I've come to terms with it: I'm prejudiced against fat people

Speaker of Hard Truths wrote:

Czech locomotive wrote:

The fat shaming should stop - it's mean, it doesn't help and there are more constructive methods to increase awareness of what is a public health crisis.

But it does help. It's been scientifically shown to help.

30 years ago we decided to start smoke-shaming and guess what? People quit smoking.

Well we also make it super expensive to be a smoker. Raise the price of everything with excessive sugar/calorie density by say 3x and I expect we would see a reduction in obesity.

asdfasdfa wrote:

Well we also make it super expensive to be a smoker. Raise the price of everything with excessive sugar/calorie density by say 3x and I expect we would see a reduction in obesity.

I don't think making it expensive worked. Check out the stats on smoking vs income level -- people with less income are still smoking more.

I'd agree with this in many respects. The craving/addiction aspect, especially to sugar plays a definite role.

But, are there people for whom, even with that out of the picture, still just can't prevent themselves from eating too much food? I'm honestly not sure we know, but it's an interesting question me.

i worked as a short order cook for a large hospital through university and if theres one thing i learned, its that fat people eat like fat people and thin people eat like thin people. I honestly think that most fat people are in denial of their own horrible lifestyles. They convince themselves that its all genetics and constantly justify eating shitty by calling it a cheat meal . I can't even count how many times a fat person ordered a poutine or something and then turned to the thin person beside them and said something along the lines of "im treating myself today", like bitch you come here and eat that garbage every day lol

i can understand the struggle for people though. My gf struggles with her weight (har har) and i can see how hard it is on her. Call it weakness, i wont disagree, but its still a tough situation for some people. I know everyone is in control of their own diet and everything but she grew up with parents who bring home fast food multiple times a week and keep the cupboards stocked full of junk food. Truly horrible parenting imo but when you grow up eating all that stuff your body becomes accustomed to it and its harder to stop. I think once peoples weight reach a certain point it also seems hopeless to them and they just give up (because go figure, fat people have low confidence and self esteem). Also, people want what they can't have and i think they build up these ideas in their head about how much it sucks not being able to eat what you want and all that and it just feeds into the situation

i dno, i think being fat is a horrible thing but we all have our vices, unfortunately some just have to carry em around on their bodies in the form of lard

I'm prejudiced against Barbarians who can't spell storey correctly.

Jim Johnston wrote:

I'm prejudiced against people who take the elevator in a two story building. Those people are just so f'ing lazy. Stair are faster and you get a little exercise.

Dude, get yourself an Asian.

nope..... wrote:

asdfasdfa wrote:

Well we also make it super expensive to be a smoker. Raise the price of everything with excessive sugar/calorie density by say 3x and I expect we would see a reduction in obesity.

I don't think making it expensive worked. Check out the stats on smoking vs income level -- people with less income are still smoking more.

http://media.gallup.com/poll/graphs/032008smoking1.gif

There is a correlation but you can't establish cause. Usually, increasing price will decrease demand.

There is currently very little incentive for individuals to lose weight. If you charge higher premiums for health insurance based on weight, or restrict certain procedures based on weight/BMI (such as insurance not covering knee or hip replacement unless individuals are below a certain threshold, there might be some movement, but this is (or has been) a difficult position to take politically. Stay tuned for Health Care Trump 1.0 - it'll be interesting.....

loqueelvientoajuarez wrote:

I'm prejudiced against Barbarians who can't spell storey correctly.

Do people not realize that this is an anonymous message board filled mostly with threads, like this one, that are just ridiculous? There is nothing formal or well thought out going on here; it's mostly just time wasting nothingness. Yet, inexplicably, numerous people come to this message board and read this endless crap looking for spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. Why? Do you believe the people writing these messages are taking the time to think at all, let alone be careful with their spelling? Or, do you even know on what devise they are writing with? Have you ever typed a message on a phone with a small touch screen? Mistakes happen. There are circumstance where spelling matters, but coming here and being pedantic just makes you an as$hole.

Most of us so-called serious runners eat literally twice as much as some fat people. Due to hormonal imbalances like hypothyroid issues and having way more body fat than muscles, and other genetic factors, their metabolisms are slow and they can pack on the pounds even with only 2,500 calories or so. On the other hand, many of us high-mileage runners need at least 3,500 calories just to stay at the same weight.

Try playing around with this calorie needs calculator you might be a bit surprised, especially for women, shorter people, and older people. Often they need only 2,000 calories per day, or even less if they're very short or sedentary.

https://bmi-calories.com/calorie-intake-calculator.html

Sometimes the environment just gets to them. It creeps up slowly on people until it's too late. They don't consciously make an effort to trash their bodies.

fjfjfjfjfjfj wrote:

i worked as a short order cook for a large hospital through university and if theres one thing i learned, its that fat people eat like fat people and thin people eat like thin people. I honestly think that most fat people are in denial of their own horrible lifestyles.

I can assure you that this isn't always the case.

Throughout the years, I more often see the apparent paradox of overweight people (BMI 25-30 range) eating far, far less than rail-thin athletic types, especially in Europe and Asia. Being a stick-thin guy with a BMI of 19, I often shock overweight people with how I seem to binge eat at every meal and still end up looking underweight. I could easily cram in 1,000-1,500 calories in a single meal, and it's like I'm a big bottomless pit of food. Plus look at buffet binging videos online, and you will see the scariest binge eaters tend to be normal-looking, and only slightly chubby at most.

On the other hand, I am often scratching my head and wondering how on earth an overweight person eats a small plate of food and says he can't finish it all because just a bit of food makes him full. I

I've sat with middle-aged overweight guys for dinner and shocked them with my voracious appetite. "When will you stop eating?!" said one of them angrily. With Asians, I would get two portions while they (the overweight ones) get one, which is borderline socially inappropriate. And once I had lunch with a short but overweight old guy who could only finish half a burrito and didn't eat any chips. I, the skinny guy with visible collarbones and ribs, finished two burritos and devoured all the chips.

It seems like they're fat because their bodies are pre-programmed to hold as much fat as possible no matter how little they try to eat, while we're skinny because running has taught our bodies to maintain as little mass as possible even if we eat like pigs. Genetics, hormones, timing of meals, a person's temperament (nervous and fidgety vs. calm and slow), and so many other factors are at play.

family dude wrote:

Get a family, alot of stress and some 60 hour work weeks. I thought being rail thin was easy as s**t until I got the three of those. Now staying thin dropped from being top 1 or 2 things on my list of s**t to do to being way down the list.

Keep in mind that different people respond differently to stress and long working hours. Some people lose weight because of stress. Fatigue and lack of sleep can cause some people to lose their appetite and hence stay thinner. I know plenty of folks who gained weight when their lives suddenly became happy and unstressed, whereas long hours and intense pressure caused a ton of unhealthy weight loss.