What are your thoughts on fat acceptance?

[LadyForCamus]

Someone mentioned mental illness, along with other health conditions, and that it would only result in so much weight gain. I have to point out that is not true.

You're absolutely correct.

I made the comment earlier that I gained over a hundred pounds as a result of taking a prescription drug to treat a mental health issue.  The weight gain started when I started taking the drug, and it stopped when I ceased taking it.  This is a drug that is absolutely known for many patients putting on massive amounts of weight.  You feel hungry all of the time.  Imagine that: it doesn't matter if you ate an hour ago, your body is constantly sending the trigger that you're hungry and must eat.

Once on, that weight is hard as fuck to take off.  If I cared to illustrate (I don't) that point, I'd post my calorie intake and exercise logs as well as a chart of my weight over a period of months where my weight inexplicably was all over the charts, up, down, flat, you name it.  I had lost 40lbs prior to that, on a nice steady curve before the chaos hit.  Literally nothing about my calorie intake or exercise routine explained it.  I was eating the same thing every day - same breakfast, same lunch, with rotating dinners, everything made from scratch, no added sugar, no unhealthy snacks - I mean *none*, never, nada, zilch.  All balanced, healthy foods.

Recent medical research also supports that once gained, weight becomes very difficult to impossible to take off.

More specifically, recent research shows that a person's metabolism is lower than it would be after losing a significant amount of weight.  In other words, a woman who loses 100lbs and now weighs 130lbs will expend less calories per day (I've seen a difference of around -300-600 kcals for women), than a woman of the same age, height, and weight who has always been within a healthy weight range.  Difficult, yes.  Impossible?  I find that to be a defeatist attitude.