Fat acceptance people have a weird love affair with their obesity. It’s part of their personality. And I guess that makes sense - when it’s the first thing people notice about you, when it inhibits the things you can do (not just physical activity, but also basic things like fitting into a restaurant booth), when you’ve managed to convince yourself that diabetes is normal (maybe because you come from a family where everyone is fat and many of them are on diabetes meds), and when you feel that you’re being judged for whatever you eat, or for how out of breath you get just going up a flight of stairs, etc - yeah, these people become really defensive. They know they’ve eaten themselves into disability and disease, but don’t want to take responsibility for it. They don’t think they can lose the weight and they think the world should cater to their size.
I’m not unsympathetic. In my late teens/early 20s I went through some bad shit and turned to food as a comfort. Predictably I ballooned up from a BMI of 20.5 (105 lbs) to a BMI of 34.6 (177 lbs). It was a struggle to lose that weight but I did (most of it anyway) and I’ve kept it off. At 42, I don’t expect to weigh what I did at 18 years old, for a number of reasons (a huge one is weightlifting). But I do expect to be a normal weight, be capable of strenuous physical activity, have healthy bloodwork, and be comfortable in my clothing.
I fought against obesity and it was hard but I won. These fat acceptance folks took the other path - they leaned into it and made it a defining characteristic of their existence. It’s really sad but also frustrating because they’re choosing to continue a lifestyle that only leads to grim outcomes. They may not be able to get pregnant or safely carry to term. They may not be able to play with their pets or children. Their self-esteem will always be low. They are likely to develop skin infections due to poor hygiene. And it gets worse from there: hypertension, diabetes, certain cancers, bigger danger of breaking bones if they fall, etc etc etc. And it’s all avoidable if they could just commit to fixing the problem.
Fat acceptance people have a weird love affair with their obesity. It’s part of their personality. And I guess that makes sense - when it’s the first thing people notice about you, when it inhibits the things you can do (not just physical activity, but also basic things like fitting into a restaurant booth), when you’ve managed to convince yourself that diabetes is normal (maybe because you come from a family where everyone is fat and many of them are on diabetes meds), and when you feel that you’re being judged for whatever you eat, or for how out of breath you get just going up a flight of stairs, etc - yeah, these people become really defensive. They know they’ve eaten themselves into disability and disease, but don’t want to take responsibility for it. They don’t think they can lose the weight and they think the world should cater to their size.
I’m not unsympathetic. In my late teens/early 20s I went through some bad shit and turned to food as a comfort. Predictably I ballooned up from a BMI of 20.5 (105 lbs) to a BMI of 34.6 (177 lbs). It was a struggle to lose that weight but I did (most of it anyway) and I’ve kept it off. At 42, I don’t expect to weigh what I did at 18 years old, for a number of reasons (a huge one is weightlifting). But I do expect to be a normal weight, be capable of strenuous physical activity, have healthy bloodwork, and be comfortable in my clothing.
I fought against obesity and it was hard but I won. These fat acceptance folks took the other path - they leaned into it and made it a defining characteristic of their existence. It’s really sad but also frustrating because they’re choosing to continue a lifestyle that only leads to grim outcomes. They may not be able to get pregnant or safely carry to term. They may not be able to play with their pets or children. Their self-esteem will always be low. They are likely to develop skin infections due to poor hygiene. And it gets worse from there: hypertension, diabetes, certain cancers, bigger danger of breaking bones if they fall, etc etc etc. And it’s all avoidable if they could just commit to fixing the problem.