To ask what you think when you see a young, fat person?

[AugustSlippedAwayIntoAMoment]

I'm very, very aware that this thread will probably get some nasty responses.

But I'm young (26), overweight and short. I try to dress nicely and I'm actively losing weight, but I'm just curious. What do you actually think when you see a fat person? I've never given it much thought before now as I've been fat my entire life, but what do you really think? Am I walking round oblivious to the fact I'm being judged all the time or do people just not care?

I saw photos of a certain famous couple who are Anglais en France, I won't be more obvious than that as it's grossly unfair to their kids, but I feel really sad that they have money and presumably a great life, but they are quite probably shortening their (and also their children's) time on earth by being overweight. It's not ok but I feel conflicted even posting it, as clearly it's not the kids choice or fault.

Oh right so you are a food is fuel person, good for you but DH and I were discussing this (he is not overweight) and culturally this would never do for us!

I'm a foodie! I bloody love cooking and eating. So I cook healthy things, have a light day following a heavier one, exercise regularly and achieve balance.

I also love exercising because it makes me feel good physically and mentally. I'd also probably put weight on if I stopped!

What are you on about I'm slightly overweight and most people tell me I'm not, I don't eat 2, 3, 4, slices of cake I would be even fatter if I dared it t breakfast.

Do you have DC?

In many cases this is definitely not true. I was a naturally thin child as were all my family yet we ate like horses. We were athletic too but not obsessively,we just enjoyed sport. As a late teenager & in my 20s before children I wasn't really sporty yet I could regulary polish of food & snacks a builder would eat without gaining weight.I never thought about it although friends would laugh and say how can you do that. After my first child in my late 20s I started to gain weight fairly easily like most of my contemporaries.I'm now around a size 12/14 depending on the make etc. I don't deny myself but there's no way I could eat the way I did when I was young and not gain excessive weight. My metabolism has totally changed. People can be naturally thin.

Yes I have, I'm reading Politics on the Edge at the moment, what are you reading?

Yes, I know they can in teens, my DS is like this. I should have said and think I have made it clear that I'm referring to older women in their 40s.

I'd love to be a food is fuel person but I am a foodie. I'm obsessed. Not just eating but cooking, food shopping, recipe books etc. I've been slim but I still thought about food all the time. I also hate exercise. Absolutely detest it. I hated it as a child. PE was my least favourite subject....I'd have rather have done maths or read a book. I find it bizarre that enjoying exercise is seen as more virtuous than reading for example.

As for my diet, I don't drink fizzy drinks or alcohol. I don't eat fast food or takeaways. You can get fat on good quality home cooked food!

Why would I be, absolutely bizarre. So do you have DC?

I'm waiting for the review. I wonder if we'll get a Harvard referenced bibliography. She's got plenty of time for that since she's not wasting her time exercising!

There have been some thinly veiled comments having a dig, regarding slim people, coming from that poster.

In what world is exercise seen as more virtuous than reading? Maths and English are literally core subjects when taking exams. PE isn't.

I'm absolutely baffled by some of these comments suggesting it's all one or the other; one thing glorified and the other vilified. Living in a dreamworld.

Being slim is not a virtue or a job, it is a description that is open to any of us, I was literally slim until 3 years ago, why would I male veiled comments. I am stating that having been slim and very thin in twenties, stop pretending no effort is involved as it is. I think it is disingenuous in your forties to say that is easy - it's isn't for anyone I know!

That's utterly ridiculous, I enjoy good vigorous exercise maybe 4 times per week (1-1.5 hours) - that leaves me plenty of time, 100s and 100s of hours to do the things you deem worthy. Which I do. Living in a healthy body is pretty fundamental to a healthy mind. Our modern lives mean that most of us simply don't get anything like the exercise we need to maintain healthy bodies without actively pursuing it. The fit strong women I know who incorporate movement as part of a balanced life - most often in the company of others - are in most cases also amongst the liveliest, sparkiest and most engaged women, they are absolutely not vacuous gym bunnies. We are all in our 40s and 50s.

I assume you don't have DC as you won't say.

Understand but I could eat like a horse without gaining weight until after my first child in my late 20s 🤔

Yes, I mean the twenties not really hard to eat loads tbh, especially prior to hanging children.

I think your opinion on women who are slim is more about you than them.

I don't deny myself and do indeed 'eat what I want', maybe what I want is different to what you want? I don't know, I'm not you.

I'm 9 1/2 stone, 5' 8" and in my 50s. I genuinely don't think about my weight or consciously try and 'maintain'. I genuinely eat exactly what I feel like. I love food and cooking. I'm certainly not denying myself.

I do pilates and swim, nothing onerous though.

That is who you know. There are people who actually struggle to maintain weight, because they have such a small appetite, and who do eat what they like, just not too much of it. I am absolutely speaking for myself here. It is disingenuous to suggest that slim people are somehow all depriving themselves, or exercising half to death, or are in the grip of an eating disorder.

I don't weigh what I did in my 20s though, I was two stone lighter. That would take some pain!

They aren't suggesting that this though, exercise is seen as virtuous in adulthood but exercising the brain via a book is not a concern for anyone.