Being fat seems to be the last acceptable characteristic to be prejudiced about - and it shouldn’t be!
Not least because it’s been widely and repeatedly proven that “shaming” and otherwise negatively commenting on a persons weight does NOTHING to help them lose weight if they want/need to - it actually has the opposite effect!
I genuinely think over eating needs to be recognised as an eating disorder.
I’m overweight myself, thankfully no longer obese having lost some but could still stand to lose more but I was very very slim in the past so I’ve often had shocked comments from people who last saw me years ago when I actually struggled to put on weight!
Personally I believe there’s a genetic thyroid issue at play in my family - one side the women are all very slim extremely so to the point of struggling to gain/maintain a healthy weight...until we have dc! We don’t gain loads through pregnancy though, we stay on the slim side through pregnancy only gaining what one would expect and losing the weight immediately after giving birth pretty much, certainly by 6 months post partum we were all back to pre-pregnancy weight or even less!
Then around a year after the birth of the first child we start gaining - a lot! Despite not changing our eating habits initially.
Then we seem to start really craving carbs really badly and really pile the weight on.
I find it particularly galling though when friends/relatives who’ve ALWAYS been slim themselves and NEVER had to try and lose weight comment.
They have no idea what they’re talking about! And as such need to keep their traps shut!
I’ve lost a significant amount of weight via weight watchers but contrary to the idea many non weight losers seem to have it’s NOT as easy as “eat less move more” - there’s a lot of psychological stuff involved and I also noted that a lot of fellow members had various health issues that had started before they gained the weight that made it harder to maintain a healthy weight.
I really started to pile it on following a bad car accident which left me disabled, I couldn’t run any more which had been my preferred exercise prior I could barely walk in the first year after.
The people making digs to me have almost without exception been fit, healthy, able bodied people who’ve never had a days serious illness in their lives!
I’d actually love with a certain few of them who are especially lacking in understanding of what it’s like to live with chronic pain to do that thing certain equality groups etc do of having them spend even a day with eg gravel in their shoes or a few ping pong balls sewn into strategic places or using crutches so they might gain SOME understanding of how painful, tiring and limiting it is.
I wonder - you know they have those “empathy belly” pregnancy suits with the extra weight of pregnancy BUT ALSO weights, ball bearings etc sewn in to mimic the back pain, pressure on bladder etc?
They should make “empathy disability” suits for people to wear, i know they couldn’t mimic all disabilities but they could mimic some and it might go some way to addressing the lack of understanding.
Maybe “fat suits” for people too - because even “just” being overweight can affect mobility, energy, ability to breathe and function properly.
Sorry bit of a rant - but I’m sure you understand why.
@slippermaiden I’m vegetarian too - there are good and bad veggie diets just as there are good and bad Omni ones I was very slim when first veggie and regularly have people saying it was cos I wasn’t “eating properly” my then boyfriend who saw what and how much I ate and was an omni and a very sporty guy used to react in a jocular way “ha! Nope! She eats better and way more than me and I train 8 times a week and play most weeks”
I ran 2-3 times a week and Swam once a week at that point but I was a slow runner and swimmer certainly wasn’t burning off enough calories for what I was eating.
“I was always skinny til I had DS” I genuinely believe based on own family’s history, quite a few friends with similar stories and from loads of reading in the area that there’s a reaction that occurs in some women that triggers hypothyroidism around the time of giving birth which then goes undiagnosed for many years.
I forgot to mention that the women in my family and the friends I have discussed this with who had similar changes with weight (and other things) many have eventually been diagnosed with hypothyroidism but not until at least their 50’s - but this is despite reporting classic symptoms for up to decades!
I do have to balance all this by saying though that my relatives who haven’t had dc and are extremely slim despite eating plenty also have had horrible, thoughtless and even cruel comments made about their weight. One was even refused entry to the high adrenaline rides at a theme park as they assumed she was anorexic and therefore at risk of heart issues - she absolutely isn’t and they are not Drs so how the fuck dare they make such assumptions?!
@ReanimatedSGB I suspect you’re spot on with the misogyny aspect
“a fat person is considered less 'successful' than someone who is thin..” there’s a kind of “societal self fulfilling prophecy” going on with this though, numerous studies show that even with the same qualifications and experience fat job applicants are less likely to get a position than slim ones.
When I was young, blonde (dyed), and slim I could get jobs no bother. Since I gained weight and went back to my natural hair colour (redhead/brunette mix I have weird hair) I noticed I was finding it much harder! And not even always “customer facing” roles. I still had the same experience/qualifications and I know for a fact there were people got jobs I went for who were less qualified/experienced than me.
Well done op for standing up for yourself!