We're all big and fat

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2004-07-26 07:50pm

Christ - I'm 195cms, and maybe 75kgs if I'm wearing my stomping boots. And I'm Australian (well, not really, but I live here

) and my countrymen are nearly (or perhaps worse) than the Americans.

So I stick out

Jalinth · Post by **Jalinth** » 2004-07-26 07:50pm

TempestMagister wrote:I have around a 30 waist, and I do find it really hard to find things that fit me. I usually buy medium sized T-Shirts, but they are hardly in stock in the adult sections of clothing departments. I'm only 5'8", but I see guys all the time who are my height.

When I went down to the beach, I realized how disturbing this gut thing is. I also noticed how much some people eat. I saw someone eating full bags of chips in two days, and at it drinking 4-6 bottles of beer a day, and those are just the snacks. It usually will take me 5 days to finish a bag of pretzel nibblets, that is if someone else doesn't finish it in one day. When at the beach, I see people getting huge breakfasts from the restaurants there, and then ordering a sub for lunch, eating chips, pretzels, and peanuts for snack, with beer, and then eating bread, pasta, and plenty of meat for dinner.

Alot of people don't think their heavy, but they're lying to themselves. The thing is, when guys get old, it seems that they perceive their increased weight and bigger belly as normal because they eat the same as when they were teenagers, so they instead don't do anything and start controlling themselves, and they just keep on eating.

The unfortunate part is that it is hard to get back into a healthy weight. Have taken off 30lbs pretty easily, the next 20 are going to be hard - have already done the easy stuff (upped exercise, cut out the worst of the junky food). No extreme sacrifices needed.

Likely need to revisit what I eat (or do a temporary diet) since I've been essentially stable weight for 6 months. This is the big problem. It is easy to gain weight - hard to lose it (exceptions exist - my uncle has a metabolism out of this world and had a hard time trying to gain weight (tooth pick build - compared to the rest of the family's stocky Scottish build).

Boyish-Tigerlilly · Post by **Boyish-Tigerlilly** » 2004-07-26 08:00pm

It's just unbelievable how fat we're getting as a society. When the average waist size is around 38 inches and 19% of men are so fat that they can't see their own waists over their drooping bellies, yet only 10% of men will admit they're overweight, we have a society in denial.

Many people just don't have the willpower to eat normally and to exersize if they do eat/normally or abnormally. I try to do it, but many probaby are addicted.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-07-26 08:44pm

So... basically, despite being thoroughly out of shape, my waist line is still about 25% smaller than the average? Frankly, that's frightening. We've all become a bunch of slobs.

muse · Post by **muse** » 2004-07-26 08:56pm

On the bright side it means finding a pretty dress that fits me is easier now than ever before. I'm not fat or anything, I just have a wide chest & shoulders from swimming & weight training so a lot of women's clothes are a bit tight for me in the upper body. And it's good for my sister since she now has a nice selection of pants to fit her big legs.

Grand Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Grand Admiral Thrawn** » 2004-07-26 08:57pm

My self-esteem is up, I feel so skinny!

Ouch, its seem satirical articles like this Onion one are fact.

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2004-07-26 08:59pm

I'm a 32'' waist, 175 lbs, 9% body fat, 5'11''.

pellaeons_scion · Post by **pellaeons_scion** » 2004-07-26 09:01pm

Hmm..well Im 5'3(162cm) and 60 kilos.
I dont fit any bracket, yay! Still tough being small in land where the avg male is 5'9
*shakes fist at the sky where they all reside*

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2004-07-26 09:04pm

I'm somewhat saddened to see that any sort of discussion on this issue has devolved into a these-are-my-measurements thread.

1337n1nj4 · Post by **1337n1nj4** » 2004-07-26 09:05pm

Meh, I just enjoy it.

Besides, the fact that everybody else is fat only means that you look that much better if you're not. Put on a tight shirt and strut.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2004-07-26 09:46pm

Interesting thing is today's size 8 women's dress is actually bigger than a size 8 from 50 years ago. The industry sets the average dress size (an 8 or 10, can't remember which) to the size of the average woman and adjusts all other dress sizes to match. As people have grown bigger and fatter over the years, so have the dresses. A size 8 now is about the same as a size 10 to 12 from 50 years ago.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-07-26 09:48pm

Rebecca used to wear a size 8, now she can fit into a size 6. And she hasn't lost weight; the dress sizes have been getting bigger.

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2004-07-26 10:25pm

Howedar wrote:I'm somewhat saddened to see that any sort of discussion on this issue has devolved into a these-are-my-measurements thread.

What much else is there to say but "we're a bunch of fatasses and its a complex social problem with no clear-cut solution"?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-07-26 10:37pm

Illuminatus Primus wrote:
Howedar wrote:I'm somewhat saddened to see that any sort of discussion on this issue has devolved into a these-are-my-measurements thread.
What much else is there to say but "we're a bunch of fatasses and its a complex social problem with no clear-cut solution"?

I for one find it fascinating that obesity is being socially "normalized", in the sense that powerful social forces are at work to make fatter people feel good about themselves and skinnier people feel bad about themselves.

I have noted before that you can say any insulting thing you want about a skinny woman and no one will question it; indeed, many will pat you on the back for being such a liberated person with a healthy attitude. But do the same thing to a fat woman, and POW! You're a worthless scumbag who doesn't deserve oxygen. Look at the dress-size issue; women can proudly say they're down to a size 8 dress by simply modifying what "size 8" means. And look at the survey where 19% of men are so fat that they can't see their own waists over their bellies, but only 10% will admit that they have a weight problem. Not to mention the contrast between this survey and previous surveys in which people filled in their own data rather than being measured with a 3D scanner.

Fat people THINK they're thinner than they are. Fat people THINK that fat isn't really that bad. It's easier to be socially cruel to a thin person than a fat person in many circles. Bathroom scales are designed to read low. Dresses are designed to be bigger than their size would indicate. It's not just that we're losing the Battle of the Bulge; we're losing horribly while pretending that things aren't going that badly.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-07-26 10:38pm

So what's the solution?

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2004-07-26 10:44pm

Joe wrote:So what's the solution?

You mean besides proper nutrition and exercise?

Darth Wong wrote:It's not just that we're losing the Battle of the Bulge; we're losing horribly while pretending that things aren't going that badly.

I think that's a good setup for a Bagdad Bob impression.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2004-07-26 10:45pm

You mean besides proper nutrition and exercise?

Don't be obtuse; I mean, how do we actually get people to want to do those things?

Illuminatus Primus · Post by **Illuminatus Primus** » 2004-07-26 10:48pm

I must heavily agree I never connected the inane "Milla Jovovich and Paris Hilton are obviously sick. What? You'd bang them? You're obviously an immature perv with a skinny fetish" bullshit with fat people.

That's a very interesting correlation, and I must agree it is extremely prevasive and disturbing.

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2004-07-26 10:57pm

Joe wrote:Don't be obtuse; I mean, how do we actually get people to want to do those things?

Use the public schools to teach good habits early on. That would include real physical education, and cafeterias not contracted out to Taco Bell.

But all in all I say it comes down to the whole 'leading a horse to water' saying.

Robert Treder · Post by **Robert Treder** » 2004-07-26 11:06pm

Wicked Pilot wrote:But all in all I say it comes down to the whole 'leading a horse to water' saying.

Oh, for sure. I say the solution is to educate yourself, educate your children, do your best to educate your friends, and let the rest of the world fuck itself.

It's not as though schools teach you that being fat is good for you. When I went to elementary school, we had nutritional information taught to us. Fat kids still existed. We made fun of the lard-asses, and they didn't get skinnier.

Most people are simply nutritionally retarded. Look at the "Atkins" craze if you don't believe me.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2004-07-26 11:10pm

Illuminatus Primus wrote:
Howedar wrote:I'm somewhat saddened to see that any sort of discussion on this issue has devolved into a these-are-my-measurements thread.
What much else is there to say but "we're a bunch of fatasses and its a complex social problem with no clear-cut solution"?

My comment regarding the possible poor sample was, as far as I can tell, completely ignored.

Grand Admiral Thrawn · Post by **Grand Admiral Thrawn** » 2004-07-26 11:15pm

Do small towns not have increasinly larger dress sizes?

Boyish-Tigerlilly · Post by **Boyish-Tigerlilly** » 2004-07-26 11:19pm

Bathroom scales are designed to read low.

I don't understand that, because my bathroom scale is accurate. I put a 25 pound weight on it, and it registered perfectly. I then stepped on and it read my weight.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2004-07-26 11:23pm

Grand Admiral Thrawn wrote:Do small towns not have increasinly larger dress sizes?

In my very limited experience, no. That's why I said "possibly" instead of saying that the study is flat-out wrong.

J · Post by J » 2004-07-26 11:24pm

I don't know if it's just me, but it seems the weight distribution of the general population looks like an inverted bell-curve; people are either fat & overweight or they're anorexic-looking, not that many people appear "normal". This is just based on casual observation of the people around me so it's not statistically valid or anything, but I am wondering if anyone else has noticed this?