does it bother people that this society tries to get overweight people to accept themselves?

Question

i am a little overweight at 5'2" and about 163. it annoys me very much that people are trying to make teens and basically everyone feel ok about being fat and tell them that they are still attractive. i'm not saying that they shouldn't feel good about themselves and obviously over weight people can be attractive, but the real issue is health. no matter what, it is not healthy to be overweight. people need to realize that there is a real problem with western society. obesity should not be ignored. does it bother anyone else?

i guess i thought of this because i've never stuck to a diet because everyone has made me feel ok about being fat instead of helping me and pushing me to change for the better. it upsets me.

Answer 1

it's like their supporting death.

now, i'm okay with a little overweight, but once one is going into obese...it's time to fix it. i've even seen a teacher tell this enormous person that it's okay to be that way...but she doesn't know how she's killing him...

there supporting that it's okay, but what society should be teaching is how to eat more healthfully...

thank goodness NY is getting rid of transfats! (or so i heard...)

Answer 2

I'm not sure what part of this society you're talking about, because the part I notice includes negative stereotypes that fat people are stupid and lazy, discrimination againt overweight people in jobs and daily interactions, skinny (unheathy-skinny!) models being all over the media as ideals that most healthy women could never attain, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, one diet pill/craze after another, etc etc. I am seeing a desperate yearning to be thin, not a complacency with being overweight!

Answer 3

I mean it doesn't bother me...b/c i don't view it that way...like...most of the time when i see someone telling an overweight person that they are beautiful the way they are...they're usuallt trying to make them feel good about themselves so they won't go around feeling like its the worst thing in the world or go and do something stupid to themselves...and then afterwards ask them if they want help..and then of course they say yes...and then they help them get the weight off. I think thats a good thing...i mean obviously overweight ppl know that too much weight isn't healthy..but i don't agree with ppl going around and tellin overweight ppl that they can't accept themselves and making them feel like their not a part of this world u know...

Answer 4

I think this is done to stop people loathing themselves cos overweight people know that they are overweight and they don't need someone going on at them about it all the time. Although I do agree that they shuld be told from a health-concious point of view that they should try to lose weight but not cos they won't be attractive if they're overweight. It's a trciky situation as some people are vulnerable and sensitive on this topic.

Answer 5

You're right. It's not healthy being overweight. But I think what these people are trying to do is to let you know that you're not being treated differently because of your weight. They try to make you feel good about yourself and give you more self esteem, becaue they don't know your situation. But you have to realize that it's only you who can change that. If you accept you as who you are then fine. But if you're unhappy, you should try to loose the pounds. And let's see the reactions. They will be happier to see the new you.

Answer 6

I think its more people trying to make sure that teens that do have a weight issue also do not have low self esteem. Maybe if they feel good about them selves they will be more likley to get healty. And how would you like to hear as a teenager your fat, and because your fat that make you ugly. I think there are pleanty of very beutiful over wieght people, that doesnt mean i think its healthy for them.

Answer 7

Ok here is the thing, People are people we are not all the same , period. The whole weight thing is a problem when you have these young people(not just women but guys too) who are getting so skeletel because they think they have to be as thin as a whipping rod and are killing themselves in attempts to do so.There is such a thing as being too thin and such a thing as being too fat. NEITHER TO AN EXTREME IS GOOD. BOTTOM LINE BE HEALTHY.

Answer 8

This society is being ruined by people lowering their standards a million different ways... self-esteem needs to be earned or it is meaningless. You don't become healthy from having self-esteem; you get self-esteem from being healthy. Obesity is one way, semi-literacy is another... the list goes on and on... give every kid a trophy whether they deserve it or not, put every kid on honor roll... tell everyone they can be the next American Idol whether they have any talent or not... it's all the same thing

Answer 9

There's a difference between being overweight and obese. Having a little extra meat is fine, but if you have more spare tires than your nearest Michelin store, you definitely need to do something about it.

Answer 10

You mean like that lady a few years ago who was president of some obese person's society who allowed her daughter to get so large that she had a heart attack while still a teenager?

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JEFF HULLINGER, HOST: A mother is charged in the death of her 680-pound daughter. Was it child abuse, or was it fat discrimination? Ask Judy Freespirit, a fat acceptance activist who attended the trial, and get ready to talk back.

Hello, and welcome to TALKBACK LIVE, CNN's interactive talk show. I'm Jeff Hullinger at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Marlene Corrigan says she has lived through the worst, but she still faces as many as six years in prison if convicted for child abuse in the death of her daughter, Christina...