How do people expect fat people to have will power when...?

Question

they say fat people are lazy, eat 24/7, have no will power and are smelly, are they not damaging the fat person's self-esteem even more? Is it not hard enough for the fat person to deal with their "condition" without all these nasty remarks / comments / stereotypes? As they are mostly stereotypes. Not all fat people are lazy and just eat all day. Am I making sense, does anybody agree with me? Or am I wrong? How would a fat person deal with this, how can they have self-esteem and help themselves to become healthier when everyone around them, their family and friends, the media, the community, the society they're living in, stigmatises and ridicules them?

Answer 1

i agree. my mum is over weight...not too much, but that's only because she has MS and can hardly walk...therefore cannot exercise as she is stuck a wheelchair alot of the time. people think she just eats junk food all the time but she doesn't. she eats her allowed calorie intake a day, she just struggles to burn any of it off. so yeah it pee's me off too how judgemental some people are.

Answer 2

I don't often hear all those comments from people.  I'm skinny and have never made those comments about fat people other than saying they have no will power.  I know dieting and exercising is hard but they have to stop blaming everyone else for their actions.  It is not a healthy life style and their lives are at risk.  Obesity has become the number 1 medical epidemic.  They are passing their habits to their children.  I can't believe how many children are over weight now.  Its a shame.  Everyone needs to stop worrying what everyone else is doing and worry about themself

Answer 3

Oh please!! they got the bloody willpower to eat that amount havnt they?

how could anyone feel sorry for such greedy horrible poeple!!

Answer 4

People will always look at overweight people and say that they eat 24/7, are lazy, have no will power and are smelly - humans are judgemental. However, people make comments about others who are somewhat different to themselves including religious people and disabled people, but you don't see them giving up all the time and having low self-esteem.

I agree that not all overweight people are lazy and eat all day but lets face it, some of them are. That's where the stereotype comes from and unless it changes, family, friends, the media etc will stigmatize them regardless of their reason for being overweight.

Sometimes a person just has to stop worrying about what people say and get on with their lives. Or, use this as an opportunity to prove people wrong about their thoughts.

Answer 5

I am over-weight and i dont eat excessively (not too much over weight)

I eat less than most people which is usually fruit and zero fat foods but i have a poor metobolism which screws up the way i put on and lose weight.

Answer 6

I'm overweight, but it's not because of my self esteem.  It's because I really love food that is bad for me.  Every time I eat a bad snack, I'm making a choice.  Granted, it's VERY difficult for me to not make that choice.  A lack of chocolate can actually make me CRY at "that time of month."  But as much as I hate to admit it, I'm overweight because I eat too damned much.  Plain and simple.

However, there are people who are over weight despite making the right choices, and I think people need to recognize that.  Let's face it: all of those beautiful skinny folks don't work out every day and eat healthy all the time.  Some of them are just lucky.

Answer 7

First answerer said:

"Oh please!! they got the bloody willpower to eat that amount havnt they?

how could anyone feel sorry for such greedy horrible poeple!!"

...

I'd like to see you fix a personal problem that you may find upsetting and embarrassing while society at large treats you with derision and contempt. That'd be a fine lesson to you.

As for "greedy, horrible people", that sort of sweeping statement is the case in a nutshell.

Answer 8

excuse me missy the one that first answered not everyone can be slim and proper some people have eating disorders and thats why they are the way they are....

I think people like u can only think of themselves and not of hurting peoples feelings...

Answer 9

Smelly? Well, hygiene helps. But yeast growing in excessive folds of skin will give anybody an unpleasant body odor, and that's the smell the general public associates with fat people. Ain't always so.

Forget what society currently says are the causes of obesity. Forget 'em. There are two causes, nature and nurture, that science firmly embraces. Nature gives you the fat gene. Nurture means the culture you grew up in, or are living in now, encourages overeating and underexercising.  People who have one probably have the other.  That's hard to beat.

Culture can also mean that someone grew up in a household where food was an expression of love, so they eat when they need love. Some folks insulate their feelings by overeating, just like alcoholics do by drinking. Hence the Overeaters' Anonymous clubs. Depression and/or low self esteem can induce a person to overeat.  Excessive shyness is another reason.

Exercise is made more difficult when a person's self image is that they're obese and don't want to be seen moving. Obese people may have genuine physical difficulty exercising due to joint stress, shortness of breath, or heart problems. Water exercise would be one way to begin exercising without hurting yourself.

I am not fat right now, but I have been. My brother was so bad he underwent bariatric surgery. My mother is obese. My grandmother was obese, and so were her siblings as adults. Sadly, we love food, we seek comfort in food, and we have the fat gene. That's nature AND nurture! Don't give up the idea of losing, I say, having lost, but realize there's an emotional component that needs treatment.

As for all the horrible things people say about fat people, 99% of them aren't true, and you know it.  "Why would you say something as hurtful as that?" helps with direct attacts.

Answer 10

All of these things arise from bad publicity regarding the modelling industry. Everyone is geared up to be skinny in the "perfect" world, when we all truly know that it makes up only 15% of how some peoples bodies actually are. Have a good look at any form of advertising and you will find that it is aimed at people to become thin or thinner, because that is how manufacturers market their products. You never see any commercials for overweight people, other than to market "loose weight" products or healthier eating products. Mostly all teenagers want to be thin as they are led to believe through the hyper bullsh*t media that being slightly overweight is a seriously bad thing. Ok some people do have eating disorders and in media it is only aimed at overweight people, and not at the skinny wannabe's who seem to have more eating disorders and complexes about themselves than "fat" people. I feel it does not matter about size, as long as the person is happy with their selves and they have a good quality of life , and they have no complex, just because some marketing ploy says that you must be like this or like that , be yourself is what i say....

Answer 11

The funny part about this is, most people are somewhat overweight, esp. in this country - referring to the US.

I've never struggled with weight issues but my demon was always trying to overcome smoking.

However, a buddy of mine has been struggling with his weight all his life and he eats less than I do, but the majority of his family has also been BIG. I think many people go on diets and try different things but give up and society will never help motivate anyone. Basically we're pretty hypocritical because everyone needs work in some area of their life. With me, overcoming smoking was one of them and yet how many smokers (who are not overweight) will judge a heavyset person.