One thing that everyone would surely agree with is that the overweight and obese are often not looked at in the best light by society. There is often an unspoken disdain, pity or even suspicion about how honest they are in their efforts to lose weight. Well, it looks like the affected people want to take charge and I feel they are doing it in the right way and also for the right reasons.
In a recent news article, Yahoo News reports that obese people are increasingly joining a group of anti-dieting activists in a so-called fat-o-sphere where they tal about ways to improve their health rather than just focus on weight-loss. The real problem they are faced with is society’s war-cry against all things fat (and in turn against fat people in general). This, as you can well imagine leads to very poor self-image among the obese:
“Being fat doesn’t make me lazy or stupid or morally suspect,” said Harding, 34, of Chicago, who also has written a book, “Lessons from the Fat-o-Sphere.”
“The message we’re promoting is health at every size.” [Yahoo News]
This is, as I mentioned earlier, certainly a step in the right direction. In fact, as I have previously blogged, Fitness Is More Important Than Fatness and it is not at all unusual to see a slightly overweight person display a greater level of fitness than someone half his/her size!
Granted, it is of course always a good idea to lose some weight if one feels that it is preventing him/her from enjoying life to the fullest. But there is absolutely no need to aim for some society-decided “ideal figure” at the expense of serious health problems due to stress and excessive exercise.
Kudos to the fat-o-sphere and here’s wishing them the very best health they can achieve. Read more to find out what other activities they are engaged in.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Posted by fitnessmantra:
“Granted, it is of course always a good idea to lose some weight if one feels that it is preventing him/her from enjoying life to the fullest. But there is absolutely no need to aim for some society-decided “ideal figure” at the expense of serious health problems due to stress and excessive exercise.”
What exactly are you saying here in the last sentence? Are you saying that people should resist “excessive exercise” in the name of health? That sounds a bit backwards. Are you saying that stress from society to be the “ideal figure” will lead to health problems? That sounds a bit melodramatic.
Please let me know what you meant.
Hi Mike,
Thanks for your comment. My point is simply this: being healthy and fit is way more important than getting “thin” or “ripped”.
It’s great for an overweight, 300 pound person to want six-pack abs, but what will running for miles a day and collapsing from heart-failure really achieve? Isn’t it more realistic for this person to try to lose a moderate amount of weight but focus instead on how fit and active he can become rather than want to look “thin”?
That was the point of the post and the referenced news-article: overweight people often seem to focus on “losing” weight rather than “gaining” fitness. The former serves no real purpose other than pleasing society (although losing excess weight in most cases will be beneficial to health). The latter (“gaining” fitness), is what will successfully get you through life.
-FM.