio exercise five days a week or flat out refuse to take medications that they really need, like insulin and blood pressure medicine?
Fat shaming, whether it's on a really personal level or a societal level, is a nearly useless way to encourage someone to lose weight. If it becomes socially acceptable to tell someone "You're fat, that means you're bad/ugly/____ (insert insult here)" they certainly aren't going to love themselves more. In reality, the more you care about yourself the more likely you are to make healthier choices, but human psychology isn't that black and white.
The fact is, you just can't tell someone "love yourself," that's about self esteem, which is part of a person's basic personality. I also don't think most people get into the super heavyweight category just because they have an unhealthy relationship with pizza and soda. There's usually something else going on there which has turned food into something more than just fuel. Now is it food addiction, depression, hormonal imbalances, side effect of medications, or just the fact that the ideal diet for one individual is a metabolic nightmare for another? Or some combination of all of the above?
I know one thing, hating someone whether it's because of their lifestyle, appearance, religion, ethnicity or they like the wrong sports team just creates division, not compassion.
I mean, if you want to be technical, it's really nobody elses business what a person weighs, is it?
I know one thing, hating someone whether it's because of their lifestyle, appearance, religion, ethnicity or they like the wrong sports team just creates division, not compassion.
This. A thousand times, this.
I have dealt very personally with my feelings about the fat acceptance movement. I am not in 100% agreement with everything they say, but the major points that Renew so eloquently stated above are the two tenets that hold strong in my feelings and beliefs. Whether a person even eats healthy is, honestly, none of my business.
Some of the science that the fat acceptance movement links to is a little questionable to me, but I'm not a scientist, and I don't claim to know what is good science and what is junk science. I can say one figure that I know decently well is that 95 to 97 (something like that) percent of people fail at this weight loss thing. I remember that number so clearly, because every time I gain some weight back (which I've done, yet again to a degree), I remember that number. I think, is it really worth all of this effort to try and be in that 3-5%? Am I special enough to be in that 3-5%? That 3-5% is HARD. I've lost hundreds of pounds total in my lifetime, but have never made my goal weight. I don't know if I ever will, and if I do, if I will ever stay that way. That's why I have tried to change my head from numbers to something more, but it's still hard to not be discouraged when you have tried and failed again and again, especially when you have educated yourself so much about what few techniques we know works. So do I understand why these people decide it is not worth the effort to be at a certain number weight wise? Yes, I do. They understand the odds, and they've made their choice. Sometimes I feel like I'm actually the insane one trying to do this thing over and over again, hoping that maybe this time I will figure out how to last in that 3-5%. I have at least maintained over a 40 pound weight loss for a year or two at this point, so we'll see.
I think the FA movement, like all movements, has people who believe extreme things or hold some ideas that are probably questionable, etc. But it also presents a necessary message that I don't think is probably getting out to most people...that weight doesn't equal health, and that it's great to take care of yourself however you see fit because you LIKE yourself, but don't need to because someone shames you or says that you SHOULD.
There's a lot of science that supports the things the FA movement says...not just about the rarity of achieving permanent weight loss, but on the health impacts or lack thereof of losing weight for the post obese.
For example, being "Obese" doesn't increase your overall risk of death at all (Morbid obesity and super-morbid obesity do increase your overall risk), and the BMIs associated with the lowest risk of all-cause mortality are in the "overweight" range. You're statistically more likely to die at a low-normal BMI than at an overweight one http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article....icleid=1555137
In terms of morbidity (basically, overall disease state), overweight slightly increases the risk of some diseases, and decreases the risk of others. There's no overall disease impact of being overweight vs normal weight by BMI: https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/66217
Any weight loss increases your overall mortality risk, unless you are diabetic or start with a BMI over 32. Losing more than 15% of your maximum weight is associated with increased risk of death regardless of how high that maximum weight is: http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v3...jo201041a.html
So it's certainly not a given that weight loss in and of itself will help you live longer, or not get sicker, especially if you're not in a BMI category over 35, and there's some evidence it'll hurt you.
There's also a growing body of research separating people who are active and eat healthy foods, but who are still overweight or obese...basically, trying to answer the chicken or egg question of whether it's the excess fat that is risky, or the lack of activity and diet.
So I believe FA is promoting a valuable conversation, even if their message isn't always perfect.
I agree with everyone here, while I don't care for the words "Fat Acceptance" I think the message is pretty clear. Love yourself, respect yourself, don't let others tell you what size your body should be.
But can't it be called Self-Acceptance? or Self Love? or Love Your Body?
People get confused that Fat Acceptance means that those who follow the movement are preaching obesity. But they're not, they're just saying you only have one body and you shouldn't waste your life away shaming yourself or letting others shame you.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dimmers
By the way I am not talking about people who are chubby but rather the articles I have read are people that a massive (as my dad would say size of a barn)
Personally for me all I see are future medical problems and keep thinking of my grandmother who is a lovely lady but now in her 80's has developed diabetes and due to her age/weight is having trouble standing.
I honestly don't know they could say they eat healthy and it should not be an issue (later to discover they drink large pasta meals and diet cokes).
This was not meant to start a flame war I just wanted people opinions.
I know women who are very thin who feel terrible about their bodies. Whether a person is chubby or obese or fat or whatever you want to call it, the size is not the issue. It's how a person feels about their body. Unfortunately we live in a culture where we shame ourselves and each other all time. We judge ourselves and others and ultimately it's doing us harm. Nobody should call someone "the size of a barn" because that is really offensive.
Furthermore it's nobody's business what someone eats. There's a whole entire nation called Italy that eats pasta meals, who are you to make a pasta meal and a diet coke sound like it's a criminal act?
The problem I have with FA is that suddenly it's been ok to thin bash. I'm about done with the "REAL women have curves and bones are for dogs" slogan. It's a BS double standard.
On FA, I think the only case to be made is one of anti-discrimination. And if you don't think fat people are discriminated against then try losing some weight and see the difference.
Both professionally and personally my life has transformed from being 281lbs and that is mostly down to how society reacts differently to a thin man than a fat man.
That being said, I have no time for fat being better than thin or vice versa. If a fat person abused me because of being thin I would insult them and run away knowing, having once been fat, that they would not catch me. But if they did catch me, I would also know, having once been fat, that they would kick my thin @rse.
First of all, you even typing this in incredible offensive: By the way I am not talking about people who are chubby but rather the articles I have read are people that a massive (as my dad would say size of a barn)
It is not ok to call someone "massive" and it surely isn't ok to call them the size of a barn.
Second, the idea behind the FA movement is that everyone, regardless of size, is worthy of respect and love. Size is not a criteria for judging a person's worth. Ever.
Granted there are people out there who've gone a bit on a tangent as far as FA goes, but the core of it is good.
Like I said earlier, its why I like "body-positivity" over "fat-accpetance" because lately, fat-acceptance has been taken to some extremes, like skinny-bashing and bullying heavier set people into not changing, or making them feel ugly if they change. Don't like when it's focused around negativity. I also like what Palestrina said, why does it have to be called "fat-accpetance" anyway?
I think the original fat-acceptance message and meaning is just body positivity. I say we take that aspect of it, and let those that use fat-accpetance as an excuse to bully or make people insecure in their bodies keep the title. So many better words than "fat-accpetance" anyway to convey the same message.
Last edited by SenseAndSensibility; 03-31-2015 at 07:11 PM.
Fat Acceptance - your thoughts?
