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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Weight Shaming

Where the hell do we get off?

No really? Who died and made Americans the final word on what is right and proper? Who told us we had to regulate the world?

We are so darn opinionated and eager to fix the lives of other people. But who made us the boy scouts of the universe? If we don't like it, it must be wrong. That's the impression I get from acts like cutting french fries from kid's meals at fast food places, regulating how many ounces of soda is "too much", and blatant weight shaming. Both under and over weight people get it but the fat shaming is ridiculous. Even in jest, it can hurt. People think that's a good thing because it "motivates to change." Well damnit! Maybe I don't want to change! But I will. Because America makes it hard to feel beautiful when everything seems to be saying otherwise.

Have you seen something about weight that's really gotten to you? Wanna vent?

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2 comments:

  1. What kills me is that we focus on weight as the issue, when really, it's the additional problems (which may or may not have been caused by the weight) which are the issue. You may be skinny, but if you don't exercise your heart probably isn't healthy, whereas a person who is "overweight" but exercises regularly probably has a healthy heart. You may be skinny because you have a high metabolism, but you eat high fat/high cholesterol food and so your arteries are slowly dying, vs an overweight person who eats well and has great arteries, but is deemed "unhealthy".

    I know this is a bit hypocritical to say, but stop worrying about banning sugar when there are so many other things that will kill us much faster.

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  2. Kristi nailed it. :) I get people harping on me for causing health costs to go up, but as of my last physical, all of my numbers are spot-on. I'm not costing anyone anything. I'm not diabetic. I don't have high blood pressure. I don't have heart problems. And so on.

    Then it gets into, "But you will someday!!!" Oh really? Well obviously you don't know me, because if you did, you'd know I've lost 60 pounds and plan to be at goal weight in another 16 months or so. When someone sees me on the street, they probably think I stuff my face with donuts (which I don't like) and Coke (which I don't drink) and make horrible assumptions about me draining the health care system while they smoke a cigarette and drive recklessly. :-P

    When I was younger, I learned to stop hating on skinny girls. My friend has thyroid issues and has to eat around 2500 calories every day just to maintain her weight. She LOVES food and could out-eat me even when I was binging. She's been trying to workout more so she can be healthy, because she realizes being thin isn't enough.

    Unfortunately, she gets a lot of "eat a sandwich" and "if you turned sideways, you'd disappear" comments. She also gets a lot of, "You should eat more. Why are you so skinny? Are you anorexic?" It makes her sad because she used to eat at McDonald's three times a day to try to gain weight. When she told me that, I was young and stupid and said (out of jealousy), "Must be nice." She was really close to crying and said, "No, it isn't. You don't get it."

    We had a long talk, and I finally realized that she had just as many issues as I did. People judged her based on her appearance too. She couldn't find nice clothes that fit because she was a size 0 and a lot of stores don't go that small, just like I couldn't find size 30s anywhere. She had trouble dating because guys thought they'd "break her", whereas guys thought I was a disgusting pig. We both had to worry about calories - she couldn't eat too little, and I couldn't eat too much.

    That opened my eyes, and I stopped hating on skinny girls. Now, when I see a skinny girl, I assume she either works her butt off at the gym and eats properly or has a medical issue that's none of my business.

    The wedding cake picture really irritates me. Why are women under so much pressure to lose weight for their weddings? You see all of these "Buff Brides" books and websites and advertisements, but shouldn't a guy have to look nice in his tux too? (That's rhetorical; I don't think anyone should *have* to lose weight for their wedding.)

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