You Should Be Fatphobic*

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I’m sure the title of this one’s going to get people all kinds of upset, and good. One thing about having a platform like this is that it allows me the ability to piss people off and not have to care about it, so here we are. I’m also someone who’s spent a good portion of my life overweight and at times obese, so come at me however you want, I literally don’t care. I’ve spent the time to put my health first just as I believe we all should. I also work with people who are overweight and obese regularly, and one of my jobs is to help them achieve better fitness, health and a better body composition. One thing that never changes is the fact that when they shed that unwanted weight they not only look better, but they FEEL better. Because health.

But before we get into the guts of this article please understand that I’m in no way, shape, or form telling you to hate people who are overweight. Honestly most overweight people hate themselves enough already and don’t need you “fat shaming” them to make yourself feel better about yourself. Instead this article is going to look into how dangerous obesity is, and why we should all be deathly afraid of letting ourselves get to the point where our health is in jeopardy because of the lifestyles we choose to live. Or simply put: why we should be fatphobic.

We Have to Start on the Same Page

Let’s start this off with some truths because if we can’t at least agree at a starting point we’ll never see eye to eye on this subject:

• Obesity is a choice 99.9% of the time in 99.9% of the population

• Being a victim of your circumstances is a choice

• Dumping thousands of extra calories down your throat every week is a choice

• Drinking alcohol regularly is a choice (alcohol has calories!)

• Not exercising is a choice (outside of certain disabled populations)

• Your obstacles are not society’s problem, but yours alone

• You can make changes to better your position in life, but it takes change, sacrifice and “suffering”

• Blaming your circumstances on everyone else won’t change your position, it’ll just allow you to feel better about doing nothing to change your life

• Your lifestyle choices will be reflected in your body, full stop

OK, so if you’re still around hopefully we can all agree that the above truths are universal. That’s not to say that there aren’t extenuating circumstances in people’s lives where life is legitimately harder or they’re put behind the 8 ball because that happens to everyone. Sometimes you’re dealt a bad hand and it doesn’t seem fair, but you still have to play the cards that life dealt you. Stop feeling sorry for yourself.

What is Fatphobia?

This is currently one of the dumbest of the new found adjectives in the English language. On the surface it means that you’re afraid of overweight/obese people, but it can extend to bias or even discrimination against those who are overweight (which is 100% wrong to do to people). But it’s become a buzzword thrown at anyone who doesn’t want to “yaaaaas queen!” an individual (typically a woman) who is proud of their body, when in all reality it’s not all that impressive due to the extra weight they’re carrying around. It’s a way to silence people who shout the dangers of obesity and in all honesty it’s one of the most impressive PR campaigns out there right now because they’ve managed to silence fitness experts and even doctors who warn of the dangers of obesity. It’s kind of impressive to be frank.

This movement has even devolved to the level of making people feel bad for their body transformations! People are asked to not include their “before” photos in some circles due to the fact that it’s fatphobic and is essentially shaming those who are overweight/obese. We used to praise these people for taking control of their lives but now because of someone’s feelings, bettering yourself is putting someone else down **insert eyeroll** and that’s not how this works. This word is used as a way to silence people, is in no way actually descriptive of reality therefore it’s absolutely meaningless. Call me fatphobic, I honestly don’t care because it doesn’t mean actually anything.

Society has done this weird thing in the past decade where it feels like an opposite world in a lot of ways. We’re to praise those who make poor life decisions in a lot of regards. It’s strange but the world has legitimately devolved into people wanting to force everyone to agree with them, and I’m here to tell you that the science and the data doesn’t agree with you.

What Causes Obesity

There are a myriad of problems that can cause obesity. From thyroid problems, to unbalanced hormones, to improper diet, to living a sedentary life and even lack of sleep there’s no short of causes for obesity. Here’s a small list of some of the most prevalent causes:

• Stress

  • Stress causes a rise in cortisol, which decreases progesterone levels and can lead to an unbalanced testosterone to estrogen (T:E) ratio which leads to fat gain.

• Lack of Sleep

  • Lack of sleep decreases growth hormone levels and increases cortisol levels, leading to weight gain (see above). Studies have also shown that carrying a large sleep debt can lead to poor food selection which leads to weight gain.

• Diet

  • Calories matter. If you overeat you’re going to gain weight. Period.

• Lack of Exercise

  • Exercise burns calories, elevates mood and creates physiological changes conducive to weight loss/maintenance. Not exercising really puts you behind the 8 ball as far as caloric expenditure is concerned.

• Low Test Levels

  • Low testosterone levels in men (and even women) can contribute to a hormonal environment conducive to fat gain.

• Certain Diseases

  • Some examples: Cushings, hypothyroidism, polycystic ovary syndrome among others.

• Alcohol

  • Outside of the fact that alcohol has calories, it can also really mess with your hormone balance and lead to weight gain.

• Certain Foods

  • The biggest most understood one being soy. Soy absolutely DOES lead to changes in T:E ratio and can cause fat gain in human beings.

But here’s the thing: the majority of these causes actually have a solution! It involves some self control and lifestyle changes, but those solutions absolutely do exist. I know we all like to think we’re special, but if you’re overweight/obese chances are you’re more than likely not someone with a special condition and the quickest and easiest (and only) way to change your current position is going to be dealing with your input/output through diet and exercise.

Health Consequences of Obesity

A lot of people shrug at the dangers of being overweight or obese. They don’t see it as an issue and those in the spotlight (Lizzo, I’m looking at you) are essentially telling you that obesity doesn’t cause health problems and you’re only conditioned by society to think obesity is unattractive/unhealthy, which is horsesh*t. On a primal level we’re turned off by obesity, society has nothing to do with it. For the same reasons men are attracted to big breasts/booties, women are attracted to height/status/muscles, everyone’s attracted to a nice smile, and we’re not attracted to the clinically obese. On a primal level obesity demonstrates a short life span, lack of self control, disease and even poor genetics. This is not a social constructing of our thought processes, it’s just how your brain functions on a primal level.

Side note here: The way you present yourself in society matters. Good, bad or indifferent we’re wired to judge people first on their appearance (as that’s all we have to go off of at first glance). This could mean the way you’re dressed, what you look like, how much you weigh, how tall or short you are, what kind of car you drive, whether your hair’s a mess, etc. While I don’t think it’s good to hold onto these thoughts as you get to know someone (who they are as a person matters a lot more to me and should to you as well), it’s disingenuous to say that our first impressions aren’t based simply on how one looks. It’s a fact, please don’t get upset at me for making you feel uncomfortable with said fact.

Truth is, there’s a laundry list of problems associated with obesity, death actually being one of them. Here’s some of the obesity related illnesses (according to the CDC) that are being dismissed in favor of “fat acceptance”:

• High blood pressure

• High triglycerides and LDL, low HDL cholesterol

• Type II Diabetes

• Coronary Heart Disease

• Stroke

• Galbladder Disease

• Osteoarthritis

• Sleep apnea and breathing problems in general

• Many types of cancer

• Low quality of life

• Depression, anxiety and other mental health disorders

• Difficulty with physical functioning

• Body pain with physical functioning

While this all sounds pretty bad, the CDC also says that those who are obese also have an increased risk of ALL CAUSES OF DEATH. Literally everything that can kill you, can extra kill you if you’re obese. If we’ve learned anything from COVID the past two years it’s that being obese will increase your chances of hospitalization and death. Over 70% of hospitalizations for COVID were of those who were overweight/obese and other diseases honestly aren’t much different, they just don’t get the press that COVID has gotten round the clock for the past two years.

There are health concerns associated with being overweight and obese, and to ignore that fact is to the detriment of those who really want to change their lives for the better! Stop telling people that being obese can be healthy, it’s unequivocally unhealthy to be obese. In an effort to make them feel better about themselves (and possibly yourself) you’re literally killing them. Stop.

Healthy At Any Size!

This is mostly a lie. While you can be overweight and carry solid blood markers as far as your health is concerned, as human beings we’re constantly changing. You’re never truly “maintaining”. You’re in a constant cycle of either building or breaking down and once one becomes overweight they rarely stay overweight. They’ll either decide to get back in shape and lose the extra weight or they’ll continue to slide down the path into obesity. So while you can be healthy as an overweight person in the short term, the habits that you developed and the lifestyle that led you to being overweight will more than likely lead to you becoming obese. On the flip side being significantly underweight can cause a myriad of problems as well that can also lead to death. Truth is you can’t be healthy at any size and we need to stop telling people this to spare their feelings. Hurt feelings have led to some of the most incredible glow ups and honestly we’d all do a lot better without people feeding into our own bullsh*t. Bullying someone is never ok, but hurt feelings can be an incredible driving force for change.

So what is a healthy size then? For the general population the BMI scale is actually a pretty solid measurement. In saying that I can already hear people screaming “but it doesn’t take into account muscle weight vs fat weight so BMI is stupid!” I totally hear you on that, however most of you reading this aren’t athletes, bodybuilders or even gym rats so BMI is actually a really good measurement for you. Again, we all like to think that we’re a special case but the overwhelming majority of us aren’t. I was actually one who thought I was a special case because I was fairly muscular, but it turns out that I was mostly just a super fat alcoholic. Below is a calculator if you’re interested in obtaining your own BMI.

Now that you’ve gotten your BMI, let’s look at what’s considered healthy in the general population. The above graphic will give you a general idea of where you stand. Are you surprised at your result? Thats ok if you are, and the good news is that if you are surprised in a bad way and you’re reading this, you’re still alive and it’s not too late to make a change!

So How Can We Change?

If you’ve made it this far you’re probably wanting to make a change in your life, or you’re super pissed off at all the fatphobic data being presented. Either way I’m glad you’re still here! Change is hard, it’ll test your mental toughness, it’ll cause you to lose people in your life who aren’t on board with this new you, and it’ll force you to struggle and suffer. It’s not fun, but recognizing that a change needs to be made is always step 1 and here you are! Now the real work starts:

• Get outside every day

  • The sun increases vitamin D, which can help to elevate mood and lead to better choices throughout the day.

• Go for a walk every day

  • You don’t have to kill yourself making HUGE changes, start with a 20 minute walk every night.

• Get into a new fitness routine that’s sustainable

  • Start small. Add two days of exercise and slowly grow your routine. If it isn’t sustainable you’re not going to stay with it and if you don’t stay with it, you won’t get any closer to the health or body that you want.

• Start a new way of eating that’s sustainable

  • Again, small changes lay the foundation for BIG changes! You didn’t get into this position overnight, and you won’t get out of it overnight either so don’t treat it that way. Take steps to make sustainable changes in your diet for the long term.

• Cut booze out of your every day life

  • Empty calories, lead to lowered inhibitions and poor eating. Booze can also screw with your T:E ratio.

• Get good sleep!

  • Leads to better hormone balance, better mood and better choices throughout the day. You won’t be reaching for caffeine and sugar for your energy, because you will have slept enough to be energized!

• Go easy on yourself

  • Like stated before, change is hard. Take small steps and don’t overwhelm yourself. If you can make small sustainable changes, you’ll get exactly where you want to be and be able to stay there.

The above 7 steps won’t get you exactly where you want to be overnight, but it’s a solid start to the new you. The best day to make a change is always yesterday, and the second best day is today so get out there and be great!

We Should Be Fatphobic

Obesity rates in the US have shot up over the past two decades in a way that history has never seen. It’s led to increased healthcare costs, increased mortality and lowered life expectancy. We absolutely should be afraid of this epidemic. It’s irresponsible to ignore it and even worse to feed into the nonsense that you can be healthy at ANY size. You can’t, the data just doesn’t support that notion.