Fat people: Is it just society or is it something else

[synaesthetic]

It's not just obesity, but it seems to me like a lot of obese individuals simply do not know how to dress for their body type!

I've seen some people wear things so revealing that I wouldn't be caught dead wearing, and I'm not even remotely fat.

[SaintessHeart]

Rie Kugimiya wants to complain about being flat and skinny as a washboard.

[Mr. DJ]

kills me every time when my friend complains that she's fat...I'm like, "dude...seriously? come on now." she may be a few pounds over, I keep telling her she's no where near fat and she really isn't.

[roriconfan]

^ Try reverse phychology. Like "You are a landwhale that exists just as fat storage for the canibals". She will immediately deny it.

[Langknow]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

Well BMI has always been a generalized value anyway. Until the day comes where medical science finds a way to properly segregate and weigh individually all components of the body (skin, connective tissue, muscle, etc.) BMI is the closest thing we have to factoring in mass per meter-square body surface area.

And I think the underlying though process of BMI has been going around the thought problem wrong. Who cares about Body Mass Index. What people should be worried about is fat percentage and how it pertains to the body.

The best way to measure body fat is to use cheap fat calibers and literally pinch the fat off your body and measure it. Of course if you have too much then you can get an electronic fat measurer, but that is not as accurate.

Also, what I have found out is that most family doctors don't know much about strength training, most of them are misinformed by bad advice from other doctors.

For example, I had one doctor tell me squating below parallel is bad for your knees, which is completely untrue. In fact if you squat above parallel you will cause a muscle imbalance and that's what causes knee problems.

It doesn't help, that most people in the gym don't know what they're doing , including and most dangerously personal trainers.

[MeoTwister5]

Originally Posted by Langknow

And I think the underlying though process of BMI has been going around the thought problem wrong. Who cares about Body Mass Index. What people should be worried about is fat percentage and how it pertains to the body.

The best way to measure body fat is to use cheap fat calibers and literally pinch the fat off your body and measure it. Of course if you have too much then you can get an electronic fat measurer, but that is not as accurate.

Also, what I have found out is that most family doctors don't know much about strength training, most of them are misinformed by bad advice from other doctors.

For example, I had one doctor tell me squating below parallel is bad for your knees, which is completely untrue. In fact if you squat above parallel you will cause a muscle imbalance and that's what causes knee problems.

It doesn't help, that most people in the gym don't know what they're doing , including and most dangerously personal trainers.

The problem is that there is no real practical non-laboratory way to calculate body fat mass. Those fat calibers don't really take into account your skin thickness, hydration etc. The closest is blood triglyceride and blood cholesterol levels as a reflection of your total body fat, but those need a blood test.

BMI isn't very accurate for adults but it's pretty much the mainstay for pediatric anthropometrics because the growth curves children and even teens are predictable when factoring variables such as age, height etc. It's not the same for adults who don't really grow anymore, so BMI isn't as good a tool for them.

[DragoZERO]

Society is to blame.

Originally Posted by synaesthetic

It's not just obesity, but it seems to me like a lot of obese individuals simply do not know how to dress for their body type!

I've seen some people wear things so revealing that I wouldn't be caught dead wearing, and I'm not even remotely fat.

Oh man. Spandex should not be sold to obese people. The rolls I saw on this one lady, dear god I almost had to burn my eyes out.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by roriconfan

^ Try reverse phychology. Like "You are a landwhale that exists just as fat storage for the canibals". She will immediately deny it.

Eh it actually works, both reverse psychologically and vice versa.

These people who complain about being fat usually have depressive tendencies, and pushing them towards committing suicide helps to shut them up permanently.

[hinakatbklyn]

If they were hurting someone else physically or emotionally because of being fat or any other reason, it would be tempting but I would still have trouble saying something along the lines of ending it all. But if they are just hurting themselves and no one else, saying "end it all" is "out of the question"!
(I don't even want to say that word)

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

The problem is that there is no real practical non-laboratory way to calculate body fat mass. Those fat calibers don't really take into account your skin thickness, hydration etc. The closest is blood triglyceride and blood cholesterol levels as a reflection of your total body fat, but those need a blood test.

BMI isn't very accurate for adults but it's pretty much the mainstay for pediatric anthropometrics because the growth curves children and even teens are predictable when factoring variables such as age, height etc. It's not the same for adults who don't really grow anymore, so BMI isn't as good a tool for them.

Aye, many "family doctors" simply do not keep up on the subjects of nutrition, sports medicine, or even drug types for that matter. They simply don't have the hours in a day. Ask a pharmacist and you're much more likely to get a better description of drugs, drug combinations, and side effects. Ask a nutritionist or a personal trainer for their subject expertise. It'd be *NICE* if more doctors understood they are part of a team -- the younger ones do get it but many of the older ones still don't quite get that a pharmacist runs circles around them in drug knowledge and they should confer with them more often. Same goes for nutrition and musculature-skeletal sciences.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Fome

I've increasingly felt that the obesity problem has turned anime conventions into quite the paradox--on one hand the otaku crowd has a tendency to have a larger proportion of overweight individuals, while on the other hand the cosplay crowd has a tendency to have a larger proportion of individuals clothed in very, very little. Doubtless, the combination can be...off-putting. It hurts me to say it, but it can't possibly help the American anime fan image when Japanese guests witness such a sight when they get invited to US conventions.

main reason why i don't go to anime conventions or any of the scifi/fantasy/comic conventions.

[Autumn Demon]

I'm not big on personal responsibility. I'm not fat, but if I became fat I probably wouldn't do anything about it. But it is important for everyone that we solve the fat problem so nations don't spend higher proportions of their GDP on healthcare.

Advising people to eat a proper diet and exercise more isn't going to solve much. In America, which is becoming a nation of fat people, the best thing to do is re-write the farm bill so fatty food doesn't become cheaper through subsidies. I blame politicians more than fat individuals for America's fat problem.

[BellaD]

Do you know what I dislike ? The size changes... I went from S to XXS and I didn't lose weight , and then the "I am beautiful just as I am" (maybe on the inside but with all the clotted arteries and the enlarged organs that is debatable too ).

I feel sad when I see an overweight person really, I know that it was self caused but still in a society where image matters it must be extremely hard.

[Zu Ra]

Its just fast-food nation and the unhealthy diet which is brought with it . Gastronomically food is getting better and better , but health wise its a disaster . Before Ben & Jerry's ice cream was just ice cream .

[DragoZERO]

Originally Posted by Zu Ra

Its just fast-food nation and the unhealthy diet which is brought with it . Gastronomically food is getting better and better , but health wise its a disaster . Before Ben & Jerry's ice cream was just ice cream .

There is also method of transportation. You don't need to walk so much now. Go back 100 years, people did a lot more traveling by foot.

[Zu Ra]

There are alternatives which are more calorie burning than walking for the health conscious . Food is a lot cheaper now than it was 100 years back . Also food has gotten a lot more greasier . Unhealthily eating habits and richer foods have led to obesity .

Yeah I am talking about N.America, the obesity levels here . Are lot higher than Europe or Asia . So transportation/lack of exercise is one of the problems not the main one .

[roriconfan]

My fatass (reverse phychology) father began food diet. You know, that food they bring to you that is supposed to make you lose weight. Nothing much besides an extra 600 euros monthly in my already close to zero income.
Talk about endless loops. You eat and gain pounds then eat more to lose them. And then you lose them and you eat to celebrate and then you eat again to lose them again.
EATEATEATEATEAT!.......
Not to mention
POOPPOOPPOOPPOOP!.......
Call me snob but my focus in life are other things than food or fancy cloths that get outdated in 3 months.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by BellaD

Do you know what I dislike ? The size changes... I went from S to XXS and I didn't lose weight , and then the "I am beautiful just as I am" (maybe on the inside but with all the clotted arteries and the enlarged organs that is debatable too ).

I feel sad when I see an overweight person really, I know that it was self caused but still in a society where image matters it must be extremely hard.

aye.. as I've said elsewhere.. my wife went from a size 4 to a size 0- in the space of 30 years without a change in measurements or weight. ... okay she weighs 3 pounds more.... whee.

[synaesthetic]

Originally Posted by Vexx

aye.. as I've said elsewhere.. my wife went from a size 4 to a size 0- in the space of 30 years without a change in measurements or weight. ... okay she weighs 3 pounds more.... whee.

I gained a bit of weight, about 20 pounds or so, sometime between the ages of 15 and 19. But ever since then I've stayed just about the same weight, between 161 and 164lbs.

But now I have the exact opposite problem with my jeans and skirts. Used to be able to fit into a 7 easily and a 6 with some squeezing, when I was 19 and 20. Now I'm 25 and I've got to try everything on, and depending on the manufacturer, I'm either a 9, an 11 or a friggin' 13!

And I still weigh around 161-164.

[AnimeFan188]

Now you CATCH obesity ...spreading fat cells are linked to a virus:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...ked-virus.html


Sucks if you catch the virus, maybe someday, we'll have a vaccine for it.

and speaking of anti-obesity vaccines:

http://jaxmice.jax.org/news/2009/vaccine.html