Confusion: People who are OK with being way overweight

[Aloysius]

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What I'm talking about here are people who are sloppy and fat and are just fine with it. Especially young, single people.

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I think as a class of people (the sloppy fat, if you will), they fall along a similar spectrum of any class of people who have some distinctively negative, but "controllable" trait (smokers, drug addicts, alcoholics, whatever).

First, there prolly are baseline commonalities shared by the sloppy fat - some genetic predisposition for self-destruction, compulsion, addictive behavior, laziness, things like that - that get them there.

Once they are actually sloppy fat and have been for a while... then I would say it's the rare sloppy-fat person who successfully combats his state. Based on the factors that got them to this state in the first place, seems like they are predisposed to stay that way.

Not meant to be negative - I actually don't think we have agency over alot of things, and alot of our behavior is hardwired in our genes - I feel lucky that I'm predisposed to be thin and feel sympathy for those struggling with their weight.

-Al

[gumpzilla]

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What these fatties are doing is taking advantage of a loophole in society's morals! It's become so "wrong" to insult these lard asses for being the lazy pigs they are (akin to being racist or something) that they know they can walk around like 300-pound behemoth elephants, shoveling more and more ice cream and donuts into their gobs, and not have to face any criticism -- because anyone who dares criticize them is being "insensitive."

Man, you can't even call someone fat anymore. It's a descriptor! The word fat has absolutely no positive or negative connotation.

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Clearly.

[Aloysius]

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I really don't see how I could be happy if I was grossly overweight and the opposite sex wasn't part of my life.

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How about being poor, or just middle-class, or have a fat wife, or crappy career, or whatever?

People learn to adapt and while I doubt a truly fat person is "content" in their weight, I'd imagine as the fat person matures, this person learns to accept their flaws and focus on the positives in their life (and also, hopefully, actually work on their fatness).

Everyone is disappointed in some way or the other about how their lives turn out - unfortunately for fatties, their flaws are on display for the world to see.

-Al

[Jcrew]

I think Sniper finally got to ED and now he is trying to drive up post counts with threads like these.

This can all be cleared up by creating a fund and offer a random group of carefree young single fat people free liposuction and see what % accept.

[chezlaw]

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OK, this is about people who are overweight, but just don't care.

This is important: this is NOT directed at people who keep talking about how overweight they are and how they want to change it (but are too lazy or undisciplined or whatever to do it) or people who keep trying but fail. I totally understand how that happens.

What I'm talking about here are people who are sloppy and fat and are just fine with it. Especially young, single people.

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Can't help eith the young or single but big on the don't care.

Trouble is its hard to explain why we don't have your inate natural desite to be fit. I think your looking for something in us that isn't there. We are you without that desire.

chez

[XXXNoahXXX]

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I think Sniper finally got to ED and now he is trying to drive up post counts with threads like these.

This can all be cleared up by creating a fund and offer a random group of carefree young single fat people free liposuction and see what % accept.

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I don't think there are any fat people that enjoy being fat or prefer it. If a genie came down to some obese person and offered to make them skinny, barring maybe competitive eaters or bouncers or something, I'm guessing 99% would accept. Some just think, its not worth even an ounce of effort or one less serving.

[Clayton]

i think part of it may be societal. from my trips to europe (london, ipswish, brussels, paris), and even on trips to San Francisco and LA i was surprised at seeing basically no fat people, or FAR less than that of Atlanta/Athens, GA.

i think logic dictates that when you are raised in a society where fat people are almost non-existent, as such it will be a need/desire to not be fat.

i can say that there is a stark contrast between the city my dad lives in (Atlanta), and where I live (Athens, a college town 1 hour away in the sticks).

The ratio-based amount of fat people in Athens is way higher than Atlanta, I think, which could be due in part not only to society's reckoning, but the healthiness of food available. there are grocery stores, fast food joints, pubs, and waffle house in athens, basically.



Basically, what I am getting at is that society *does* have an impact, although small. In areas of the country where fat people roam wild (as El D alludes to, Chicago for instance), it becomes more culturally acceptable.

[NorCalJosh]

i've wondered this exact same thing more times than i could count. in my high school days, i was in fantastic shape, actively played several different sports, etc. injuries my senior year in high school and freshman year in college led to a much more sedentary lifestyle, and when that combined with the fantastic food available pretty much 24/7, i put on a good 30 pounds of pure fat. i had a steady girlfriend during much of this period, but it bothered me even then.

one day i woke up looked in the mirror and decided i just looked flat out disgusting. so i started working out and in about 4 months dropped more than the 30 pounds and cut my body fat percentage by a whole lot. ever since then, my weight has fluctuated 10-15 pounds, but whenever i reach the upper end of that fluctuation, i lay off the crap food for a couple weeks or months and get more active and bring it back down.

it is completely beyond me how ANYONE can reach obese status. how do you not look in the mirror and get disgusted with yourself? how does it not bother you when you have to buy progresively larger items of clothing? doesnt it just bother you to consistently feel like crap? it blows my mind.

[chezlaw]

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one day i woke up looked in the mirror and decided i just looked flat out disgusting. so i started working out and in about 4 months dropped more than the 30 pounds and cut my body fat percentage by a whole lot. ever since then, my weight has fluctuated 10-15 pounds, but whenever i reach the upper end of that fluctuation, i lay off the crap food for a couple weeks or months and get more active and bring it back down.


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This clearly demonstrations that your natural inclination is to be fat. You have to be disgusted with your naturally inclined state to change it.

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it is completely beyond me how ANYONE can reach obese status. how do you not look in the mirror and get disgusted with yourself?

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Just imagine someone like yourself who isn't so bothered about appearance.

chez

[NorCalJosh]

i agree, i don't have the type of metabolism that can do whatever they want and not gain a pound or whatever. and i love good food, so i eat a lot of it. it wasnt even all about appearance though... i just felt terrible. lethargic, always tired, couldnt exert myself like i used to. it was bad all aroudn.