A fat rant

The visible comments on YouTube for this comment are not enlightening — your typical array of, “Yeah, don’t hate fat people!” “Fat people are all going to die at age 30 of heart attacks!” and “Fatty fatty fat fat!”

Yeah.

Anyway. I think she raises some valid points. A lot of people do put their lives on hold for an arbitrary weight. Plenty of people who’ve been overweight for years or decades have no realistic idea of what their “ideal” weight should healthily be, but they get fixated on some number (usually around 130 lb. for women) and strive to hit it, closing their eyes to how they look or feel at the weights in between where they were and where they’re going. Blindly striving to hit some goal so that they can start living their lives.

I do it, too. The day I bought my swimsuit was a big one for me (and it was “only” a size 16, which you can usually find in stores, albeit not in styles without [ugh] ruffles). I’d had access to the huge, free, and clean swimming pool at Rose for how many years? I’d wanted to use it from day one (particularly after I stopped perming my hair!), but I wouldn’t dare wear a swimsuit in this environment, with lithe, cellulite-less athletes running around.

Time to grow up. I’mma do me, and you do you.

It’s a journey, and a hard one if you’ve got low self-esteem and live in this society. But it’s one I’m taking, best as I can.

Being overweight is no more indicative of lifestyle than being thin or skinny. It’s even less indicative than most people seem to think; you typically can’t look at a person and tell if they’re gaining or losing weight. Yet, the assumption seems to be that overweight people are always gaining weight.

(Video link courtesy of Big Fat Deal)