The Body Positive and Fat Acceptance Movement

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I consider myself "body positive" within reason. I am overweight but I love myself enough to have good eating habits such as cutting out junk foods with lots of preservatives and not eating desserts or fast food. I also like to make healthy choices at restaurants (we went out to get some Japanese food and instead of soda I got a calorie free hot green tea and a Chirashi which had the same kind of fish sushi has but in limited amounts. I hardly ate any of the rice. I shouldn't have gotten that vegetable and shrimp tempura but now I know better.) and when we do eat typically unhealthy food like Chinese food, I like getting one or two appetizers that are not heavily fried.

Exercise is also a major part of my life these days.

While I do think it's important to love how you look, I also think when things do get out of control to change eating and lifestyle habits.

Is the fat acceptance movement harmful or helpful in your opinion?

Everyone becomes worm food in the end.

I think it's best to do what makes you happy.

As long as someone is healthy, neat, and clean,
then the amount of weight or lack thereof
shouldn't matter.

I was quite a bit underweight as a kid ...
you get some people calling you nasty names for that
and other people worrying and trying to fatten you up,
and believe me, it can be just as hard to gain weight
as it is to lose weight, if your metabolism isn't operating normally.

Now that I'm middle-aged, I'm a more normal weight.
My metabolism has slowed down a bit.

And ... I have to watch my diet.
Because of my health ...
poor diet affects the immune system.
So when I don't eat right,
I pay for it.

I also need to exercise more ... similar reason:
boosting the immune system,
releasing stress, feeling better overall.

Anyways, back to fat acceptance ...
people shouldn't judge because they don't know
the medical history behind the weight.
And even if they did know,
it's simply rude to judge like that.

...

I'm of mixed opinion on this one.

On the one hand, if someone is morbidly obese, or diabetic/pre-diabetic and gets the message that's OK, it's really not OK at all. It's not snobbery or anything, it's very simply a real health concern. I'd be concerned for a random stranger or friend if I knew they took a drill to their own foot, was told that was OK, and they kept doing it. It's not supposed to be OK to watch someone harm themselves in front of you.

On the other hand, some people are actually built with wider or narrower muscles or shorter or longer bones. That should be aesthetically acceptable in fashion/media. Clothing should be designed for those people and modeled by those people. Their bodies should be celebrated. It should be equally acceptable to have a well muscled curvy body or a long lean marathon runner type body. Signs of health- glowing skin, shiny hair, clear eyes, muscle tone, symmetrical features- that is beauty. I agree with that part of that movement.

Overweight people have been ridiculed and discriminated against, with little sympathy from the general public for a long time. I'm happy that the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue has most recently had - not obesely overweight women - but women who can be described as curvy. I personally prefer voluptuous women to self-starved walking sticks.

Harmful. Very harmful. It's gone way too far.

I do think positive reinforcement is much beter than negative, but it hinges on if you actually want to lose the weight. I don't think people should be bullied for being fat, but the idea that it's okay and normal has to go. Because it allows people to slip into being that way and thinking it's okay. Because it's not okay. Because it will kill you like smoking will kill you. Slowly. And with a huge variety of health problems along the way. And it also is a huge drain on healthcare. If you are obese, you are selfish. These things should be made clear. There's no need to bang on about them or bully people, but it should be clearly understood in society.

I absolutely think if you take up two seats on public transport you should have to pay for two (unless there is room to spare. But if you deprive someone of a seat, you should have to pay up.)

I would absolutely judge someone on their weight in an employment interview. Big time. If you can't even be bothered to care about your own body, why are you going to care about this job? If you can't even motivate yourself to keep your own body under control, where is the motivation to put in the work we require of you going to come from? If you have such low standards for yourself, how are you going to have the high standards we demand of you? And also why would we want some depressive dragging down the rest of our workforce? And of course if this was a physical labour job, that would be called into question too if their weight would stop them from completing their tasks to the required level. Also potential body odour would be a concern too. I would ask these questions. Maybe not that last one about body odour, if they answered the other questions satisfactorily, I doubt that last one would be a concern. If someone was actively working towards shedding the weight I wouldn't count it against them. Same if it was a medical issue they had no control over. They'd by doing that be showing the kind of qualities I'd be looking for or if it was medical it wouldn't be their fault so wouldn't count against them. It's not the weight itself I'd have the problem with but what its presence might be saying about the interviewee.

It does make a lot of sense, with them weighing both you and your luggage. So while say a 5ft 0 woman is going to have a big advantage over a 6ft 6 man, I think the control ultimately rests more with you than with such things you have no control over.

It can only be a good thing if it doesn't completely replace current standard practice. If it ever did, I don't know which would be best overall. Now you can shed pounds in both senses of the word!