Fat people are stupid apparently.

[mytwopenceworth]

did anyone read that bit in the express about the business man who won't hire fat people because he says they are unintelligent and just smoke fags, drink beer and eat pies all day?

how can people think it's ok to be so hateful and discriminatory.

i hope he gets leprosy and his watnot falls off.

expat... you are making assumptions with the term 'obese slob' how would you know they were a slob? They might be really fit and have an active lifestyle. I imagine if they had done a course in fitness that would enable them to work as an instructor this would be the case.

am confused as to why all the fat people on this thread do so much exercise and yet they are still so fat that people actually abuse them for it

wwb thanks that was a lucid and heartfelt explanation in your case at least

You wouldn't tell an anorexic just to start eating; it's a problem that's in their head. And for many overweight people that's true too, and just stopping eating is as difficult as starting eating is for an anorexic.

Well put wwb. Anorexics dont get the ordeal that fat people get from the public, either.

As has come out in here, its down to assumptions people put on others by simply looking at them.

I think it is an issue of addiction and some people are stronger than others in being abe to deal with such problems.

enid, I think this issue is more why people feel it is okay to abuse others in the first place. Maybe if they didnt people would find it easier to get the weight off.

addiction yes...but tobacco and alcohol and heroin are chemically addictive - in that you get physical symptoms when trying to give up - not with food though?

My best friend is smarter than me, more active, less lazy and fitter than me. 4 inches shorter than me And several stone heavier.

Anyone who hired me in preference to her would be a numwit.

Perhaps all us 'fatties' should just give in to the obvious wisdom of those who are thinner than us and therefore have larger brains. Those who are so superfit that they'd never spend an afternoon sat on their arses posting on MN. Those who are so incredibly beautiful and talented that they never have to ask for advice on anything. Those who are so accepting of others that they'd never judge anyone - and those who might in the not too distant future have a child who develops into an obese adult - then lets see how they react to their offspring being verbally abused... I wonder, will they berate their grown up child or feel anger towards the abuser?

I don't think enough research has been done on 'food addiction'. Yes some people use excuses and cannot be bothered to put the effort and sacrifice in. But food issues for many can start pretty much from day 1. Lots of us will have been comforted/rewarded/whatever with high fat and sugary foods from a very early age. And although lots of people on MN profess to feed their kids as perfect a diet as possible, I'm sure some of them do the food comforting/rewarding/chocolate or cake as a 'treat' thing - and yes I do include myself in this no matter how hard I try not to. Drugs/alcohol/cigs are not usually used as a bargaining or loving tool in (most!) families.

And just because we haven't all bared our souls with a lucid explanation on this thread, it doesn't mean we don't have a valid history behind out addictions (although am going through one of my thinner stages atm).

Am off to eat some lard whilst trampolining....

expat I take it you're thin. If you weren't you would understand..

Sugar can create an addiction.

I don't think getting upset is going to do anyone any favours - there's no point in taking things too personally when people are speaking in general terms.

Expat, you seemed to be equating "obese slob" with "fat person", which is why I made my comment on assumptions. I misinterpreted your post, and I apologise.

I think some foods can be addictive. Sugar particularly. But I don't crave sugar, my downfall is savoury food.

I can't speak for anyone else but the need to eat feels like a physical need, even if it isn't really - it's an emotional and mental need, but it feels like a physical one. I can't explain it in any other way than to liken it to an addiction, although I realise that it may not be quite the same as a chemical substance that someone's addicted to. I guess it's partly that it's become a habit, and maybe the habit is what's hard to overcome, I don't know.

And yes, that might be a weakness in me that I need more willpower to overcome. I'm sure it's a mark of my own failings. But it's why I find that it's much more difficult to shift weight than "eat less, move more".

Eating fills an emotional void, and I have yet to find anything which either takes that void away, or fills it.

Speedy, I have to disagree with you a little in THIS thread!

More low-fat, low-calories foods are being consumed than ever before and yet obesity is on the increase. I think it's a lot more complicated than energy-in/energy-out!

Expat: of course smoking would affect your work. You'd have to go down the stairs, out of the building and probably down the street before you could light up.....if doing that frequently throughout the day won't affect your work then I'd be very surprised.

Joash - I can see you're upset and just wanted to say when you say "People at the schoolgate ignore me, simply because I am fat!! GS does not get invited to parties, etc - because I am fat!!! I spent 18 months at college with everyone being invited to go out or socialise with everyone else, except me - because I am fat!!! " How do you know it's because you're overweight? It could be for numerous other reasons.... it doesn't have to be something negative about you.

I am no expert but I imagine the chemicals used in food, not to mention things such as hidden (and not so hidden) sugar, could cause a dependancy to food. That coupled with the emotional reasons behind compulsive eating means that for some it is almost impossible to lose the weight.

We wouldn't spit at someone in the street, or call them names, for being an alcoholic (even if we did think it in our minds) so why is it acceptable to do it to a fat person? (After all, alcoholics can change if they "really" want to, cant they?)

I just hope that all you slim people on your moral high horse are never in a position where you become obese because then you might actually realise what a fat person goes through in this fat-phobic society and actually feel the need to empathise.

'expat I take it you're thin. If you weren't you would understand.. '

I deal w/my addictions even now. I will always deal w/my addictions. Sometimes, I'm so angry with myself that I let myself get so addicted to alcohol and nicotine.

I wish I could just have one drink and not the whole bottle. One beer and not six and then go out for more.

Drink without desperately craving nicotine.

I worry all the time about the long-term effect years of alcohol and nicotine abuse may have on my health. I had cervical cell abnormalities. I know my smoking could have contributed to the development of cervical cancer had I not kept up w/my smears. I'm sure I picked up HPV whilst ho'ing around drunk off my arse.

But somehow I don't understand overeating?

Thin people can be overeaters as well.

It sounds to me like some people here blame a lot of the problems in their lives on being obese.

I guess viewing it as a I do, food as an addiction and I am an addict myself, I can't help thinking that this doesn't get you anywhere.

I used to drink to cope.

All that did was multiply all my problems by about 100 and I was fucked up AND an alcoholic into the bargain.

No one put a gun to my head and forced me to drink and smoke to cope emotionally. I chose to deal with things - painful divorce, bad love affair, the deaths of a couple of friends, being made redundant - by turning to substances.

Until I owned that and took responsibility for it and what it was doing to my life, well, I just spun my wheels.

so you were strong - maybe others aren't as strong as you.

For me the difficulty with food is that you can't just eliminate it from your life which is ime the easier weay to deal with addictions. You say that you can't have alcohol in the house because you can't have just the one drink - that's just not an option for me with food. I have three kids and a house full of it. If your weakness is alcohol then it would be like you working in a pub.

I used to be a heavy smoker and gave that up. I went from 20-30 a day to nothing. It was difficult but it would have been much harder for me to have, say, two cigarettes a day than none at all.

I know people can and do lose weight but if it were that easy we'd all be thin.

LucyJones ...in answer to your comment...
"How do you know it's because you're overweight? It could be for numerous other reasons.... it doesn't have to be something negative about you."

I have had this conversation on MN before ... I know because far too many people, in the past, have told me exactly why this happens once they finally realised that I am more than a "fat cow". But you know something, I really don't give a shit. I have yet to meet one person who makes these assumptions, or who believes themselves so perfect that they have the right to hold such pathetic beliefs, who I would consider totally happy with their lives, their children, their work and their relationships - which I can honestly say, even including one current stress issue (not of my making) I am...100%

Apparently my Dad is fat and stupid, according to this article on GMTV today. Okaaaaay.

Dad is the least lazy person I know! He has worked since the age of 5. when he was amde redundant from his managerial job, he was offered a post cleaning out the machine that make burgers and sausages. He accepted it, rather than claim benefits. he is still there 10 years on, has refused promotion as can't do it physically- he would be disabled (he has a syndrome similar to NF that causes growth, I have it too, its not linked to weight- I was bullemic and anoriexic when I developed it). both his pensions collapsed through cirxumstances that rpevent them claiming these governmental handouts (linked to being sold abroad). So he accepts he ahs to work for- well always, Mum can barely walk, she cant work, though she does care for my nephews.

So clearly Dad is anything but lazy, even on his days off he rises early as he grows all their own fruit and veg to save cash.

Stupid? Well as second youngest of sixteen kids he was the only one to get acepted fro Gramamr (coulodn't go, they couldn't afford uniform- nan was bedbound and Grandad an alkie, hence the working since 5 thing).

Dad is fat because he overeats, partly as he likes it ( and none of us in the family are a size 10, even my uncle who once trained olympic swimmers (and is pushing 80) is hugely obese. Could that not be at least partly related to a childhood where the main meal was usually bread and jam (no butter), where they ate hedgehogs, poached salmon and caught rabbits / hares and when the food was served, the littlest ones were lucky to gte anything after the biggest ones had tucked in? Dad never says this, but my Mum has talked abot it and that was his reality.

Of course weight is usually (not always) about excess food. Dad wuld admit that. But there's always other factors- and frankly my Dad has slaved throughout his life doing a job most people would refuse, that wouldhave been designated for outcastes in India, despite for thirty years having been one of four managers at a huge inductrial place that was sold off suddenly, and then retraining as a CNC setter for a decade before that place was sold too.

This sort of press, you may notice, REALLY annoys me

Should be a full stop after 5. Obviously.

Bethbe "More low-fat, low-calories foods are being consumed than ever before and yet obesity is on the increase. I think it's a lot more complicated than energy-in/energy-out!"

Agree and there are two reasons for this. The first is that subconsciously, people eat larger portions of these foods in the belief that they can get away with eating more of it and secondly, many of the contrived low fat foods are loaded with sugar.

We are better of snacking on fruit like apples, pears and oranges (natural low energy dense, fibre rich food) rather than processed, low fat cereal bars, cakes and biscuits if we are serious about wanting to lose weight.

Also, people are more sedentary now compared to our ancestors so we are burning up less energy.

I don't underestimate the emotional factors too. I know that if it was easy, everybody would lose weight without struggling. I do believe though that being seriously overweight for the majority of people is down to their lifestyle and it is not an inevitability. We need to be honest about this and being honest does equate to being derogatory about the obese although one must recognise that the obese will feel sensitive about it.

that should read does not equate

'being seriously overweight for the majority of people is down to their lifestyle '

Yes. (and I would add portion sizes today to the list btw).

However, there is such an emphasis on weight in terms of how people are judged. its one part of a person- a tiny percentage of what and who they are.