Medical Student Wannabe

ladyfreethought:

I have issues with your viewpoints on obesity.

Obesity can be extremely unhealthy, but as a society, we’re letting it get really out of hand.

I asked you how it was getting “out of hand,” and you gave me talking points from the CDC. I made a response to that bullshit, and you ignored it. You never answered my question honestly. This is the same CDC that magically changed the definition of overweight and has inflated statistics about the “obese,” by the way.

Of course an “obese” person can be extremely unhealthy. So can a “normal” or “overweight” person. “Obese” people are no more diseased than others. But “normal” people have the privilege of getting sick and not being told it’s because of their weight. When a fat person gets sick, it’s ALWAYS about weight. And “normal” people don’t have to worry about facing disrespect and negativity by health professionals.

I don’t want anyone to be unhealthy on either extreme.

The two “extremes” argument is nonsense. Obesity is not a disease. It is an individual with a Body Mass Index over 30, and there is no direct evidence that having a higher BMI is associated with more disease or bad health.

Anorexia (the other “extreme”) is a mental disease that can strike anybody. The media has inflated anorexia to the image of a painfully thin and white female obsessed with looking like a movie star or model. In reality, anorexia affects people of ALL sizes and colors for a variety of reasons.

Anorexia has the highest death rate of any psychological disease. The average age of death is 34. 

Life expectancy for those caught in the “obesity epidemic” keep rising. At the most, obesity cuts five to ten years off life expectancy. Very rarely does a young person die from obesity-related causes. 

Also, I never said being obese wasn’t beautiful. It is beautiful and I would never say anything to the contrary.

Well, at least that is positive. Not many people would say that, and I commend you for it.

As for fear and insult, fat people deal with it everyday. We’re constantly told how lazy, gluttonous, ugly and stupid we are. From subtle discrimination to outright hatred, we see it all. We are always a stereotype, never an individual.

The hype about “obesity” in the media fuels these stereotypes. And it’s unfair and wrong for a body image advocate to perpetuate them onto young women (and men) who are fragile and insecure. Being told constantly that you are unhealthy and unworthy of life does not do wonders for your self-esteem.

We need to stop focusing on weight. We need to focus on better eating and exercise habits for ALL people, not just “obese” people. Fat/size acceptance advocates (such as myself) call this “Health at Every Size.”

Health at Every Size is more effective than traditional diets, because it does not encourage weight loss as a barometer of health. It focuses on intuitive eating and exercise that is fun.

However, we should not be in the business of vilifying those who choose not to engage in healthy activities. Adults have the right to control their own bodies. It’s not against the law to eat a lot of food and not exercise.

We also need to live up to the fact that some people are naturally fat. Yes, fat has roots in our genetics:

Genetic studies have shown that the particular set of weight-regulating genes that a person has is by far the most important factor in determining how much that person will weigh. The heritability of obesity—a measure of how much obesity is due to genes versus other factors—is about the same as the heritability of height. It’s even greater than that for many conditions that people accept as having a genetic basis, including heart disease, breast cancer, and schizophrenia. As nutrition has improved over the past 200 years, Americans have gotten much taller on average, but it is still the genes that determine who is tall or short today. The same is true for weight. Although our high-calorie, sedentary lifestyle contributes to the approximately 10-pound average weight gain of Americans compared to the recent past, some people are more severely affected by this lifestyle than others. That’s because they have inherited genes that increase their predisposition for accumulating body fat. Our modern lifestyle is thus a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for the high prevalence of obesity in our population.

Obesity is not a choice or a moral failing:

So if you are thin, it might be more appropriate for you to thank your own “lean” genes and refrain from stigmatizing the obese. A broad acceptance of the biologic basis of obesity would not only be fair and right, but would also allow us to collectively focus on what is most important—one’s health rather than one’s weight. There is no evidence that obese individuals need to “normalize” their weight to reap health benefits. In fact, it is not even clear whether there are enduring health benefits to weight loss among obese individuals who do not suffer from diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, or liver disease. What is known is that the obese who do suffer from these conditions receive a disproportionately large benefit from even modest weight loss, which together with exercise and a heart-healthy diet can go a long way toward improving health. 

We live in a society that tells “obese” people they need to just “eat less and exercise more” to be thin. Sorry, doesn’t work that way. And as I have already explained above, weight loss is not needed to improve health or fitness.

It should also be noted that weight can be affected by antidepressants, disease (polycystic ovarian syndrome, hypothyroidism, Cushing’s syndrome) and binge eating disorder. On a very personal note, I have been on medication for severe anxiety for seven years and have struggled with binge eating for almost fifteen years.  I have just recently begun to conquer my “demons,” and it has been tough and frustrating.

It’s obvious that your Tumblr is extremely helpful to those individuals who are looking for help and have no place to turn for it. Your colorful messages attracted me to your space, and I was happy to see such motivation. You’ve handled yourself with grace and knowledge when faced with adversity, and I’m sure it’s an uplift to your readers. But do you want to know what pissed me off and send me on a tangent? This comment:

I never encourage obesity, I encourage healthy living.

I’m sorry, but these two concept are NOT mutually exclusive. Of course, I already explained that in detail.

Obesity is NOT a lifestyle, it is an arbitrary number that has little to no significance and is deeply flawed in its measurements of health.

I’m done now. Peace and love, Lady Freethought.

boostyouresteem:

I’ve always been taught to turn the other cheek, and I hold myself to a standard of being extremely positive, but I was also raised in a place where you don’t allow anyone to insult your family. Anyone who implies that the girls who have the strength to come here and voice their fears are weak because they don’t want to compete to be a size four is insulting my family, and I just can’t take that.

Okay, back to your regularly scheduled positivity.

Oh my word. This was.. wow.