# Fat and proud of it!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 26, 2003, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547 "2003-05-26T06:49:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Another\_Clone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Another_Clone)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2003, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/1 "2003-05-26T06:49:51Z")
There - I’ve said it and I feel better now. Hugely.
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### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2003, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/2 "2003-05-26T07:16:54Z")
Hell yeah! More power to ya! 🆒
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### Author:  [@Cougarfang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cougarfang)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2003, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/3 "2003-05-26T10:17:24Z")
Slightly overweight, vaguely guilty but not guilty enough to do anything about it.
Do I pass?
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### Author:  [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2003, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/4 "2003-05-26T12:20:31Z")
So if you get heavier still, will you be more proud?
Just curious.
I’m overweight and not proud of it.
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### Author:  [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2003, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/5 "2003-05-26T13:00:16Z")
I’m fat and happy. Does that count?
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### Author:  [@guava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guava)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2003, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/6 "2003-05-26T13:26:17Z")
When I was overweight, I was not proud. Now, I can shop in regular stores, I can breathe more easily, climb a flight of stairs without getting winded, and just generally feel more comfortable. I’m not afraid of bathing suit season, I can eat a piece of cake without feeling guilty, and the sex is much better.
Are you healthy? Do you fit into an airplane seat without your fat spilling onto other people?
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2003, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/7 "2003-05-26T14:01:01Z")
I’m about 15 or 20 pounds overweight, and royally pissed-off about it. Dieting and going to the gym to try and correct this.
_Not_ because I want to attract a mate or look like Sarah Jessica Parker–but because _I_ don’t like the way I look (or feel, healthwise) at this weight.
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### Author:  [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2003, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/8 "2003-05-26T14:15:28Z")
While there is a certain beauty to being happy in your own skin, you shouldn’t fool yourself into unhealthy complacency.
I was overweight for several years. There were many phases in my attitude toward my weight. When I first picked up a few pounds, I thought it was no big deal. Then I realized I was out of control and wanted to do something about it. But it was so hard. I just let it ride a few more years and actually at one point said “This is just my natural weight”. I was just happy being me.
I became winded climbing stairs. My legs throbbed from the effort of a walk up a park hill. Carrying my 2 year old daughter to bed was followed by a pause to catch my breath. Things were not good. Looking back I saw the increase in pounds and the decrease in quality of life.
Then I looked forward. I had 2 choices. Continue my irresponsible eating and forgo exercise, and science has proven to me that diabetes, heart disease, cancer await. One of them was coming for me. I could certainly cut a few years off my life, and the ones left would be of questionable quality.
My other choice was to eat as my body was created to eat. Responsibly. I joined a gym and now work out several times a week and am within my healthy weight parameters. I can run around with my kids, hike in the mountains, take stairs without a thought and am no longer huffing and puffing at a small effort. While there are no guarantees, I know I have increased my odds of living a long life. The years I DO have, will be of immeasurably better quality because I have so many options open to me as a healthy person.
I do not understand how you can be PROUD of being fat. You are supposed to be proud of acheivements. Becoming fat is probably the easiest thing in the world. Simply do not care enough to be aware of nutrition, or be aware and simply not care, and be too lazy to walk 20 minutes a few times a week. I really question why these things would make you proud.
Fat and “willing to accept a lower quality of life” would be a more apt statement. If you are overweight, your happiness has not increased, your standards have lowered.
Sorry if this sounds harsh, but I remember thinking I was just fine when I was fat, and it pains me to see someone else deluding themselves instead of taking responsibility for their own body and health.
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2003, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/9 "2003-05-26T14:55:06Z")
I’m a size 7 shoe and proud of it! Wrote a front page story in the Times about it, but then they found out I was really a 7 and a half and had to write a big retraction and got egg all over their face.
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### Author:  [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/10 "2003-05-26T15:31:50Z")
I’m not fat, I’m just fluffy!
Er, and I’m proud of it!
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### Author:  [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2003, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/11 "2003-05-26T15:34:23Z")
I’m proud of who I am. I don’t like the body that comes with it, and so I’m changing it.
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/12 "2003-05-26T17:53:39Z")
[You and me both, Ginger.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=186234)
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### Author:  [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/13 "2003-05-26T18:11:12Z")
Just a few too many pounds to fit into a size 32, but not quite enough to fit into a 34.
And guess what.
Hardly enybody makes anything in a size 33 :mad:
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### Author:  [@superstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/superstar)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2003, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/14 "2003-05-26T21:48:30Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by newcrasher \*
> \*\*
>
> .
>
> Fat and “willing to accept a lower quality of life” would be a more apt statement. If you are overweight, your happiness has not increased, your standards have lowered.
> B]
Not overweight, but very understanding!
But I love that statement. Good one!
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### Author:  [@superstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/superstar)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2003, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/15 "2003-05-26T21:50:30Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Another Clone \*
> \*\*There - I’ve said it and I feel better now. Hugely. \*\*
Who are you trying to convince?
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### Author:  [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/16 "2003-05-27T04:35:41Z")
This whole fat thing… I mean. The problem with being fat is people can see it.
There are plenty of things I don’t like about myself, plenty of things I’d like to change, plenty of things I’m working on - and since none of them are as obvious as an extra 100 pounds I can sneak around without complete strangers giving me a hard time about any of my problems.
Oh, and there have been times when I had problems but just wasn’t ready to deal with them. Fortunately for me, the nice checkout lady at the grocery store didn’t know I was buying ice cream to deal with the fact that my grandmother was dying slowly. If I was a fat person, perhaps working very hard on my diet and buying the ice cream for that evening’s dinner guests, the nice checkout lady might give me a dirty look.
This post makes no sense. I don’t care. I just understand why the obese, and even the merely overweight, have such a hard time with these acceptance issues and sometimes end up in denial about the health issues.
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### Author:  [@Slartibartfastt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slartibartfastt)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/17 "2003-05-27T04:48:41Z")
I may be fat but your ugly…
and I can diet.
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### Author:  [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/18 "2003-05-27T06:55:12Z")
Hmm, what’s amusing about that is how common of a comeback that is on a schoolyard, and how rare it is that the person actually _does_ diet.
**Clone** , why would you be _proud_ of being fat? I can scarcely fathom being okay with it, let alone proud. Serious question. Why?
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### Author:  [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/19 "2003-05-27T07:04:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Attrayant \*
> \*\*Just a few too many pounds to fit into a size 32, but not quite enough to fit into a 34.
>
> And guess what.
>
> Hardly enybody makes anything in a size 33 :mad: \*\*
I forget … you’re a guy, right?
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### Author:  [@Aankh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aankh)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-and-proud-of-it/177547/20 "2003-05-27T07:22:12Z")
What precisely is the pride for? Seriously.
I’m neither chubby, nor skinny, but I feel no ‘pride’, per se. It’s just how I am. Fullstop.
Though, I have to admit, social conditioning has gotten to me to the extent that if I became more than 10 kilos overweight, I would be distinctly ‘not proud’.
And is “Fat and proud of it” equivalent to “Gorgeous supermodel and proud of it”? Because whenever gorgeous supermodels mention feeling good about their bodies, they’re put down and called arrogant. So are you allowed to be proud of your body only if your shape isn’t that which is conventionally acknowledged as being ‘perfect’?
And, please, this is genuine curiosity. I’m not fat-bashing, 'kay?
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