fat acceptance movement

FierceHunter and all her little bigoted friends-
I try to stay out of whatever BS y'all are spouting. Live and let live. But your right to fling your arm ends at my nose.
No, I have never been obese or fat. I've been lucky on that front. I do, however, have several friends that appear to be or are overweight thanks to medical conditions or meds for said conditions or shitty luck of the draw. Have you been there? Have been fat or been best friends with someone apparently overweight because their body screwed up? I highly doubt it. You appear to be the kind of person that would "helpfully" offer my friend on multiple steroids due to JRA a weight loss book because she looks "fat."
Before you accuse me of this, that, or the other, before you accuse this forum of jumping down your throat, walk in their shoes before running your lucky little mouth. Then see if you can make the same comments. Never been in their shoes? STFU.

pics!! sounds cute. i hate to admit that i dislike cooking with my kids. it feels like pure chaos.

[QUOTE=Saoirse;879452]pics!! sounds cute. i hate to admit that i dislike cooking with my kids. it feels like pure chaos.[/QUOTE]
I'll have to get one off the camera this evening.

I find I only have the skills/awareness/stamina to deal with one kid in the kitchen at a time (but NOT the 2yr old. he definitely is an agent of chaos). So I come and offer them a special treat of helping me cook :)

They can do things like put things in the food processor (which we dusted off to use for pretty much everything yesterday, from the turning of stewing steak into mince, to the grating of the veggies, to the dicing of the coconut flesh and choc pieces). And they are a dab hand at holding the electric beater while egg whites or cream is being whipped.

[QUOTE=naiadknight;879441]FierceHunter and all her little bigoted friends-
I try to stay out of whatever BS y'all are spouting. Live and let live. But your right to fling your arm ends at my nose.
No, I have never been obese or fat. I've been lucky on that front. I do, however, have several friends that appear to be or are overweight thanks to medical conditions or meds for said conditions or shitty luck of the draw. Have you been there? Have been fat or been best friends with someone apparently overweight because their body screwed up? I highly doubt it. You appear to be the kind of person that would "helpfully" offer my friend on multiple steroids due to JRA a weight loss book because she looks "fat."
Before you accuse me of this, that, or the other, before you accuse this forum of jumping down your throat, walk in their shoes before running your lucky little mouth. Then see if you can make the same comments. Never been in their shoes? STFU.[/QUOTE]

and this Naiad is why I love you. In a completely fraternal, non-sexual, forumy type way.

and on a separate note...merl, that sounds awesome. I want to eat dinner at your place or maybe just make meatloaf rabbits.

[QUOTE=Jen AlcesAlces;870314]
The bottom line to me is that I do not know everyone's story, and who am I to judge why someone is fat and if it is acceptable. This movement seems to be aiming for respectful treatment of fat people, regardless of the who, what, why they are fat. I'm good with that.
[/quote]

Yes - I think people on both sides of the debate need to realize that it is possible to respect yourself and see the worth in yourself(or someone else) as a person, but at the same time recognize that there are aspects of yourself that can be improved. Self-respect doesn't need to mean giving up and stopping any attempts at change.

"I'm fat, and I'm a smart, capable, worthwhile person" doesn't necessarily mean "I'm perfect, and there's no reason to try and get healthier". The key is that when one loves/respects oneself, the focus becomes(or should become) health rather than other more superficial goals - which is a good thing all around.

The fat acceptance movement needs to realize that the simple statement that losing weight can improve your health isn't a direct attack on their worth as human beings - and likewise, people on the other side need to realize that loving/respecting oneself doesn't mean that someone has totally given up on trying to change themself for the better.

[quote]
As I said before, there are studies that show criticism and shaming of obese people will NOT help them lose weight - in fact it is more likely to make things worse. If this movement does the exact opposite of shaming, perhaps it will give people more self-respect and desire to treat their bodies well, yes? Seems like a good idea to me. Perhaps you all disagree.[/QUOTE]

I also think this is very relevant. When I gained a bunch of weight, depression(brought on by issues unrelated to weight) was a huge, huge factor. As I gained weight, that only served to compound my negative self-image and led to something of a vicious cycle. It was really the help of a couple key people that really helped me break out of it - and once I started seeing myself more positively, it enabled me to make more positive changes in my life, which over time got me back to the same weight as before all those issues - which I've maintained for quite some time now.

In my case, was the weight gain brought on by gluttony and laziness? Yes, in a sense. But the real driving force behind that was actually depression - and I think psychological factors behind why people are "lazy" and "gluttonous" deserve a great deal of examination - depression, excessive stress(either the stress itself, or the stress playing havoc with hormones), jobs/lifestyles that result in a lot of physical and mental fatigue - perhaps others as well. While weight gain/loss is the product of what we eat and what we do, those in turn are influenced by psychological factors, which I think many people are quick to dismiss - and are much more complex than simple laziness and gluttony.

[QUOTE=jsa23;879525]Yes - I think people on both sides of the debate need to realize that it is possible to respect yourself and see the worth in yourself(or someone else) as a person, but at the same time recognize that there are aspects of yourself that can be improved. Self-respect doesn't need to mean giving up and stopping any attempts at change.

"I'm fat, and I'm a smart, capable, worthwhile person" doesn't necessarily mean "I'm perfect, and there's no reason to try and get healthier". The key is that when one loves/respects oneself, the focus becomes(or should become) health rather than other more superficial goals - which is a good thing all around.

The fat acceptance movement needs to realize that the simple statement that losing weight can improve your health isn't a direct attack on their worth as human beings - and likewise, people on the other side need to realize that loving/respecting oneself doesn't mean that someone has totally given up on trying to change themself for the better.


[/QUOTE]

This is exactly how I feel.

Fat-haters want us to believe that overweight people have no value simply because they are overweight. When I was overweight, I contributed some pretty great stuff to the world. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses - it is just that overweight people have to where their weakness out in the open all the time.

Darth, I would think you would LOVE fat people. You know, all of the marbling making for some tasty grilling.

[QUOTE=RitaRose;879567]Darth, I would think you would LOVE fat people. You know, all of the marbling making for some tasty grilling.[/QUOTE]

You can ladle the liquid fat back over the other corpses in the ovens to make them all burn faster.

Awww, Darth. I see you're back to your usual cuddly self. I always admire an equal opportunity misanthrope.

[QUOTE=magicmerl;879502]I'll have to get one off the camera this evening.

I find I only have the skills/awareness/stamina to deal with one kid in the kitchen at a time (but NOT the 2yr old. he definitely is an agent of chaos). So I come and offer them a special treat of helping me cook :)
.[/QUOTE]
herein lies the problem. ;) i invite one to help me cook, and then the wailing and gnashing of teeth begins. my kids are a cantankerous lot, and if there's an inequality they revolt. not that i usually try to make things equal (that's a losing battle) but they still kick up a fuss regardless. there's also no way to keep the 2 year old out of "helping," so if one helps, then there are really two helping, and one left out. so instead i tell them to get out of my kitchen and go play. ;) now before i had #2, #1 was making scrambled eggs at age 3.