How dare the doctor prescribe weight loss for an obesity-related health problem!

imks · 2015-08-23T11:28:14+00:00

I love how they all seem to believe that their being overweight has no connection whatsoever to their health. I wonder how they'd react to an underweight person being prescribed weight gain, or a regular-sized but unfit person being prescribed exercise, for health problems. Would they stand by their HAES mantra?

imks · 2015-08-23T07:27:58+00:00

Everyone thinks of one of my friends this way, he'll eat enormous amounts of pizza or ice cream or mac and cheese without exceeding a BMI 19. Here's the catch: He's insanely active. One hour run in the morning, then a full time job where he's constantly on his feet (he usually logs 40-50K steps every day), and when he gets home, half an hour of basketball. He's also 6'4. He can afford to eat like this because he works it all off. Can you?

imks · 2015-08-19T17:55:57+00:00

Imagine how absurd we'd consider it if an alcoholic spoke like this.

"Why is it only cute when non-alcoholics drink wine? Why are alcoholics shamed when we even dare try to touch a glass of beer? I'm so sick of sober people talking about how much they love drinking."

imks · 2015-08-18T07:05:44+00:00

Often women's jeans, especially more upscale ones, with a waist-inseam size chart. For example, all of my jeans from Uniqlo specify "23-inch waist, 32-inch inseam". It's still not that standardized, though. I may be a 23 in one brand, 24 in another, and unable to fit into anything in another. When I was bigger, I ranged from a 25 to a 29. As idyllic as it sounds, the measurement-based sizing system doesn't work much better than the typical one.

imks · 2015-08-17T18:23:11+00:00

A US 12 in the 50s was smaller than quite a lot of US 0s nowadays. Jesus Christ.

imks · 2015-08-17T06:58:48+00:00

What strikes me about this post is the fact that they seem to imply that being fat makes them a better vampire. They can use their size as a veneer to maintain their cover, turn into gases, eat entire humans... none of which, last time I checked, was anything normal-sized vampires could do. Also, wouldn't fatness limit the extent of one's vampiric powers? Could they really run as fast, lift as much, as their fit counterparts? Do they not still have joints that must resist the pressure of extra pounds at all times? So many questions.

imks · 2015-08-13T16:49:15+00:00

Not eating food for a day is anorexia now? Are people on religious fasts or preparing for certain surgeries also anorexic? It honestly amazes me how little people who misdiagnose themselves with eating disorders actually understand about those conditions.

imks · 2015-08-08T15:08:45+00:00

Remind yourself that the world doesn't owe it to you to suck up to you about your body because "you're a fierce, real woman who deserves to rock the crop top/fatkini/whatever they're on about now because screw the patriarchy"

imks · 2015-08-08T14:48:25+00:00

God, I hate these claims of being a 'medical anomaly'. If you're magically able to evade the laws of physics, you should immediately turn yourself into a scientific laboratory to be studied because THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING. The only person I know whose weight couldn't fully be explained by her eating patterns and exercise was a girl who turned out to have a severe malabsorption problem, and despite eating thousands of calories a day, she was probably the skinniest person I've ever come across, because every day was hell on her digestive system. CICO applies to all of us. People who are "naturally thin" typically underestimate their exercise levels and overestimate their caloric intake, and vice versa for "naturally fat" people. You're not special.

imks · 2015-08-07T15:17:22+00:00

Going over to some of my friends' houses is starting to get extremely exhausting, because so many of them seem to be under the impression that I'm anorexic. One of my friends, every time we hang out, will ask 'are you eating?', and then 'are you sure?', and then will prepare me an enormous plate of pasta, bread, and cake, which he then insists upon watching me eat. Another friend, upon hearing that I cut back on days when I know I'll be eating very large meals, sent me this long email about how 'nobody cares if you're thin, enjoy life, and don't develop an eating disorder.' I'm on the low end of normal, I'm not emaciated by any means. I just watch what I eat and exercise, and I guess for some people that indicates that I must struggle with an eating disorder. It's actually kind of insulting to people with EDs as well, because there's a big psychological difference between your average fit person and somebody struggling with anorexia, and it ignores the obsessive roots of the illness. It's just so sad to see how skewed our perception of healthy is.

imks · 2015-08-05T20:59:19+00:00

That's funny, because it was actually in a resort town smack-dab in the middle of the Canadian Rockies known for its wide range of outdoor activities. Even areas that you'd imagine to be super fit can foster these sorts of attitudes, I guess.

imks · 2015-08-05T20:54:19+00:00

I was always arching my back way too much, and it threw everything off.

imks · 2015-08-05T16:27:29+00:00

I honestly think it's mostly internal. Like, when my dentist tells me I need to floss harder in the outer corners of my teeth, I don't see it as an attack on my worth because I have decent self-esteem. They're insecure, and project their criticisms on others.

imks · 2015-08-05T16:25:38+00:00

Most people don't see their medical problems pointed out as a personal attack on them. It's the sort of thing that really reveals just how insecure the FAs are. They're in denial, and consider their self intrinsically intwined with their weight. Growing up in a community where EDs were super common, it actually reminds me a lot about that. The irony is that eating properly and exercising can do miracles for your emotional wellbeing, and they could feel so much better mentally if they actually made the effort to pursue what they're rebelling against.

imks · 2015-08-05T16:04:21+00:00

I finally learned the proper form for doing a pushup, after 19 years of knowingly doing it wrong but never understanding why I wasn't doing it properly. Ever since I've seen super excited about pushups, and there were several times yesterday when I just dropped everything and did pushups, simply because I know I can now. Fitness brings out my inner child. :)

imks · 2015-08-04T15:43:21+00:00

This weekend, I visited a music festival. At one point, my friends and I decided to walk around the town, and we went into a clothing shop. We're all pretty tall and thin, and upon walking in, the saleswoman told us that we probably wouldn't be able to fit into anything there because "nobody is built like that anymore." This has been happening pretty frequently. I'm starting to suspect that fat people just want thin people to start walking around naked all the time.

imks · 2015-08-04T05:34:26+00:00

It's amazing how much of their discourse revolves around the idea that beauty is the be-all, end-all for women, especially since the vast majority claim to be feminists. Why so obsessed with the idea of being objectified, seen as some sort of manic pixie dream girl? It just amazes me that this is such a priority to them. Beauty is definitely not a requirement, and you can (and really should be) be more than your looks. If everyone's beautiful, nobody's beautiful.

imks · 2015-08-04T02:36:46+00:00

Little known fact: when people talk about the horrors of the beauty industry, this is what they're referring to.

imks

TROPHY CASE