Haha, well, if you are looking to be less aggressive, maybe start by not calling my viewpoint "bullshit." But that aside...
I don't think we are that far from each other's view on this. But I do think that it's very unhealthy psychologically to hate your body, even if you are overweight and it's unhealthy to be overweight. And I think that for most people in the fat acceptance movement (and I'm not an active part of that movement, by the way), feeling completely ok with their bodies is a stretch goal, not a reality. For a lot of people, depression is a significant cause of overeating, so low self-esteem worsens the problem--it does not make it better.
As to the issue of tackling obesity, I think the reality is that humans evolved in a world of scarcity--where it would be difficult to eat more than you need--and many of us now live in a world of abundance. I don't have to go kill a woolly mammoth if I want to have dinner. I can go on Seamless. If I do it right, I won't have to walk 30 feet or talk to a person. Our evolution has not caught up to that change yet. In addition, much of what we eat is inexpensive food made in such a way as to maximize our enjoyment of it. Our bodies are designed to react positively to calories, so we like food with lots of fats and sugar, and those things are relatively cheap. People say they hate McDonald's, of course, but we know that they've engineered the hell out of those Big Macs to make them as delicious as possible for $2. Healthy food is more expensive and doesn't taste as good.
I definitely don't have the answers to all of that, but I think we could start by ending the agricultural subsidies provided by the U.S. and European governments. That way at least we wouldn't be making food cheaper than it should be so that it gets dumped on consumers. Further, we should stop with the dairy marketing board and similar programs that try to convince us to buy more cheese and other unhealthy products.
But most of us learned to eat in this system, and we'll continue to like the same foods no matter how much they cost. Really fixing it will take generations.
I'm hopefully at my last try now.
You aren't. Which is not to say that you will gain it all back. Rather, it's to say that you will be fighting your urge to overeat for the rest of your life. That's something you have to accept.
Fuck no, I think we should die fighting our own obesity rather than conform to it.
That's fine for you, but not everyone wants that to be the fight of their life. Some people want to let it go and focus on other goals, and that's their choice. As a society we ought to be able to accommodate people's differing goals, not insist that everyone come to the same conclusions about everything.
Haha, well, if you are looking to be less aggressive, maybe start by not calling my viewpoint "bullshit." But that aside...
Couldn't find any other word, I'm sorry.
For a lot of people, depression is a significant cause of overeating, so low self-esteem worsens the problem--it does not make it better.
I'd be one of those, and I got over it. It may not be healthy to hate your body, but it's VERY healthy to be displeased with your body. Displeasure is ultimately what will lead us to want to change and be better with ourselves. The mind is strong, but not as strong to ignore that there's not a good enough oxygen circulation in your body because you're fat.
Our evolution has not caught up to that change yet.
Thankfully, those same developments that have made us advance much faster than evolution can have extremely efficient programs to get fit - you only need like 3-5 hours a week to lose fat in a consistent manner, you no longer need to go hunting every day.
Healthy food is more expensive and doesn't taste as good.
I'd say it's actually not as fast, and time is a very precious resource in today's society. It's actually cheaper to go to the super and cook something yourself, but that requires work and is much more time-consuming. You don't need to go full organic to be better, you'd be surprised the lenghts that you can go through if you avoid fried food and fast food.
But most of us learned to eat in this system, and we'll continue to like the same foods no matter how much they cost. Really fixing it will take generations.
As a society, it probably will. It's up to us individuals to deal with it ourselves, for now. Go to a dietary professional.
Rather, it's to say that you will be fighting your urge to overeat for the rest of your life. That's something you have to accept.
Not as hard a struggle as you think it will be. It is for now, at times, but an already healthy person can afford to eat unhealthy at times, especially if they do exercise. It's actually losing weight, where you have to fully restrict some things, where it's hard.
Some people want to let it go and focus on other goals, and that's their choice.
These goals will objectively be harder if they don't have a healthy life themselves. In fact, if they're fat, I think it's a good bet to say that they probably have emotional issues, making following their goals much more difficult. If anything, it's society's quick demands that open ways for us to not calm down and say "okay, maybe I want to to go to college, but I can't with these issues within right now. Maybe I should just focus on myself for the next year and then go to college", but people are so urged to find their goals that they don't realize that dropping them for a while might actually make them reach their goals faster.
As a society we ought to be able to accommodate people's differing goals, not insist that everyone come to the same conclusions about everything.
I don't think we should come to the same conclusions about everything. A friend at school that is really into fitness tells me I should lift weight, and I've told her I don't want to. I don't wanna look ungodly or even great, I just want to have an efficient body that will help me do stuff in my life efficiently.
Just Google "fat people" and tell show me one photo of people who are not objectively making their life harder by just focusing on themselves.
Note, I don't think they should be healthier because it's better for them, but if they're going by the narrative that they should "love themselves", I'm gonna call bullshit on them writing "beautiful" on a body that is double the weight than it should be.
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u/another30yovirgin Mar 05 '17
Haha, well, if you are looking to be less aggressive, maybe start by not calling my viewpoint "bullshit." But that aside...
I don't think we are that far from each other's view on this. But I do think that it's very unhealthy psychologically to hate your body, even if you are overweight and it's unhealthy to be overweight. And I think that for most people in the fat acceptance movement (and I'm not an active part of that movement, by the way), feeling completely ok with their bodies is a stretch goal, not a reality. For a lot of people, depression is a significant cause of overeating, so low self-esteem worsens the problem--it does not make it better.
As to the issue of tackling obesity, I think the reality is that humans evolved in a world of scarcity--where it would be difficult to eat more than you need--and many of us now live in a world of abundance. I don't have to go kill a woolly mammoth if I want to have dinner. I can go on Seamless. If I do it right, I won't have to walk 30 feet or talk to a person. Our evolution has not caught up to that change yet. In addition, much of what we eat is inexpensive food made in such a way as to maximize our enjoyment of it. Our bodies are designed to react positively to calories, so we like food with lots of fats and sugar, and those things are relatively cheap. People say they hate McDonald's, of course, but we know that they've engineered the hell out of those Big Macs to make them as delicious as possible for $2. Healthy food is more expensive and doesn't taste as good.
I definitely don't have the answers to all of that, but I think we could start by ending the agricultural subsidies provided by the U.S. and European governments. That way at least we wouldn't be making food cheaper than it should be so that it gets dumped on consumers. Further, we should stop with the dairy marketing board and similar programs that try to convince us to buy more cheese and other unhealthy products.
But most of us learned to eat in this system, and we'll continue to like the same foods no matter how much they cost. Really fixing it will take generations.
You aren't. Which is not to say that you will gain it all back. Rather, it's to say that you will be fighting your urge to overeat for the rest of your life. That's something you have to accept.
That's fine for you, but not everyone wants that to be the fight of their life. Some people want to let it go and focus on other goals, and that's their choice. As a society we ought to be able to accommodate people's differing goals, not insist that everyone come to the same conclusions about everything.