I think all the pressure not to be a "fatty" makes people miserable. And a lot of the time, it's not even people who are significantly obese. In the above examples, the characters are just sorta normal. Normal people living their lives, with ups and downs, times when they eat more and times when they eat less. Sometimes, people eat more because they are really stressed. You know what causes a lot of stress? Being made to feel like you're a "fatty" and need to continually tone up & lose weight.When I'm 50, I want to be attractive, vibrant, and possessing a reasonably-sized band of fat around my middle. I don't want to be Madonna with ropy arms and a body like a sinewy Velociraptor. I don't want my 50 to be the new 30. I want a Hunter S. Thompson brain in a Ethel Mertz body. Screw it.
Related: "Gut Check"
Way I see it, as long as I can move as good as someone half my size, I'm alright. Although I could do with a little less in the chest area...
ReplyDeleteThe picture of the Blue Beetle looks more like he's pregnant than fat. His muscles are still huge; shouldn't the fat have covered them up a bit?
ReplyDeleteAlso, random question: what issue were those Blue Beetle panels from?
Hey, Hunter S. Thompson was genius...he just liked his drugs. Plus, hallucinegans don't hurt your brain or burn your spinal cord, that's a fallacy(spelling?).
ReplyDeleteWait...oh, right.
Good for you, and I hear yuh. Mine is flipside though. I have a fast-matabolism (I guess.)I am 22 though. And people, especially girls, make fun. For girls it may be in like a weird half-way compliment like I-wish-I-was-like-that kinda way. But it still wears one yuh. I mean, when you're fat, no one says a word, they waid there way around it. (THAT was seriously not a pun.) But, when you're thin, it's like everyone and parrot if it can talk has to frickin' tell you. Wow, you are so skinny. Which, I am not bones. I'm slim, but I have a layer inbetween my skeleton, yuh know? Anyways, felt like venting...a lot easier when you don't know people. Doesn't feel like you're whining. Yep. (A sigh of a modest amount of relief is exhaled and then I push "publish your comment.")
Pressure to not carry fat around one's middle isn't image-related, but a serious health issue. News reports regarding the most recent round of studies:
ReplyDeletehttp://news.google.com/news?ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&tab=wn&ncl=1269668042&hl=en
"fatty, fatty, fat, fat"
ReplyDeleteAs a former 'fat kid'... I second the"Screw it." It's nice way to live if you can reach a level of just being and doing instead of concerning yourself with nonsense injected by this narcissistic world.
WOOHOO... I'm gonna strip down, lather myself in crisco and run around my neighborhood naked till the cops get tired of chasing me!!!!!!
Go here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/index.htm
to calculate your Body Mass Index and to see if you are ecto, endo, or mesomorphic.
Greg: on the other hand:
ReplyDeleteExcess weight protects against death from many diseases
I want to be like those 60 somethings that still run marathons and/or triathlons. I want to be pure bad ass in my 60s.
ReplyDeleteHealth issue or not (and I, who is a bit out of shape these days, believe that it is a health issue), there is definitely stress put upon the general public about being overweight. The sad thing, it's not a health related stress, like say if you're a smoker (you're going to get cancer and die!), it's all image related. You have to be thin because otherwise you're ugly, you're less than perfect, less than human, even. If you don't have that perfect physique, you won't get the guy/girl. It's all part of the same machine that wants us to buy Gucci bags and dress like Diddy and own a Bentley. Image, pure and simple. So with that in mind, BRAVO, Valerie. Thank you for stating what should be obvious but sadly isn't. When did image start to trump everything else in life? I'm in my mid (okay, late) 30's, and I don't remember this much emphasis on image growing up.
ReplyDelete-r-
The BMI is Kind of BS. Many people who you would think of as in shape or slightly overweight show up as obese on that chart because of nonstandard height/breadth ratios, musculature, and bone densities. I cannot remember now, but it was someone like Tom Cruise who came up as obese or someone like him.
ReplyDelete"Sinewy Velociraptor" would make a great band name. Also, agreed on not wanting to be like that at 50!
ReplyDeletejfm,
ReplyDeleteAs the article you linked to notes, non-fat additional weight has been repeatedly shown beneficial to health, and the study in question does not distinguish between fat and non-fat weight.
Among the problems with using BMI, for instance, are that the metric doesn't differentiate between types of weight or distribution of fat. Leg fat, e.g., is much healthier than arm fat, which in turn is healthier than belly fat.
The most recent round of studies warns of the dangers of belly fat specifically, and it's warning should be taken seriously.
Our concerns about weight too often center on what others think and say of us, rather than what excess fat will do to our health.
You hear more people these days complain about the overwhelming pressure to stay thin. Yet as a nation americans are fatter than ever. I think we just like to complain, it's easier to justify doughnuts for breakfast by claiming it's the medias fault for hurting your feelings. personally I eat my doughnuts for breakfast because I really like doughnuts.
ReplyDeletealso otis, my in laws are totally those kind of people. Both of them are in their early 60s and he runs marathons and she does those mini triathlons. it's intimidating and inspirational all at the same time.
America is too unhealthily obese for me to be part of the "embrace your fat" culture.
ReplyDeleteI think a more serious health issue is young skinny guys who think just because I'm old and thick around the middle, that I can't catch 'em and kick their asses. Heh. Let 'em call me "fatso" and see what happens. >:(
ReplyDeleteWarren: Fatty, fatty, two-by-four! Can't get throught the kitchen door! (Runs away quickly, but in doing so comes off as daintily sprinting with arms up and wrists cocked downwards like I'm ready to call someone "girlfriend.")
ReplyDeleteThat was completely in jest, Warren. I was a little Tubs McChubs when I was little/early teens. Summer before 8th grade my metabolism kicked my ass, and I've been the guy that the asshole always wants to give shit. Yay, slimness! ...sigh.
Hey, Maxx -- no offense taken. Mine was completely in jest also.
ReplyDeleteObesity is a problem. I've always been heavy. Fortunately, I've always had a job that kept me active. I weigh 250 now, but a few years back when I worked in an office, I hit 300. My blood sugar sky-rocketed and my blood pressure did too. At 250, both seem to be at normal levels, but I do need to lose more. Thing is, the media harping on it doesn't do much good because the causes of obesity are varied and many. Losing weight for an obese person demands such a major lifestyle change that, without a lot of support in their everyday lives, it's next to impossible to accomplish. And that is if you're addressing the real problem that causes them (us) to be obese to begin with.
I think it isn't some much as carrying a little "extra weight" as being "comfortable in ones own skin"...
ReplyDeleteArrrOOOooo!
Also, we need to emphasize that even being the "right weight" doesn't make you healthy. I've never been overweight on any index, but I've struggled with cholesterol since hitting puberty.
ReplyDeleteThat list of favorite overweight characters you linked to was fine, but where was the love for Harvey Bullock, and Arthur from the Tick?
ReplyDeleteHave a good day.
George Morrow
Blue Beetle became one of my top favorite characters precisely when he went fat. He was much more believable by the, and well, today's ultra skinny is the big un-sexy if you ask me.
ReplyDeleteTwo thoughts: Read _EAT DRINK AND BE HEALTHY_, it's a survey of all the nutrition research that has been peer verified. It's from Harvard. One of the tough points it makes is that the American assumption that we all gain weight with age is a myth, or, at least, isn't what happens in other cultures that aren't so sugar-fied as we are. I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand we all admit that there's an obesity epidemic but we also worry that people get too many messages to skinny up.
Two: If you're BLUE BEETLE and all you have is gymnastics and an air gun to get you past people who can throw trucks and shoot radiation from your hands, then you better stay in pretty tight freaking shape and you better be able to run up 20 flights of stairs and then do a jig when you get there, or you better stay home.
That storyline really bothered me back in the day. It was sort of funny, and that's what JLI was all about in that era, but... it just wasn't logical for them to let a non-powered hero into the field if he wasn't taking care of himself.