Why is being fat/obese socially acceptable?

the_syco

Dudess wrote: »

they're big-boned

I know a few people who say this about themselves. They're either GAA or rugby players, and not someone you'd f**k with.

tc2010 wrote: »

so your saying that nutrition and exercise classes from a young age would not be a benefit?

I think they're is saying those that take note are usually those that are not fat.

m@cc@

CreepingDeath wrote: »

I'm utterly disgusted at some of the attitudes on this thread.
Obesity has many factors : genetic, environmental, medical, psychological, financial, life style, career, cultural, even the local climate.
Who wants to go out to exercise in miserable Irish weather 9 months of the year. And how many people now have an increased commute to work and less free time ?

This could almost be taken from page one of 'Excuses for alcoholism'. The main overriding factor is the attitude of the person themselves.

LizT

A lot of people have been saying that obese people have no respect for themselves because of the crap they put into their body. It's not just obese people. I was standing in a queue in Spar the other day and there was two girls in front of me. One of them was buying a sausage roll, chocolate bar and a bottle of coke for her breakfast. The other had a jambon, a chocolate bar and a bottle of sprite. Neither of these girls were over a size ten.
They then proceeded to talk about these guys that they knew that were fitness mad. They ended the conversation with "Jesus, thank god I don't have to work out or go to the gym - can you imagine?"

Explain that.

IvySlayer

I think parents who let their kids grow fat is child abuse. There are many health risks being obese.

I'm a pig, but not fat. I do my morning running

m@cc@

lizt wrote: »

A lot of people have been saying that obese people have no respect for themselves because of the crap they put into their body. It's not just obese people. I was standing in a queue in Spar the other day and there was two girls in front of me. One of them was buying a sausage roll, chocolate bar and a bottle of coke for her breakfast. The other had a jambon, a chocolate bar and a bottle of sprite. Neither of these girls were over a size ten.
They then proceeded to talk about these guys that they knew that were fitness mad. They ended the conversation with "Jesus, thank god I don't have to work out or go to the gym - can you imagine?"

Explain that.

A lot of it is luck in terms of metabolism. When I was in my teens, I could eat and drink what I liked. But now in my mid-20s, I can see the effects that it's having so I hold back on certain things that I eat.

LizT

m@cc@ wrote: »

A lot of it is luck in terms of metabolism. When I was in my teens, I could eat and drink what I liked. But now in my mid-20s, I can see the effects that it's having so I hold back on certain things that I eat.

So essentially a size 10 girl could be eating the same crap as a size 20 girl and get away with it for a couple of years. Yet she is not berrated by society... Smacks of double standards.

(nothing to do with you m@cc@ just used your post to illustrate my point)

m@cc@

lizt wrote: »

So essentially a size 10 girl could be eating the same crap as a size 20 girl and get away with it for a couple of years. Yet she is not berrated by society... Smacks of double standards.

(nothing to do with you m@cc@ just used your post to illustrate my point)

No, it doesn't, you're taking what you want from what I said. They are being berrated for the effect, not the cause. If a 7ft 15 stone man drinks 8 pints every weekend, he'll probably be ok. For a 5ft 8 stone woman to do the same is just silly and wreckless. Different things for different people.

LizT

m@cc@ wrote: »

No, it doesn't, you're taking what you want from what I said. They are being berrated for the effect, not the cause. If a 7ft 15 stone man drinks 8 pints every weekend, he'll probably be ok. For a 5ft 8 stone woman to do the same is just silly and wreckless. Different things for different people.

Of course. All I meant was that some people on this thread have said that being obese isn't socially acceptable because obese people don't work out and eat crap. But lots of people do that and get away with it. My friend is a size 8/10, she eats crisps everyday for lunch, has pizza and chips for dinner and doesn't even go near a gym. Is that socially acceptable because she's not obese?

(Sorry if my point wasn't clear in the last post)

m@cc@

lizt wrote: »

Of course. All I meant was that some people on this thread have said that being obese isn't socially acceptable because obese people don't work out and eat crap.

It isn't socially acceptable because they are aware of the effect it's having on their health but don't make any changes as a result. Diabetics have to take insulin shots which is a pain in the backside but they do it for the good of their health. Granted, they have less of a choice but it's still a valid comparison.

LizT

m@cc@ wrote: »

It isn't socially acceptable because they are aware of the effect it's having on their health but don't make any changes as a result. Diabetics have to take insulin shots which is a pain in the backside but they do it for the good of their health. Granted, they have less of a choice but it's still a valid comparison.

I'm if I'm a bit thick tonight, but I don't really understand the point you are trying to make. (Not trying to be rude here or anything, just a bit stupid and over tired tonight )

m@cc@

lizt wrote: »

I'm if I'm a bit thick tonight, but I don't really understand the point you are trying to make. (Not trying to be rude here or anything, just a bit stupid and over tired tonight )

I'm saying that sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the sake of your health. Some people never have to make sacrifices, they're lucky. It doesn't mean that those who are required to make sacrifices shouldn't. Especially when it comes to the strain that it puts on the health service which obesity related diseases and illness when that person can control their health.

Papa_Lazarou

To be honest when i see someone that is really overweight i do ponder about why they let themselves get that way but in the end they are adults and its down to them whether they want to live a healthy lifestyle or not.

What pisses me off big time is parents that allow there children to become obese at very young ages. Nothing worse than seeing a 8 year old with double/triple chins and a belly that could put any adult to shame. Id be all for introducing penalties for parents that don't get pro-active in ensuring their children are brought up with a healthy lifestyle!!

The_Kew_Tour

Its important that children from young age get active as young as they can.

My brother who is 12 is excellent swimmer up training every Saturday at 6am and the benefits to his life are priceless. He's never tired, full of energy and also healthy mind.

Many kids are like that but not enough.

strobe

CreepingDeath wrote: »

Bollocks.
When do most overweight people die ? Probably in the mid 60's.
All the kids would've grown up by then.

I'm utterly disgusted at some of the attitudes on this thread.
Obesity has many factors : genetic, environmental, medical, psychological, financial, life style, career, cultural, even the local climate.
Who wants to go out to exercise in miserable Irish weather 9 months of the year. And how many people now have an increased commute to work and less free time ?
Food can also be used unconsciously as a psychological pick-me-up to counter depression or anxiety in much the same way booze, cigarettes or drugs do.

But in general obesity is like being in financial debt.
The worse it gets the harder it is to get out of it without curing the underlying problems.

How people get out of that trap depends on their personality.
Some gain the internal motivation to do it.
Others require external motivation from others on an on-going basis.

But it seems like a lot of abusive posters on this thread have decided the best thing to do is to attack the obese to make themselves feel better, thus hiding their underlying personality problems.

I agree with most of what you say, but in regards to the bolded bit, I call bullsh1t. The whole "no one likes to excercise in cold rainy Ireland" is a complete cop out. As is the idea that people simply don't have the time to exercise. Buy a skipping rope, use it for 30 minutes a day in your nice cosy sitting room. Don't like skipping? Run up and down your stairs for half an hour, maybe do a few push-ups or sit-ups occasionally. Problem solved.

Dermighty

strobe wrote: »

I agree with most of what you say, but in regards to the bolded bit, I call bullsh1t. The whole "no one likes to excercise in cold rainy Ireland" is a complete cop out. As is the idea that people simply don't have the time to exercise. Buy a skipping rope, use it for 30 minutes a day in your nicy cosy sitting room, maybe do a few push-ups or sit-ups occasionally. Problem solved.

(For enjoyment and fitness only!) I train 6 days a week, 2 hours a day, every week. The weather doesn't affect my workouts.

I'm not saying the weather isn't **** here, but I think that blaming the weather is simply using the first available scapegoat.

m@cc@

Dermighty wrote: »

(For enjoyment and fitness only!) I train 6 days a week, 2 hours a day, every week. The weather doesn't affect my workouts.

I'm not saying the weather isn't **** here, but I think that blaming the weather is simply using the first available scapegoat.

I have a nice short word as a solution to the exercise in bad weather problem - gym.

Dermighty

m@cc@ wrote: »

I have a nice short word as a solution to the exercise in bad weather problem - gym.

Exactly!

Only one of the six sessions I do is outside, and it stays outside regardless of the conditions.

Hugo Drax

Dermighty wrote: »

Exactly!

Only one of the six sessions I do is outside, and it stays outside regardless of the conditions.

As i said yesterday, i'm overwieght and there's really no excuse for it.

I know from experience that when I eat properly and lift weights I lose weight, without fail every time.

If I don't, I gain weight.

There's no mystery, it's just pure laziness on my part.

Laziness is the biggest enemy or can't be arsed syndrome....

cynder

Papa_Lazarou wrote: »

To be honest when i see someone that is really overweight i do ponder about why they let themselves get that way but in the end they are adults and its down to them whether they want to live a healthy lifestyle or not.

What pisses me off big time is parents that allow there children to become obese at very young ages. Nothing worse than seeing a 8 year old with double/triple chins and a belly that could put any adult to shame. Id be all for introducing penalties for parents that don't get pro-active in ensuring their children are brought up with a healthy lifestyle!!

Just to say. i was 9 stone 10 pound (healthy weight) i fell pregnant with my 3rd baby, i put on 2 and half stone, he weighed in at 9lb at 1 week early. i never lost one ounce after i had him. i tried starving myself and that didnt wotk so i gave up. I had to put the weight on since i pregnant thinking i would loose it like i did with my other 2.


also my eldest now 10, she was born weighing in at 9lb 1 oz at one week early. she was always a big baby and a big toddler. she was born big and stayed that way. at 5 she started to loose a bit of weight and the at 7 she got diabetes type 1 (not weight or diet related). she is never going to be a skinny kid/adult. she eats healthy and is still big (not fat) she weighs in at 6.5 stone the same as the average 12 -13 year old but is the height of an average 12 year old. my point is some kids are born big and stay big.


My other child now 5 was 7lb 5 oz born 5 weeks premature he is now a healthy little boy and is a bit on the skinny side but weighs as he should. (would of been at least 10lb if born on due date)


my 3 year old is a little podgy he was 9lb. he main food source is milk and hardly eats a thing. he is classed as over weight but i would rather a bit of meat on him then him be skinny. he weighs the same as a 5 year old. he was also born with an underactive thyroid.


i have big babies. my dad was 10lb 5 oz, his aunt was 15lb, my cousins on my moms side have had 9lb babies. if i had 7 lb babies i probably wouldnt have put on the weight, but my body needed to be big enough to accommodate big babys.

Papa_Lazarou

grindelwald wrote: »

Just to say. i was 9 stone 10 pound (healthy weight) i fell pregnant with my 3rd baby, i put on 2 and half stone, he weighed in at 9lb at 1 week early. i never lost one ounce after i had him. i tried starving myself and that didnt wotk so i gave up. I had to put the weight on since i pregnant thinking i would loose it like i did with my other 2.


also my eldest now 10, she was born weighing in at 9lb 1 oz at one week early. she was always a big baby and a big toddler. she was born big and stayed that way. at 5 she started to loose a bit of weight and the at 7 she got diabetes type 1 (not weight or diet related). she is never going to be a skinny kid/adult. she eats healthy and is still big (not fat) she weighs in at 6.5 stone the same as the average 12 -13 year old but is the height of an average 12 year old. my point is some kids are born big and stay big.


My other child now 5 was 7lb 5 oz born 5 weeks premature he is now a healthy little boy and is a bit on the skinny side but weighs as he should. (would of been at least 10lb if born on due date)


my 3 year old is a little podgy he was 9lb. he main food source is milk and hardly eats a thing. he is classed as over weight but i would rather a bit of meat on him then him be skinny. he weighs the same as a 5 year old. he was also born with an underactive thyroid.


i have big babies. my dad was 10lb 5 oz, his aunt was 15lb, my cousins on my moms side have had 9lb babies. if i had 7 lb babies i probably wouldnt have put on the weight, but my body needed to be big enough to accommodate big babys.

It wouldn't be your sort of case i was talking about really. You just had big babies who kept it on when they grew a bit older . What im talking about is the parents that give them the fat laiden foods every day with the very regular visits to mc donalds and the grab all you can in the local shop.

Dudess

tc2010 wrote: »

so your saying that nutrition and exercise classes from a young age would not be a benefit?

You obviously know they said nothing of the sort.

cynder

thanx for that,

but if we take the kids out for a mcdonalds and people see us they assume we give it to them daily.


i do see where you coming from, kids at 7 with big belly's. Not nice and yes the parents should do something about it.

i know a boy at my lady's school who is big big and that because he is an asthmatic and takes steroids. .

Im just tyring to say not all kids are big because of their diet. same goes for some adults, the under active thyroid is a big one.

MrPain

A fair few pages ago someone mentioned that fat people would get laughed at in the gym. Well I go to the gym regularly and am in good nick and if I see an obese person there I say to myself fair play to them for making an effort. Getting started is probably the hardest part of weight loss.

If any one wants advice on weight loss and fitness you can head over to the fitness boards and read the stickies.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=252

orourkeda

Degsy wrote: »

No my point is that everybody who's an alcoholic drinks too much,everybody who's fat eats too much...its reallly very simple.

There you've twisted what I've said to suit your own point.

My point was that all alcoholics drink too much but not everyone who drinks too much is an alcoholic.

The same logic applies to obesity. Everyone who overeats is overweight but not all overweight people can blame overeating for their condition.

Dudess

Has anyone referred to appeals to be a bit more understanding of overweight people as do-gooder/PC bullsh1t yet?

beans

Everyone who overeats is overweight

Not me! BMI 22.1 thank you. I eat like a man condemned sometimes. Whole pack of mini-moros and a tub of cheese and chili pringles between 6pm and dinner last Thursday. The mini-moros were my Everest for the longest time, but finally managed to finish off a whole pack in one sitting

--LOS--

CreepingDeath wrote: »

I'm not a grammar nazi, I used to highlight your ridiculous proposition that 2 hours of classes during childhood will "vaccinate" children from adult obesity.

They were taught sex education, the dangers of drink, drugs plus the ten commandments. Doesn't mean it affects long term adult behaviour.

My drink/drugs education in school consisted of watching videos on snuff

RolandIRL

BRING DOWN FAST-FOOD CHAINS...Rise up against consumerism.

we should all unite to become a dictatorship, and then we can control everything about people's lives!!!!!! :pac:

on a serious note, there was an article in the indo a few weeks ago about how the fast-food chains have perfected the combo of fat, sugar and salt in their foods, so we're really becoming addicted to fast-food.
i don't eat much fast-food myself. i personally find it cheaper to go out and buy a big bag of spuds that'll do me a week, and have grilled sausages, chicken burgers with my dinner in galway.
i used to be addicted to sweets and sugar, but i never gained any weight. i mean i could eat a whole block of ice cream (1 pint) in one sitting, and my dinner at home in sligo was huge... 3 potatoes, 4 chicken nuggets, chicken burger, a few sausages, pork fillet, carrots, turnip, chicken breast...but i'm still roughly 11 stone about 5' 8/9'' i haven't gained much weight at all. (that mentioning of food is making me hungry. better go out and buy a block of ice cream :pac: )

my brother told me that people that, say, eat a lot but don't gain weight (like me) have a really inefficient metabolism but the heavier people store the fat (very efficient metabolism), keeping for storage for the winter months. it all dates back to the ancient times, when it was harder to get food in winter but now that isn't a problem anymore.

CreepingDeath

whiteman19 wrote: »

BRING DOWN FAST-FOOD CHAINS...

Another misconception about obesity.
How many chefs are big, and they probably make the best of food.
It can be about portion control of proper foods too.

Wibbs

grindelwald wrote: »

thanx for that,

but if we take the kids out for a mcdonalds and people see us they assume we give it to them daily.


i do see where you coming from, kids at 7 with big belly's. Not nice and yes the parents should do something about it.

i know a boy at my lady's school who is big big and that because he is an asthmatic and takes steroids. .

Im just tyring to say not all kids are big because of their diet. same goes for some adults, the under active thyroid is a big one.

I agree, but where is it all coming from? Where were the underactive thyroids/PCOS/type 2 diabetes etc* 30 years ago? I look back at my school photos and the "fat lad" in my year wasnt close to fat by todays definitions. In the same annual looking at the class photos across the school ages and there were very very few overweight kids. Looking at a mates girl school pics from 25 years ago and the same thing. She noted this as she was shocked by her mates daughters school annual and she thought her memory was playing tricks. But no, a definite difference in average weight. And this is schoolkids. The healthy average looking kids by todays defintion were often bigger than the average in the past and there were kids the size of which you just didnt see in the past.

Something has changed. Diet is a big one. Fast food, any fast food was considered a rare treat, not a weekly thing as part of the diet. Most food was not in boxes or packets and was home cooked. Meat and two veg kinda thing. The nature of the food was different. Pastas and pizzas would be very rare to see. Then exercise. I knew only two or three kids who got lifts to school as they lived a great distance away. The rest bused or walked or cycled. This was a fee paying rugger bugger place too. Now the cars line up outside to drop the kids to school. Play time has changed. More sedentary things like Wii's and the like. Its almost entirely environmental and lifestyle. This lifestyle may well and does increase thyroid issues, PCOS, diabetes(2) to the point where it takes over, but the childhood diet and environment causes it in the first place. These diseases and their consequences are almost unknown in cultures on a better, non western diet. As is obesity.



*and indeed asthma. I knew two kids in my entire year of 100 plus that had asthma. One other with bad hay fever. God love him, he stood out as his face used to get puffy from it and as kids can be bastards we used to call him "chink" as his eyes would squint. Now every second kid has some allergy or other, with spare inhalers and even O2 in some school's nursing stations.