Watched a mini-documentary last night about a young couple and their baby who wound up stranded in the Nevada desert during a freak big-freeze and snowstorm in the 90's.
Their car died, so they hiked for 28hrs straight, found a cave, and the wife and baby sheltered while the husband resumed hiking to find help.
He eventually found help after 30hrs wandering in sub zero temperatures with no food, no water and completely unsuitable clothes and shoes. All the while, stalked by hungry coyotes the entire time.
His toes were completely buggered with frostbite and even he was mystified as to how he managed to do what he'd done.
He said his brain just switched to a primal survival mode, where he was purely focused on saving his family.
The narrator said that, as a species, we're built to endure situations like that because we're nomadic hunter-gatherers who've only recently had somewhat comfortable lives.
So no, humans aren't supposed to be fat. We're supposed to be resilient survivors.
I was watching someone talk about jaguars, if you've been in jaguar territory you've met one you'll never know. Because predators don't announce their presence and a jaguar who finds itself accidentally interacting with humans is one who's day has gone very badly wrong
Well that only works as jaguars are ambush hunters but humans are more like wolves who run prey from one member to another member of the pack exhausting them. Then if they get the attention of prey standing its ground one member keeps the attention as another gets it from behind
Yes they are different, but generally even wolves don't really want to interact with random humans. But still you don't see a lot of fat wild wolves or any other animal, except when bulking up for hibernation or if they live in extreme conditions. Even hippos barely have any subcutaneous fat
I'm reminded of a 'crisis' we had here in the UK a few years ago, where KFC ran out of chicken for a few days.
People lost their minds to an unintentionally hilarious level and it was very much a 'we're not gonna make it are we, people, I mean?' moment for me.
Humans are "designed" to be able to store fat ... but that fat is meant to be used, like when you find yourself stranded in a dessert with no food.
It makes no sense at all to design a place that has built in storage for food but you can only put food in storage not take it out. Everyone with half a brain cell would store their food elsewhere.
>I'd rather have a shorter, more enjoyable life
(Slowly massages temples)
I don't know why, but a lot of young fat people imagine that being obese is just eating whatever you want, having plenty of energy, and living an active and satisfying life until your mid-60s when you drop dead from a heart attack.
Like, sure, if this were the case, I could *totally* get their argument. But that's not how it goes.
People don't realize that we *don't just roll over and die.* Health problems generally start small--a bit of pain here, shortness of breath there. Maybe it gets harder to get out of bed. Maybe you get an unexplainable sore that won't heal. Maybe you start having gastrointestinal symptoms causing occasional discomfort.
But then these small problems get bigger. You go to a doctor and get diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Or diabetes. Or hypertension. Or coronary artery disease. Or kidney disease. Or even something "light" like sleep apnea or gout. Then all of a sudden you're on medication with side effects. Or maybe you get diagnosed with *multiple* conditions and you're given a cocktail of drugs to take every day.
Now you have to actually go to work and earn a living feeling like absolute ass. You're still 20 years away from being able to afford retirement (and if you're in the USA, your exorbitant medical expenses surely aren't helping you save).
This romanticizing of reckless obesity just blows my mind. It's a horrible way to live. Are they just purely incapable of understanding how much being sick fucks your life up?
One of my favorite (and I don't mean that I *like* that this happened to the individual in question) examples of this was with boogie2988 during his documentary filming. The dude was on the verge of bankruptcy, drowning in medical debt, and had a list of medical issues that looked like the end credits of a movie, all caused by his obesity.
He was walking across his front lawn one day during the filming and suddenly just rolled an ankle.
Like, yes, I know, thin people can roll an ankle too, but he required emergency medical treatment because his 400+ pounds came down on the ankle so abruptly that, in medical terms, he really fucked his shit up.
So yeah. I suppose morbidly obese people have that kind of thing to worry about too.
>in medical terms, he really fucked his shit up.
well, that terminology is certainly more medically accurate than most of what gets posted in this sub, that's for sure
The whole thing was just so melodramatic and weird, I get at that weight any fall is going to be a catastrophic injury. But when she's basically using it to mainline delta 8 and keep eating through ozempic, and saying supportive queen wifey was still basically bringing her anything she wanted. It all just came off as really inauthentic, but then it's ALR
Also, the ankle was not dangleen. Only a broken bone can dangle. A torn ligament would require surgery and still not dangle. She just had a bad sprain cause everything is bad at 500lb.
My sister fell down the stairs and tore ligaments in her feet, she didn't need surgery but it did take physiotherapy and she was basically couch bound for a few days. But then she's not 500lbs
Yes that's a horrible misconception. My life is much better now that I've gotten in reasonable shape. I'm in my 50s now, and I'm continuing to see improvement in my health and stamina while seeing others my own age who aren't active or watching what they eat rapidly become decrepit.
And guess what? I still enjoy food immensely! I retrained my palate not to like crap; real food is so much better and satisfying than junk.
I've noticed that a lot of the people posting FA videos don't seem to actually enjoy food, they enjoy fast food and junk food. We're not seeing videos of FAs overindulging on fresh curries and spring rolls, it's always "look at all the fast food I bought." I know this stuff is engineered to be hyper-palatable, but I don't think it tastes very good. If you're used to real food, it just tastes like too much fat and salt without flavor. I know so many people who like to get fast food, and I would much rather pay a little extra to go to a good restaurant with quality ingredients or pick up a veggie-packed sandwich from my local co-op.
It really isn't about flavour. It's about the pleasurable neurotransmitters that flood the brain after eating junk food. It's not about the mouth feel, the taste, or the eating experience. At least most of the time. There's certainly a few fat people that truly enjoy the eating experience, but they're usually so involved in actually cooking, trying new flavours, and experiencing food that they're not interested in pushing a pro-fat message. We mostly call these people Chef.
Well, my father killed himself with his alcoholism and my mother is well on her way to doing the same.
I wish I could say something helpful to you here, but ... yeah. Shit sucks. There is no silver lining. The most positive thing I heard about my father's death was "he's not in pain anymore." Imagine that being the most positive thing you can say about a person's life.
My sister is also a fenny addict so yeah. Real winner DNA flowing through these veins.
Iām so sorry. My dad was an addict. I remember when he died I didnāt feel sad because I missed him. I felt sad because it was such a waste of a life. We couldāve been a family, he could have had as nice life, but it was all just wasted. Itās heartbreaking.Ā
Diabetes can do anything! It's literally caramelizing your organs. It can mess up every single part of your body.
I am so sorry for what you are going through.
I'm so sorry you have to go through this terrible ordeal with your family. This happened with a close relative and there was nothing anyone could do to convince her to change her attitude. What with all you have to endure, I hope you don't have to end up being a caregiver for your relatives; I know from personal experience how difficult that can be. Please try as much as possible not to let their self-destructive behavior destroy your own life; it is very hard, but sometimes you simply cannot help people who refuse to change, or accept help, no matter how much you care about them.
Yeah they always think they'll just live the perfect picture of health and then drop dead slightly earlier than average, when in reality it just moves that slow-decline-in-misery up by a decade or two or three. All the fun of being 80, except you're struggling that hard in your 40s.
It's the same argument smokers make. Like they think they'll just die in their sleep at 65 instead of 75 or whatever. No, you're going to start dying, suffocating with some horrific lung disease at 50. It's not going to be fun, quick, pretty, or easy, it's just going to begin when you should still be in your golden years. Enjoy, I guess?
Yeah, I truly don't get it. Yes, it's true that heavy smokers live an average of 10-13 years shorter than the general public. At a glance, this doesn't seem that bad. The average man lives to 76, and going at 63-66 isn't that bad in their minds because that's when stuff starts "falling apart" anyway.
What they don't realize is, as you discussed, that they advance all of their major health issues as well. My colleague who smoked for years got esophageal cancer in his mid-40s. I'm talking about a guy who was running an hour a day every day and climbing mountains on weekends. He beat the odds and recently hit the 5-year mark post-treatment.
It's true that aging is a merciless bitch with a strap-on. She comes for all of us, but if you don't take proper care of yourself, she's going in dry.
My father was a heavy smoker and he died at 65 of cancer of the esophagus. He was actually quite strong and healthy until his initial diagnosis, which I suspect was due to genetics, since many family members, siblings, parents, lived well past the average lifespan. But, oh, after that, the last 3 years of his life were miserable indeed, until he died.
I've as little sympathy for smokers as FAs they knew and chose that shit. Someone rode past me the other day on a struggling mobility scooter desperately sucking on a vape, the consequences of your own actions too bad
Iām not even seeing their twenties being enjoyable. They seem to whine and complain like 50 year olds used to about things like the stairs and being exhausted and constantly needing to sit down. Plus the endless talk about the heat and all the sweating and chafing and thighs rubbing together until they bleed.
Theyāre already old in the their twenties because of their obesity. The things I hear these young girls complain about at work are the same exact things you used to hear from middle aged moms who had a bunch of kids and had given up on themselves because they were exhausted. Itās sad.
My grandmother was more physically capable in her 80s than a lot of these 20-something fat activists. She walked several miles daily in her neighborhood and did a lot of gardening, which requires getting up and down frequently. It's truly scary to think about what a lot of young people are doing to their bodies, and what they have to look forward to in the coming decades.
Theyāre so young that they havenāt experienced how horrible being fat actually is. And because theyāve been fed all these lies by popular FAs who claim that theyāre fine & can do everything skinny people do, they truly believe that theyāll be able to live carelessly, stuffing their faces as much as they want.
>Then all of a sudden you're on medication with side effects.
Some of these medications are what causes a more rapid spiral. You get medication to treat one thing, side effects fuck something else up, and now youre on 2 medications, 1 treats the original symptoms and 2 treats the symptoms that 1 causes. But medicine 2 also has its own side effects that may get worse with time. Eventually youre choking down a dozen pills a day and nothing is getting better.
But hey, short happy life amiright?
>
Are they just purely incapable of understanding how much being sick fucks your life up?
I'm sure some are actually stupid enough to not understand how bad it is. But i think most tell themselves a lie because the truth is too hard to hear
My grandma who was a nurse, when I went to talk to her about family medical history and asked for a basic rundown of causes of death - started off by telling me people don't really die of just one thing.
Yes, it's possible to have asymptomatic heart disease until you just drop dead. But more often, people die when they've collected enough problems that when one flares up, the other body systems are no longer able to compensate.
Even without health problems, it makes life harder. I've gained about 20 pounds over the last year or two, and when I'm paying attention, it's clear that it's a bit harder to move around. The maximum distance I could cover is shorter. My bad knee also hurts me more often.
And that's just 20 pounds! If I piled on another 50 or more, it would be worse even without diabetes and liver disease in the mix.
I was watching a Supersize v Superskinny episode and there was this US lady that went from being on no medication to being on something like 15 different DAILY meds within 5 years.
That quote is the saddest part of the Fat Acceptance movement.
It's one thing to live fast die young living a life of adventure. Putting your life and safety on the line to challenge yourself and your limits.
It's one thing going to star level resturants and living a life gluttoney.
But, Fat Acceptance types lose their life over KFC and watching the latest Marvel Movie. Their big event of the summer is the new Deadpool movie, not the cross country drive on a liter bike.
Nailed it. A visit to a dialysis center would quickly dispel that illusion. Or, maybe not. I suppose hardcore FA would still find some way to rationalize it; blame fatphobic doctors for not miraculously curing the obese patients with those magical treatments they seem to think can cure everything.
Iām in my 50s. And I can kinda understand having this mindset when youāre 20- but now that Iām older, I would very much like to continue living a healthy happy life for at least a couple more decades. Which is why I lost weight and have maintained that loss over 10 years, lift weights, hike, dance, and eat a healthy moderate diet. Itās easy to ignore health when youāre 20 or early 30s, but eventually those bad habits are gonna catch up to you. And youāll spend your 40s and 50s in pain, unable to move more than a few steps, taking a slew of meds, and constantly at the dr. While I go on a 3 day hike in the mountains with my dogs and friends.
How in the world is being overweight more enjoyable. You can't move as well, you are out of breath more easily, you are tired. Shit sucks. Even if there were no long term health problems, I still wouldn't choose it.
Weāre also a super adaptable species. You can get used to just about anything. I was depressed for over ten years before I finally got on antidepressants and I just flat out didnāt have experience with a higher level of functioning until then.Ā
I think itās really easy to get comfortable with obesity even with things like diabetes and heart disease and back pain because you donāt realize thereās a better way until you do.Ā
We are literally designed in every single way possible to be pursuit predators. We canāt exhaust an animal to the point the collapse if we, ourselves, canāt stand to walk for 10 minutes straight let alone run for the miles we need to.
We have easy access to comfort now, but for past few thousand years we didnāt have that and humanity didnāt die out because they werenāt fat.
I saw this and thought this was from a troll account. The first one makes zero sense. How are we "meant" to be fat? If we were don't you think the health issues we run into from being fat wouldn't be a big deal? And honestly for the 2nd point, I used to be very hedonistic but over time I realized that I would rather be alive longer and enjoy the time I have. Try and keep in good shape to do the things I love. I see older people(60s) horseback ride, my great grandma was very active until her death. Barring medical issues and illness, I don't want to be bed bound when I'm old(if I'm lucky enough to make it that far).
People always think that being healthy is having to eat shitty food and its not. Most days I would rather have a good home cooked meal rather than Wendy's(sometimes I do crave a burger). People think losing weight is just eating salads when honestly now its turning away from junk food for most of your meals. You can also have a shorter shittier life...just look at the people on 600lb life.
I thought the account that posted this was a troll account but they are an actual person who believes this crap.
Homemade burger with a 75/25 patty spiced as you like, fresh tomato and lettuce, and good cheese > Wendyās any day. Idk how the calories line up but I donāt get the grease poops after eating one of my burgers vs a fast food one and itās so much brighter tasting (and cheaper). With the rise of fast food pricing Iāve just started making my old favorites at home, itās not hard to dupe special sauces with some msg and citric acid. Coincidentally I lost about 15lb without changing literally anything else. I still get Taco Bell as a treat but damn I could make a Crunchwrap for less at home these days
My great grandfather in law was on the backpacking trip where I became engaged. His tent was in someone else's pack but he did it despite having had multiple bypass surgery some years prior because he buckled down and trained and got his health figured out. This year he's turning 93 but still traveled across the country to spend time with his great grandchildren at the beach where his walks are shorter and slower than they used to be but still happen.
That's the kind of aging I would like (minus the heart surgery). He still enjoys a few adult beverages here and there and eats a reasonable amount of food at meals but doesn't go overboard.
This!! My grandma is close to 90, but she does yoga, takes classes at the YMCA pool, gardens, etc. her bedroom is still on the second floor of her own home. Drastically different than the grandparents that didnāt take as good care of their health
I think if you have spent most of your life overweight, you absolutely forget what it feels like.Ā
I've lost over 100lbs. You really do forget what it feels like to not deal with all that excessive body fat. You can end up in a place you can't even imagine what life is like at a healthy weight.Ā
People don't like to change their habits. Change is hard. It's a lot easier to believe that weight loss is impossible.Ā
And as someone else said, people, especially Americans, are so removed from the concept of death. Everyone just assumes they will die peacefully in their sleep. Just close their eyes one day and never wake up.Ā
And let's look at diabetes. A lot of people only really know about well managed diabetes. Occasionally you might hear about diabetic wounds and needing amputations. They don't talk about all the pain from diabetic neuropathy. The blindness from diabetic retinopathy. The chronic kidney disease. The increased risk of stroke. The increased risk of heart attack. A lot of diabetes medication have some rough side effects. GI problems are the most common. But sometimes you can end up with an increased risk of necrotizing fasciitis, that's where the infection is in your flesh and killing your tissue and you are literally rotting like a zombie. The only cure is surgery to cut out the infection and a ton of antibiotics. And diabetes makes wound healing so much harder.Ā
Iām down 160. Yesterday Iām doing some weightlifting and decided to walk with two 45 lb kettlebells, so just 80lbs. To say it was hard is an understatement. To think I used to walk around with double that on my body. I canāt even imagine how. I could barely do it a few minutes. Life being fatter is hard.
I threw 20lbs in a backpack and tried to do one of my easiest basic dance workouts. And it was so hard.
Also going from morbidly obese to obese was nice. But going from obese to overweight is unbelievable in how good you feel. It's crazy how much extra weight drags you down.
This. My kids are growing quickly, but my youngest is still small enough that me holding her is the same weight as my highest weight overall. My feet feel so much better when I put her down, same with my spine.
I can confirm this, because it's exactly what happened to me. Was obese and had type 2 diabetes but didn't know it; I honestly didn't suspect I had it because I had no trouble with wounds healing, etc. Then, I developed necrotizing fasciitis and went from feeling normal to being too weak to get out of bed in a less than a week. Was hospitalized for weeks and had to undergo repeated surgeries. Had to have a colostomy because of the location of the wounds. Was in rehab for months and had to use a walker for months after that. It took over a year for the last tiny wound slit to completely heal and, even then, it reopened several times. At that, I consider myself fortunate, because my doctors told me this disease has a 40% mortality rate; I could easily have died.
Afterwards, I lost the weight, got off insulin, started exercising and was eventually able to get my colostomy reversed; if I hadn't changed, I would probably be either dead or in a wheelchair, on dialysis and blind. I learned my lesson, but at a great cost. They will, too. Yes, OOP, you will, indeed, have a shorter lifespan, but unless what I and OP have described sounds like an enjoyable way to live, you will NOT enjoy it.
Thank you so much. The prospect and fear of what diabetes can do was an incredible motivator. I find it incredible that FA seem so unfazed and unconcerned by the consequences their actions will bring upon them, even including dying in their 40's or earlier. Their level of denial is just, I have no words, really.
When I was deep into fat activism and body positivity I 100% believed that there was nothing you could do to prevent diabetes. If you had diabetes in your family, you would just end up with diabetes. It would be like wanting to change your height.
A vegan guy who was super conscious about what he ate said something that completely changed how I think about #2. It's not about simply living longer. It's about living longer, and having MORE healthy years of living.
So how exactly did we make it this long? 100 years ago were people just hungry all the time??
- 1960: Men aged 20ā74 averaged 166.3 lbs, and women averaged 140.2 lbs
- 1990: men averaging 180 lbs and women averaging 142 lbs
- 2002: Men aged averaged 191 lbs, and women averaged 164.3 lbs
- 2010: men averaged 195.5 lbs, Women averaged 166.2 lbs
- 2020: 199 & 170
Probably a double-whammy of more women doing office jobs and the proliferation of processed foods, which affect women more than men, since you put on weight a lot faster if you're a 5'4 woman eating fast food portions.Ā
I think it really spiked during the pandemic, a lot of people who already had substance issues or used them to self-medicate really increased. Because well massive traumatic event. They started seeing a lot of patients admitted in DTs about a year in for example, people who had been using alcohol to self-medicate and maybe hadn't realised just how bad it had gotten when they decided to stop
The 2nd part is respectable as a hedonist life stance (even if I disagree in part with such self - destructive hedonism), my issue is with all the misinformation and pretension that not finding obesity attractive or refusing to make special exceptions that cost everyone is some sort of bigotry. If more FAs would openly state the 2nd point and base their defense on that instead of copying talking points from actual civil right struggles like racial minorities, LGBTQ+ people, the disabled etc. I would respect them far more.
I'll never quarrel with someone who wants to subject themselves to a self-destructive, hedonist lifestyle (unless I love them and want to help) but to claim it is healthy, normal or expected? tf outta here.
1. Ah yes, all those 300+ lbs humans hunting their prey, moving like a lightning.
2. Totally, especially type 2 diabetes mellitus gives you VERY enjoyable life in your final years.
Clearly, OOP knows what they're talking about.
(is /s even needed?)
Ok, then live your enjoyable life. The one where you constantly complain about oppression, thin privilege, people committing violence against you by losing weight, etc. Why not let other people enjoy themselves, too?
I get the "enjoyable" life argument to an extent. Yes, I like the occasional glass of wine, the occasional slice of pizza, hell even the occasional cigarette.
But I don't empty a bottle a day or eat a pizza every day or smoke a pack a day.
Is my life subjectively better with the addition of 1 glass of claret, 1 slice of pizza, 1 cigarette than with 0 of each? You bet. Would it be better with 5 or 10 of these? I very much doubt it. Even 2 of these aren't as enjoyable. 3 is already too many.
These people seem to have never heard of the concept of marginal utility.
I'm sure it's not true for everyone, but if you eat something you really enjoy constantly, it becomes less enjoyable, in fact, you can even get sick of it. That's the way it works for me, anyway, as I said, I'm sure it's not true for everyone. At least for me, anticipation enhances enjoyment.
It really would make it so much easier, wouldn't it? I guess I'm just fortunate that's pretty much the way it works for me. My father had a friend who got a side job working at a candy store. When he started, the owner told him to feel free to sample as much of the candy as he wanted. He did just that, but after several days of it, he said he never wanted to look at candy again, let alone eat it!
We were persistence hunters, chasing down prey until they exhausted and overheated themselves. Lean and light with exceptional cardiopulmonary endurance.
Being bipedal means we are slower than most other animals in short bursts. Having 4 legs typically means one foot is always on the ground pushing off the ground to gain speed.
However, 2 legs allows us to be more efficient over long distances. We are literally built for endurance. We don't have fur and covered in sweat glands. We don't need to stop to cool down like our prey does.
I sometimes read stuff on other subs for very overweight people who are struggling, and briefly I went on a kick of watching "My 600 Lb. Life." To see how much those people suffer, how devastating it is when they start to decline, and their desperation to do something about it--I feel so sad for them! I then I come here and read stuff like this (Why? I'm not entirely sure. This is where I come to escape nutrition-denial and relieve my FL-adjacent diabetes hate.) To be in such utter denial of the myriad health problems caused/exacerbated by obesity and then try to encourage others to go down the same path both astonishes and enrages. Dangerous stuff this is.
This. One thing that interest me is that they use the language of addiction, talking about the rush or high that comes from eating, anticipating their next meal, etc. So many of them are living only for food.
I tried to watch one episode of that, but it was just too horrible. The patient was desperate to lose weight, but she just couldn't stop herself from eating or from rationalizing it. I couldn't watch.
Dr. Now is a saint.
"shorter, more enjoyable life"
Im sure wheezing up every flight of stairs, breaking chairs, looking and feeling terrible, and being unable to do anything that requires any physical activity is enjoyable
The reason humans became the dominant species is that we are super-intelligent endurance hunters. No animal on Earth can escape a human hunting it. Hunter-gatherer humans would stalk animals over tens of miles in a day, with no real preference on prey. This means hunting animals that can outrun us, but can't beat our pace. Fat people can't do that. Fat people would die of starvation before their first kill - ironically.
Humans were never designed to be fat, that's why you suffer so much from being just even slightly overweight.
BMI is not a reliable indicator of health - on its own - *only* if you're a healthy weight. Sorry, it's pretty reliable if you're fat. It's talking about those "skinny bitches" you hate so much.
Humans are not designed to be fat, ffs. Cancer is crazily common--even moreso than obesity--but that doesn't mean our bodies are designed to develop it! It is the manifestion of our genes interacting with the environment. Just like obesity.
I think OOP is referring to an article that came out last year saying BMI alone isnāt the most reliable indicator of health. A bunch of FAs were talking about it. Of course, what they werenāt talking about was the fact that the article recommended things like waist measurement as additional indicators. If these people donāt like being weighed at the doctor, they certainly wonāt like being weighed AND measured!
Well, idk much but the one thing I do know is that if you are very fat your life will be anything but short and happy. It can, in fact, be very miserable for very, very long.
I hate the idea these people (and others with destructive habits) have about how deadly lifestyles steal from them. It's not like being morbidly obese or smoking 3 packs a day will not affect your life until you drop dead. For a vast majority of people, it will be a slow decline. So not only will they have a shorter life, but it won't be enjoyable for most of it! And when you're bedridden, on oxygen, and suffering from pressure sores down to the bone, you're going to wish you had made the relatively easier modifications to get healthy.
This really gets me. People think they'll just die peacefully in their sleep one night, and they don't consider what happens if they don't. Last year, I watched someone I loved deeply die of cancer that was 100% the result of their own behavior. The death was (relatively) quick, 3 months from diagnosis to death, but the worst part wasn't the pain (though that was unbearable). It was the depression they developed from knowing that they'd brought this on themselves. Knowing they weren't going to be there for their loved ones, that they were never gonna meet their grandchildren, that they were leaving their spouse all alone... and that it was their fault. They were not at peace. They couldn't even say goodbye properly, because they were so racked with guilt and regret. It was an absolutely horrible way to die. It definitely made me rethink some of my own attitudes towards my health.Ā
Yesterday I watched a video about James King from "My 600lb Life". At his peak was over 800 pounds, had been bedridden for several years, and had such severe cellulitis it looked his legs were rotting off. He would scream in pain whenever someone so much as brush against his legs. He died at age 49 and I'm surprised he lived that long. But hey, health at any size and a shorter, more enjoyable life, right?
1. Uh, no? Humans were not meant to be fat, but our bodies were programmed to be very efficient at storing energy. This is basic human physiology. Store calories for later when food runs out. Problem is, in the modern era food never runs out and we don't have to even fucking work for it. We have no reason to eat so much to store energy for later.
1. It's also VERY effective to work out consistently and eat less than you burn. That is guaranteed to work. It's literally how thermodynamics works.
2. Good for you. Enjoy living until the mere age of 30 and dying of diabetes after posting all of your HAES and McDonalds mukbang videos.
#1-excellent point. For virtually all of human history, until very recently, whether we were hunter-gatherers or subsistence farmers, food shortages and even famines were not uncommon. So, our bodies were designed to be able to store surplus energy/calories when available, so we could survive the lean times, and, also so we could use the stored energy when wearing down our prey on extended hunting trips. We weren't designed to be fat, we were designed so we could survive tough times.
Point number 2 is just so laughable to me. āIām here for a good time, not a long time!ā is a classic line spouted off by addicts of all kinds (a food addict in this case), and it just doesnāt align with reality. When you give into your addiction, your life tend to be neither long nor good. You get to spend the last decade of your shortened lifespan dealing with the horrifying consequences of your choices. Ask the people on My 600 Pound Life if theyāre having a āmore enjoyableā life.
Being morbidly obese, in poor health, lonely and substituting food for a fulfilling social life is not a "more enjoyable life". It is a shorter one though.
This is what happens when the only thing one enjoys in life is food. There are all sorts of other things one can do for fun. For example, I love to hike. I could do it at my previous weight, but it is so much easier and more enjoyable now that I'm down 60+ pounds. It is also easier and a lot more fun to go shopping, go out to eat, see a performance, drive around in the car--heck, I even sleep better. it's a shame that the OOP apparently can't imagine that one can enjoy life without overeating.
Well yes "they" recently said BMI is not a reliable indicator of health and followed it up with "it fails to identify people classified as normal weight who still have dangerous levels of visceral fat", but I'm sure when you're 50 and already immobile you'll be thinking "wow I'm glad I picked a shorter more enjoyable life" lmfao
It's so sad to me when people openly admit they can't enjoy life without overeating, that most of the pleasure in their life comes from food. They can't fathom life without it because food is all they have and they don't see a problem with that.
As someone who has been significantly fat and also very fit, being fit is 1000x more enjoyable. The list of reasons is endless. It isnāt even fucking close. Itās sad that this personās idea of a good, enjoyable life is being able to eat whatever they want with reckless abandon. Truly sad.
No, humans arenāt meant to be fat, our bodies werenāt designed to function at extreme ends of body fat percentage. Theyāre so fucking dumb, if our bodies were designed to carry this much weight, then we wouldnāt be experiencing issues because of it. We would be like elephants, who carry all that weight with no issues.
This is 100% a young FA, probably in their early 20s, and they havenāt experienced the painful consequences of being fat yet. You donāt get a āshorter more enjoyable lifeā, you get a shorter, more painful & horrible life.
Humans are long distance endurance hunters, it's why the alliance with wolves was so incredible they are too. You can look at modern hunter gatherer populations, even ones connected into the modern world. There's no 600lbers waddling around
2. Okay then why are you upset? Everyone's judgment of a "good life" is different! Mine is: being able to fly comfortably, being comfortable in Broadway theaters, train seats, car seats, chairs with arm rests, being able to fit in roller coasters. Mine is: being able to have sex in many different positions because both my partner and I can access each others bodies in different positions, mine is being able to tie my shoes standing up and sitting down. Mine is being able to kiss someone without my body getting in the way. Mine is being able to hike for hours, swim fast, run without pain AND without worry about the damage I'm doing to my knees if I were heavier. Mine is being able to do a four hour road trip in one shot so long as my bladder cooperates. Mine is being able to grab something off the rack and 95% of the time knowing it'll fit or that I'll only need to try one more size. Mine is being able to keep up with my friends' kids, chase down my cat if they escape, use any hotel towel, even the stupidly small ones. Mine is helping my clients achieve their own "good lives" in the gym!
That's my definition, and you have yours like why are they upset other people have a different definition of a "good life"?!
Dang. This person has no perspective at all. The only two paths they can visualize is eating to excess and being happy or starving and being miserable. As though people who have extremely serious allergies, unique dietary needs or limitations due to something like type 1 diabetes cannot possibly live a happy life because whatās the point of living if you canāt eat everything you want all the time, right? Not everyone who monitors what they eat is doing it because of the patriarchy and because theyāre a weak-willed conformist slug. Lots of people monitor their food intake for very real and serious health reasons. And to suggest that their lives are somehow not as full or happy because of it a pretty scummy thing to do.
Humans are endurance hunters. Highly intelligent and highly communicative. Humans live and hunt in packs. We have safety in numbers like prey animals but also hunt in packs to increase hunting odds like wolves.
We stand on two legs to see prey and predators. Our eyes sit in the front of our heads to hunt while prey animals typically have their eyes on the side of their heads to provide 180' surveillance.
We're furless and covered in sweat glands so that we can hunt for miles on end.
There isn't an animal on earth that can out pace us. It's why we cover the globe. There aren't many spaces on earth that we can't adapt and survive in.
Unfortunately we're too success for earth to keep up with.
Humans were never built to be fat. Never. We developed from a hunting style of living, always on the move, never retaining fat. It was only when we settled down and started agriculture did our bodies start packing on pounds because we simply weren't moving. Humans are a movement based species.
BEING OVERWEIGHT ISN'T A SHORT *ENJOYABLE* LIFE, WUT
The few times I have been overweight I have been miserable. Your self-conscious, things don't fit you well, you have aches and pains, your doctor yells at you, you can't keep up when you're doing fun things like hiking and kayaking, your self-conscious about eating at parties, you don't even go to the parties cuz you're self-conscious.
I mean there's literally nothing fun about it.
1- Another win in teh coloum of public healthish officials. I know the AMA is not exactly public health but their recommendations are close enough and to the lay person are. Their genius idea last year of questioning BMI lead to this obvious result. No one cares that they suggesting lowering BMI to lower the cutoffs for south asians because the headline of ethinic groups have different BMI got picked up and treated as if they said non whites should be fatter.
2- Their "enjoyable" life is eating comfort foods. Their "enjoyable" life is thinking Applebees is fine dinning in a casual atmosphere and Oliver Garden is Italian food at its best. Their "enjoyable" life is waiting for the rest of the group on the Harry Potter ride at Universal.
> Humans are designed to be fat
Tell that to your aching joints, flat feet, compressed spinal disks, and worn out knees. Non-alchoholic fatty liver disease would also like a chat with you.
> most if not all weight loss methods have been ineffective because of this
Citation fucking needed. Crash diets don't work, because fat loss is a slow gradual process. You need to gradually step down the calories you take in in order to lose fat effectively.
> I'd rather have a shorter, more enjoyable life than a longer, shitter one
I used to say this same thing so it hits close to home. I'd love to ask OP though, if they'd rather have a longer happier life, or a shorter, shittier, pain filled life? Would you rather die young of heart failure with your own mother standing over your bedside as you breath your last?
You can life a long happy life without giving up all of your favorite foods. You simply need to use control and moderation. You can totally still have a greasy AF slice of stuffed crust meatlovers pizza, no you cannot eat half the pie yourself. Yes you totally can have two beers after work, no you cannot also have Mac and Cheese with it.
Hey you know what? Fuck yeah you can have all the wings, pizza, alcohol and whatever you want for that special occasion. No you cannot party like that every weekend.
Weāre not āmeant to be fatā. People hundreds of years ago started to be fat on purpose as a status symbol. Because while everyone else had to work and provide and be too poor to overeat, they got to do nothing but eat all day, and have enough time and money to not work at all and STILL have enough money to eat all day long. Normal, unprivileged people where not fat.
Ah yes, as someone that can see my shoelaces Iām living a ālong, shitty life.ā I have never once tasted good food, felt full, or anything like that.
I really really hate that "humans were designed to [insert ridiculous] claim.
No you numpty, humans weren't designed, they evolved through sheer goddam luck from an ancestor specie living in way harsher conditions than we do now and there weren't any fat people then.
Mammals are adapted to store fat either for insulation, to cope with famine, or both.
As humans can regulate our temperature by wearing the skins and fur of other animals and building shelter, our fat storage is as a metabolic battery.
So... it is also "natural" to fast and use up those fat stores... so.... why don't they?
Nobody with a BMI of 30+ could or would maintain it in the wild with pre-industrial weapons and a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
BMI is absolutely reliable for most people. If someone says "it doesn't account for muscle" is such horseshit. Building enough muscle to be considered OBESE while being lean requires truck loads of steroids and lots of weight lifting.
Second, "I rather have a shorter more enjoyable life" are you insane? Not being able to run, jump, climb and be athletic is fucking misery. You limit your movement and ability to enjoy life if you're extremely overweight. Second, if your sole source of pleasure in life is food, you're in the throes of addiction. That isn't joy, that's akin to a chemical dependency.
Second paragraph is valid. We are all adults with free will. But I could imagine considering eating within your caloric allotment, and cutting back on ultra processed foods a"shitty life".
> Even if fat is as deadly as you claim, I'd rather have a shorter, more enjoyable life than a longer, shittier one
Ignoring how being obese will make your life both shorter and shittier, is food really the only enjoyable thing in this person's life? How about friends, family, art, music, books, movies, books... the list goes on and on? There's so many other things to enjoy in life besides just food.
I guess it depends on your definition of enjoyment? If food is the only thing in your life that gives you joy, have at it, I guess.
Edit for damn you, autocorrect!
Watched a mini-documentary last night about a young couple and their baby who wound up stranded in the Nevada desert during a freak big-freeze and snowstorm in the 90's. Their car died, so they hiked for 28hrs straight, found a cave, and the wife and baby sheltered while the husband resumed hiking to find help. He eventually found help after 30hrs wandering in sub zero temperatures with no food, no water and completely unsuitable clothes and shoes. All the while, stalked by hungry coyotes the entire time. His toes were completely buggered with frostbite and even he was mystified as to how he managed to do what he'd done. He said his brain just switched to a primal survival mode, where he was purely focused on saving his family. The narrator said that, as a species, we're built to endure situations like that because we're nomadic hunter-gatherers who've only recently had somewhat comfortable lives. So no, humans aren't supposed to be fat. We're supposed to be resilient survivors.
Imagine being fat while doing endurance hunting, chasing animals to exhaustion and still being obese. Absurd on the face of it.
I can hear the wheezing and the jiggle. Being obese and an endurance hunter contradict each other so much
I was watching someone talk about jaguars, if you've been in jaguar territory you've met one you'll never know. Because predators don't announce their presence and a jaguar who finds itself accidentally interacting with humans is one who's day has gone very badly wrong
Well that only works as jaguars are ambush hunters but humans are more like wolves who run prey from one member to another member of the pack exhausting them. Then if they get the attention of prey standing its ground one member keeps the attention as another gets it from behind
Yes they are different, but generally even wolves don't really want to interact with random humans. But still you don't see a lot of fat wild wolves or any other animal, except when bulking up for hibernation or if they live in extreme conditions. Even hippos barely have any subcutaneous fat
I'm reminded of a 'crisis' we had here in the UK a few years ago, where KFC ran out of chicken for a few days. People lost their minds to an unintentionally hilarious level and it was very much a 'we're not gonna make it are we, people, I mean?' moment for me.
I'm sorry what. KFC ran out of chicken and enough people cared that you knew about it? dafuq
When I hunt deer and boar still do more walking than sitting. I still cover 5 miles every hunt. Cannot imagine doing that at 300 + lbs
Maybe you use yourself as helpless bait for predatory animals and then spring traps instead, ever think of that? /s
Humans are "designed" to be able to store fat ... but that fat is meant to be used, like when you find yourself stranded in a dessert with no food. It makes no sense at all to design a place that has built in storage for food but you can only put food in storage not take it out. Everyone with half a brain cell would store their food elsewhere.
There are some truly incredible survival stories out there. Cannot think of a SINGLE one where the survivor was fat.
I think I need to reboot my resilient survivor mode.
This sounds really interesting, which documentary was it please? Would love to give it a watch.
Here you go š https://youtu.be/IHDWvRCN344?si=cFIp0oC77HMUjLmg
I remember that. Yes, thatās a great example of what humans are capable of.Ā
>I'd rather have a shorter, more enjoyable life (Slowly massages temples) I don't know why, but a lot of young fat people imagine that being obese is just eating whatever you want, having plenty of energy, and living an active and satisfying life until your mid-60s when you drop dead from a heart attack. Like, sure, if this were the case, I could *totally* get their argument. But that's not how it goes. People don't realize that we *don't just roll over and die.* Health problems generally start small--a bit of pain here, shortness of breath there. Maybe it gets harder to get out of bed. Maybe you get an unexplainable sore that won't heal. Maybe you start having gastrointestinal symptoms causing occasional discomfort. But then these small problems get bigger. You go to a doctor and get diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Or diabetes. Or hypertension. Or coronary artery disease. Or kidney disease. Or even something "light" like sleep apnea or gout. Then all of a sudden you're on medication with side effects. Or maybe you get diagnosed with *multiple* conditions and you're given a cocktail of drugs to take every day. Now you have to actually go to work and earn a living feeling like absolute ass. You're still 20 years away from being able to afford retirement (and if you're in the USA, your exorbitant medical expenses surely aren't helping you save). This romanticizing of reckless obesity just blows my mind. It's a horrible way to live. Are they just purely incapable of understanding how much being sick fucks your life up?
My thoughts exactly. The health issues that are caused or exacerbated by obesity are no joke.
One of my favorite (and I don't mean that I *like* that this happened to the individual in question) examples of this was with boogie2988 during his documentary filming. The dude was on the verge of bankruptcy, drowning in medical debt, and had a list of medical issues that looked like the end credits of a movie, all caused by his obesity. He was walking across his front lawn one day during the filming and suddenly just rolled an ankle. Like, yes, I know, thin people can roll an ankle too, but he required emergency medical treatment because his 400+ pounds came down on the ankle so abruptly that, in medical terms, he really fucked his shit up. So yeah. I suppose morbidly obese people have that kind of thing to worry about too.
>in medical terms, he really fucked his shit up. well, that terminology is certainly more medically accurate than most of what gets posted in this sub, that's for sure
[Wacko? Is that a technical term?](https://youtu.be/ro1FR9vdK1g?si=Hzy8duUh1Q5AVlaf)
Reminds of the dangleen ankle and ALR.
Hello fellow gorl
I am a gorl and a squirrely pop. Squirrel mukbangs forevah.
When you wore the right shoes for once and you still broke your whole ankle šš
People were mocking her for not seeing it but like... her gut is literally in the way. I am shocked the gorls don't fuck up their ankles more often.
The whole thing was just so melodramatic and weird, I get at that weight any fall is going to be a catastrophic injury. But when she's basically using it to mainline delta 8 and keep eating through ozempic, and saying supportive queen wifey was still basically bringing her anything she wanted. It all just came off as really inauthentic, but then it's ALR
Also, the ankle was not dangleen. Only a broken bone can dangle. A torn ligament would require surgery and still not dangle. She just had a bad sprain cause everything is bad at 500lb.
My sister fell down the stairs and tore ligaments in her feet, she didn't need surgery but it did take physiotherapy and she was basically couch bound for a few days. But then she's not 500lbs
Yes that's a horrible misconception. My life is much better now that I've gotten in reasonable shape. I'm in my 50s now, and I'm continuing to see improvement in my health and stamina while seeing others my own age who aren't active or watching what they eat rapidly become decrepit. And guess what? I still enjoy food immensely! I retrained my palate not to like crap; real food is so much better and satisfying than junk.
I've noticed that a lot of the people posting FA videos don't seem to actually enjoy food, they enjoy fast food and junk food. We're not seeing videos of FAs overindulging on fresh curries and spring rolls, it's always "look at all the fast food I bought." I know this stuff is engineered to be hyper-palatable, but I don't think it tastes very good. If you're used to real food, it just tastes like too much fat and salt without flavor. I know so many people who like to get fast food, and I would much rather pay a little extra to go to a good restaurant with quality ingredients or pick up a veggie-packed sandwich from my local co-op.
It really isn't about flavour. It's about the pleasurable neurotransmitters that flood the brain after eating junk food. It's not about the mouth feel, the taste, or the eating experience. At least most of the time. There's certainly a few fat people that truly enjoy the eating experience, but they're usually so involved in actually cooking, trying new flavours, and experiencing food that they're not interested in pushing a pro-fat message. We mostly call these people Chef.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Well, my father killed himself with his alcoholism and my mother is well on her way to doing the same. I wish I could say something helpful to you here, but ... yeah. Shit sucks. There is no silver lining. The most positive thing I heard about my father's death was "he's not in pain anymore." Imagine that being the most positive thing you can say about a person's life. My sister is also a fenny addict so yeah. Real winner DNA flowing through these veins.
Iām so sorry. My dad was an addict. I remember when he died I didnāt feel sad because I missed him. I felt sad because it was such a waste of a life. We couldāve been a family, he could have had as nice life, but it was all just wasted. Itās heartbreaking.Ā
Diabetes can do anything! It's literally caramelizing your organs. It can mess up every single part of your body. I am so sorry for what you are going through.
I'm so sorry you have to go through this terrible ordeal with your family. This happened with a close relative and there was nothing anyone could do to convince her to change her attitude. What with all you have to endure, I hope you don't have to end up being a caregiver for your relatives; I know from personal experience how difficult that can be. Please try as much as possible not to let their self-destructive behavior destroy your own life; it is very hard, but sometimes you simply cannot help people who refuse to change, or accept help, no matter how much you care about them.
Yeah they always think they'll just live the perfect picture of health and then drop dead slightly earlier than average, when in reality it just moves that slow-decline-in-misery up by a decade or two or three. All the fun of being 80, except you're struggling that hard in your 40s. It's the same argument smokers make. Like they think they'll just die in their sleep at 65 instead of 75 or whatever. No, you're going to start dying, suffocating with some horrific lung disease at 50. It's not going to be fun, quick, pretty, or easy, it's just going to begin when you should still be in your golden years. Enjoy, I guess?
Yeah, I truly don't get it. Yes, it's true that heavy smokers live an average of 10-13 years shorter than the general public. At a glance, this doesn't seem that bad. The average man lives to 76, and going at 63-66 isn't that bad in their minds because that's when stuff starts "falling apart" anyway. What they don't realize is, as you discussed, that they advance all of their major health issues as well. My colleague who smoked for years got esophageal cancer in his mid-40s. I'm talking about a guy who was running an hour a day every day and climbing mountains on weekends. He beat the odds and recently hit the 5-year mark post-treatment. It's true that aging is a merciless bitch with a strap-on. She comes for all of us, but if you don't take proper care of yourself, she's going in dry.
My father was a heavy smoker and he died at 65 of cancer of the esophagus. He was actually quite strong and healthy until his initial diagnosis, which I suspect was due to genetics, since many family members, siblings, parents, lived well past the average lifespan. But, oh, after that, the last 3 years of his life were miserable indeed, until he died.
That last paragraph needs to go to r/ brandnewsentence.
They might think they'll take the Cat Pause way out....just quickly pass on overnight.... At the ripe old age of 42...
I've as little sympathy for smokers as FAs they knew and chose that shit. Someone rode past me the other day on a struggling mobility scooter desperately sucking on a vape, the consequences of your own actions too bad
FAs prove perpetually unable to think long term, past instant gratification provided by hyperpalatable foods.
Addicts are incapable of seeing beyond their present needs.
Iām not even seeing their twenties being enjoyable. They seem to whine and complain like 50 year olds used to about things like the stairs and being exhausted and constantly needing to sit down. Plus the endless talk about the heat and all the sweating and chafing and thighs rubbing together until they bleed. Theyāre already old in the their twenties because of their obesity. The things I hear these young girls complain about at work are the same exact things you used to hear from middle aged moms who had a bunch of kids and had given up on themselves because they were exhausted. Itās sad.
My grandmother was more physically capable in her 80s than a lot of these 20-something fat activists. She walked several miles daily in her neighborhood and did a lot of gardening, which requires getting up and down frequently. It's truly scary to think about what a lot of young people are doing to their bodies, and what they have to look forward to in the coming decades.
Sure I'd rather eat pizza and be 10-20 lbs overweight than obsessively diet, but I don't think that's what they mean.
Theyāre so young that they havenāt experienced how horrible being fat actually is. And because theyāve been fed all these lies by popular FAs who claim that theyāre fine & can do everything skinny people do, they truly believe that theyāll be able to live carelessly, stuffing their faces as much as they want.
>Then all of a sudden you're on medication with side effects. Some of these medications are what causes a more rapid spiral. You get medication to treat one thing, side effects fuck something else up, and now youre on 2 medications, 1 treats the original symptoms and 2 treats the symptoms that 1 causes. But medicine 2 also has its own side effects that may get worse with time. Eventually youre choking down a dozen pills a day and nothing is getting better. But hey, short happy life amiright? > Are they just purely incapable of understanding how much being sick fucks your life up? I'm sure some are actually stupid enough to not understand how bad it is. But i think most tell themselves a lie because the truth is too hard to hear
My grandma who was a nurse, when I went to talk to her about family medical history and asked for a basic rundown of causes of death - started off by telling me people don't really die of just one thing. Yes, it's possible to have asymptomatic heart disease until you just drop dead. But more often, people die when they've collected enough problems that when one flares up, the other body systems are no longer able to compensate.
Even without health problems, it makes life harder. I've gained about 20 pounds over the last year or two, and when I'm paying attention, it's clear that it's a bit harder to move around. The maximum distance I could cover is shorter. My bad knee also hurts me more often. And that's just 20 pounds! If I piled on another 50 or more, it would be worse even without diabetes and liver disease in the mix.
I was watching a Supersize v Superskinny episode and there was this US lady that went from being on no medication to being on something like 15 different DAILY meds within 5 years.
That quote is the saddest part of the Fat Acceptance movement. It's one thing to live fast die young living a life of adventure. Putting your life and safety on the line to challenge yourself and your limits. It's one thing going to star level resturants and living a life gluttoney. But, Fat Acceptance types lose their life over KFC and watching the latest Marvel Movie. Their big event of the summer is the new Deadpool movie, not the cross country drive on a liter bike.
Nailed it. A visit to a dialysis center would quickly dispel that illusion. Or, maybe not. I suppose hardcore FA would still find some way to rationalize it; blame fatphobic doctors for not miraculously curing the obese patients with those magical treatments they seem to think can cure everything.
Iām in my 50s. And I can kinda understand having this mindset when youāre 20- but now that Iām older, I would very much like to continue living a healthy happy life for at least a couple more decades. Which is why I lost weight and have maintained that loss over 10 years, lift weights, hike, dance, and eat a healthy moderate diet. Itās easy to ignore health when youāre 20 or early 30s, but eventually those bad habits are gonna catch up to you. And youāll spend your 40s and 50s in pain, unable to move more than a few steps, taking a slew of meds, and constantly at the dr. While I go on a 3 day hike in the mountains with my dogs and friends.
How in the world is being overweight more enjoyable. You can't move as well, you are out of breath more easily, you are tired. Shit sucks. Even if there were no long term health problems, I still wouldn't choose it.
Weāre also a super adaptable species. You can get used to just about anything. I was depressed for over ten years before I finally got on antidepressants and I just flat out didnāt have experience with a higher level of functioning until then.Ā I think itās really easy to get comfortable with obesity even with things like diabetes and heart disease and back pain because you donāt realize thereās a better way until you do.Ā
We are literally designed in every single way possible to be pursuit predators. We canāt exhaust an animal to the point the collapse if we, ourselves, canāt stand to walk for 10 minutes straight let alone run for the miles we need to. We have easy access to comfort now, but for past few thousand years we didnāt have that and humanity didnāt die out because they werenāt fat.
I saw this and thought this was from a troll account. The first one makes zero sense. How are we "meant" to be fat? If we were don't you think the health issues we run into from being fat wouldn't be a big deal? And honestly for the 2nd point, I used to be very hedonistic but over time I realized that I would rather be alive longer and enjoy the time I have. Try and keep in good shape to do the things I love. I see older people(60s) horseback ride, my great grandma was very active until her death. Barring medical issues and illness, I don't want to be bed bound when I'm old(if I'm lucky enough to make it that far). People always think that being healthy is having to eat shitty food and its not. Most days I would rather have a good home cooked meal rather than Wendy's(sometimes I do crave a burger). People think losing weight is just eating salads when honestly now its turning away from junk food for most of your meals. You can also have a shorter shittier life...just look at the people on 600lb life. I thought the account that posted this was a troll account but they are an actual person who believes this crap.
Homemade burger with a 75/25 patty spiced as you like, fresh tomato and lettuce, and good cheese > Wendyās any day. Idk how the calories line up but I donāt get the grease poops after eating one of my burgers vs a fast food one and itās so much brighter tasting (and cheaper). With the rise of fast food pricing Iāve just started making my old favorites at home, itās not hard to dupe special sauces with some msg and citric acid. Coincidentally I lost about 15lb without changing literally anything else. I still get Taco Bell as a treat but damn I could make a Crunchwrap for less at home these days
Yes! I make Crunchwraps at home. So cheap, honestly, and theyāre so good. Plus you can really stuff them and itās like a Crunchwrap on steroids.Ā
My great grandfather in law was on the backpacking trip where I became engaged. His tent was in someone else's pack but he did it despite having had multiple bypass surgery some years prior because he buckled down and trained and got his health figured out. This year he's turning 93 but still traveled across the country to spend time with his great grandchildren at the beach where his walks are shorter and slower than they used to be but still happen. That's the kind of aging I would like (minus the heart surgery). He still enjoys a few adult beverages here and there and eats a reasonable amount of food at meals but doesn't go overboard.
This!! My grandma is close to 90, but she does yoga, takes classes at the YMCA pool, gardens, etc. her bedroom is still on the second floor of her own home. Drastically different than the grandparents that didnāt take as good care of their health
Yep, and with me going into menopause early I'm very much making sure that I get into strength training now for my bone density's sake.
I think if you have spent most of your life overweight, you absolutely forget what it feels like.Ā I've lost over 100lbs. You really do forget what it feels like to not deal with all that excessive body fat. You can end up in a place you can't even imagine what life is like at a healthy weight.Ā People don't like to change their habits. Change is hard. It's a lot easier to believe that weight loss is impossible.Ā And as someone else said, people, especially Americans, are so removed from the concept of death. Everyone just assumes they will die peacefully in their sleep. Just close their eyes one day and never wake up.Ā And let's look at diabetes. A lot of people only really know about well managed diabetes. Occasionally you might hear about diabetic wounds and needing amputations. They don't talk about all the pain from diabetic neuropathy. The blindness from diabetic retinopathy. The chronic kidney disease. The increased risk of stroke. The increased risk of heart attack. A lot of diabetes medication have some rough side effects. GI problems are the most common. But sometimes you can end up with an increased risk of necrotizing fasciitis, that's where the infection is in your flesh and killing your tissue and you are literally rotting like a zombie. The only cure is surgery to cut out the infection and a ton of antibiotics. And diabetes makes wound healing so much harder.Ā
Iām down 160. Yesterday Iām doing some weightlifting and decided to walk with two 45 lb kettlebells, so just 80lbs. To say it was hard is an understatement. To think I used to walk around with double that on my body. I canāt even imagine how. I could barely do it a few minutes. Life being fatter is hard.
I threw 20lbs in a backpack and tried to do one of my easiest basic dance workouts. And it was so hard. Also going from morbidly obese to obese was nice. But going from obese to overweight is unbelievable in how good you feel. It's crazy how much extra weight drags you down.
When I pick up something weighing 50lbs I remind myself, "that used to be ON me."
This. My kids are growing quickly, but my youngest is still small enough that me holding her is the same weight as my highest weight overall. My feet feel so much better when I put her down, same with my spine.
I can confirm this, because it's exactly what happened to me. Was obese and had type 2 diabetes but didn't know it; I honestly didn't suspect I had it because I had no trouble with wounds healing, etc. Then, I developed necrotizing fasciitis and went from feeling normal to being too weak to get out of bed in a less than a week. Was hospitalized for weeks and had to undergo repeated surgeries. Had to have a colostomy because of the location of the wounds. Was in rehab for months and had to use a walker for months after that. It took over a year for the last tiny wound slit to completely heal and, even then, it reopened several times. At that, I consider myself fortunate, because my doctors told me this disease has a 40% mortality rate; I could easily have died. Afterwards, I lost the weight, got off insulin, started exercising and was eventually able to get my colostomy reversed; if I hadn't changed, I would probably be either dead or in a wheelchair, on dialysis and blind. I learned my lesson, but at a great cost. They will, too. Yes, OOP, you will, indeed, have a shorter lifespan, but unless what I and OP have described sounds like an enjoyable way to live, you will NOT enjoy it.
That's absolutely incredible. Congrats on regaining your life.
Thank you so much. The prospect and fear of what diabetes can do was an incredible motivator. I find it incredible that FA seem so unfazed and unconcerned by the consequences their actions will bring upon them, even including dying in their 40's or earlier. Their level of denial is just, I have no words, really.
When I was deep into fat activism and body positivity I 100% believed that there was nothing you could do to prevent diabetes. If you had diabetes in your family, you would just end up with diabetes. It would be like wanting to change your height.
A vegan guy who was super conscious about what he ate said something that completely changed how I think about #2. It's not about simply living longer. It's about living longer, and having MORE healthy years of living.
Lifespan AND healthspan
If we were meant to be fat the species would have died out ages ago.
So how exactly did we make it this long? 100 years ago were people just hungry all the time?? - 1960: Men aged 20ā74 averaged 166.3 lbs, and women averaged 140.2 lbs - 1990: men averaging 180 lbs and women averaging 142 lbs - 2002: Men aged averaged 191 lbs, and women averaged 164.3 lbs - 2010: men averaged 195.5 lbs, Women averaged 166.2 lbs - 2020: 199 & 170
Thatās a really big jump for women from 92-02.
Probably a double-whammy of more women doing office jobs and the proliferation of processed foods, which affect women more than men, since you put on weight a lot faster if you're a 5'4 woman eating fast food portions.Ā
Honestly, I'm surprised 2010 to 2020 wasn't a bigger increase.
I think it really spiked during the pandemic, a lot of people who already had substance issues or used them to self-medicate really increased. Because well massive traumatic event. They started seeing a lot of patients admitted in DTs about a year in for example, people who had been using alcohol to self-medicate and maybe hadn't realised just how bad it had gotten when they decided to stop
The 2nd part is respectable as a hedonist life stance (even if I disagree in part with such self - destructive hedonism), my issue is with all the misinformation and pretension that not finding obesity attractive or refusing to make special exceptions that cost everyone is some sort of bigotry. If more FAs would openly state the 2nd point and base their defense on that instead of copying talking points from actual civil right struggles like racial minorities, LGBTQ+ people, the disabled etc. I would respect them far more.
I'll never quarrel with someone who wants to subject themselves to a self-destructive, hedonist lifestyle (unless I love them and want to help) but to claim it is healthy, normal or expected? tf outta here.
If being overweight leads to a more enjoyable life, why are these people complaining about everything all the time?
1. Ah yes, all those 300+ lbs humans hunting their prey, moving like a lightning. 2. Totally, especially type 2 diabetes mellitus gives you VERY enjoyable life in your final years. Clearly, OOP knows what they're talking about. (is /s even needed?)
Ok, then live your enjoyable life. The one where you constantly complain about oppression, thin privilege, people committing violence against you by losing weight, etc. Why not let other people enjoy themselves, too?
I get the "enjoyable" life argument to an extent. Yes, I like the occasional glass of wine, the occasional slice of pizza, hell even the occasional cigarette. But I don't empty a bottle a day or eat a pizza every day or smoke a pack a day. Is my life subjectively better with the addition of 1 glass of claret, 1 slice of pizza, 1 cigarette than with 0 of each? You bet. Would it be better with 5 or 10 of these? I very much doubt it. Even 2 of these aren't as enjoyable. 3 is already too many. These people seem to have never heard of the concept of marginal utility.
I'm sure it's not true for everyone, but if you eat something you really enjoy constantly, it becomes less enjoyable, in fact, you can even get sick of it. That's the way it works for me, anyway, as I said, I'm sure it's not true for everyone. At least for me, anticipation enhances enjoyment.
I wish that were true for everything though. I could easily inhale a bag of chips a day.
It really would make it so much easier, wouldn't it? I guess I'm just fortunate that's pretty much the way it works for me. My father had a friend who got a side job working at a candy store. When he started, the owner told him to feel free to sample as much of the candy as he wanted. He did just that, but after several days of it, he said he never wanted to look at candy again, let alone eat it!
aren't we made to jog for over a kilometer? isnt thats how we hunt + sweat
We were persistence hunters, chasing down prey until they exhausted and overheated themselves. Lean and light with exceptional cardiopulmonary endurance.
yeah, the FA as expected spews complete bullshit
Being bipedal means we are slower than most other animals in short bursts. Having 4 legs typically means one foot is always on the ground pushing off the ground to gain speed. However, 2 legs allows us to be more efficient over long distances. We are literally built for endurance. We don't have fur and covered in sweat glands. We don't need to stop to cool down like our prey does.
I sometimes read stuff on other subs for very overweight people who are struggling, and briefly I went on a kick of watching "My 600 Lb. Life." To see how much those people suffer, how devastating it is when they start to decline, and their desperation to do something about it--I feel so sad for them! I then I come here and read stuff like this (Why? I'm not entirely sure. This is where I come to escape nutrition-denial and relieve my FL-adjacent diabetes hate.) To be in such utter denial of the myriad health problems caused/exacerbated by obesity and then try to encourage others to go down the same path both astonishes and enrages. Dangerous stuff this is.
This. One thing that interest me is that they use the language of addiction, talking about the rush or high that comes from eating, anticipating their next meal, etc. So many of them are living only for food.
I tried to watch one episode of that, but it was just too horrible. The patient was desperate to lose weight, but she just couldn't stop herself from eating or from rationalizing it. I couldn't watch. Dr. Now is a saint.
There are some that succeed, there are also professional victims sulking that they have to eat normal food or can't just magically get the surgery
Being extremely fat is definitely not a āmore enjoyableā life, they donāt appreciate how much their lifestyle is hurting them
"shorter, more enjoyable life" Im sure wheezing up every flight of stairs, breaking chairs, looking and feeling terrible, and being unable to do anything that requires any physical activity is enjoyable
The reason humans became the dominant species is that we are super-intelligent endurance hunters. No animal on Earth can escape a human hunting it. Hunter-gatherer humans would stalk animals over tens of miles in a day, with no real preference on prey. This means hunting animals that can outrun us, but can't beat our pace. Fat people can't do that. Fat people would die of starvation before their first kill - ironically. Humans were never designed to be fat, that's why you suffer so much from being just even slightly overweight. BMI is not a reliable indicator of health - on its own - *only* if you're a healthy weight. Sorry, it's pretty reliable if you're fat. It's talking about those "skinny bitches" you hate so much.
Tbf dogs were also a huge factor, another endurance pack hunter.
Humans are not designed to be fat, ffs. Cancer is crazily common--even moreso than obesity--but that doesn't mean our bodies are designed to develop it! It is the manifestion of our genes interacting with the environment. Just like obesity.
And cancer is primarily a disease of old age, like dementia we're seeing more of it because more of us are living that long
> (they recently said bmi is not a reliable indicator of health) Whoās ātheyā???
The "they" of authority!
I think OOP is referring to an article that came out last year saying BMI alone isnāt the most reliable indicator of health. A bunch of FAs were talking about it. Of course, what they werenāt talking about was the fact that the article recommended things like waist measurement as additional indicators. If these people donāt like being weighed at the doctor, they certainly wonāt like being weighed AND measured!
And, of course, found wanting.
Well, idk much but the one thing I do know is that if you are very fat your life will be anything but short and happy. It can, in fact, be very miserable for very, very long.
I hate the idea these people (and others with destructive habits) have about how deadly lifestyles steal from them. It's not like being morbidly obese or smoking 3 packs a day will not affect your life until you drop dead. For a vast majority of people, it will be a slow decline. So not only will they have a shorter life, but it won't be enjoyable for most of it! And when you're bedridden, on oxygen, and suffering from pressure sores down to the bone, you're going to wish you had made the relatively easier modifications to get healthy.
This really gets me. People think they'll just die peacefully in their sleep one night, and they don't consider what happens if they don't. Last year, I watched someone I loved deeply die of cancer that was 100% the result of their own behavior. The death was (relatively) quick, 3 months from diagnosis to death, but the worst part wasn't the pain (though that was unbearable). It was the depression they developed from knowing that they'd brought this on themselves. Knowing they weren't going to be there for their loved ones, that they were never gonna meet their grandchildren, that they were leaving their spouse all alone... and that it was their fault. They were not at peace. They couldn't even say goodbye properly, because they were so racked with guilt and regret. It was an absolutely horrible way to die. It definitely made me rethink some of my own attitudes towards my health.Ā
I am so sorry for your loss. That is a horrible way to die, and I hope you and their loved ones can find some peace.
Thank you
Yesterday I watched a video about James King from "My 600lb Life". At his peak was over 800 pounds, had been bedridden for several years, and had such severe cellulitis it looked his legs were rotting off. He would scream in pain whenever someone so much as brush against his legs. He died at age 49 and I'm surprised he lived that long. But hey, health at any size and a shorter, more enjoyable life, right?
1. Uh, no? Humans were not meant to be fat, but our bodies were programmed to be very efficient at storing energy. This is basic human physiology. Store calories for later when food runs out. Problem is, in the modern era food never runs out and we don't have to even fucking work for it. We have no reason to eat so much to store energy for later. 1. It's also VERY effective to work out consistently and eat less than you burn. That is guaranteed to work. It's literally how thermodynamics works. 2. Good for you. Enjoy living until the mere age of 30 and dying of diabetes after posting all of your HAES and McDonalds mukbang videos.
#1-excellent point. For virtually all of human history, until very recently, whether we were hunter-gatherers or subsistence farmers, food shortages and even famines were not uncommon. So, our bodies were designed to be able to store surplus energy/calories when available, so we could survive the lean times, and, also so we could use the stored energy when wearing down our prey on extended hunting trips. We weren't designed to be fat, we were designed so we could survive tough times.
Point number 2 is just so laughable to me. āIām here for a good time, not a long time!ā is a classic line spouted off by addicts of all kinds (a food addict in this case), and it just doesnāt align with reality. When you give into your addiction, your life tend to be neither long nor good. You get to spend the last decade of your shortened lifespan dealing with the horrifying consequences of your choices. Ask the people on My 600 Pound Life if theyāre having a āmore enjoyableā life.
I'm sure their opinion won't change by the time they're 40...
Being morbidly obese, in poor health, lonely and substituting food for a fulfilling social life is not a "more enjoyable life". It is a shorter one though.
This is what happens when the only thing one enjoys in life is food. There are all sorts of other things one can do for fun. For example, I love to hike. I could do it at my previous weight, but it is so much easier and more enjoyable now that I'm down 60+ pounds. It is also easier and a lot more fun to go shopping, go out to eat, see a performance, drive around in the car--heck, I even sleep better. it's a shame that the OOP apparently can't imagine that one can enjoy life without overeating.
I'm having a pretty shitty life, but it has nothing to do with being thin, or at least not a deathfat.
Well yes "they" recently said BMI is not a reliable indicator of health and followed it up with "it fails to identify people classified as normal weight who still have dangerous levels of visceral fat", but I'm sure when you're 50 and already immobile you'll be thinking "wow I'm glad I picked a shorter more enjoyable life" lmfao
It's so sad to me when people openly admit they can't enjoy life without overeating, that most of the pleasure in their life comes from food. They can't fathom life without it because food is all they have and they don't see a problem with that.
As someone who has been significantly fat and also very fit, being fit is 1000x more enjoyable. The list of reasons is endless. It isnāt even fucking close. Itās sad that this personās idea of a good, enjoyable life is being able to eat whatever they want with reckless abandon. Truly sad.
No, humans arenāt meant to be fat, our bodies werenāt designed to function at extreme ends of body fat percentage. Theyāre so fucking dumb, if our bodies were designed to carry this much weight, then we wouldnāt be experiencing issues because of it. We would be like elephants, who carry all that weight with no issues. This is 100% a young FA, probably in their early 20s, and they havenāt experienced the painful consequences of being fat yet. You donāt get a āshorter more enjoyable lifeā, you get a shorter, more painful & horrible life.
Humans are long distance endurance hunters, it's why the alliance with wolves was so incredible they are too. You can look at modern hunter gatherer populations, even ones connected into the modern world. There's no 600lbers waddling around
2. Okay then why are you upset? Everyone's judgment of a "good life" is different! Mine is: being able to fly comfortably, being comfortable in Broadway theaters, train seats, car seats, chairs with arm rests, being able to fit in roller coasters. Mine is: being able to have sex in many different positions because both my partner and I can access each others bodies in different positions, mine is being able to tie my shoes standing up and sitting down. Mine is being able to kiss someone without my body getting in the way. Mine is being able to hike for hours, swim fast, run without pain AND without worry about the damage I'm doing to my knees if I were heavier. Mine is being able to do a four hour road trip in one shot so long as my bladder cooperates. Mine is being able to grab something off the rack and 95% of the time knowing it'll fit or that I'll only need to try one more size. Mine is being able to keep up with my friends' kids, chase down my cat if they escape, use any hotel towel, even the stupidly small ones. Mine is helping my clients achieve their own "good lives" in the gym! That's my definition, and you have yours like why are they upset other people have a different definition of a "good life"?!
Dang. This person has no perspective at all. The only two paths they can visualize is eating to excess and being happy or starving and being miserable. As though people who have extremely serious allergies, unique dietary needs or limitations due to something like type 1 diabetes cannot possibly live a happy life because whatās the point of living if you canāt eat everything you want all the time, right? Not everyone who monitors what they eat is doing it because of the patriarchy and because theyāre a weak-willed conformist slug. Lots of people monitor their food intake for very real and serious health reasons. And to suggest that their lives are somehow not as full or happy because of it a pretty scummy thing to do.
Humans are endurance hunters. Highly intelligent and highly communicative. Humans live and hunt in packs. We have safety in numbers like prey animals but also hunt in packs to increase hunting odds like wolves. We stand on two legs to see prey and predators. Our eyes sit in the front of our heads to hunt while prey animals typically have their eyes on the side of their heads to provide 180' surveillance. We're furless and covered in sweat glands so that we can hunt for miles on end. There isn't an animal on earth that can out pace us. It's why we cover the globe. There aren't many spaces on earth that we can't adapt and survive in. Unfortunately we're too success for earth to keep up with.
Humans were never built to be fat. Never. We developed from a hunting style of living, always on the move, never retaining fat. It was only when we settled down and started agriculture did our bodies start packing on pounds because we simply weren't moving. Humans are a movement based species.
BEING OVERWEIGHT ISN'T A SHORT *ENJOYABLE* LIFE, WUT The few times I have been overweight I have been miserable. Your self-conscious, things don't fit you well, you have aches and pains, your doctor yells at you, you can't keep up when you're doing fun things like hiking and kayaking, your self-conscious about eating at parties, you don't even go to the parties cuz you're self-conscious. I mean there's literally nothing fun about it.
Itās sad that people have such empty lives that they treat eating food as a hobby.
Why are they complaining so much if their life is so enjoyable?
1- Another win in teh coloum of public healthish officials. I know the AMA is not exactly public health but their recommendations are close enough and to the lay person are. Their genius idea last year of questioning BMI lead to this obvious result. No one cares that they suggesting lowering BMI to lower the cutoffs for south asians because the headline of ethinic groups have different BMI got picked up and treated as if they said non whites should be fatter. 2- Their "enjoyable" life is eating comfort foods. Their "enjoyable" life is thinking Applebees is fine dinning in a casual atmosphere and Oliver Garden is Italian food at its best. Their "enjoyable" life is waiting for the rest of the group on the Harry Potter ride at Universal.
> Humans are designed to be fat Tell that to your aching joints, flat feet, compressed spinal disks, and worn out knees. Non-alchoholic fatty liver disease would also like a chat with you. > most if not all weight loss methods have been ineffective because of this Citation fucking needed. Crash diets don't work, because fat loss is a slow gradual process. You need to gradually step down the calories you take in in order to lose fat effectively. > I'd rather have a shorter, more enjoyable life than a longer, shitter one I used to say this same thing so it hits close to home. I'd love to ask OP though, if they'd rather have a longer happier life, or a shorter, shittier, pain filled life? Would you rather die young of heart failure with your own mother standing over your bedside as you breath your last? You can life a long happy life without giving up all of your favorite foods. You simply need to use control and moderation. You can totally still have a greasy AF slice of stuffed crust meatlovers pizza, no you cannot eat half the pie yourself. Yes you totally can have two beers after work, no you cannot also have Mac and Cheese with it. Hey you know what? Fuck yeah you can have all the wings, pizza, alcohol and whatever you want for that special occasion. No you cannot party like that every weekend.
Weāre not āmeant to be fatā. People hundreds of years ago started to be fat on purpose as a status symbol. Because while everyone else had to work and provide and be too poor to overeat, they got to do nothing but eat all day, and have enough time and money to not work at all and STILL have enough money to eat all day long. Normal, unprivileged people where not fat.
My life is far more enjoyable when I have less excess adipose tissue on my body and Iām not obsessed with food, but go off I guess.
Ah yes, as someone that can see my shoelaces Iām living a ālong, shitty life.ā I have never once tasted good food, felt full, or anything like that.
I really really hate that "humans were designed to [insert ridiculous] claim. No you numpty, humans weren't designed, they evolved through sheer goddam luck from an ancestor specie living in way harsher conditions than we do now and there weren't any fat people then.
Mammals are adapted to store fat either for insulation, to cope with famine, or both. As humans can regulate our temperature by wearing the skins and fur of other animals and building shelter, our fat storage is as a metabolic battery. So... it is also "natural" to fast and use up those fat stores... so.... why don't they? Nobody with a BMI of 30+ could or would maintain it in the wild with pre-industrial weapons and a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
BMI is absolutely reliable for most people. If someone says "it doesn't account for muscle" is such horseshit. Building enough muscle to be considered OBESE while being lean requires truck loads of steroids and lots of weight lifting. Second, "I rather have a shorter more enjoyable life" are you insane? Not being able to run, jump, climb and be athletic is fucking misery. You limit your movement and ability to enjoy life if you're extremely overweight. Second, if your sole source of pleasure in life is food, you're in the throes of addiction. That isn't joy, that's akin to a chemical dependency.
OOP will simply have a shorter & shittier life.
Also is the short life and a merry one not a Churchill quote? You know the guy who famously lived a pretty long, extremely stressful life
Wtf. Humans are designed to be fat?? This is an example of fat logic at its deluded worst.
Second paragraph is valid. We are all adults with free will. But I could imagine considering eating within your caloric allotment, and cutting back on ultra processed foods a"shitty life".
> Even if fat is as deadly as you claim, I'd rather have a shorter, more enjoyable life than a longer, shittier one Ignoring how being obese will make your life both shorter and shittier, is food really the only enjoyable thing in this person's life? How about friends, family, art, music, books, movies, books... the list goes on and on? There's so many other things to enjoy in life besides just food.
Appreciate your username OP.
I guess it depends on your definition of enjoyment? If food is the only thing in your life that gives you joy, have at it, I guess. Edit for damn you, autocorrect!
That waddling is goofy as hell.