The FastDay Forum

Saw this when Neil Gaiman re-tweeted something: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/29/fat-shaming-weight-gain_n_3670560.html I've never understood why anyone would think that being unkind is some sort of motivator, particularly for anyone who is likely already to be beating themselves up about something.

Thank you for the link Ajlr, I think it's just cruel to do that.

I think society has a bullying nature in general. From a very young age we try to coerce people to conform to our likes. Even in the sandbox if your not like the fellow diggers you are bullied. Obesity is a major problem these days and the medical community has gone so far as to call it a disease. More likely it is a combination of social and emotional influences. When we do not feel good about ourselves we try to soothe. Tradition has taught us to celebrate with food. Medical community has told us to consume, or not, this food and that at so many servings a day. Manufacturers manipulate our foodstuffs for their own gain. And smart marketers selectively use that information to hawk their products. Why even our governments who we look to lead us have been wrongly influenced. So you see subtle bullying works. I say, here's to the individual who is different enough to think for themselves. For me, consume what you cook at home and less is more.

I see that the article has a reference to "that magic diet" that will "screw up your metabolism". Is it just me or is that a reference to....well, us?

Fat shaming takes many forms, including a "friend" on Facebook who often posts on her page links to blogs about how "if you are fat it's not your metabolism, it's your fault for eating too much [junk food] and being lazy". Mind you, she's never been overweight nor had metabolism issues. I guess it's just her way of making sure folks know she has no empathy?

Even in the Huffington Post article they blame obesity on choice and the marketing of fast/junk food. That always annoys me, because I've never eaten junk food, at least not since I was very thin(I stopped long before I gained weight). I don't eat emotionally, or when I'm "not hungry". But I DO think I ate when I wasn't hungry ENOUGH.

My pet theory is just like some folks who fill their auto tanks whenever they drop off full and others wait until they hover below empty, we define "hungry" differently. I started eating as soon as I first felt hungry, because it annoyed me. 5:2 is recalibrating my hunger-meter, so that I wait longer to respond to my hunger, even on my feed days. I spend more time "hungry" and since my stomach spends a lot of time empty, it fills up more quickly, and I fill full with very little food now.

My point is, I didn't need shaming. I didn't need education on healthy foods or to be saved from junk foods. I just needed a recalibration for my fuel tank.

Of course, different people are going to need different things. I think 5:2 will work best if you make sure your diet overall is a healthy one. I definitely notice I don't feel as good if I eat lousy (like too heavy on carbs) on a feed day.

I see that the article has a reference to "that magic diet" that will "screw up your metabolism". Is it just me or is that a reference to....well, us?

To me, that read like a condemnation of all prescriptive diets that promise the world and then don't help people to recognise their own behaviour and change whatever of it they want/need to for long term health and happiness. I think the WoE we're following here is a very different thing, despite it being called a diet in most of the literature. For myself, I'm taking diet here to mean the mix and quantities of food that I choose to eat rather than something imposed, rigid, and offering little help for the long term.

I see that the article has a reference to "that magic diet" that will "screw up your metabolism". Is it just me or is that a reference to....well, us?

I didn't read it that way...

I think that I'm tired of people who blame others for their behaviour. When I eat it is my choice (or fault?) not someone else's.
If I eat because someone told me I'm fat, then I have a huge problem to deal with and I don't mean my weight.
With the exception of having a health problem, our looks is our responsibility. To me it's between these two: either I like the way I look and I don't give a rat's arse what people think of me or I don't like the way I look and I do something to change it, no matter what others think.
Yes, society is cruel. We face its cruelty as soon as we go to school. But from an age and forward, when we learn the important things in life, we should not allow ourselves to be affected from people whom we don't even know or care about.

I do not think the shaming of anyone is a right. Everyone has issues and insecurities. Just our problem is a bit more visible. It's a pity that those doing the shaming are not just 100% perfect themselves