This is just a vent mostly about things that are said to fat people that really, really annoy me. I've been obese pretty much all of my life, on diets since I was about 7, sometimes I ate a lot, sometimes, not so much.
There's so many things that are said to fat people that are just thought of as "givens" that really annoy me, esp. to fat dieters, such as:
"Losing weight will take time, you didn't gain it overnight, you won't lose it overnight"
??! Really, In my lifetime, I have gained 100 lbs in a year's time on both occasions. Once between the ages of 13 and 14, I jumped from 225 lbs to 325 lbs, and I wasn't gorging on food at the time, my family was homeless during that time, we were staying with friends and my mom was out of work. I hardly had time to eat anything of my own then, more than anyone else.
I remember during that time, my mom's best friend made one of the first comments that really hurt me deep about how "huge" I was pointing out I weighed 300 lbs in a derogatory way. Later, she lost down to 112 lbs from 140. We're good now, but that early comment stays with me.
Then, I lost down to 237 and got bad arthritis about 3 years ago, and gained back to 351 in a year's time, eating about 3000 calories a day, but the ibuprofen did me in, and made me hold all of the food I was taking in.
THEN, there's the thing about metabolism, they tell fat people that a low metabolism is very very rare and it's in fact very common that fat people actually have high metabolisms. I call BS. When you search on Yahoo or Google for the phrase: "Help, I can't gain weight", what you find is a lot of teens and young adults are who like 5'9" and 98 lbs for girls and 6'2" and 112 lbs for boys and the advice they are often given is that they in fact have high metabolisms and that it's "normal" for young people to be able to eat what they want and tolerate a lot of carbs and not gain weight.
Well, that's funny because I didn't get the magic metabolism in youth, lol. I got the 40 yo one from an early age. So if it's so common and accepted for thin people to have "high metabolisms" (and I have experienced this phenomenon on occasion, so I know it exists, I have lost lbs a day eating over 5,000 cals a day, it didn't last, but it has happened).
So if it's so common for thin people to have "high metabolisms" why is this constantly poo-pooed for fat people, esp if you google "eating 1500 calories and can't lose", you'll find people weighing like 250 lbs and plateauing for MONTHS at a time. Not very rare at all.
Then, I read about all the stuff obesity supposedly causes like heart disease, diabetes, and for men a lowering of testosterone. Well personally, I think they have this one backwards. For example, I think I've always been low on the testosterone dept, always been feminine (can't help it, it's not something I flaunt or advertise, it's just my genetic makeup, soft voice and all that), I've been that way since before I became obese. When I gain weight, I tend to put it on in places women are expected to such as hips and thighs, genetically this is supposed to provide for fertility and greater ease to give birth to children, etc.
I think a lot of the factors that obesity supposedly causes are in fact the things that CAUSE the obesity. The relationship is reversed: I believe that heart disease or low testosterone, or metabolic syndrome CAUSE obesity, not the other way around. And, it just makes me want to pull my hair out.
And, that's the last thing, I think obesity is a condition, even dare I say it, a disease, that a lot of us struggle with. It isn't because of laziness or gluttony or sloth or poor choices a good deal of the time, any more than what thin people eat, and any more than the behaviors of other chronic diseases and few recognize this.
And, it's difficult because even fat people ourselves don't want the "disease" label, and doctors refuse to look at it as a disease that people have to contend with, and look at it as a matter of behavior.
This is not to say that the lbs don't come off with huge modifications and effort, but yeah.
So anyway, that's just my vent for today about obesity and how people perceive it. Things I've come across. Anybody else have anything they'd like to contribute on things people believe about it? I know we're all different and it has a lot of factors.
There's so many things that are said to fat people that are just thought of as "givens" that really annoy me, esp. to fat dieters, such as:
"Losing weight will take time, you didn't gain it overnight, you won't lose it overnight"
??! Really, In my lifetime, I have gained 100 lbs in a year's time on both occasions. Once between the ages of 13 and 14, I jumped from 225 lbs to 325 lbs, and I wasn't gorging on food at the time, my family was homeless during that time, we were staying with friends and my mom was out of work. I hardly had time to eat anything of my own then, more than anyone else.
I remember during that time, my mom's best friend made one of the first comments that really hurt me deep about how "huge" I was pointing out I weighed 300 lbs in a derogatory way. Later, she lost down to 112 lbs from 140. We're good now, but that early comment stays with me.
Then, I lost down to 237 and got bad arthritis about 3 years ago, and gained back to 351 in a year's time, eating about 3000 calories a day, but the ibuprofen did me in, and made me hold all of the food I was taking in.
THEN, there's the thing about metabolism, they tell fat people that a low metabolism is very very rare and it's in fact very common that fat people actually have high metabolisms. I call BS. When you search on Yahoo or Google for the phrase: "Help, I can't gain weight", what you find is a lot of teens and young adults are who like 5'9" and 98 lbs for girls and 6'2" and 112 lbs for boys and the advice they are often given is that they in fact have high metabolisms and that it's "normal" for young people to be able to eat what they want and tolerate a lot of carbs and not gain weight.
Well, that's funny because I didn't get the magic metabolism in youth, lol. I got the 40 yo one from an early age. So if it's so common and accepted for thin people to have "high metabolisms" (and I have experienced this phenomenon on occasion, so I know it exists, I have lost lbs a day eating over 5,000 cals a day, it didn't last, but it has happened).
So if it's so common for thin people to have "high metabolisms" why is this constantly poo-pooed for fat people, esp if you google "eating 1500 calories and can't lose", you'll find people weighing like 250 lbs and plateauing for MONTHS at a time. Not very rare at all.
Then, I read about all the stuff obesity supposedly causes like heart disease, diabetes, and for men a lowering of testosterone. Well personally, I think they have this one backwards. For example, I think I've always been low on the testosterone dept, always been feminine (can't help it, it's not something I flaunt or advertise, it's just my genetic makeup, soft voice and all that), I've been that way since before I became obese. When I gain weight, I tend to put it on in places women are expected to such as hips and thighs, genetically this is supposed to provide for fertility and greater ease to give birth to children, etc.
I think a lot of the factors that obesity supposedly causes are in fact the things that CAUSE the obesity. The relationship is reversed: I believe that heart disease or low testosterone, or metabolic syndrome CAUSE obesity, not the other way around. And, it just makes me want to pull my hair out.
And, that's the last thing, I think obesity is a condition, even dare I say it, a disease, that a lot of us struggle with. It isn't because of laziness or gluttony or sloth or poor choices a good deal of the time, any more than what thin people eat, and any more than the behaviors of other chronic diseases and few recognize this.
And, it's difficult because even fat people ourselves don't want the "disease" label, and doctors refuse to look at it as a disease that people have to contend with, and look at it as a matter of behavior.
This is not to say that the lbs don't come off with huge modifications and effort, but yeah.
So anyway, that's just my vent for today about obesity and how people perceive it. Things I've come across. Anybody else have anything they'd like to contribute on things people believe about it? I know we're all different and it has a lot of factors.
