Fatshaming

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After a conversation with friends, and with obesity (especially in young people) becoming a bigger crisis than smoking in our society, am I unreasonable to think that as we villanise smoking and drinking, should we fat shame more to encourage people to change their lifestyles. It's certainly worked with reducing smoking rates. Don't attack me (I've lost 2 stone). Just wondering why we target smoking more than fast food?

I've been 'shamed' ever day since being a child for my weight. I'm the heaviest I've ever been. Based on a sample size of one, no, fat shaming won't cure the obesity crisis.

FullTimeYummy and there your ignorance speaks volumes. Believe it or not I did and have altered my diet to suit my meds, I've also adjusted my diet again because of the menopause, and I eat healthily and cook balanced meals, yes I have a takeaway once in a blue moon, yes I have a bag of crisps or chocolate now and again, I have a physical job and walk every where because some of my meds make it impossible to drive, I don't snack, have alcohol maybe twice a year and the bulk of my diet is veg and chicken or fish, some fruit in limited quantities.
So somebody to tell me its because I eat too much and not the meds who doesn't know me can take a hike.
And learn how some meds can affect the body while you're at it.

5cats

That sounds very difficult and i wish you the best of luck with your health

The point i was making is that there are folk using meds as an excuse, as if medication defies physics in some was by creating mass out of nowhere.

I have fat and I am not ashamed . Its a free world and I support your right to say what you like, though I might not like it or you.

If losing weight were easy it wouldn't be a multi billion pound industry
You know what? Losing weight actually can be quite easy once you get on with it, stop making excuses, and finding reasons to fail. And there's no need to engage with the multi billion dollar slimming industry, in fact that just complicates the issue.
Stonesandsticks I disagree about your point about smokers not being 'shamed', and I'm an ex smoker. I did get the message that smoking was an antisocial loser type of thing to do, after growing up in the 60's and 70's when smoking was seen as cool and glamourous. Of course the health benefits message should always come first, but people don't seem to be getting the message about the health risks of obesity, as opposed to the health risks of smoking (which lets face it are more easily observed. I think most smokers have coughed their lungs up a few times.)

I wish someone would fat shame me, I’ve gone up a dress size after DS!

@fulltimeyummy

I get what you're saying, and I'm usually in the "you could always try eating less" camp, because it does apply to a hell of a lot of people. As it's been mentioned, less than 1% of obese people are obese because of a medical issue.

But

Having said that, I'm a size 6. Dinky. And about three Christmases ago I had a spectacular allergic reaction, resulting in a month long course of steroids. By the end of it, I had swelled to a size 14. It was quite the shock. So I do sympathise with people who are stuck on medication. When I came off the steroids 90% of the weight just came off. I had to diet off the last 10% though.

So, yes, the medication issue is very much real. But does not represent 99% of obese people.

5cats sorry, I've just read your post, and my post was not directed at you. Meds certainly can make weight loss more difficult.

Fair enough FullTimeYummy I see where you're coming from, and yes I agree there is an element of people who do use meds as an excuse at times. I think the point I was making was that not all fat people are fat because of overeating, although most are, but that there are groups of fat people who are fat because of things like meds that can and do cause changes in the body, side effects that are not pleasant, and believe it or not those are the meds that do defy physics and create mass out of nowhere
Unfortunately, mental health problems, little money and the fact that a lot of healthy foods are more expensive than cheap junk food are a huge contributing factor to obesity and these things need addressed rather than fat shaming.

No problem noeffingidea just replied to FullTimeYummy reguarding the meds thing. I just got a bit het up at the time.
My point being that being fat at times is not always a one size fits all and its all overeating, but that sometimes there is mitigating circumstances fo some fat people.

Pricing is definitely an issue.

I think once you get over a certain budget you can eat healthy and delicious meals at really low price. But you have to be able to afford that minimum price.

There was a really eye opening thread a while back about food poverty. Yes, a bag of carrots is 50p, and you can get cheap mince for a quid. But that's not a meal. Whereas frozen chips are a quid, a bag of nuggets is a quid, and that's a meal for three nights. And there were a staggering number of posters who simply did not have the extra few ££ to buy the healthier option.

Exactly Courtney555 cost of food is a big factor and there are a lot of people who don't realise that junk foods can work out cheaper than healthy foods, and many don't know how to cook is another.

Would it work if the crap food was not available? Just think for a moment what society would be like if only healthy food was available to buy and everyone had to prepare their meals from scratch.

A pain in the bum, maybe, but I reckon it would improve vast amounts of people's health.

Too radical?!

@mellon I think that's the way it needs to go...

Pictures of obese people, with their toes amputated through diabetes on bumper sized chocolate bars.

Works on cigarettes....

Lovelygiraffe. I’m not sure it’s polite to tell someone (rather crudely) that “ they are talking out of their arse” because the proffer an opinion you disagree with. The obesity crisis in children isn’t about individuals but about society adapting to the wider needs of the population. I don’t think anyone would disagree a less car focussed lifestyle would be in everyone’s interests. It might impact on you personally but it’s a bit concerning if you take an hour to walk a mile. It wouldn’t be long before your children could be dropped off to walk. Schools could arrange walking buses. It’s entirely possible. Those within school zone would have parking permits if they didn’t have off road parking. Some children wouldn’t even need to walk a mile but most would.

Great idea Mellon, when there are elderly people and disabled people who rely on frozen crap and ready meals because they haven't got the ability to cook

You can cook quickly and eat healthy food .. my dad is 88 and he cooks every day .. doesn't take a genius to pop some fish and a jacket potato in a microwave

Are you questioning my intelligence?

I am allergic to fish and I can't eat jacket potatoes unless all skin is removed, so doing that with hands that don't work most days, from a wheelchair in a kitchen that isn't adapted isn't the easiest thing in the world, especially for someone who is bedridden 50% of the time.

May I ask you a question? Under what criteria will you fat shame people? Some people gain weight due to medical issues (i.e., PCOD, liver disease, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenals), medications (i.e., insulin, glucocorticoids, beta blockers), lack of mobility due to surgery, injury, or disability.

So how would you distinguish or exclude these people? Or maybe you would include them as well in or to "shame" them because they are "defective"?

Please respond to my post because I really would like to know how you would handle this because I am one of these defective people who, at the age of 13, developed several autoimmune diseases one after another...once you get one they continue like a charm bracelet.

My parents were farmers and fed me healthy, garden foods, I was an active child. As the doctors said it was a fluke...a genetic switch turned on or off. My body considered itself the enemy. Therefore the medications I I have to take for the rest of my life have side effects, and those side effects cause more problems.

People like you think people like me shouldn't exist because we are an embarrassment or should be ashamed into "acting right". I still eat healthy and exercise to the best of my ability, but to follow your fat shaming and go off all my medications that keep me productive (working in society) I would become fully disabled and eventually die.

Maybe that's what people like you really want a society with perfectly genetically engineered (non sick) people so you don't have to see those that are unacceptable. Is that what you really want to say?

Get to the root of the problem...why is the person overweight or obese...it may be deeper than you realize. Do you know, or do you think you know?

I am too fat and I don't know why i have done and am doing this to myself. I'm not stupid and do understand too much food + inactivity = fat. I'm genuinely worried yet feel locked in an unchangeable pattern. I've had past relationship trauma and it's not rocket science to realise I'm covering myself in fat to avoid sex and relationships. Being fat is incredibly complex at it's root. I feel paralysed by the mountain i have to climb.

there's equally the competitive non eating threads were people faint if someone's eaten more than a teaspoon of quinoa and a sniff of a lettuce leaf that day. Are they ever asked if they have an eating disorder or are they patted on the back for being "healthy"?

I've never seen a competitive non eating thread and I'm on here a lot. I have seen threads where the op has under eaten and every single time they are asked if they have a eating disorder. I've never once seen someone egged on to starve themselves and people competing to do so.

I have seen posters pop up and say how they can't eat more than a sausage sandwich a day, and how they live on a lettuce leaf on someone elses thread, but they are normally called out on it, laughed at or ignored.

On the other hand, competitive eating threads very much is a thing. Apparently it's ok to congratulate someone for binging, but its never ok to congratulate someone for starving themselves.

Neither should be ok.

Fat shaming is so wrong. My beautiful sister had a size 14 to 16 hourglass figure in the early 80s so I guess a 12 today. Some complete tosser made comments about her figure.
This was the catalyst for a serious eating disorder. Both anorexia and bulimia.
Although she is now a healthy weight the repercussions on her body are huge. Early menopause potentially, brittle bones and decayed teeth.
Although her weight is a stable her diet is still very restrictive.
My teenage years were spent witnessing this. I was a normal weight at 18 but over the years my weight had fluctuated and again I am obese.

bluntness

I’ve seen the competetive overeating threads too and they’re very .

The competetive undereating threads might be found in the weight loss section. They’re really useful for someone who just wants to shift a bit of weight but I imagine they could be very triggering if not dangerous for some people.

Any form of shaming or humiliating people is just bullying.

Then if there is competitive under eating threads then they are just as bad as the competitive over eating ones.

I mean bloody hell. It's appalling. Grown adults doing this.