To think the majority of you are fatphobic?

[Beebee8]

Just that.

@DdraigGoch nope lol - In inverted commas as to me there is no ‘normal’ when it comes to human bodies, we are so diverse as a species and we come in all different shapes, sizes and colours that to suggest that only one size or shape is ridiculous. I do think though that the media often subscribes to the fat=bad, thin=good philosophy which isn’t necessarily always the case.

You said it in the way I wanted to @Teateaandmoretea 😂😂😂

@vampirethriller I am genuinely so sorry that you feel like this, this is the exact kind of stigma I am talking about. There are so many reasons (accidents, disability, trauma, eating disorders to name a few) that can lead to someone gaining weight and even if you then take care of yourself to the best of your ability it will never be enough in the worlds eyes.

It really fucking saddens me that such strides have been made in the last 50 years when it comes to other prejudice, yet someone being fat is still fair game.

To whoever called me goady, maybe so but this is the most response I've had to any thread I've ever posted, and it's something I feel strongly about so I'm not sorry

"Ooh! It's Sunday night in pandemic Britain! Let's post the goadiest thread I can think of!"

PablosHoney

@Itsarattrap I can understand that, my husband isn’t fat at all so I don’t have that worry.“

It’s my biggest worry. He’s incredibly intelligent, high functioning, specialist employment, the gentlest man you could care to meet. Doesn’t drink (much), doesn’t smoke, great dad, kind to animals, loves his mother. Just can’t control the weight though.
I’m the physical opposite and love walking. He can manage a few metres before sickening back pain gets the better of him. I’m out on my own a lot and often well up a bit looking at a spectacular view, just wishing he could enjoy it too.
I guess we all have our demons 🤷‍♀️

We're not fatphobic, we just dare to suggest that someone might be overweight.

I suppose I think that being fat is a bad thing, yes - I tend to feel sorry for my relatives who are obese as it seems to affects so much of their lives and they're hugely unhealthy.

That's not the same as "being fat makes you an xyz sort of person" though - at least, not in my mind. There are so many reasons people put on weight, and it's hard slow effort to lose it again.

I am clinically obese, so I am a fat person, although for half my life (pre-children!) I was slim. So I definitely judge myself. Being fat (I'm not going to beat around the bush here) means I have gastric problems; my knees are crock because of the extra weight; diabetes runs in my family; I am at greater risk of complications should I get Covid-19; I snore like a trooper, oh and my blood pressure is a little higher than it should be.

People are so much more than just their size or weight, and we shouldn't judge people by this. But on the other hand, there is nothing healthy about being overweight, and I do think we get mixed messages about this. The trouble is, others can't differentiate between those who are fat because of health issues / steroids etc etc and those who are fat because ... frankly we consume too many calories compared to the amount we use.

I can be proud of who I am and what I do, and how I behave, but I am not proud of being clinically obese, or want to flaunt it. Life is complicated.

Ahh that’s a real shame for you both @Itsarattrap

I’m not fat

I’ve gained a lot of weight in the last year or so because I’ve have weight gaining drinks prescribed by the doctor

I am not however healthy. At all.

Just because I’m a size 8/10 does not mean I’m healthy. I would probably be healthier if I was a size 16 with a normal diet.

As it is, I have ARFID so my diet is extremely restricted and incredibly unhealthy.

Does fatphobic mean scared of fat? No. I eat lots of things with fat in. I'm friends with folk who've done this to the extent it's affected their health.
Scared of being fat myself? Yes. I don't want health complications and my life is better while I'm slim.

Sorry but you are completely wrong that fat people can be healthy. Being fat puts you at so much risk of things like cancer and diabetes regardless of how much exercise you take and vegetables you eat. Please provide some reliable sources if you are going to make dangerous claims like this.

I have fatphobia. Body fat scares the shit out of me.

It's my fat though and the reason it scares me is because it is slowly killing me. 🤷🏻

People are quite frankly delusional if they think fat doesn't negatively affect their wellbeing.

I wondered why I screamed every time I looked in the mirror...

I kept a lot of my baby weight on after my youngest was born (about 3.5 stone, a size 16). I didn’t actually feel fat, but started to feel my knees ache, didn’t fit properly on the swing at the park and then saw some photos of myself looking dreadful. Thankfully I’ve sorted myself out with diet. Before that I was literally scoffing anything and everything to make up for sleep deprivation. So I do understand being fat and maybe not really seeing/realising it as an issue. The answer was calorie deficit, as I wanted to enjoy a better quality of life and fitness.

I saw a couple the other day (I was queuing to buy ice cream for my DC). They weren’t what just fat, they weren’t just obese, they were absolutely gigantic! Bigger than any humans I’ve seen. They were stuffing their faces with ice cream and then started lumbering slowly away. It was really awful to see and yes, in that moment, I thought I would never ever be that fat!

[quote h3av3n]@vampirethriller your body doesn't create fat cells from thin air, the reason you have gained weight is because you consume more calories than your body burns per day. If you're genuinely eating fewer calories than your body uses and just continuing to gain weight then you have a new and extremely rare disorder which you should let a doctor know about.[/quote]
When your thyroid doesn't work effectively or at all, it affects how much oxygen your cells get and your while metabolism, so just eating less calories and exercising more does not work on its own. Dieting and exercising too vigorously can actually make things worse. You don't burn the fat, just feel more exhausted and ill.

[quote Beebee8]@FancyPants20

You're certain the heart attacks were weight related, not health related?

Thin people can have heart attacks caused by the same issues as fat people, but nobody would say it was anything to do with their weight.

Someone's weight in and of itself is not any indication of health. You cannot look at someone and know how they became that weight, or how they are currently living. Not that it would be any of anyone's business, but someone who was classed as 'obese' could change their eating and exercise habits to adequately nourish themselves and not lose weight, but society would still deem them as lesser.

Nobody deserves to be made to feel like shit for how they look.[/quote]
Being significantly overweight IS unhealthy, regardless as to the reasons behind that weight gain. The impact on the skeletal frame of carrying excessive weight causes premature wear and tear in joints. Having to carry an overweight body causes undue strain on vital organs such as heart and lungs. If a person was obese, and altered their eating and exercise habits to a point where they were overweight snug more calories than they were consuming, then they Would lose weight.
Judging people for how they look is never acceptable. But saying that overweight people can be just as healthy as someone of an ideal weight is delusionary.

@h3av3n goodness I didn't know that.
I wasn't size 8 when I started having health problems, more like a 12. The weight has gone on from not being able to exercise, steroids, anti depressants and no thyroid. I eat 1800 calories a day, I use myfitnesspal. Up to 2000 sometimes.
I could do fast 800 or something but honestly, life is miserable enough as it is.

I do not believe in health at any size (HAES), but in many ways I agree with you about MN attitudes to fat OP.

I don't agree that it is possible to be obese and healthy, in the sense that if you are obese then processes will be occurring in the body that will damage your long term health. True, someone might be technically healthy and obese in the present moment, and might be eating a healthy diet and just maintaining their current size. But stay that way long enough, it's all but certain to catch up with you, so it isn't healthy as a strategy. The more obese someone is, the worse that is of course. Can you be healthy and overweight but not obese? Probably.

There are lots of people on MN with a sophisticated and constructive approach, but every single time we have a thread where fatness is discussed, there are countless comments showing a complete ignorance of the issues involved in obesity. It really has been a shock to me how little grasp many posters have, and yet they feel completely qualified to judge and voice opinions from a position of almost total ignorance.

I'm not frightened of fat people either.

Could you elaborate, OP?

The majority of MN posters aren't fat-phobic. The majority don't really give a shit about whether other people are fat are not and so don't post in the endlessly repetitive threads about who is fat and who isn't, who is "being healthy", etc. Contrary to a majority being interested in this issue, I think there is rather a minority who like to bang on endlessly about it.

@Beebee8

OK thank you for the people who have constructed legitimate responses. I thought the question was pretty clear but I guess not.

I'll elaborate, then. I do think people on here are abusive about fat people. I think their first instinct is to judge them on what they consume and how much they move their body, in a way they would never do to a thin person.

It is used as a derogatory descriptor by so many as well, especially on a recent thread where people shared experiences about strangers who had been rude/violent towards them.

I get we are a product of our society but I feel there's not much excuse now for this level of cruelty and ignorance. There is so much information out there for the taking that it surprises me when people can't look past what the media tell them

I don't abuse anyone, and especially not fat people. I don't see too many posts like that on here. You always get the odd arsehole who is showing up just to goad people.

YANBU for calling it fatphobia. I guess nobody criticising has ever used the term homophobia (homo being Latin)...

And YANBU for calling out casual fatphobia. And some slim people can have visceral fat, which is more unhealthy than subcutaneous fat, so potentially some slim people are more unhealthy than some fat people.

And yes there are complex societal and environmental factors contributing towards people in this society being fat.

But YABU to imply there is something wrong with people caring about their or others' health, when weight is one valid aspect of that. Once you get over a certain waist size, ill health is virtually guaranteed, even if not instantly.

Phobia's a Greek word. You can only really construct a word for a phobia using another Greek word. You mean steatophobia (or something along those lines) but I'm pretty sure that's not a real thing.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_word

Yanbu I see more fat phobia in the guise of health concern on here than anywhere I can think of.