Fat people in advertising

[Leisher]

HuffPo and other nutty news outlets are stroking themselves to someone using more plus sized models.

I'm absolutely fine with the use of plus sized models. Most women look like that, so I'm sure they want to see women that look like them.

However, under no circumstances should we be praising this for giving women a "positive body image". That's bullshit. The #1 killer is the U.S. is heart disease. Living in an unhealthy body and pretending there's nothing wrong with it is a massive and dangerous lie.

I know genetics plays a lot into how someone looks, but so does laziness and eating poorly.

[TheCatt]

Genetics plays a very small role in obesity. These people are lazy and/or eating poorly.

[GORDON]

The movement for fat acceptance rolls on.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_at_Every_Size

Health at Every Size (HAES) is a movement that claims to "support people in adopting health habits for the sake of health and well-being (rather than weight control)."[1] Proponents aim to improve the standard of living for people who are overweight or obese by promoting healthy lifestyles and anti-discrimination efforts. Generally, these efforts do not include weight loss as a direct goal.

Despite scientific evidence to the contrary, HAES advocates are highly skeptical that weight loss directly and controllably improves health.[2] The benefits of lifestyle interventions such as nutritious eating and exercise are presumed to be real, but independent of any weight loss they may cause. At the same time, HAES advocates espouse that sustained, large-scale weight loss is difficult to the point of effective impossibility for the majority of obese people. Evidence to support the view that some obese people eat little yet gain weight due to a slow metabolism is limited, and often false, as studies have shown that obese individuals incorrectly self-report calories consumed;[3] on average, obese people have a greater energy expenditure than their healthy-weight counterparts due to the energy required to maintain an increased body mass.[4][5] HAES proponents believe that health is a result of behaviors that are independent of body weight and that favouring being thin discriminates against the overweight and the obese.[6] Efforts towards such weight loss are instead held to cause rapid swings in size that inflict far worse physical and psychological damage than would fat itself.[7]

[Malcolm]

You can have some quite healthy individuals who are in excess of 200 pounds. I'd be far more concerned with what percentage of that weight is made up by what, their VO2 score, and a shitload of other things. To say that weight is the only thing worth watching is stupid. But so is this:

Health at Every Size (HAES) is a movement that claims to "support people in adopting health habits for the sake of health and well-being (rather than weight control)."
...
HAES proponents believe that health is a result of behaviors that are independent of body weight and that favouring being thin discriminates against the overweight and the obese.

That's dangerously stupid.

Efforts towards such weight loss are instead held to cause rapid swings in size that inflict far worse physical and psychological damage than would fat itself.

If your weight loss plan is causing "rapid swings in size" then there's a 99% chance your diet/exercise plan sucks or you aren't taking it seriously.

[GORDON]

I was amused that studies indicated that people who say they ate very few calories yet still gained weight.... were lying.

[Alhazad]

Genetics plays a very small role in obesity. These people are lazy and/or eating poorly.

But laziness is so persistent a frame of mind that even if it's not genetic, it may as well be once you're an adult. People have finite levels of willpower and a lot of that is used up in bullshit jobs.

Isn't yo-yoing from fat to thin and back, repeatedly, much worse than just being fat the whole time?

[Malcolm]

Finite willpower? Fuck that. Cowboy the fuck up.

[Alhazad]

Finite willpower? Fuck that. Cowboy the fuck up.

Sure. Why don't you start us off by ditching caffeine and show me how it's done?

[TheCatt]

Genetics plays a very small role in obesity. These people are lazy and/or eating poorly.

But laziness is so persistent a frame of mind that even if it's not genetic, it may as well be once you're an adult. People have finite levels of willpower and a lot of that is used up in bullshit jobs.

This is a lie. But perceiving limited willpower makes it limited.

[GORDON]

This is why I discourage the fatties hitting the gym on January 2. I want them to succeed, but if they can't take a look or an attitude from some stranger who doesn't matter and they quit, then they didn't have the willpower to make a difference, anyway. They might as well not waste everyone's time.

[TheCatt]

Honestly, food matters more than moving. But whatevs. Walk 15 minutes! Earn that carton of ice cream!

[GORDON]

And that's why I am constantly irritated. I want that root beer float, and pizza, and french fries, all day, every day. But I deny myself, for weight loss reasons.

But I would rather be irritated while training and able to do fun, active things with my kid, than be fat and.... not irritated. But then you eat a big meal and feel ashamed, so I don't think there's any such thing as "fat and happy" for me, any more.

[Leisher]

Honestly, food matters more than moving. But whatevs. Walk 15 minutes! Earn that carton of ice cream!

Eh, not completely.

MODERATION is the key to happiness.

You should walk more than 15 minutes, but you should also eat less than a carton of ice cream in a sitting. Unless you're doing your best Morgan Spurlock imitation and are about to make a documentary about how the evils of ice cream...

[GORDON]

I agree with Catt. Unless you are literally so sedentary that your only motion is getting up to use the shitter, then normal life, going to work, moving around, is more than enough activity if you are obese and need to lose weight. It's the diet. If a 325 pound person cuts the sugar and carbs, they will lose 3 pounds a day for a couple months straight, then lose 2 pounds a day for a month after than.

[Leisher]

You can agree with Catt and with me. They're not opposite ends of the discussion.

[TheCatt]

I used to think activity mattered more, but personal observation shows that food (what food and how much) matters more. I'd say it's 65/35 food/exercise, give or take.

You should walk more than 15 minutes, but you should also eat less than a carton of ice cream in a sitting.

I was just making a joke about people who sweat for 15 minutes at the gym then decide they've "earned" dessert. No, STOP EATING DESSERT YOU FUCKING COW.

[Leisher]

I was just making a joke about people who sweat for 15 minutes at the gym then decide they've "earned" dessert. No, STOP EATING DESSERT YOU FUCKING COW.

I figured. I was responding more to the food/exercise thing.

You're completely right about the mentality of some people. I've given myself a reward before in the form of a hot fudge sundae, but that was after three weeks of busting ass with P90X and dropping a bunch of pounds. Then I didn't eat anything else like that for a month. You don't get to eat that sundae after every workout and think you're going to lose weight.

[TPRJones]

I agree with Catt. Unless you are literally so sedentary that your only motion is getting up to use the shitter, then normal life, going to work, moving around, is more than enough activity if you are obese and need to lose weight. It's the diet.

I am the counter-example to this. After 20 weeks of tracking every morsel of food, I've learned my diet is consistently 18% less than the suggested calorie intake for someone of my weight. Quality is not great, but I do make better food choices than most people my size. My problem is that walking to and from the car to home or office is just about all the exercise I get. I'm far more sedentary than what is meant when people use the word "sedentary".

But I'm probably a rare case. Few people come as close to being voluntarily immobile as I do.

[Leisher]

I agree with Catt. Unless you are literally so sedentary that your only motion is getting up to use the shitter, then normal life, going to work, moving around, is more than enough activity if you are obese and need to lose weight. It's the diet.

I am the counter-example to this. After 20 weeks of tracking every morsel of food, I've learned my diet is consistently 18% less than the suggested calorie intake for someone of my weight. Quality is not great, but I do make better food choices than most people my size. My problem is that walking to and from the car to home or office is just about all the exercise I get. I'm far more sedentary than what is meant when people use the word "sedentary".

But I'm probably a rare case. Few people come as close to being voluntarily immobile as I do.

I've discovered recently how immobile I am as well. I'm at a PC the entire time I'm working and then anytime I'm not with my family when I leave work. Plus, a lot of time I'm with my family I'm still sitting driving them somewhere, watching a show/movie, reading books, etc.

I ordered and have received one of those sit/stand workstations, so the time I spend on my ass will be drastically reduced. I brought up getting a treadmill as a joke, but I realized I have a very small stair stepper at home. It's not inconceivable that I could bring it here and use it during those times I stand.

[TPRJones]

I have a treadmill. I even had it set up in the living room in place of my couch for a long time. Almost never used it, though. In the moment I can never make the choice to do so. Maybe later. Tomorrow. Whatever.

For those of you who do exercise, how do you get past the fact that moving muscles feels so damned awful? I mean, how do you commit to constantly experiencing that awful sensation of movement in order to progress?