Are fat people held to a higher standard?

[sarahmichigan]

This is a rant, not a well-reasoned polemic, so if you want to take issue with my logic or facts, please be gentle about it.


So, I mentioned a few weeks ago that I'd taken a fitness assessment and while my cardio was "average" my upper body strength was "below average." I could do 10 "girly" pushups while the average for my sex and age was 12-15.

I can do the flye press with 25-pound free weights (one in each hand), at least 2 sets of 8 reps. I can also easily push out 3 sets of 12 reps of bicep curls with 15-pound weights. Does this mean that half the female population in their 30s are regularly doing 30 or 35 pounds per hand on the flye and can curl 20 or 25 pounds? Maybe I'm deluding myself, but I seriously doubt this. I think that pushups are not a fair assessment of upper body strength without taking into consideration the fact that a lighter person is pushing up a lot less weight than a bigger person is.

It's just one more way that bigger people are held to a higher standard when it comes to "being healthy" and "taking care of yourself." I've been reading stories in the thyroid community here on LJ and stories on fat-acceptance blogs about fat people who are exercising three or more days a week and are starving themselves on 1,000 to 1,2000 calories a day and are not losing weight, and in some cases, if they have multiple metabolic disorders (diabetes, PCOS, etc.) are gaining weight on this diet and exercise regimen. And I am seriously pissed off at how many stories I'm reading in which fat people go to a doctor for help and their ailments of all kinds are blamed solely on their fat or in which a fat person explains what they're eating and how much they are exercising without losing any weight and are told they are lying about how much they exercise and how much they eat.

The moral panic around the so-called obesity epidemic in this country has gotten so out of hand that if a fat person eats what would be a normal diet for a thinner person, that fat person is accused of not trying hard enough or not "taking care" of him/herself. If a thin person eats an ice cream cone once a week, that's fine.If a fat person does this, he or she could be publicly ridiculed. If that thin person suddenly started counting every fat gram and calorie and started exercising two hours a day six days a week, that person would be a target of interventions by friends and doctors as having an eating disorder of some kind. If a fat person did this, he or she would be congratulated for "getting healthy." This is why I've often referred to weight-loss diets as "doctor-approved eating disorders."

Do I overeat sometimes? Sure. I'm not a binge-eater, though; I only did that when I was dieting. Now that I've stopped dieting, I rarely go on a bender where I snack until I'm stuffed full. I do occasionally eat for pleasure or solace when I'm not hungry or eat a few more bites of dinner when I'm already full, but thin and average-sized people do that too.

I do try to make "getting healthy" a priority in my life, but I think that it's extremely important to balance your mental health with your physical health. I can make tweaks to what I eat in terms of adding fruits and veggies, trying to reduce simple carbs and up healthy proteins. But like other fat people who have a history of chronic dieting, I cannot go on a diet with the intention of losing weight and keep my mental health.

I will continue to exercise at a level that makes me feel good, eat healthy to the best of my ability and refuse to beat myself up if this does not result in a magical transformation to a trim body. Fuck other people's standards.

Comments

[firecat]

Absofuckinglutely.

And no, your upper body strength is not below average, based on my observations from when I used to weight-train regularly.

[laughlovelive.livejournal.com]

My friend, you are so right it hurts. It took me a long time to notice this because for a long time I was as delusional as many fat people are, I thought as we are I believe "trained" to think, that we are fat because we eat too much and move too little. I really believed it. No matter how much I was exercising (and during college that was quite a lot actually, way more than any of my friends) and how "healthy" or little I ate. After a long time I started noticing that my thin friends got at little or even less exercise than my fat friends. I started noticing that some of my thinnest friends had the biggest appetites or ate the most junk food. I had one thin friend that for that one week a month practically lived on chocolate. I of course, deprived myself routinely.

I still have problems overcoming this. When I go to a restaurant for example, especially any fast food place, I wonder if people are looking at me and thinking "well gee, no wonder she's such a porker, look at what she's stuffing in her face". But of course no one questions thin people if they have a burger instead of salad or an ice cream cone for dessert.

I think you sound like you are in great shape to me. I could probably do one set of curls at that weight but not 3.

[flyinglemurs.livejournal.com]

Well I'm impressed, I doubt I could do one or two girly push ups even. And your right...if you are a larger person you are lifting more during push ups, and even just walking about or climing stairs I believe must take more strength.

[munin218.livejournal.com]

You're healthier than a lot of people i know.

And i think yes, you're right. We are held to a higher standard.