I'm going to post a couple links to sources for the next couple days to hopefully start a conversation in this space! These will fall in the area of Fat Studies and there's some norms you should be aware of:

  • "fat" is taken as a neutral descriptor, think of it as reclaiming the word.
  • "obese" arbitrarily medicalises fatness and Others fat people

I'm a cis man and I have (had) body image issues (in the past)

https://humanparts.medium.com/my-journey-toward-radical-body-positivity-3412796df8ff


I'm queer and fat

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yeefpijtl4s7orv/Flaunting%20Fat%20%E2%80%93%C2%A0Sex%20with%20the%20Lights%20On.pdf?dl=0


I'm queer and not fat

https://www.bitchmedia.org/post/fat-liberation-is-totally-queer


The others don't apply to me and/or I only have the energy/time to read one source

https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/everything-you-know-about-obesity-is-wrong/


:sankara-salute:

👉 Part 2 is up

👉 Part 3 is up

  • PurrLure [she/her]
    ·
    edit-2
    4 years ago

    I've been fat basically all my life.

    Around kindergarten or so my parents realized that it wasn't baby fat any more and that maybe, just maybe me opening the pantry lock on multiple occasions and using a chair to reach the peanut butter jar and shove as much of it into my mouth without a drink until I got caught might be a warning sign. But rather than investigate for any nutrient deficiencies or mental issues their autistic child was going through they decided to start putting me on trend diets. I'm assuming they felt a pang of guilt making a small child go on adult diets, so they would also go on the same diets. Instead of motivating me it would just make me feel worthless whenever the diets worked on them but not me. I remember a few months where they would have me pack a can of slimfast for lunch and then by the time I got home I'd be starving and scarf down whatever was in the pantry. The diets would change about every year or so, and so I ended up having weight fluctuations while my overall weight increased. I remember my mom crying one day about my weight being 150 pounds before I even reached middle school and then yelling "YOU WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT, DON'T YOU?" and telling her that her and dad were the ones who wanted me to lose weight. They'd guilt me about being fat every chance they got. The only thing that worked in my childhood wasn't diets but being forced to go to a gym and lift weights for half a year. Muscle really does help burn weight. But then I hit high school and because grades always come first we all forgot about the gym and the weight bounced back. Eventually I was able to drive my own car in high school and that's when my weight fucking skyrocketed.

    So I'm an adult now and I've realized that I have both a physical and mental need to over eat. I've used food as a coping mechanism since I was a toddler, and that only increased as I continued to push down my autistic self and replace it with someone that can pass as just a little odd. I know that I need therapy, but I also know that I need to keep my finances in check and that therapy might end up being as expensive as a second car even with health insurance because I live in the fucking U.S.A. and with covid I can't even work overtime to put extra money into savings. I feel like I'm so close to getting professional help and yet part of me always pulls my arm back and says "Next year might be even worse financially, yet you already know what it's like to be fat. You're still young, you can gamble on your health a little longer. Bad finances could fuck over your credit score and ability to rent for years to come." Like FUCK, why do I have to pick???

    Guess I'll just continue to cope until I can afford professional help.

    :amerikkka: :amerikkka: :amerikkka:

    • grilldaddy [she/her]
      ·
      4 years ago

      :heart-sickle: I’m sorry the conditions of this absolute hellscape of a country are such that you aren’t able to get care for things you’ve basically been struggling with for your entire life. Parenting is incredibly difficult and it’s uniquely frustrating to get to adulthood and realize that some of the things your parents did out of a desire to help improve your life actually end up having the opposite effect. Hopefully you’ll end up being able to get care soon but in the meantime this community is more than willing to provide as much help/care/advice/support as possible.

    • disco [any]
      ·
      edit-2
      4 years ago

      I know this is the opposite of a weight loss thread, but it sounds like you’re interested in getting fit.

      I had a really hard time staying fit since the gyms closed, and I don’t have a weight kit at home so I’ve been using a pull up bar (probably won’t work for you) push ups, and a bucket that I can put sand in to to adjust its weight.

      I used to be overweight but managed to ditch it, so if you want to talk pm me or something.