To think you can't be 'greedy' if you're not overweight

[LaurieFairyCake]

Seems simple to me

If you're not overweight then no matter what you consume you can't be 'greedy'

As you are a healthy weight and BMI and you're just eating to maintain that

Greed is classified as a desire to have more than your fair share, therefore it is a very negative word.
Someone who is continuously hungry (like OP’s example of teens with hollow legs) isn’t necessarily greedy, only if they are eating all the snacks or food that’s meant to be shared are they being greedy.
However, that said, someone who is always hungry and in charge of purchasing the food, can appear greedy, if they are less likely to exercise portion control because they have become used to having “more than their fair share” generally - so it’s a thin line between observing and judging...

Greed is a very negative word. It is never intended in a positive light and is designed to be uncomplimentary.

It’s a desire to have more that your share of something, to have something to excess, and yes you can be greedy and a healthy weight, because self control is the other side of it. Just because you want it, doesn’t mean you have to have it.

It depends what you mean by 'greedy' if you mean eating a lot of food and it would depend on what the individual perceived as a lot of food. If thats what your saying then any shape or size, bmi, muscle/fat ratio whatever could be greedy.

This is how i see it, lets say an average weight person had a large cake which could feed 8 people (im using a pp as example) if they are hungry and eat all of it or just like the damn cake they are not being greedy. Yet if someone came up to them an said i havent eaten or days please could i have some and they said no fuck off its my cake your not having any that would be greedy in my eyes. Not likely to happen i know but just creating a scenario to hopefully explain what i mean

@Iknowwhatudidlastsummer

what are you trying to say RickiTarr

that being overweight can only be due to a medical reason, or medical disorder?

Spectacularly proving my point here

Well from a broadly sociological point of view wouldn’t extremes of underrating and overeating both be deviant behaviour?

Not that it helps to use that term when you’re trying to help someone, but maybe because I’ve known plenty of people in all three groups, I can’t see the fundamental difference. They are all forms of self harm and they all seem to be hard for the afflicted person to control. There has to be a degree of commonality in the cause.

It’s just completely fascinating that some people are more interested in saying really weird things (like “if you are slim then eating 12 portions of cake in a sitting is not an issue”) than they are in empathising. It crops up constantly on MN and it never fails to make me gawp.

Its not an issue. if you were over weight its not an issue either i mean its not the healthiest thing to do but its not 'greedy'

It's so hypocritical.

If I say that since my DH has been promoted, he is having nearly daily business lunches, is not exercising and is getting very overweight, no one would even question WHY he's overweight or bring on self-harming, eating disorder or similar. Or accuse me of fat-shaming.

But god forbid a poster feels triggered or the thread is started a bit differently, and no one could possibly eat more than they need, there MUST be some disorder or childhood trauma or god knows what.

Which was my original point. On MN, no one can possibly be fat without a truck load of reasons, excuses to justify, excuse and boast about their excess weight. Anyone disagreeing is fat shaming.

I dont really use the term greedy it was used a lot when i was a child and i think it may have been one of the reasons why i have had/sometimes still do have an unhealthy view on food / body weight as it has been used in a negative way like when i was eating something because i liked the taste and therefore wanted more or because i was still hungry. We could pick at this alot, its an interesting thread.

Two people of the same height and age can eat the same things. One may put on weight, the other stay the same, due to any number of reasons. The one who weighs more is unlucky rather than greedy, and the one who stays the same is lucky, not more virtuous than the other.

@Iknowwhatudidlastsummer

It's so hypocritical.

If I say that since my DH has been promoted, he is having nearly daily business lunches, is not exercising and is getting very overweight, no one would even question WHY he's overweight or bring on self-harming, eating disorder or similar. Or accuse me of fat-shaming.

But god forbid a poster feels triggered or the thread is started a bit differently, and no one could possibly eat more than they need, there MUST be some disorder or childhood trauma or god knows what.

Which was my original point. On MN, no one can possibly be fat without a truck load of reasons, excuses to justify, excuse and boast about their excess weight. Anyone disagreeing is fat shaming.

Well people don’t generally act against their own interest unless some addiction or psychological factor is at play, do they?

Why would you find that a strange assertion?

If people smoke, inject heroin, drive deliberately into walls, jump off bridges, cut themselves etc, we recognise this as disturbed behaviour and look for a psychologist cause.

Well said Ricki. Smoking, drugs and gambling aren't always apparent at first glance, whereas food may equally be an addiction but the results are very visible.

oh great, another NAFALT hmm
What a juvenile response @Iknowwhatudidlastsummer, why does overweight people defending themselves bother you so much?

@Bluesername

Well said Ricki. Smoking, drugs and gambling aren't always apparent at first glance, whereas food may equally be an addiction but the results are very visible.

Food is a tricky one though because it's not like you can stop having food in the house. You can stop buying cigarettes and drugs and avoid the computer, but everyone has to eat. That involves choosing everyday to only have the "good" foods and only have this much to eat. It's easier to eat just that bit too much or have the cake that's doing the rounds at work. Food is everywhere. Drugs not so much.

I know, I know, discipline. However being overweight is much more complicated than just eating too much.

Signed:
An emotional eater.

I don't think being greedy has anything to do with what weight you are. It's a bit of a shit thing to say tbh.

But you can still be greedy in social situations. You can take more than your fair share of food and alcohol on a night out. You can monopolise conversation and attention.

Being greedy just means you are taking to the detriment of others.

You can be slim & greedy. I could polish off a whole cheesecake or 6 donuts in one sitting & was a size 8-10 until I hit 35. Then it all piled on. I used to have 2creme eggs for breakfast. Happy days.

Greed is depriving others of their fair share. So 4 of us share a 12 slice pizza and first person there eats 8 slices. That's greedy.

I saw this at a funeral buffet. First table up literally piled their plates so high with food, those at the end had to wait for more food to arrive. Greedy fat bastards.

@Warpedfrailty

Greed is depriving others of their fair share. So 4 of us share a 12 slice pizza and first person there eats 8 slices. That's greedy.

I saw this at a funeral buffet. First table up literally piled their plates so high with food, those at the end had to wait for more food to arrive. Greedy fat bastards.

No it’s not. Because the amount available isn’t always infinite.

Someone goes to the supermarket and buys an xl pizza, two garlic baguettes, ans then a tub of Ben and Jerry’s, is it greed?

Greed is more than your fair share, and also wanting an excessive amount.

Greedy fat bastards.

Why is fat always used as an insult, especially alongside greedy? Greedy doesn't necessarily mean fat and vice versa. Why the inclusion of fat? People can be overweight for so many reasons (including greed) and I can only imagine the shape of your body if you are fat being used as an insult to people of any size who are showing a lack of restraint with food constantly being horrendous. I am aware that "skinny shaming" also exists and have some experience but the moral judgement heaped on people who are fat is a little inhumane to me.

We have no idea what people of any size are experiencing.

I agree totally @knittingaddict. I was trying to say that people find it easier to point the finger at someone who is overweight, but they shouldn't.

Why is fat always used as an insult

Because it's a negative. It's something that nobody wants to be. Someone who wants to insult a person is going to pick on their least desirable characteristics. I don't think it's necessarily always a moral judgement, though it's certainly cruel and unpleasant.

Well people don’t generally act against their own interest unless some addiction or psychological factor is at play, do they?

don't they?

So everyone who doesn't sleep 8 or 9 hours a night
who doesn't exercise outside 3 or 4 hours a day
doesn't drinks the recommended amount
who spends too much time in the sun
who's going out too often
who's exercising too much which is a thing according to MN
who drive too fast
who drive their kids to school when they could easily walk
who buy take-aways for their kids instead of cooking healthy from scratch

must have some addiction or a psychological excuse?

It's absolutely ridiculous and quite patronising to pretend people are so devoid of will power and free will because they are lazy, take

Sometimes people willingly make the ...wrong choice. Because they want to. No need to stick putting on weight with taking heroin or jumping off a bridge in the same bag, it's absurd and you know it.

If I want to eat a Krispy Kreme or 2, it's because I am greedy and I love them. No need to patronise me with some psychological bullshit about it when there isn't any.

Well people don’t generally act against their own interest unless some addiction or psychological factor is at play, do they?

Yes,most people do this all the time. The psychological factor involved is simply being human and fallible, and having desires and drives which constantly make it very hard to consistently make wise choices. Most people who drink a bit too much aren't alcoholics. Most people who are a bit overweight aren't addicted binge eaters. People who choose to start smoking are not (yet) addicts.

Yes,most people do this all the time. The psychological factor involved is simply being human and fallible, and having desires and drives which constantly make it very hard to consistently make wise choices. Most people who drink a bit too much aren't alcoholics. Most people who are a bit overweight aren't addicted binge eaters. People who choose to start smoking are not (yet) addicts.

I was thinking of people who keep eating knowing they’re already definitely overweight or keep fasting knowing they’re underweight. That’s what this discussion is about isn’t it? Persistent Self harm. Not occasional indulgence.

OP has weirdly said that nothing you do is greedy unless you are already overweight. So we are unpacking that, because she made no sense.

I’m saying greed is greed if the act is greedy, doesn’t have to be in a context of food or overweight.

Some particularly unpleasant person coined “NAFALT” and time as asserting something along the lines of MNers are always inventing bogus medical reasons for people to be overweight.

That struck me as a very contrived attitude because disordered eating is surely disordered eating, regardless of the extent or the result?

It doesn’t really need to be stipulated does it, that eating a sandwich isn’t disordered, drinking a small Sherry isn’t disordered, smoking your first ever cigarette isn’t yet addiction? Only a fool needs this explained to them.

Can’t we just extend some kindness to all the different groups affected by addictions and compulsions and emotionally driven behaviours? Most of us will be touched by this somehow at some point.

I don’t really like this spiteful game of trying to construct a hierarchy.

I have friend who has a reputation for being hungry, she really loves her food and if we're out for day (remember when?) she will have snacks with her and need to know what the plans are for lunch.

She runs about 40 miles a week and works 13 hours shifts in a care home, approx size 8. She's not greedy, she earns and needs every one of those calories.

Er what. So if you’re sharing a cake out and I eat three slices I’m not being greedy, cos I’m thin? But if my overweight friend had two slices she is being greedy? That doesn’t make any sense.

I’m not sure you understand what the word means tbh.