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 don't have any of these crutches either.

Why is it odd? Most fat people I see chowing down on eg McDonald’s, KFC etc - they know they’re fat and are making bad choices (and like the food).

One of my best friends is obese, a size 18-20 but losing weight and doing it well using keto right now. She told me once when she was stuffing herself with something unhealthy, she knew it wasn’t good but she figured she was already overweight etc.

Of course it is possible to get fat on healthy food - portions can be absolutely huge - someone I worked with had a massive salad (as in mixing-bowl sized container of all sorts including chicken / tuna & potato chunks) daily for lunch, dripping in creamy dressings, as she was "on a diet" - this was so she could have a "proper dinner" in the evening. She was deluding herself (and remained enormous).

Unnecessary snacks / "treats" between meals - just don't eat them, certainly not every day.

Cake is fine, homemade cake is especially fine - just don't eat too much - share it or freeze portions for another day. All things in moderation.

And of course healthy food does not have to be bland. Spices, herbs and seasonings and not exactly fattening!

The root of my interest in health was from age 7 in a waiting room of a cardiac ward waiting for my turn to see my dad while it was my sibling's turn to fill up the 2 visitors limit, and I was reading leaflets about heart health and giving up smoking with tales of people chain smoking 60-100 cigarettes per day.
My dad was in his 40s.
He gave up the smoking and ate more and gained more weight.
He had another heart attack in his early 50s. Fatal.

I don't look at peoples' size and judge their value as humans, but I do see it in terms of health. Cardiac disease and death in your 40s/ 50s ain't cool. There are so many conditions triggered or aggravated by poor lifestyle, being sedentary, excessive visceral fat and poor nutrition. None of us are immortal, but trying to optomise your health within the parameters of your own situation can at least maximise quality of life.

The longer through life you can be (or at least close to) a healthy weight, the better for you. The best time to improve your diet or fitness is as soon as you can.

As you get older it all gets harder. Metabolism declines. Activity level declines (muscle loss accelerating the decline of metabolic rate, so building/ maximising what you have helps) Health complications can develop. Health often tends to be easier to manage from a starting point of being more mobile and other body systems being healthier so good health in youth (and biologically, 20s-30s is young and metabolically different to middle age or old age). Youth has challenges like pregnancy. Complications are more likely to arise in obese mothers. When I ended up in HDU following a long, difficult labour and EMCS, it contained bariatric furniture because of the risk of complications being biased towards obese mums.

Love your body. Respect what it does for you. Nourish it. Move it. The younger you are the easier it is, and easier to maintain as you mature/ age. Being signifcantly overweight (and to be very obviously overweight does mean you're well into obesity where health issues are on the horizon) is a difficult starting point in life as it means your defaults are unhealthy. People naturally gradually accumulate weight with time (hence good old middle-aged spread) so if obese when young the choice is to either continue down the difficult path of obesity and its complications or the difficult path of turning around your habits and defaults.

Still plugging away at this book @Goldenbear ? 😊

I barely notice to be honest. I'm on the larger side too and feel like people notice it, the truth is that people think far less about us than we realise.

Exactly this for me.

I don't think much at all, unless it's someone who is at the very extreme end of obese and then I just usually wonder how much they have to eat daily to get to that sort of size.

I am not sure I think anything. Other people don't interest me much and I don't give it much thought at all.

I don’t think anything. I generally don’t dwell on strangers.

I've decided that being slim and bmi is kinda overrated.

I'm referring to @BogRollBOGOF post:

"The longer through life you can be (or at least close to) a healthy weight, the better for you. "

Is that really true though? I know many slim people who have already died. 5 of my friends who have cancer in their 50's are slim. Is our obsession with weight justified?

What's necessarily so great about slim, or weight? Stops your cancer or Alzheimer's?

Saying that not many of my friends are that big, but nearly all of them are a bit overweight. Most of us could do with losing 1/2 a stone, plus. Or more. But they are basically healthy. So far.... (I know that's not guaranteed in the future).

this.

I notice fat / obese children, usually with fat or obese parents. And yes, I do silently judge those. I don't 'worry' as such as I don't know them well enough but I do judge when I see huge children tucking into fried food with big parents. It's a crying shame and in some instances, abusive.

All children should have access to healthy, nutritious food. If they don't have that because the parents can't be arsed, I think it's neglectful and abusive. Moderation is key here and everyone is capable of moderation with the right help and will power.

I’ve liked your post because I agree with everything but the last sentence - I think the issue is if you raise a child in an unhealthy food environment you override their ability to exercise will-power - because you’re literally creating pathways in their brain with that food which isn’t compatible with exercising will power. Once someone becomes obese they become leptin resistant and exercising willpower alone is torture for them - in experiments diets send people deranged.

I don’t think anything. I have no hostility towards people who are overweight. It’s not my problem and it’s not my business.