(October 29, 2015 at 10:34 am)Esquilax Wrote:(October 29, 2015 at 10:12 am)Irrational Wrote: Look, OP, my main point here is that fat shaming does not work. All it does is depress them even further. That's never the best way to get fat people to lose weight.
Yup, which is a point a lot of people- a lot of people- don't get. Plenty of peeps will line up to judge or outright mock you if you're fat, and it's still weirdly socially acceptable to do it; I think that's what the body acceptance movement is in reaction to. This idea that you shouldn't be treated poorly because of the way you look isn't a crazy one.
But the other thing is, it's like, oh really, being overweight is unhealthy? I've never heard that before! Never once have I been told, in this appearance obsessed culture that's happy to pass comment on the weight of anybody around, especially women, that being overweight increases health risks. Thank you for telling me! I'll just completely change all my habits and be instantly fine, because diet is the only contributing factor to weight and you, a complete stranger, definitely knows everything there is to know about my health, what I'm already doing, and where I've come from! I'm so glad you saw it in yourself to make personal comments to a total stranger! /s
This idea that people desperately need to remind fat people of these things as though it just never occurred to them is dumb; of course they know. Everybody knows, it's not as if it isn't common knowledge. But hey, please do continue making unjustified assumptions, public at large, about a stranger in order to judge their bodies inferior and make unwelcome personal comments to them: we all know you surrender your right to privacy and being left alone in public at a certain weight threshold, after all.
I have a cousin who is really overweight. And he is suffering because of it. My brother, who used to be overweight himself as a child and teenager but was able to lose the extra weight growing up, has been trying to help him out by having him go to gym with him and encouraging him to diet properly. But it is never easy for him. Aside from the fact that some people are really unlucky biologically when it comes to weight, There are psychological blocks that make it very hard for someone like him to just simply be happy enough to go hit the gym every couple of days and go on a calorie restricting diet every day. Even though he knows it's not healthy to keep all that weight, and more importantly, he is NOT happy about his weight. Hell, I don't like going to gym, and I'm only very slightly overweight (I was thin for most of my teen years and twenties).
I have suggested to him that perhaps a therapist might help him with the psychological issues regarding his perception of his weight, but have also told him it's ok to love himself anyway and not to let other people dictate how he should feel about his weight. Because at the end of the day, he is the one truly suffering from his own weight, not the other people who condemn him for that.
