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My rant on overweight justification in America

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ScOULaris

Member
Processed food doesn't deserve too much of the blame. Everyone's body chemistry is different, but it's up to you to adjust your food intake and activity levels according to how you want to look/feel. Focusing more on overall caloric consumption and getting the nutrients you need out of every meal is more important than worrying about whether or not the food is "organic" or "processed." Of course, it doesn't hurt to focus on lean meats, whole grains, and fruits/vegetables for most meals.

If you're fat, the first thing you need to start doing is eating less. That's a general rule of thumb that never fails. If what you're eating is high in calories, sugar, and fat, then you'll need to address that next. Exercise is great for all sorts of things as well, but overeating and/or poor eating are the primary causes of fat gain.
 

joelseph

Member
It's a fucking Scoularious thread, you guys are getting worked up over dudes livejournal life. Add in the European trolls taking the first google hit that corroborates their attack and you got a perfect storm.
 
jon bones said:
yep its called living in new york city
Yeah, being from the New York area, I didn't realize that there was really an obesity problem until I started going to science fiction conventions
and later on when I started shopping at Wal-Mart
.

Granted, I was clinically obese until 2004, but this was considered "a little bit pudgy". Now I'm within the normal healthy range, but would like to be a bit tighter, but I face concerns from others that I am dangerously skinny, so I stay where I am.
 

jmdajr

Member
I think if you're overweight and happy more power to you. But people should be able to own up to the consequences. I can assure you many don't. Why not blame the doctor's and food industry? And yeah, the food industry needs work, as does healthcare, but ultimately you're the one putting the food in your mouth.

I agree you can't judge people just on their appearance alone, but being ugly on the outside sure as heck doesn't equal beautiful on the inside. They can be horrible people too. Same way that being good looking/in shape doesn't automatically mean you're an asshole.

Overall it's disappointing knowing the educational resources out there that people don't take better care of themselves. I'll do what I can, even if I get run over by a car tomorrow.
 

Zoe

Member
The_Technomancer said:
Ahahaha, yes it is. Moving into my own apartment was an eye opener for me. It is so much cheaper for me to eat healthy. Processed food is fucking expensive, its like $4.50 for two hot pockets. Frozen pizzas run between 5 and 6. That's a fifth of my weekly food budget.

You were buying the wrong processed food! Party pizzas for a dollar, man.
 
ScOULaris said:
Processed food doesn't deserve too much of the blame. Everyone's body chemistry is different, but it's up to you to adjust your food intake and activity levels according to how you want to look/feel. Focusing more on overall caloric consumption and getting the nutrients you need out of every meal is more important than worrying about whether or not the food is "organic" or "processed." Of course, it doesn't hurt to focus on lean meats, whole grains, and fruits/vegetables for most meals.

If you're fat, the first thing you need to start doing is eating less. That's a general rule of thumb that never fails. If what you're eating is high in calories, sugar, and fat, then you'll need to address that next. Exercise is great for all sorts of things as well, but overeating and/or poor eating are the primary causes of fat gain.

So if an overweight person is eating healthy foods and an appropriate amount of them they should eat less?
 
Kraftwerk said:
Pftt. Those billionaire sheikhs can have infinite liposuctions. They be ballin. They don't care. In middle east being fat is a sign of being rich.

That may be true, but this was just to prove one thing he's been riding on since the OP is wrong.
 

daviyoung

Banned
reggie said:
Taking posts out of context? This thread delivers.

Not understanding anything? This thread delivers.

CrazyDogg77 said:
I didn't say that explicitly I am saying that it's a form of socially acceptable discrimination just like racism was.

It's completely incomparable. Neverminding historical discrimination, it's true that race means nothing in terms of jobs, welfare, social mobility or health. Being obese does, and it always will, regardless of society's discrimination.
 
Marleyman said:
It definitely does.
Yeah, I cut processed/premade food out of our diet and I have a lot more energy as a result. Last night I ate a few Keebler cookies at a friends house and I could tell it didn't sit well in my stomach. Too much shit in them.
 

h1nch

Member
CrazyDogg77 said:
The thing is you have to deal with a minor disturbance for 3 hours. He has to deal with people thinking he is disgusting for as long as he remains the way he is.

Chances are its his own fault, so he should do something about it.
 

Zabka

Member
I get a little bit depressed seeing a large mother dragging around her overweight 8 year old and both of them have that chubster waddle. Overfeeding your child is pretty damn close to child abuse.
 

joelseph

Member
jmdajr said:
I agree you can't judge people just on their appearance alone, but being ugly on the outside sure as heck doesn't equal beautiful on the inside. They can be horrible people too. Same way that being good looking/in shape doesn't automatically mean you're an asshole.

hahahahhah
 
daviyoung said:
It's completely incomparable. Neverminding historical discrimination, it's true that race means nothing in terms of jobs, welfare, social mobility or health. Being obese does, and it always will, regardless of society's discrimination.

Can you expound on this for me a little more. I don't want to respond to something I don't fully understand.
 

Kintaro

Worships the porcelain goddess
CrazyDogg77 said:
The thing is you have to deal with a minor disturbance for 3 hours. He has to deal with people thinking he is disgusting for as long as he remains the way he is.

Yep. Of course, that is a situation of his own making. He certainly has the right to be overweight if he wants. People certainly have the right to think he is disgusting as a result.
 
Dude Abides said:
Look at all these enervated half-men obsessed with their weight like a bunch of sorority girls before spring break. Probably wear skinny jeans too. No wonder society is so pussified.

Love this. Yes, I'm aware I just bitched about working in a cube and feeling like shit after eating a burger and fries and sitting all day. This post is still awesome.
 
reggie said:
I said may, I wasn't and and still am not going to get into that side of the argument. My point was you are still judging people based on their looks.
If you want to dissect the difference it's that there are actions and decisions to judge when you deal with a fat person. There are no decisions or actions involved in being black. It is also socially acceptable to judge meth heads for the same reason.
 

Mael

Member
daviyoung said:
Not understanding anything? This thread delivers.



It's completely incomparable. Neverminding historical discrimination, it's true that race means nothing in terms of jobs, welfare, social mobility or health. Being obese does, and it always will, regardless of society's discrimination.

You do know that some diseases are known to target more people of a certain race or something.

I really love how it's either the guy's fault that he's overweight or it's god will.
Seriously make you sure you kid don't start to look like flabby mc flabs and go from there, the situation of the children is absolutely scandalous but I guess no one cares and prefer to pimp up the worthless workout of the disgusting food they wolf down every day....
 

andycapps

Member
MightyHealthy said:
It's one thing to be obese and in denial...it's a different realm when you're overweight, happy, and don't give a shit what shallow people think.

I was 220 lbs. two years ago, now I'm 280...I partly blame my girlfriend for being such a great cook, but the other part of me knows it's because I don't bother with dieting or exercise. I can lose weight whenever I feel like it, because I've always been good about following strict regimens, but sometimes folks just wanna say "fuck that" and eat happily.

About the eating good food and being happy.. I can only speak for myself and not for you, but you sound how I used to sound before I got serious about working out and eating mostly better (I usually have 1 day where I eat what I want on the weekends). I coped with food. I'm a pretty good cook and so is my wife. We like ice cream, sweets, salty foods. Foods that don't exist in nature and they appease the pleasure centers of our brain/taste buds. So yeah, I was "happy" while I was eating these foods because they fulfilled the craving that I had, but they ultimately left me out of shape and at higher risk for diseases. I'm much happier now than I was then.

So I'm not judging you or anything, just saying that I can relate to those feelings but that in hindsight, I can say that my happiness was in the wrong things. To me, now, there's nothing better than a hard workout where I know I gave it my all and I'm drenched in sweat afterwards. That makes me feel better after knowing I sat at a desk for 8 hours prior to that.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
piddledy said:
What's your grocery list look like? Just curious.
On a weekly/semi-weekly basis (some non-perishables last more then a week)?
Something like one tub of yogurt (either plain or vanilla)
Gallon of 2% milk
Loaf of bread
Can of raisins
Bag of baby carrots
Some vegetable like green beans or asparagus
Bunch of bananas and/or a bag of apples and/or can of pineapple.
Jar of peanuts
My one concession to processed food currently is that I usually buy frozen chicken patties to be part of my dinner, since my current kitchen isn't outfitted for me to actually prepare meat. We don't have the proper knives, etc.
Usually its yogurt with raisins and some toast for breakfast, piece of fruit and a handful of carrots or peanuts around lunch, and dinner is chicken with fruit and/or veggies on the side.

Keep in mind that the primary way I keep costs down is repetition. If you wanted variety in your meals you can add more types of vegetables and fruit, or proper meat at dinner, and still in my experience end up spending less then if you've got three bags of chips and four types of frozen dinner a week.
 

daviyoung

Banned
CrazyDogg77 said:
Can you expound on this for me a little more. I don't want to respond to something I don't fully understand.

Discounting everything we've been through on race and immigration, and looking at things progressively, obesity impacts an individual far more than race does.
 
ScOULaris said:
If you're fat, the first thing you need to start doing is eating less. That's a general rule of thumb that never fails. If what you're eating is high in calories, sugar, and fat, then you'll need to address that next. Exercise is great for all sorts of things as well, but overeating and/or poor eating are the primary causes of fat gain.
Well this is rather ignorant. The first thing you should to is take a look at what you are eating. You can lose weight simply by changing what you eat without actualy eating less or excercising more.
 

jmdajr

Member
The other day I was at a restaurant and I noticed one table full of relatively good looking women of normal weight, and I noticed another table of women who were ALL overweight. It's amazing to me how society is and how people can influence one other or want to stick with what's similar to them.

Despite all this weight talk I definitely don't see guys having as big a problem with this as women. I know all kinds of Bros. But if you mostly hang out with just one kind, chances are you'll likely to be similar.
 

Rocksteady33

Junior Member
One of the worst things I've experienced is my time at diabetes camp. I've had type 1 diabetes since I was 12, I've been going to a diabetes camp since I was diagnosed, and eventually moved onto staff at multiple camps up until I was 22 years old. This is a camp for kids with type 1 diabetes (that means the kind you don't get from being overweight, unhealthy, etc.) where you do normal camp activities but are surrounded by nurses/doctors/medical staff to help do it in a safe setting. And yet the sad thing is probably 85% of these kids are overweight anyway. Eating a good amount of food is a regular thing at camp (mostly because increased activity leads to lower blood sugars, and good meals compensate that). But the kids use their diabetes as a reason for the way they look when it really has no correlation.

They basically have been taught by society that type 1 = type 2, yet the difference is that type 1 was not their fault. There's nothing they can do about it as type 1 was brought on genetics. Girls claim manual insulin makes them gain weight. Kids avoid exercise at home because too much activity brings their blood sugars too low. And they are shoved down lots of food because being diabetic basically requires you to regularly eat, or at least know what/when to eat. I've seen so many kids before they are even 15 years old make excuses as to why they look the way they are, and have no problem with it, and apparently assume this is the way they are going to go forward in the future. All because they were screwed with their genes and got type 1 diabetes.

I'm no saint, and could definitely lose 15 pounds (6'2, 195), but it's still appalling to see how these kids are raised and their attitudes at such a young age.
 
daviyoung said:
Discounting everything we've been through on race and immigration, and looking at things progressively, obesity impacts an individual far more than race does.

mj-laughing.gif
 
andycapps said:
To me, now, there's nothing better than a hard workout where I know I gave it my all and I'm drenched in sweat afterwards. That makes me feel better after knowing I sat at a desk for 8 hours prior to that.
Sitting all day and going home and sitting some more is a bad trap to fall into, and I fell into that for a while as I am sure a lot of people have, especially when you start a full-time job out of school. Forcing myself to get in a habit of working out daily has done a lot of good for me.
 
CrazyDogg77 said:
I didn't say that explicitly I am saying that it's a form of socially acceptable discrimination just like racism was.

I see that.

I'm 6'0, 185 lbs, have an athletic build and exercise regularly. I do eat a lot and I eat just as much terrible food as I do good food. Realistically I eat more good food because I do like it more but regardless, I get a free pass.

However if another co-worker who is borderline obese is seen eating a dessert on "treat days" then she gets glares and back-talk. Like really? Her diet is healthier and more efficient than mine and they know that.

I should be pressured by my co-workers to eat better, not her.
 

reggie

Banned
Ignis Fatuus said:
If you want to dissect the difference it's that there are actions and decisions to judge when you deal with a fat person. There are no decisions or actions involved in being black. It is also socially acceptable to judge meth heads for the same reason.
When you see an overweight person you are effectively judging them based on a stereotype. You really have no idea what they eat, how they eat, and if and how much they exercise. You could make the assumption that they eat like shit and not exercise and may be correct, but you really have no idea. You still haven't explained how this any different from judging someone based on their race.
 

Revenant

Member
Ignis Fatuus said:
Wait, so not being obese now makes you a pussy?

Amazing.

Yeah it sure takes a whole lot of manliness to spend your life on a couch with a gallon tub of ice cream. Is that what you tell yourself to make you feel better every time you drag your bulbous ass to the fridge?

sounds like your skinny jeans are on a little too tight..
 

ScOULaris

Member
Lostconfused said:
Well this is rather ignorant. The first thing you should to is take a look at what you are eating. You can lose weight simply by changing what you eat without actualy eating less or excercising more.
Maybe I worded that wrong. What I was trying to say is that, while focusing on lean meats, grains, and vegetables is the ultimate idea, one doesn't need to overly concern themselves with making sure everything has an "organic" or "natural" label. Those have become buzzwords more than anything.

But of course, if someone is eating Oreos and Doritos all day, that's an example of processed food intake that needs to stop.
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
CrazyDogg77 said:
I didn't say that explicitly I am saying that it's a form of socially acceptable discrimination just like racism was.

This.

Here's a truth about people: they're fucking idiots including when they think they're being clever. People don't care if the reason they can justify they're better than someone else is valid. They'll use it anyway.

The thing with the fat problem is that it sounds so cartoonishly simplistic: "DON'T EAT FATTIE LOL YOU SO STUPID!"

Think about that. Don't. Eat.

Eat. Food.

Food is not booze or cigarettes. Food is the ONE THING besides air that as a human being you're hard wired to greatly desire. You need it. It's what makes you keep living. You're an animal for christ's sake.

Food is the genetic human weakness in modern civilization. People are practically designed to go off the rails when surrounded by industrial society's ability to manufacture plenty. It's actually true that quitting smoking is harder, in a broad sense, than dealing with society's food bonanza if the individual in question is primed to fall into traps: that doesn't just mean genetic predisposition but also anxiety, depression, lifestyle, income level, etc.

A lot of people in America are stupid about what they eat because they don't care. But in my experience, here's what I've found:

Truly fat men = slightly more are indeed selfish, anti-social and don't care what they do.

Truly fat women = slightly more stew in neurosis, depression, anxiety, and social pressure.

Now add into this the media in America, where forget about "healthy" images... the media bombards pop culture with human perfection and photoshopped abs and cheekbones. Not just women, but even men are basically told they're wanting and inferior for merely being average by just about every magazine cover, movie, and TV show. The Beautiful People are everywhere.

Combine all that with America's poor state of mind, and the anxiety and fear that at this point MOST people live under... and it's no mystery why the country's population is "unhealthy".

Then, because simply being a Beautiful Person so easy as "DON'T EAT THE CUPCAKE FATTIE LOL!" you have morons around every corner who just say "I'm thin and you're fat and that means you're a bad person, see how much better than you I am? Kill yourself fattie!" And whether they explicitly state it or not, that's pretty much what runs through the mind of the jackasses in society who are not helping.
 
These kind of threads make me feel awful since I'm pretty damn unhealthy and underweight, but it's the overweight people who bear the brunt of douchebags. Meanwhile due to my freak metabolism I can eat barely anything, lose a bunch of weight and no one says shit. And that's way more unhealthy to me then the women who are deemed "fat" by high internet dude bro standards. Pity.

I remember my mom (whom I'm practically a clone of) told me assholes in LA would say she could stand to lose some pounds. I was flabbergasted.
 

Eljay

Neo Member
I have a somewhat interesting perspective because I am on the other side of the spectrum and have trouble gaining weight. My doctor compares me to Kevin Durant, perfectly healthy but easily observed as needing to eat more because I'm so lean. I never get discriminated against like overweight people but I do receive my share of good-natured "eat a sandwich" jokes. The ironic thing is I have celiac so I actually can't eat a sandwich!

I can imagine there are countless people on the other side of the spectrum, perfectly healthy but probably carrying a bit more weight than the average person.
 

joelseph

Member
Devolution said:
These kind of threads make me feel awful since I'm pretty damn unhealthy and underweight, but it's the overweight people who bear the brunt of douchebags. Meanwhile due to my freak metabolism I can eat barely anything, lose a bunch of weight and no one says shit. And that's way more unhealthy to me then the women who are deemed "fat" by high internet dude bro standards. Pity.

Thank you, this post was a breath of fresh air.
 
D

Deleted member 81567

Unconfirmed Member
I don't have time to work out is probably the funniest thing I've read all day.
 
I find fat people disgusting.
I'm usually against prejudices, because it's not the person's "fault" to be e.g. black, gay or have red hair.
But, it's your fault if you eat unhealthy and don't do sports. No, you don't have big bones or something with your hormones, you are just an idiot.
And I doubt that anyone who's fat and says he/she's happy with that size, speaks the truth.
Also, like 80% of illnesses are the patients own fault (Diabetes, heart attack, arteriosclerosis etc.).
 
Devolution said:
These kind of threads make me feel awful since I'm pretty damn unhealthy and underweight, but it's the overweight people who bear the brunt of douchebags. Meanwhile due to my freak metabolism I can eat barely anything, lose a bunch of weight and no one says shit. And that's way more unhealthy to me then the women who are deemed "fat" by high internet dude bro standards. Pity.
If a man or woman is clinically obese or over fat is it bad to acknowledge this? Nobody is talking about the 'runway' standard in this thread.

Also, thin people get plenty of shit, maybe women not as much as men (although my wife is naturally thin and she got comments from a lot of people, too), but it does exist.
 
Revenant said:
sounds like your skinny jeans are on a little too tight..
I know you're trolling, but I'll entertain you anyway. I actually don't even know how much I weigh nor do I care, and that's because I'm not obese.

No matter what kind of smokescreen you try to put up, at the end of the day you're still a fatass and the problem is with you and not the healthy people you secretly envy as you eat away your misery.
 
Eljay said:
I have a somewhat interesting perspective because I am on the other side of the spectrum and have trouble gaining weight. My doctor compares me to Kevin Durant, perfectly healthy but easily observed as needing to eat more because I'm so lean. I never get discriminated against like overweight people but I do receive my share of good-natured "eat a sandwich" jokes. The ironic thing is I have celiac so I actually can't eat a sandwich!

I can imagine there are countless people on the other side of the spectrum, perfectly healthy but probably carrying a bit more weight than the average person.

I'm in a similar situation its very hard for me to gain weight. I'm probably 20 pounds underweight. I don't get crap about it but someone 20 pounds overweight will when in reality studies show my situation is probably less healthy than theirs is.
 

joelseph

Member
jmdajr said:
How is it absurd? Perhaps you didn't understand my point.

Point? I was simply laughing at your absurd statements in light on the attitudes in this thread.

jmdajr said:
I agree you can't judge people just on their appearance alone, but being ugly on the outside sure as heck doesn't equal beautiful on the inside. They can be horrible people too. Same way that being good looking/in shape doesn't automatically mean you're an asshole.
 
D

Deleted member 81567

Unconfirmed Member
Patrick Bateman said:
I find fat people disgusting.
I'm usually against prejudices, because it's not the person's "fault" to be e.g. black, gay or have red hair.
But, it's your fault if you eat unhealthy and don't do sports. No, you don't have big bones or something with your hormones, you are just an idiot.
And I doubt that anyone who's fat and says he/she's happy with that size, speaks the truth.
It's not as simple as that. As Kaijima said above, more contributes to "not eating" or "playing sports". It's not black and white.
 
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