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"Fat Shaming" Actually Increases Risk of Becoming or Staying Obese

Melody

Banned
6,460
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19
Years
Yes, but it's not like they can't do it.

Sure, they may have two jobs, but with enough effort, things can change.

Sure, saying it's easy is annoying, but just blowing it off like that is annoying to me also.

Just because you can't eat healthy because you're poor doesn't mean it's possible.

If you try harder, it will get better. If people try to help you it will get better. Only one or the other isn't the answer. We need both, and only if we have both will anything get done. Emotional and physical support from others, even if it's just saying that you're doing good, and you need to put in everything you've got, even if it's just staying up five minutes before bed and fighting through the sleep to do a couple reps.

Only then can you say that "you can't help it" or "you're not trying hard enough". If you're fat even then, that's the only time where it's not your fault.

Trust me, unless you try as hard as you physically can, everything is your fault. There's no definite numbers of crunches to do or whatever, but 100% is the threshold at which you should operate.

I think you've glossed over my point entirely. How can anyone give 100% if they aren't feeling capable of doing so?
If they're down on themselves over being shamed for being fat, how can one expect them to improve? They can't; it's fact.

It's not about effort, and you're silly for even bringing that argument up. It's not even valid. You're completely underestimating the net effect of mental and emotional health anyways. Mental and emotional health are crucial in the health triangle. If you're not healthy in some way, it often leads to another problem.

Essentially, people need to understand that just because some people can help themselves, not everyone can. It's not your place to judge people for being fat, or to judge their unique situation, variables and other factors in their life, if it were then you'd be their health care provider and you'd have a PhD or some formal education in the subject(s) necessary. Fat shaming does no good for anyone, and assuming fat people lack will power, or are lazy is a nasty stereotype that forms a feedback loop. The problem isn't just going to go away just because you pointed and laughed in hopes that they'd get the message. It's not going to help them to point this out to them at all anyways.

People also have the right of self-determination; and that includes body image as well. Some people are purposefully "overweight" for a various number of reasons and as long as that poses no serious threat to their health, I'd say they're fully within their rights to be treated humanely and kindly like you would any other person.

Additionally there are such things as weight ranges which are healthy depending on a number of factors; some of which may not always be immediately apparent like activity levels, medical conditions, lifestyle choices, and such. Age, Gender, Race, Family History, many more things beyond our reasonable control do influence the outcome.

Many people who are obese did not choose to be by free will. It is often the result of unseen or unpredicted variables in one's life that often allows the human body to assert it's natural nature and gather more resources than it needs. Situations influence choices, and situations that are not conducive to making healthy choices are limited in occurrence in various ways. Compound the problem even more if you don't like being obese and would like to lose the weight but due to the situation at hand; you are simply forced to sacrifice one goal for another more important one.

TL;DR: There isn't any excuse for fat shaming. Lack of effort, willpower, or anything similar is irrelevant if one isn't healthy enough to give 100%. Giving 100% is pretty much contingent on a person's health, not just physical, but mental and emotional as well.

It is wrong to judge others; for you cannot know or understand all of the intricacies of their life.
 

twocows

The not-so-black cat of ill omen
4,307
Posts
15
Years
I feel like you have all the right to think whatever you want, but here's the catch: did you help anybody overcome any of these problems? If so, great. If not, you have no right to say any of this.

(And it doesn't have to even have made a direct difference. It could be simply forcing a friend to go to the gym even though he doesn't want to, or complimenting him on how much better he's looking now that he's trying to lose weight.)
I don't know why you think I wouldn't have the right to say any of it if I hadn't helped people, but yeah, I have. I encourage people who are trying to lose weight and congratulate them if they do. Working toward a difficult goal and accomplishing it is something to be proud of.

Again, though, I'm not sure why I have to have done this in order to qualify for stating the obvious.
 

droomph

weeb
4,285
Posts
12
Years
I don't know why you think I wouldn't have the right to say any of it if I hadn't helped people, but yeah, I have. I encourage people who are trying to lose weight and congratulate them if they do. Working toward a difficult goal and accomplishing it is something to be proud of.

Again, though, I'm not sure why I have to have done this in order to qualify for stating the obvious.

It was more of a rhetorical question but okay

I was just making the point that helping others is just as important as they try themselves.
 
5,983
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15
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Let's not reduce the burden and overcoming of being overweight into one yes/no variable - choice. Clearly as we've seen by some of the testimonies, the reality is much more complex and I feel that some of the reductionism going on doesn't do the situation and the people going through it justice.

Even choice is a lot more complex than a yes/no decision, there's a huge range of behaviours that we could pin between choice and "non-choice", so it's more like a spectrum. There is also a string of individualism going on, which also ignores and begs the question of what society and the environment has on influencing one's actions. Sure, at the end of the day said person makes a choice - doesn't particularly help anyone though.

I also don't find using imperatives in threads to be courteous, no matter to who it's directed to. It goes back to the primacy of positive thinking - confrontation leads to nothing beneficial. You could tell someone going through something difficult that it's their responsibility, but to be honest, that's just stating the obvious and aggravating their frustrations and lack of self-confidence further. I find that when people are encouraged in a positive environment, they tend to confront their demons on their own, without anybody telling them to. Likewise with the issue of choice, there is a spectrum between encouragement and molly-coddling and we shouldn't be so focus on just one of the ends.
 

twocows

The not-so-black cat of ill omen
4,307
Posts
15
Years
It was more of a rhetorical question but okay

I was just making the point that helping others is just as important as they try themselves.
A lot of people would disagree, but I think you're right. Helping others is important. I just think that the most effective motivation comes from within. If your determination isn't rock-solid, you're not going to accomplish anything worth accomplishing.

I don't think any of that means I can't speak my mind, though. Rather, intelligent discussion helps people understand several things better: the issue at hand, their reasoning in regards to it, and themselves.

Let's not reduce the burden and overcoming of being overweight into one yes/no variable - choice. Clearly as we've seen by some of the testimonies, the reality is much more complex and I feel that some of the reductionism going on doesn't do the situation and the people going through it justice.

Even choice is a lot more complex than a yes/no decision, there's a huge range of behaviours that we could pin between choice and "non-choice", so it's more like a spectrum. There is also a string of individualism going on, which also ignores and begs the question of what society and the environment has on influencing one's actions. Sure, at the end of the day said person makes a choice - doesn't particularly help anyone though.

I also don't find using imperatives in threads to be courteous, no matter to who it's directed to. It goes back to the primacy of positive thinking - confrontation leads to nothing beneficial. You could tell someone going through something difficult that it's their responsibility, but to be honest, that's just stating the obvious and aggravating their frustrations and lack of self-confidence further. I find that when people are encouraged in a positive environment, they tend to confront their demons on their own, without anybody telling them to. Likewise with the issue of choice, there is a spectrum between encouragement and molly-coddling and we shouldn't be so focus on just one of the ends.
But it is a yes or no choice. Sure, it's one that's pretty hard to follow through on, with a lot of obstacles along the way. But in the end, you make the decision on whether you want to put in the time and effort to commit yourself to a goal and follow through. Unless you're paralyzed in a car accident along the way, that responsibility is yours.
 
5,983
Posts
15
Years
I'm not saying it isn't, just that knowing and understanding that it is a choice doesn't get us much further from square one. Obviously, reminding a person who feels helpless that it is their responsibility and their choice doesn't really help them get off their feet - what needs to happen is to shift their attention away from the negative emotion. You might accuse my idea as helping them shirk their responsibility, but from my experience self-efficacy is tops when it comes to building motivation and building action. Sure, some could call it self-deception (although I wouldn't say that), but for me this is one of the situations in which the consequences justify all the little white lies that might be said along the way, as well as refusing to address the issue in speech as one of "personal responsibility" until that person becomes emotionally able to embrace that idea - which involves a lot of confidence-building before any talk of "personal responsibility".
 

droomph

weeb
4,285
Posts
12
Years
I find that you just need someone to vent with/have them kick you in the butt when you don't want to go on. It makes it a lot more approachable ;)
 

Alexander Nicholi

what do you know about computing?
5,500
Posts
14
Years
The entire yoke of my mother's side of the family is overweight or obese, my sister was obese as a child at one point, and I was overweight at one point as well – so I've dealt with this kind of stuff.

Being overweight or obese causes a lot of psychological harm to the person that's overweight, simply because of lethargia and other self-esteem factors that come with it. In a sense, you tend to feel worse more often if you're overweight than if you're not.

So, this study is correct, but what's its point? Don't shame fat people? Maybe. I feel a lot better about myself and others when I lost my excess 40 pounds I was carrying in my gut, and I'd like to stay that way.
 
14,092
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14
Years
I don't think it should be that much of a surprise that negative emotion makes things worse. Yeah, it might work for some people, but that type of approach only works for certain people of a particular mindset, I think. Positive reinforcement would make it stick better.

I've always had a fast metabolism, played sports, etc, so I don't know what it would be like, though.
 
61
Posts
12
Years
Basically, if someone who is overweight wishes to lose weight, they should do it of their own accord. Because they want to and not because someone tells them to. I'm pretty sure every overweight person is aware of health benefits of losing weight. That said, I don't really care if you're overweight as long as you're a nice person.
 
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