"I may be fat, but I beat my eating disorder"

[Jackalope]

What I can criticize about her post is that she's calling herself "fat" in the first place. She looks perfectly fine, she is lightyears away from being pathologically obese. She herself, but also you, by calling her fat in that picture, are actually both promoting an unhealthy message to young women about what kind of body shape you have to achieve. So that's the main problem I have with her post then. No, promoting being fat as the healthy alternative is a terrible idea. Labelling the woman in this "after" photo as "Fat" with a capital F is even more problematic, and that she calls herself that is not a good sign.

This. The "after" photo is hardly representative of an unhealthy degree of "fat", and labeling it as such sets unrealistic and dangerous expectations.

[Thumpalumpacus]

She's calling herself "fat" when she looks pretty healthy to me ... perhaps she hasn't really defeated that eating disorder just yet.

Exactly, and I think this is why Napoleons post reinforcing that pissed me off a bit even though he may be right in principle.

It's sad, how women internalize social norms of beauty to the extent that they harm themselves attempting to satisfy impossible self-images.

[Chad32]

If she is overweight, it's most likely only slightly. Since we don't know her actual height and weight, though, it's not easy to tell if she's actually slightly overweight.

That her after picture would be considered fat is a bit wrong. There are 250+ lbs people walking around who probably wish they were as skinny as her.

[Jaysyn]

Far more people die every year due to obesity and issues relating directly to being overweight than they do to being underweight. I'd like to see any study that suggests otherwise.

Here's one. Looks like it's healthier in the long run to be a few pounds overweight than underweight. This was a followup to a 2005 study that came to the same findings. Sorry if someone else has already posted this, I haven't read every post in this thread yet.

Being Overweight Is Linked to Lower Risk of Mortality

Overall, people who were overweight but not obese were 6% less likely to die during the average study period than normal-weight people. That advantage held among both men and women, and did not appear to vary by age, smoking status, or region of the world. The study looked only at how long people lived, however, and not how healthy they were whey the died, or how they rated their quality of life.

[Nope]

The problem is how we view weight in the United States.

Some overweight people are healthy. I have had more then one friend, who worked out and ate a healthy diet but unless they were eating so little food that they made themselves sick, they still looked like the second photo. One of my friends only reached what her doctor said was a healthy weight when she was bulimic.

Part of the problem is that society sees weight as a moral issue when it isn't. That is why people feel free to make very negative judgments against people based only on their weight. Even if you are morbidly obese that doesn't mean that you are a bad person or lack compassion for others. It does mean that you are unhealthy but that is all it means.

Someone who is a little overweight is going to be viewed as a failure or lazy by some people and that is wrong.

Society also does the exact opposite with naturally thin people. When I was younger, I was naturally as thin as the first photo. My metabolism was very fast. Other women were the ones who made very nasty comments toward me. I could not help being skinny anymore then they could help being a little overweight. Just as being overweight doesn't mean that you are lazy, being skinny doesn't mean that you are conceited or snobbish.

[Napoléon]

She's calling herself "fat" when she looks pretty healthy to me ... perhaps she hasn't really defeated that eating disorder just yet.

Exactly, and I think this is why Napoleons post reinforcing that pissed me off a bit even though he may be right in principle.

I think you guys are in denial to be honest. I don't look at that image and see someone who looks like an image of healthiness. I see someone who looks a tad overweight.

I'm not saying she looks disgusting, or that she's obese, or that she looks massively unhealthy. Just that she isn't the ideal of health that kids should, at least in my opinion, be aspiring to.

I could easily, and probably quite cheaply, play the 'Americans are used to seeing more fat people, so it's considered more normal' card. I honestly think seeing super fat people on a daily basis, even in places like the UK (we're the fattest nation in Europe if I'm not mistaken) can warp your ideas of what should be considered as healthy. I mean, by today's standards, she's not like some super lard arse, and I wouldn't by any means say she particularly needs to lose weight or say she's anything but normal. But I would be lying to myself if I said she looked 'perfectly healthy' like you guys are.

What I can criticize about her post is that she's calling herself "fat" in the first place. She looks perfectly fine, she is lightyears away from being pathologically obese. She herself, but also you, by calling her fat in that picture, are actually both promoting an unhealthy message to young women about what kind of body shape you have to achieve. So that's the main problem I have with her post then. No, promoting being fat as the healthy alternative is a terrible idea. Labelling the woman in this "after" photo as "Fat" with a capital F is even more problematic, and that she calls herself that is not a good sign.

Oh c'mon. I'm promoting an unhealthy message to young women because I called someone who is clearly overweight to some degree, fat, but you guys aren't when you're saying someone who is clearly overweight looks perfectly fine?

Is this really happening?

The denial here pisses me off. She's fat. Period. Calling her that isn't promoting an 'unhealthy' message. It's just stating fact. Get over it. Maybe it differs where you're from, but if you're overweight you're liable to being called fat. It's not a nice word but it's one that applies. CD says it's not representative of an unhealthy degree of fat. Would you then say it's a healthy degree of fat? Do you think a doctor would agree?


Also, whether someone who might be 500lbs aspires to be the weight/size of the gal in the after pic is besides the point completely. In fact, I think a lot of this whether or not she is actually fat is besides the point.

Neither message, promoting anorexia or promoting being 'fat', is healthy. S'all I'm saying. And it grinds my gears how one form of promotion is seen as far worse than the other. Then we wonder why there's obesity epidemics? We wonder why so many people don't give a shit about getting supersized? We look at an image of a mildly underweight person and say things like "eat a cheeseburger", but an image of a slightly overweight person and it's "oh they're just curves". From what I can see, people's perceptions and reactions to an overweight person are far less harsh than seeing underweight people.

[Alex K]

No, we're not in denial, Napoléon, your standards are a bit messed up. I think what you demand here is not based in science, and especially in the context of eating disorders, naw, I don't like it.

[Napoléon]

No, we're not in denial, Napoléon, your standards are a bit messed up.

No, you just have different standards evidently. We're yet to establish who's are actually right.

I think what you demand here is not based in science, and especially in the context of eating disorders, naw, I don't like it.

What exactly am I demanding here? I'm just pointing out contradictions as I see them, I'm not really demanding anything.

How can you say what I'm saying isn't based in science? Base that on something. Give me an example.

[abaris]

This. The "after" photo is hardly representative of an unhealthy degree of "fat", and labeling it as such sets unrealistic and dangerous expectations.

Second that of third that or whatever number of people have already agreed on it.

She's not obese in any way. Just a little bit rounded and that's certainly not a bad thing compared to being underweight.

[Napoléon]

Here's one. Looks like it's healthier in the long run to be a few pounds overweight than underweight. This was a followup to a 2005 study that came to the same findings. Sorry if someone else has already posted this, I haven't read every post in this thread yet.

Interesting. I notice it's the first thing that comes up in google too, from a quick search of the term "overweight is healthier".

There's a few factors this study doesn't seem to address.

BMI is a notoriously bad gauge of how healthy someone is. A study based entirely on assessing people via BMI is not one I'm inclined to find compelling. The study didn't take into consideration many other factors, like general fitness levels.

The best argument I could see being made from this, is that skinny people can be just as unhealthy as overweight people. Something I've never denied. Or maybe, just maybe, using the BMI scale is a terrible thing to use. The very fact that the study is based entirely on BMI just makes it null and void from the start.