Body shaming, and "My Big Fat Fabulous Life"

[CapnAwesome]

I hate this sort of answer. Although the woman in that show has a condition, the vast vast vast majority of overweight people do not. Stress and depression could cause someone to overeat, but it's the eating that causes the weight gain. For 95% of people, the only reason you are obese is because you consume more calories than you burn. It's offensively anti-science and against the evidence to claim otherwise. Same goes with the old excuse of metabolism, which varies only slightly in the giant majority of the population. I think it's that excuse making and the bullshit that bothers me more than the sight of fat people, which I really don't care one way or another about.

Imagine for a moment it was a show glorifying smoking. How would you feel about that?

I believe you're over-simplifying a very complicated issue. Besides, I suggested several other factors that contribute to obesity besides the old "I have a slow metabolism". How could you possibly know all of the physiological factors that may or may not affect to 95% of obese people?

Nova produced a very informative documentary on just tremendously difficult it is to lose weight and how our brains and are wired to hold on to fat stores at all costs. I'm sure you can find it easily online, if you're interested.

For me to fairly compare this show to one that glorifies smoking, you would have to demonstrate that this show does in fact encourage people to carelessly overeat, sit on the couch, and generally not give a fuck. From what I've read about the show online that's not the case. This woman has polycystic ovarian syndrome and the obesity that accompanies it. Instead of waiting to reach an ideal weight that's unrealistic due to the nature of her condition, it seems she's decided to live her life, dance, and do all of the goofy shit that make her happy. The theme seems to be self- acceptance. She's not promoting obesity simply because she doesn't hate herself, is she?

I think that she has an extremely rare condition is part of the problem of the show. Most obese people do not. Not just most, the vast vast majority. What percentage of obese people do you think have a medical condition that causes them to be obese? While a number of psychological problems might lead towards overeating, the physical cause of obesity is pretty much always the same: you consume more calories then you burn. That's it.

Now I haven't seen the show, but it seems to be in theme with the body acceptance movement, which is a giant source of lies, disinformation and anti-science. I don't care a whit about someone's personal choices, but I think our society should be one that embraces truth. The truth is that the way you become obese is you consume more calories than you burn.