What are your thoughts on fat acceptance?

[CapnAwesome]

I think the problem with the fat acceptance movement is that it's built on lies. Fat people are not as healthy, and most certainly not as physically as fit people. It's also an insult to those of us who put in a lot of hard work exercising and eating right for some fat person to say 'oh I'm just as healthy' on what planet? Being fit takes tremendous amounts of work almost daily. It's an outrageous lie for fat people to claim they are just as fit as actual fit people.

It's also an anti-science movement, that denies basic things we know about nutrition, about calories, about all kinds of stuff. Whenever I see Atheists supporting such an overly anti-science movement, that relies on disinformation about how much genetics effect obesity (spoiler: Not all that much) and denies basic science about how someone becomes fat, and basic science about health related to obesity, I cringe.

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I think when we hear the word, "fat" we automatically think in terms of aesthetics, and that shouldn't be the case.  We should care about maintaining a healthy weight for HEALTH purposes first and foremost.  Hell, we're atheists!  Most of us believe we only get this one, precious life.  Let's try and make it last as long as possible!  Of course everyone wants to look good, but as a dietitian, I have found that people who decide to make changes for health reasons have better long term success than people who just want to hurry up and lose 50 lbs as fast as possible so that they can fit into a two-piece bathing suit when summer comes.

Absolutely! Ascetics are totally secondary. Really who cares about that? It's not that important. It's also not just about extending your life, but improving your quality of life. If you watch a show like 'my big fat fabulous life' you realize that being obese is so limiting on your life. Everything becomes harder, walking, running, anything physical you want to do.

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I think it's terrible to fat-shame people or to encourage the supermodel and extreme dieting as the norm. People should be able to feel comfortable in their own bodies no matter what because it is their body and not yours. It's not hurting you, so get over it.

However, this kind of generosity should not get in the way of talking about health concerns. Obesity obviously causes problems, and at some point there should be a public awareness of this. Just don't be an asshat about it.

What about when someone lies about the science involved in weight gain? I mean, I don't care about someone's body, I care about the information that is put out there.