Are all fat/slow/[your disability here] people looking for “excuses?”
Sometimes all they need is a little help. You seem to feel that’s too much to ask.
We all know people who are lazy, and people who lack self-control in one way or another, and in fact we know people who are both.
I don’t perceive the same intensity of feeling toward those who are both, as there is toward the fat.
Unless their laziness or lack of self-control directly interferes with one’s life, one usually just shrugs or makes a rare passing comment.
Uh oh. And if we posited that there’s no such thing as luck? No, not just in this case, but the fact that it doesn’t exist at all?
That may depend on where you are from. Where I’m from, alcoholics, people who can’t hold jobs, etc. are despised just as much, if not more, than fat people.
I’ll help, if legitimate effort is given. What I see here are mostly excuses as to why it’s okay.
I believe that you are overplaying how many fat people have any sort of disability or physical issue that is substantially different from most thin people. I believe that in the vast bulk of cases, it’s discipline. Eating disorders, diseases, disabilities, etc. are generally an excuse. I grew up with them in a fat family, all of whom were trained to eat too much and then complain about how “hard it is” to keep the weight off, because of metabolism, eating disorders, blah blah blah. And yet I discovered when I push back from the table and don’t eat the extra spoonfuls, somehow the weight comes off.
Maybe it was even harder for me, what with an eating disorder and all, than it was for any other human being on the planet. Perhaps I am a god among men. It doesn’t really matter - in the vast majority of the cases some effort and commitment would do wonders.
These, and other reasons, have been given, not to elicit sympathy or forgiveness, but to show you that you shouldn’t assume you know what someone else’s character traits are based solely on the observation that he or she is fat. In particular, that you should not conclude that that person is lazy and lacking self control as a general personality trait.
Very true.
No matter what “disease” a person may claim they have, they can lose 1 lb./week by simply eating 800 calories/day and burning 1300 calories/day. Guaranteed.
Have you ever tried eating 800 calories a day?
For starters, that’s a low enough calorie intake to put your body into “starvation mode.” Additionally, it’s hard to THINK on 800 calories a day, much less exercise.
Balthisar replied to me: And if we posited that there’s no such thing as luck? No, not just in this case, but the fact that it doesn’t exist at all?
Then we would need to come up with some other word to mean “the advantageous consequences of apparently random occurrences whose causes include the activity of complex dynamical systems affecting many physical, biological, social, and psychological phenomena”.
SlyFrog: I believe that you are overplaying how many fat people have any sort of disability or physical issue that is substantially different from most thin people.
I’m not attempting to make any claims about “how many fat people have any sort of disability or physical issue”. All I’m saying is that since everything that anybody does partly depends on luck, it is not intrinsically insulting to call anybody “lucky”.
I did note, though, that it’s more gracious to compliment them on their efforts than their luck, and also that it would be insulting to suggest that their success was due only to luck.
You don’t have to just eat 800 calories. You just have to have a difference of 500 calories between what you eat and what you burn. So eating 1800 calories and burning 2300 calories would work the same as eating 800 calories and burning 1300.
I’ve done 1,000, does that count?
Then it’s still rather petty of you to treat it as an insult when someone mentions “luck” casually.
Sure. I do it all the time.
You would be shocked at how little I eat on a normal day. My breakfast consists of half a bagel (about 100 calories worst case). Before I eat lunch I run 3 miles. For lunch I eat a cup of vegetable soup, or canned lima beans, or tuna fish, or something similar (250 calories worst case).
So then it’s 7:00 PM and I’ve only consumed 350 calories and I’ve jogged 3 miles. Dinner is usually light (rice, fresh fish, pasta, poultry, etc.), and I would estimate the calories typically do not exceed 400 calories. So that’s 750 calories. But I also snack on occasion, which probably brings the average closer to 850 calories on a normal day. On the weekends I tend to “live it up” a little, and I typically consume more calories.
Augh! When did this turn into a diet advice thread?!
Look, it’s simple. At least for me. I’m not asking for diet advice. I’m not asking for sympathy. All I’m asking is that people re-examine, and perhaps abolish, the prejudice they feel towards me because I’m bigger than they are. Too much to ask?
Actually, I know I’m going to get completely slammed for this, but…
I don’t believe you.
I don’t believe an adult man who runs three miles a day can maintain his weight on less than 1,000 calories a day. Not only that, but that kind of calorie deficit cannot possibly provide you the nutrition you need to stay healthy.
Perhaps you are:
a. Overweight and losing a couple of pounds a week.
b. Taking nutritional supplements to account for your deficit.
c. A very small person whose calorie needs are very low (i.e., 5’ tall, 100 pounds).
But for the sake of argument, I do understand that people can eat less than 1,000 calories and go about their business for the day. And of course I’m smart enough to understand the less out/more in method which is the only way to lose weight.
I just thought the suggestion of eating 800 calories as a solution for obesity was a little ridiculous because of a few reasons.
- An overweight person requires even MORE calories than a normal person and becomes light-headed and cranky at this calorie level.
- The amount of time a seriously obese person would have to maintain that calorie level in order to become a healthy weight is prohibitive.
- Given the difficulty an already obese person has in cutting calories, whatever they are, simply saying “cut to 800 calories a day” is no solution. The reasons for said difficulty need to be addressed.
- The aforementioned nutritional deficit that would result for any normal person on this calorie level.
I’m really assuming that we’re talking about severely obese people who offend some of you by their appearance, NOT some girl with ten extra pounds on her behind.
Something about me: I’m currently eating between 700 and 900 calories a day. I keep track of this very carefully and know EXACTLY the calorie amount I take in every day and what it consists of (i.e., fat vs. protein vs. carbs and complete nutrient levels).
The requirements in order for me to do this are that I currently take:
- Medication so that I do not get gallstones due to rapid weight loss.
- A multi-vitamin.
- Extra iron.
- Extra vitamin B12.
- Extra calcium.
- Biotin to prevent my hair from falling out.
I was informed of these nutrient intake requirements by a Harvard educated nutritionist/dietician at a Harvard teaching hospital where I had my surgery. I’m VERY positive that if I asked her if a healthy adult male who exercises vigorously every day could live healthily on 800 calories a day she would tell me “absolutely not.”
You are right. Diet advice is generally useless anyway since just becasue people KNOW what to do to lose weight, that doesn’t mean they are able to do it.
Additionally, it doesn’t mean they should HAVE to do it in order to avoid nastiness from fellow human-beings.
The OP simply poses the question, “Why do you care and why would you be mean to someone because you don’t like the way they look?” And no adult person should behave in this way no matter what.
CCACW: First of all, I’m not lying. In fact, right now it is noon where I’m at, and the only thing I’ve had to eat so far today is half a bagel (at 6:30 AM). And soon after I finish this post I’m going out jogging. But what I previously described is a typical Monday-Friday workday routine. As mentioned, on the weekends I tend to live it up a bit, and may consume upwards to 1500 calories/day. But I can get away with it because of the dietary discipline I practice throughout the week.
FTR, I am 5’ 6". I used to weight over 200 lbs. I now weigh 147, and I’m trying to get down to 140.
P.S. I forgot to mention that I take two multivitamins daily.
I actually didn’t mean to call you a liar. I just believe something else is going on. I exercise every day, eat 800 calories on average a day, and I’m losing more than 3 pounds/week.
The rule of thumb is you require your weight multiplied by 11 in order to maintain your weight without exercise. So if you weigh 147 X 11, you require more than 1500 calories/day on average, sans jogging to maintain.
I do know that the statistics on what people THINK they’re taking in calorie-wise, and what they are actually taking in are pretty telling. I think the average person reports taking in half the calories they actually ate.
Back to the OP…
I’m not saying it’s O.K. to be outright mean or nasty to a fat person solely because they’re fat. But I am in the same boat as Indygrrl in that I hold a certain amount of disdain for fat people. Why? In my opinion,
- Excessive fat on a person is extremely unattractive.
- Many fat people gripe and complain about being fat, and pretend they’re not at fault.
- Being fat is an indication of laziness and mental weakness. I have disdain for lazy and weak people.
- Due to their unhealthy lifestyles, fat people are taxing to our health care system. (Another poster cautioned that this may not be true, since fat people die earlier. Perhaps.)