Is fatphobia a real thing?

[AnxiousApocalypse]

Having watched the Panorama documentary on the Met Police and the police officer making rude comments about a fat woman and how "she was so fat she had two pussies", I'm wondering how much hate and disgust most people truly have against fat people? I'm not excusing it and saying it's not dangerous for your health to be overweight or obese, but surely being rude and ignorant isn't the answer?

Where body size / weight is a product of diet and lifestyle (rather than a medical condition) then I think it’s understandable that ‘wider society’ raise an eyebrow.

The link between obesity and poor health isn’t exactly unknown and who picks up the bill for all the obesity-related complications that come down the line… we ALL do (those that pay tax anyway).

Driving obesity there are a lot of very powerful hormones at play. This is why a jab which makes you feel full up after meals makes all the difference. I used to feel extremely hungry even when I had eaten. I don’t any more. I don’t think most people are actively being very gluttonous like the example given of the McDonald’s kid above. But food does build very addictive habits and junk food does even more so.

I suspect people who are naturally slimmer have a better hormone balance and maybe don’t understand the intense drive that others feel to eat. Sort out the hormones and you sort out a lot of the problem.

Even so. There is no reason to look down on people because they are actually suffering from a condition which is potentially damaging their health. And no reason at all for rudeness and jibes in the street etc.

Do you want people to wear badges displaying their reasons for their weight so you can decide how best to judge? Genetics are the biggest factor. Don't know about you but I didn't choose mine.

As for the NHS funding…this is a very British argument to do with the nationalisation of our health system! I pay my taxes too and I work hard despite my obesity and I’m a net contributor. So I am as entitled to treatment as a smoker, drinker, drug addict or someone who plays dangerous sports or rides a motorbike or is long term unemployed. I also have private health insurance to cover some things.

I’d dearly love to not have a weight problem! I have actively battled it for years - at times I’ve lost a load of weight only to regain it later to my shame. That was before medication was available. Now there is medication the NHS won’t prescribe it for me. Oh the irony. Seems like they didn’t want me to be slimmer after all. I’ve now paid a lot to try and make myself the right weight. It’s not like I’m not bothered!

See there's some of the irony right there. Like you I have battled my weight for years. No, decades. In that time I've been judged, advised, "helped" by people who have no fucking idea what it is like. Unlike them I have successfully lost weight again and again and again. We are the experts at weight loss. Been there done that. Rinse and repeat. The problem is that it has not been sustainable. I lost the same 5 stones again and again and again. With WLI I have lost the full 8 I needed to. At MY expense, not the NHS's. The difference it has made has been indescribable. I still had a mountain to climb but mounjaro has given me a manageable path up it rather than the sheer cliff face I used to diet my way up. From my first jab it was like it fixed something in me. I'm fairly sure I'll need to stay on a maintenance dose now. The problem was never gluttony, stupidity, greed.

Good luck @Looploop

Yes we all know that in the vast majority of cases of obesity, it's because people eat too much. No one is denying that. What is interesting is why they eat too much and why even when people are absolutely desperate to lose weight, they cannot control their eating. Putting it down to abstract concepts like greed and willpower is utter nonsense. I am on wli...I have no idea how it works but it's absolutely amazing. Prior to them I was in a tortuous battle with myself over food...I even said to my DH once I started the injections, is this how you feel all the time?! I've been thin before but I was still battling with myself over food every day.

@MJMaude exactly! We may look fat (or used to) but we have been battling it for years.

Genetics are the biggest factor in weight gain/obesity?

Is that true?

So well put.

And finally…if losing weight the old-fashioned way was so simple, we wouldn’t have had the massive diet industry which was mostly ineffective and akin to selling snake oil. A lot of people have tried a lot of different “solutions” for a long time! I suspect it’s the diet industry which is behind a lot of negativity about the jabs. Weight Watchers is going bankrupt, I believe.

What about them? I suspect their numbers plane into insignificance against people that overeat and under exercise so I’m not sure what the relevance is.

I don’t think being fat is the “worst kind of moral personal failure” but I do think for most people it’s a failing of some sort.

I consider it in the same way as I consider some of the other issues you’ve raised. I consider people who don’t clean their house, allow their DC to be on their iPads for hours a day, rely on fast food, wear their pyjamas on the school run, watch endless amounts of trash TV to be ill disciplined. I feel the same about people who consistently overeat and don’t exercise.

I appreciate that perspective makes people angry, but there it is.

I think this thread answers your question with a big fat yes 😳

Shocking some of the responses on here. I've been overweight and am now slim. 5ft 4in and 8.5 stone and when I was 5 stone heavier I worked out 3x a week and ate home cooked meals. Now I maybe look healthier but I guarantee you I'm not. I'm exhausted, stressed, poor diet relying of coffee and sugar and I maybe exercise once a fortnight at most. Heavier I had more stamina and a lovely glow to my skin.

I think people should mind their own business, weights and comments.

Of course fatphobia exists. And if you didn’t know it before, this thread proves it.

But if over eating is due to being ill disciplined...why do the weight loss jabs work? Surely if I was just a fundamentally poorly disciplined person, I'd be that whether I took the injections or not? Yet when I take them my entire outlook and approach to food changes

For me this post hits the nail on the head.

People take an incredibly one-dimensional view of weight issues: it's just lack of discipline, and you can't tell them anything else.

I used to be very low on the healthy weight band and had all sorts of health issues that totally resolved when I put on a bit of weight, In fairness still within healthy in theory, but I just wasn't healthy at the lower end. At the bottom end of healthy BMI, I had circulatory issues and hormonal issues (fat plays a role with some hormones). I could eat what I liked and never put on weight - and I was honestly quite unrestrained - ill-disciplined if you like.

Pregnancy changed me hormonally and although I eat in a more disciplined way, healthier food, and less of it, I weigh more (and feel better). It taught me never to look at obsesity and presume.

I’m not sure it makes peiple angry, or that your opinion carries enough weight to make people angry, you’re just some anon random on line right, different if it was someone people knew or someone whose opinion was well regarded on this subject.

as the pp said if it is just a personal failing and poor discipline how do you explain the success of weight loss injections. I mean the scientists can explain it, from glp production decline to metabolic issues, but I see you feel this is hokum it’s just a personal failing, so can you explain how the injections work then in the face of that?

Because the weight loss injections make you less hungry and turn off the “food noise”. You therefore require less discipline not to over eat.

why do you think the WLIs work?

I’m not sure it makes peiple angry, or that your opinion carries enough weight to make people angry, you’re just some anon random on line right, different if it was someone people knew or someone whose opinion was well regarded on this subject

fair enough - I thought I had interpreted some anger and hostility on this thread, most recently from the posters implying that slim mums were selfish and neglected their kids.

Oh I think like the scientists, they manage blood sugar, make your fat available for burning , manage your insulin to ensure you produce correctly and you don’t lay down glucose as fat and reduce inflammation, whilst slowing digestion to allow you to feel fuller longer.

but I guess thanks for confirming you don’t remotely understand the drugs and Ger your info from social media.

i can’t say I’m impressed.

I have a family member who is hugely, morbidly obese.

The worst thing I have heard that resulted from her obesity was - the bullying of her kids for having a big fat mother.

That fucking appalled me. People should be a lot more aware of what they are feeding their children besides food - their toxic attitudes to people who are fat WHATEVER the reason - and the belief that they can bully people on the basis of that justification.

Because some people might find fat ugly, but personally I find a nasty, cruel and spiteful bullying attitude and actions a whole lot uglier. And at least as toxic.

Hear hear!

Scrolling this thread I am noticing all the attitudes that are in a far uglier shape than any bodies.

What do you think is the difference between “slowing digestion down to allow you feel fuller for longer” and “making you less hungry” is?

What do you think the difference between “managing insulin to produce effectively” and “making you less hungry is”?

if you feel fuller for longer, stabilise blood sugar levels and improve satiety signals, you will feel less hungry. This is primarily why WLIs work.

But without the wli, do you think everyone has basically the same appetite, cravings and response to food...or do you think it varies from person to person?

Cravings and appetite are proven to vary from person to person, based on a multitude of factors. I don’t know what you mean by “response to food”, if you mean enjoyment certainly some people enjoy food more than others, if you mean do metabolic rates vary significantly amongst people of same height/weight/sex the scientific answer is no.

that doesn’t change the fact that WLIs make you less hungry and that is why they are successful. I’m not sure why you’re arguing otherwise.