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No no no...clearly you aren't fat anymore because you got drugs and/or counseling or did some weird fad diet. It can't be because you simply stopped eating so much.
As a (current) fatty and a (former) smoker, I can tell you from personal experience that it's a lot easier to quit smoking than it is to lose weight...and quitting smoking is pretty damn hard. People are much meaner to fat people than they are to smokers, by the way. Smoking is seen as an addiction and being fat is seen as a moral flaw.
If you've never struggled with your weight, it might be hard to understand how hard it is to lose a lot of weight, and how hopeless a lot of fat people feel. I'm not talking about someone who needs to lose 20 lbs, but rather someone who needs to lose 100 lbs or more...it feels impossible. That's why people who can afford it are having surgery to lose weight.
I've been large my entire life, but when I quit smoking, I gained 40 lbs without increasing my food intake at all. I broke my leg soon after that, had surgery and spent months in a wheelchair, and I gained a lot of weight then...I was pretty heavily medicated and I don't remember what I ate but it must have been a lot. And once I could walk again, I couldn't walk very far at all. I stayed home and felt sorry for myself for more than a year...sleeping 16 hours a day, only leaving the house to get the kids from school, etc. I know now that I was depressed, but I couldn't tell then.
When I wanted to start exercising, my first concern was that people would laugh at me. My second concern was that they don't make exercise clothes in my size. If I want exercise clothes, I have to buy them in the men's department, because apparently men are allowed to be fatter than women. Third, when you get to a certain size, the exercise machines at the gym or especially the ones you can buy for home use are just not designed for someone your size. For example, I was looking for an exercise bike and all the ones I saw at Walmart or Academy had a maximum weight capacity of 225.
Now that I've made myself get out there and exercise in public, it's a lot easier to go every day. I've been riding a bike about five miles a day (I know, that's not a lot, but it's a good start for me) for the last two and a half months. I have had one person laugh at me when I rode past...just one, and I responded with the one-finger wave Since I started riding every day, I've seen a few other large ladies on bicycles in my neighborhood, and I'm glad they feel comfortable enough to exercise too. I've lost 16 lbs, and 8" from my waist and hips. I'm taking it one day at a time, focusing on being strong and healthy rather than giving myself a weight loss goal per month, or a goal weight for the end of a diet...hoping to form healthy habits that will last the rest of my life.
I do think that people should stop making fun of fat people...it's hard to find the strength to start solving the problem when you feel like the whole world is laughing at you. A lot of overweight people have emotional eating issues...food is a comfort, the more they feel unloved and unaccepted, the more they eat, the fatter they get...it's a cycle it's hard to get out of.
Last edited by Hedgehog_Mom; 07-28-2011 at 01:44 PM..
Reason: forgot to finish a sentence
If you've never struggled with your weight, it might be hard to understand how hard it is to lose a lot of weight, and how hopeless a lot of fat people feel.
This is another troublesome tidbit. First the assumption that someone who responds has never been obese. For myself, I have. Trust me. The other business is the assumption that we don't know it is hard. Trust me there too. I know it is hard. Life is hard.
No, see, I already pay for all that crap. I own a home; I pay school tax. Perhaps you don't quite understand the concept of how taxes work or you wouldn't make such a stupid statement.
Well good for you. That doesn't negate the fact that parents have fewer taxes taken out than childless people who have the same income.
So if you have a kid and live in a poor area they only have a 50/50 change of living. When you only have so many years to have kids....Idealism in place of being generous when you have the means...
This is another troublesome tidbit. First the assumption that someone who responds has never been obese. For myself, I have. Trust me. The other business is the assumption that we don't know it is hard. Trust me there too. I know it is hard. Life is hard.
In this case, the matter is, however, simple.
Yep. Still not as hard as recovery from a heart attack...if you recover at all.
Funny is it was easier for me to lose weight than quit smoking. LOL
So if you have a kid and live in a poor area they only have a 50/50 change of living. When you only have so many years to have kids....Idealism in place of being generous when you have the means...
Our hunter gatherer ancestors figured out that having less mouths to feed means a better chance of survival for child(ren) they have.
"Primitive" hunter gatherers got this while we breed ourselves into oblivian.
If a child dies, you have another one if you can. Don't have 12 kids in the hopes that 6 will survive. That's stupid as hell.
As a (current) fatty and a (former) smoker, I can tell you from personal experience that it's a lot easier to quit smoking than it is to lose weight...and quitting smoking is pretty damn hard. People are much meaner to fat people than they are to smokers, by the way. Smoking is seen as an addiction and being fat is seen as a moral flaw.
If you've never struggled with your weight, it might be hard to understand how hard it is to lose a lot of weight, and how hopeless a lot of fat people feel. I'm not talking about someone who needs to lose 20 lbs, but rather someone who needs to lose 100 lbs or more...it feels impossible. That's why people who can afford it are having surgery to lose weight.
I've been large my entire life, but when I quit smoking, I gained 40 lbs without increasing my food intake at all. I broke my leg soon after that, had surgery and spent months in a wheelchair, and I gained a lot of weight then...I was pretty heavily medicated and I don't remember what I ate but it must have been a lot. And once I could walk again, I couldn't walk very far at all. I stayed home and felt sorry for myself for more than a year...sleeping 16 hours a day, only leaving the house to get the kids from school, etc. I know now that I was depressed, but I couldn't tell then.
When I wanted to start exercising, my first concern was that people would laugh at me. My second concern was that they don't make exercise clothes in my size. If I want exercise clothes, I have to buy them in the men's department, because apparently men are allowed to be fatter than women. Third, when you get to a certain size, the exercise machines at the gym or especially the ones you can buy for home use are just not designed for someone your size. For example, I was looking for an exercise bike and all the ones I saw at Walmart or Academy had a maximum weight capacity of 225.
Now that I've made myself get out there and exercise in public, it's a lot easier to go every day. I've been riding a bike about five miles a day (I know, that's not a lot, but it's a good start for me) for the last two and a half months. I have had one person laugh at me when I rode past...just one, and I responded with the one-finger wave Since I started riding every day, I've seen a few other large ladies on bicycles in my neighborhood, and I'm glad they feel comfortable enough to exercise too. I've lost 16 lbs, and 8" from my waist and hips. I'm taking it one day at a time, focusing on being strong and healthy rather than giving myself a weight loss goal per month, or a goal weight for the end of a diet...hoping to form healthy habits that will last the rest of my life.
I do think that people should stop making fun of fat people...it's hard to find the strength to start solving the problem when you feel like the whole world is laughing at you. A lot of overweight people have emotional eating issues...food is a comfort, the more they feel unloved and unaccepted, the more they eat, the fatter they get...it's a cycle it's hard to get out of.
What a wonderful post, Hedgehog Mom. Congratulations with your success so far and best wishes in the future with your healthy weight loss goals!
Our hunter gatherer ancestors figured out that having less mouths to feed means a better chance of survival for child(ren) they have.
"Primitive" hunter gatherers got this while we breed ourselves into oblivian.
If a child dies, you have another one if you can. Don't have 12 kids in the hopes that 6 will survive. That's stupid as hell.
Well its why you are even here. You seem unaware of the fact birth control is not an option in those parts and that half die before a very young age. So you would be a lot less likely to have six. Maybe two will make it. Maybe.
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but it must have been a lot. And once I could walk again, I couldn't walk very far at all. I stayed home and felt sorry for myself for more than a year...sleeping 16 hours a day, only leaving the house to get the kids from school, etc. I know now that I was depressed, but I couldn't tell then.
Since I started riding every day, I've seen a few other large ladies on bicycles in my neighborhood, and I'm glad they feel comfortable enough to exercise too. I've lost 16 lbs, and 8" from my waist and hips. I'm taking it one day at a time, focusing on being strong and healthy rather than giving myself a weight loss goal per month, or a goal weight for the end of a diet...hoping to form healthy habits that will last the rest of my life.
