Stumbled upon a very interesting reddit post...
"A few people have asked about some further detail. Sorry for the delay in posting - I put this rant up after a hard night shift of trying to turn 400 lbs land whales by myself. And I've woken up to a nice surprise! =)
I'm female. I was 240 lbs (or more, I'm not sure of my exact highest weight because I refused to weigh myself out of shame). It was due to a myriad of factors.
I'd always been active in sports as a teen and younger child and by my early 20's I was a fair heavy smoker(which DOES boost your metabolism a fair bit). So while I was never stick thin, you wouldn't have been able to pick me out of a crowd as "the fat one". It was one of those "as long as I'm not 200 lbs, I'm okay" things.
When I moved away from home to university I became depressed and unmotivated (again, myriad of factors but not relevant to story, more justifications). I dropped out of school, started playing WoW 18+ hours a day and never ventured out of the apartment except to buy food. I was living with a boyfriend (later husband - later still ex-husband) who was a huge enabler and would bring home food to placate me. I would routinely go to the corner store and buy a box of rice krispie squares and a box of hostess cupcakes and devour the entire thing in a day. Dinners were usually pasta with sugary jarred sauce and HUGE amounts of cheese. Or take out pizza. (You see, at the time I was a vegetarian - it's "healthier" for you.) For a vegetarian, I ate few to none fresh whole vegetables.
Essentially, I knew next to nothing about proper diet and nutrition and honestly could not figure out how or why I was gaining weight.
At my highest and most miserable weight, I ran into a video by Joy Nash. Here was a woman (and honestly, she's "pretty fat") who was justifying my weight. Here was a woman who was telling me that my weight wasn't MY FAULT. It was genetic. It was the new normal. There was nothing I could do to change it. And then I started googling around and found all the fat acceptance crap. And I swallowed it all. Hook line and sinker. It was easier to blame anything and everything else than it was for me to do anything about it. But here's the kicker: FAT ACCEPTANCE DIDN'T MAKE ME HAPPIER. It just gave me a "shield", I was able to muster up righteous indignation instead of self pity.
So, to sum up fat me: I ate huge portions of carby, sugary junkfood on a daily basis. And I walked sometimes. So, in my mind I was active and I ate a healthy diet. (Which is why I NEVER EVER believe an obese person who tells me that they eat healthy and exercise, because yeah - I thought that too.) I was uncomfortable in my body all the time. When I sat at my computer, my gut would sit heavy on my thighs. I'd get sweaty and gross on cool days. I started showering in the dark. I lost all interest in sex and intimacy. Walking a few blocks was hard.
I had a myriad of wake-up calls. On Christmas when I was down to visit my family, my father pulled me aside to talk about my weight. When I tried to give him the "this is just the way my body is meant to be" talk, he smacked it right down. Both he, my sibling and my mother were healthy weights. I was at a party with my boyfriend and met another girl - a girl I considered "fat" - and she remarked that it was nice to meet another girl of size. I could no longer fit into my own clothes and was wearing my boyfriend's t-shirts 24/7.
So, one day I was fed up and wanted to change. And I went outside late at night and tried to run. I could barely make it half a block. But that was the start of my return to normalcy. 5 years later, I've lost weight, kept it off and have completely changed my lifestyle. I've never been happier. And I've never been healthier.
Sorry for the wall of text. It's just after I started thinking about it, I wanted to get it all down.
"
TL;DR Woman realizes fat acceptance is bullshit, decides to actually make positive changes in her life. Hope rides on the horizon.
The whole thread is readworthy: http://www.reddit.com/r/fatlogic/comment..._movement/
"A few people have asked about some further detail. Sorry for the delay in posting - I put this rant up after a hard night shift of trying to turn 400 lbs land whales by myself. And I've woken up to a nice surprise! =)
I'm female. I was 240 lbs (or more, I'm not sure of my exact highest weight because I refused to weigh myself out of shame). It was due to a myriad of factors.
I'd always been active in sports as a teen and younger child and by my early 20's I was a fair heavy smoker(which DOES boost your metabolism a fair bit). So while I was never stick thin, you wouldn't have been able to pick me out of a crowd as "the fat one". It was one of those "as long as I'm not 200 lbs, I'm okay" things.
When I moved away from home to university I became depressed and unmotivated (again, myriad of factors but not relevant to story, more justifications). I dropped out of school, started playing WoW 18+ hours a day and never ventured out of the apartment except to buy food. I was living with a boyfriend (later husband - later still ex-husband) who was a huge enabler and would bring home food to placate me. I would routinely go to the corner store and buy a box of rice krispie squares and a box of hostess cupcakes and devour the entire thing in a day. Dinners were usually pasta with sugary jarred sauce and HUGE amounts of cheese. Or take out pizza. (You see, at the time I was a vegetarian - it's "healthier" for you.) For a vegetarian, I ate few to none fresh whole vegetables.
Essentially, I knew next to nothing about proper diet and nutrition and honestly could not figure out how or why I was gaining weight.
At my highest and most miserable weight, I ran into a video by Joy Nash. Here was a woman (and honestly, she's "pretty fat") who was justifying my weight. Here was a woman who was telling me that my weight wasn't MY FAULT. It was genetic. It was the new normal. There was nothing I could do to change it. And then I started googling around and found all the fat acceptance crap. And I swallowed it all. Hook line and sinker. It was easier to blame anything and everything else than it was for me to do anything about it. But here's the kicker: FAT ACCEPTANCE DIDN'T MAKE ME HAPPIER. It just gave me a "shield", I was able to muster up righteous indignation instead of self pity.
So, to sum up fat me: I ate huge portions of carby, sugary junkfood on a daily basis. And I walked sometimes. So, in my mind I was active and I ate a healthy diet. (Which is why I NEVER EVER believe an obese person who tells me that they eat healthy and exercise, because yeah - I thought that too.) I was uncomfortable in my body all the time. When I sat at my computer, my gut would sit heavy on my thighs. I'd get sweaty and gross on cool days. I started showering in the dark. I lost all interest in sex and intimacy. Walking a few blocks was hard.
I had a myriad of wake-up calls. On Christmas when I was down to visit my family, my father pulled me aside to talk about my weight. When I tried to give him the "this is just the way my body is meant to be" talk, he smacked it right down. Both he, my sibling and my mother were healthy weights. I was at a party with my boyfriend and met another girl - a girl I considered "fat" - and she remarked that it was nice to meet another girl of size. I could no longer fit into my own clothes and was wearing my boyfriend's t-shirts 24/7.
So, one day I was fed up and wanted to change. And I went outside late at night and tried to run. I could barely make it half a block. But that was the start of my return to normalcy. 5 years later, I've lost weight, kept it off and have completely changed my lifestyle. I've never been happier. And I've never been healthier.
Sorry for the wall of text. It's just after I started thinking about it, I wanted to get it all down.
"
TL;DR Woman realizes fat acceptance is bullshit, decides to actually make positive changes in her life. Hope rides on the horizon.
The whole thread is readworthy: http://www.reddit.com/r/fatlogic/comment..._movement/
