# Your fat is spilling into my seat **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 23, 2003, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470 "2003-04-23T01:00:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/121 "2003-04-24T13:15:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KellyM \* > \*\*Commonly accepted beliefs are often wrong. \*\* Yeah, but some of them are dead-on right. I will readily admit that some folks out there have a slow metabolism. Some of these folks may indeed have a tougher time losing weight than other folks. Tougher, but not impossible. > [@](#): > > we gain our nutritional needs from what we eat, and not, say, from what we think, or claim, we eat. I have only anecdotal evidence to support that. But some of us minimize the amount we _say_ we eat, either through good-faith mistake or hard-core denial. Been there, done that. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/122 "2003-04-24T13:28:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Iteki \* > \*\*…the poster I was talking to is still talking out their ass. \*\* Nothing like a duet. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/123 "2003-04-24T13:40:35Z")
Just my own little semi-paranoid rant here: The airlines, as a business, are of course there to make money. The best way for them to make money is to cram as many human beings as possible on an airplane, ergo, they make seats as small as possible so they can get more onto the plane. I find it pretty damn clever, at least in the US, that as the average weight / size of the population goes up, they’ve managed to encourage hostility towards fellow passangers, instead of themselves, when someone doesn’t fit in a seat. Making them buy extra seating space (which some airlines do) and still shrinking seat space further only makes people who are overwieght look like the ‘bad guys’, while the airlines look like the long-suffering company who’s only trying to be… I don’t know? Polite? Kind? Patronizing? I dunno. I don’t like the way that this has become the passengers’ (who paid to use the service) problem / fault, instead of the airlines (which are doing things that make the problem worse, not better). ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/124 "2003-04-24T13:40:54Z")
Ha! Beautiful shot Jackmannii, in all sincerity well done 😃 Feel free to actually have a point at some stage in the discussion however. ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/125 "2003-04-24T13:42:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Iteki \* > \*\*KellyM, don’t mess up your own argument here, you just challenged somone on the statement that nutrition comes from what we eat? \*\* No, I challenged him on the claim that calories in minus calories “out” equals weight gained. At the very least he needs to define “calories in” and “calories out” a lot better than he has (which is to say, not at all). ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/126 "2003-04-24T13:44:08Z")
To deny food is a factor in the cause of obesity is like denying tobacco is a factor in causing lung cancer. People who do that are fooling themselves. But, again, the complaint in the OP was not that the person was fat but that the fat was spilling over into their seat. Big difference. You can be as fat as you like, but just not on top of me. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/127 "2003-04-24T13:45:53Z")
I’m still waiting for KellyM to explain how another passenger sitting a seat away infringes her personal space in the same way as having someone overflow into your seat? ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/128 "2003-04-24T13:46:28Z")
My point is that you have no right to expect your personal space to be unimpinged when you’re being crammed as tight as humanly possible onboard a tube with wings. I don’t like people touching me, but part of using mass transit is putting up with the possibility of having someone incidentially contact you from time to time. If you don’t like that, don’t use mass transit. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/129 "2003-04-24T13:48:44Z")
\>\> dunno. I don’t like the way that this has become the passengers’ (who paid to use the service) problem / fault, instead of the airlines (which are doing things that make the problem worse, not better). Except the passengers are choosing to buy that kind of seat and service. If they bought more business and first class seats then the airlines would provide more business and first class seats. The airlines respond to demand. Or is it often that you request a first class seat and they tell you “sorry sir, first class is fully booked, you’ll have to go in economy”? ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/130 "2003-04-24T13:49:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gary Kumquat \* > \*\*I’m still waiting for KellyM to explain how another passenger sitting a seat away infringes her personal space in the same way as having someone overflow into your seat? \*\* She flopped over into the vacant seat and slept. While she slept she squirmed and wiggled, and occasionally her hands or, once, her head, hit into my elbow on the armrest, or my thigh below it. Nothing like being felt up in the middle of a long flight by the sleeping wench in the seat one over. I consider this mild discomfort part of the price of getting from Tampa to Chicago in four hours. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/131 "2003-04-24T13:51:19Z")
\>\> My point is that you have no right to expect your personal space to be unimpinged when you’re being crammed as tight as humanly possible onboard a tube with wings. Sorry I paid for my entire seat and you do not get to use part of my seat just like I do not get to use part of yours. Very simple. If you need a bigger seat then you should pay for a bigger seat just like when you order a double burger you pay more than when I order a miniburger. What’s so difficult to understand? ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/132 "2003-04-24T14:00:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KellyM \* > **My point is that you have no right to expect your personal space to be unimpinged when you’re being crammed as tight as humanly possible onboard a tube with wings.** Seat configurations vary per airline: I’d much rather fly transatlantic in a British Airways 747 than in an Air France one. More. Friggin’. Room. Hell, I’m even willing to pay a premium for flying BA over other airlines. And when I do pay $700 for an Amsterdam to Los Angeles ticket, you’re damn straight it’s my **right** to use the full extent of my seat. _I paid for it._ The 400 lb guy sitting next to me has paid for his seat too, but not for 25% of mine. Ergo, if his body occupies 25% of my seat, he’s violating my **right** to that chair. I don’t hate him for it: I just wish he’d be somewhere else, preferably in a seat that offers both him _and_ the adjacent passengers comfort. > [@](#): > > \*\*I don’t like people touching me, but part of using mass transit is putting up with the possibility of having someone incidentially contact you from time to time. If you don’t like that, don’t use mass transit. \*\* Sure, I’ll live with the occasional elbow brushes, knee brushes, and what have you. That’s a far cry from your sides or legs spilling into the adjacent seat 100% of the time, though. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/133 "2003-04-24T14:02:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KellyM \* > **She flopped over into the vacant seat and slept. While she slept she squirmed and wiggled, and occasionally her hands or, once, her head, hit into my elbow on the armrest, or my thigh below it. Nothing like being felt up in the middle of a long flight by the sleeping wench in the seat one over.** So you tap the women on the shoulder and ask her to get up? Somewhat different to having a person sitting next to you whose body is of such dimensions that they physically will always be in contact with you. Man, there really are some sorry excuses being given here. ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/134 "2003-04-24T14:03:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Great Unwashed \* > **That you and your girlfriend have different metabolic rates could perfectly well explain the apparent disparity, you may well have a greater propensity to burn calories – maybe you fidget a lot, you seem to be of the excitable type, maybe your girlfriend secretly eats, maybe she is extremely sedate, how the hell would I know?** Indeed, how the hell would you know? You have no idea why a person is obese. But a lot of people are willing to make the moral claim that an obese person is not “eating responsibly” or is “secretly eating” (which I know is not the case in the case of my girlfriend as any “secret eating” would show up on her four-times-a-day blood sugar measurements) or any of a number of other moral failings, rather than even entertain the possiblity that their weight is just the consequence of their genetics and metabolism and not readily subject to change. No matter how little my girlfriend eats, her weight will never drop below the level considered “obese” by current standards. She’d die first. We know this because it nearly happened. Twice. Once as a result of a deliberate diet to lose weight, the other as a result of starvation induced by poverty. It would be much more humane of people to stop assuming that all obese people are morally deficient. I see a lot of that in this and other fat-bashing threads. Being obese is not de facto proof of immorality (the Catholics sins of sloth and gluttony notwithstanding). ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/135 "2003-04-24T14:06:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TwistofFate \* > \*\*So I’ll poke you in the sides and call you Biggie McLargeFry 😃 \*\* At least that’d be more entertaining than the inflight tv. ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/136 "2003-04-24T14:08:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gary Kumquat \* > \*\*So you tap the women on the shoulder and ask her to get up? \*\* Why should I do that? It’s not like she’s trying to be offensive to me. I see no reason why I should disrupt her slumber. It’s not like her contact is causing me pain or anything like that. I would be offended if a fat and **stinky** person sat down next to me and lapped over onto my seat. But if the individual is well-laundered and appears to be making a reasonable effort to confine themselves as much as they are able to their alloted space, I am not going to begrudge unavoidable overflow. It’s not their fault the airline chose to provide them with an inadequate seat. Besides, I know that they’re at least as uncomfortable as I am, if not more. I am far more annoyed by people who cross their legs in flight and stick their heels into my shin. Had that happen several times now. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/137 "2003-04-24T14:10:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KellyM \* > \*\*No matter how little my girlfriend eats, her weight will never drop below the level considered “obese” by current standards. \*\* Of what? ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/138 "2003-04-24T14:11:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KellyM \* > \*\*I see a lot of that in this and other fat-bashing threads. \*\* This. Is. **NOT.** A. Fat. Bashing. Thread. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/139 "2003-04-24T14:12:08Z")
Sorry, I cut the above quote short: > [@](#): > > No matter how little my girlfriend eats, her weight will never drop below the level considered “obese” by current standards. She’d die first. What would she die of? ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470/140 "2003-04-24T14:15:11Z")
**Gary Kumquat** : I believe the common term is “starvation”. Also known as malnutrition. Happens when you don’t get enough food and your organs start to shut down. And, **Coldfire** , yes, it is. Your insistence that it is not does not make the obvious fatbashing go away. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-fat-is-spilling-into-my-seat/170470.md?page=8)