You know, I think you’re missing the forest for the trees. I don’t think that was a specific situation with correct details. I think it was supposed to be an off-the-cuff illustrative example where the gist was the person was exercising lots, restricting calories and still couldn’t lose weight and those were just numbers that “sounded right” when they posted.
I think you’ve walked into a tree for admiring the forest. You’re right, it was a nonspecific case with arbitrary numbers for the sake of discussion; she even said as much later on. But, dre2xl’s point, I think, is that calling someone a liar because of that is over the top.
Fair enough.
The people (especially Weirddave) who are deriding or disbelieving AFG’s experiences must have led pretty sheltered and/or oblivious childhoods. Fat kids got beat up when I was in school, some of them on a regular basis. This happened at both of the elementary schools I went to, and to a lesser degree in junior high. By high school, the violence mostly disappeared, but there was still plenty of mocking and derision. Kids (as a group) can be mean, and a noticable number will act on any prejudice they think they can get away with – not just with words. Some people grow out of these kinds of prejudices as adults. Some just learn to be less obvious about it.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find that the stigmatization that fat people are going through is making the situation worse. Fat people are the new smokers, now that smoke has been eradicated from public places in a lot of regions.
Individual metabolism matters a lot. I have the good fortune that I burn off calories much more easily than many other people do. I know people who eat much better than I do and work out vigorously several times a week, and are still much rounder than I am.
mrklutz, but in that case, I think it’s not necessarily just the fat kids that are getting treated that way in school. Bullies will look for ANY excuse or reason to target someone. They’re fat, they have acne, they’re poor, they’re in special ed, they’re in the gifted program, etc.
I don’t know if THAT is necessarily connected to the stigma against fat.
The hell they are.
Last time I checked out the window the “Fattie Bashers” weren’t cruising the streets looking for another large person to roll for the sheer sport of it.
I was a skinny kid in school who had a rather overweight friend who was picked on and insulted for his weight but was never assaulted. hat was when He was a real minority in school (as far as fat kids go) Now you look and their are overwieght kids everywhere. Coincidentally, they are usually mowing down on some chips and pop. Soon it will be the skinny kids being chased and beaten by the roving gangs of fat kids. 
I have since gained considerable girth myself and have only one reason for it. Lack of motivation to change a bad lifestyle.
I’m now 60 lbs over what I should be (to me that should be about 20 lbs over what I was at age 20) I have yet to be beaten nor has my 300 lb neighbour.
I’m thinking the stories of abuse are the very rare exception not the norm.
Sorry, no. Fat Canadian kid here. Verbal, but never once physical assault.
Really? At all? I find that very odd. Since when do lesser problems become non-problems? One of the biggest problems we face in the world right now is a war. Does that mean that police should be ignoring things like home break-ins? Surely this is not your line of reasoning.
Well, if someone has a very low metabolism and doesn’t want to gain weight, you just have to eat very little. Or figure out ways to raise metabolism by exercise or increasing muscle mass or something. Or, eat the same amount as people with higher metabolisms, and stay overweight. But don’t blame it on “low metabolism.” Blame it on “I eat more than my low metabolism allows for, therefore I stay overweight.”
This “low metabolism” excuse must be peculiar to North America & Canada, no? Although I hear it’s catching on in other countries now. Along with the rise in weight is the rise in diabetes & related complications. Sad.
I’ve travelled all over the world. In many countries, it’s quite unusual to see overweight people. It’s a standing joke some places that it’s easy to spot the Americans - they’re the fat ones. Tends to hold pretty true, though that’s changing I guess. I have family in the Middle East and Europe and visit all over, and have noticed this for decades - we’re comfortable, sedentary and overfed as a nation.
When I moved from Europe to the US, I was astonished that people actually got in their cars and drove for errands of less than a mile. I couldn’t comprehend this; I was used to any able bodied person walking short distances. My fat friend who lives 2 1/2 blocks away from me drives over when she comes to visit, and her daughter (teenager, also overweight) thinks walking anywhere when you can drive is just weird.
Lesser problems become non-problems when you compare them to other problems that are so huge that the lesser problems pale into significance. I’m not saying that bullying fat people is not a problem. I’m saying that it’s a non-issue when you compare it to the holocaust or lynchings. In fact, I would go further and say that it’s actually offensive to compare bullying about your weight with the kind of oppression faced by blacks and jews.
Let me use your analogy above to ask you a question. Suppose your next door neighbor knocks on your door crying and tells you that her only son just got killed in Iraq. Would you complain about the time someone broke into your house and stole your stereo? This is an extreme example, but it’s the type of question your analogy invites.
INSIGNIFICANCE!! :smack:
No, that would be tacky at best. And of course the dead son is worse by orders of magnitude. But that doesn’t mean that the break-in is suddenly a non-issue. Even if the woman next door lost ten sons, I’m still locking my doors. As would you, correct?
Again, possible for most people, sure. But, to use a silly analogy, it’s possible for most people to be taller, too, if they are willing to suffer. Lots of things are possible for people to do, but require more than I think is reasonable to demand. And, like lots of things in life, I have no way of knowing just how hard what I’m asking might be. For some people, losing weight is just a matter of a minor change in eating habits. For others, it would be daily torture. I can’t tell who’s who by looking at them.
I just don’t, can’t, see weight as a moral issue or personality flaw or failing or anything else. I see it as a disorder that some people are able to overcome and some are not. Some people survive cancer while others don’t. That doesn’t make cancer survivors better people than those who die from it, even if the ones who die for it die because they aren’t willing to go that extra step, that extra chemo, that extra surgery, that extra amputation, that extra radiation. Everyone has a limit to what they are willing to suffer for the sake of weight or health or other people’s expectations.
Tacky? Ummm, yeah, that’s one way to put it, I suppose. :dubious:
And of course I would lock my doors, because I would still be concerned against break-ins, but that news about her son would sure put my stolen stereo into perspective. I doubt I would think my pain over its loss again.
Just like reflecting on the plight of the people I mentioned earlier would put my weight problem into perspective. By all means, be concerned with getting bullied about your weight. Once again, I’m not saying that it’s not a problem.
Just don’t mention your weight in the same breath with holocaust victims. It sounds stupid.
Well, actually, you were. That’s why I asked for clarification. I do see your point about perspective, though. Makes sense.
Well, actually, no I wasn’t. I was saying that it wasn’t a problem in comparison to the troubles you were talking about. Being fat is penny ante bullshit compared to those. Just like the housebreaking compared to the war yadda-yadda-yadda. That’s why what I said about perspective makes sense.
To me, $100,000 is a lot, but to Bill Gates, it’s chump change. Who’s right? We both are. This whole problem is about perspective. You’ll never understand the problem
. . . without understanding that.
FWIW, I was beat up weekly in elementary school for being fat (although it didn’t help that I was white (one of eight in a huge class of at least a couple hundred) and Jewish (one of maybe two IIRC if not the only one)). Really never anything physically serious, though. I can’t recall going to the hospital for anything remotely like that, ever, or really being in any grave danger. Made me feel pretty bad emotionally at the time, but I really think if anything it made me stronger and laid the foundation to create a more tolerant personality for later in life. Honestly, at the time my parents told me everyone got picked on and that bully personalities would find someone to hate first and then something to hate about them second (not in so many words), and I didn’t believe it then but I do believe it now, partly because it didn’t happen in middle or high school. Those kids would’ve dished it out to me whether I was fat or white or Jewish or not.
I’m not a fatphobe, but yes, I do hate those people.
I’m looking at you SteveG1. Skinny bastard.
What about the recent revelations about high-fructose corn syrup sweeteners? One dietician names it as the number one way to get fat. I have noticed how people in latin america drink a lot of soda-and don’t get fat…is this because THEIR soda is sweetened with cane sugar?