Uber Skinny

[Arpeggio]

It is pretty disappointing when your friend seems very underweight by choice, so I'd assume the same for a friend very overweight by choice. Again, it's not really making fun of someone, it's just disappointment in someone's poor judgment.

 

Edit: It's not really up to me to decide what is poor judgment. That's just my opinion

Edited April 5, 2010 by Arpeggio

[Skyline]

This phrase has been bothering me for days, I keep subbing in words like "gay", "bi" and "cross dresser" , for "large" and "overweight" and the statement, despite your denial, does sound hateful and judgmental.

 

Maybe you don't really mean it that way. It is very easy to be misunderstood on the Internet. I guess if you mean by "you must suffer the consequences of your actions", with things like health problems, I can get that, but not if it means discrimination from people, comments from people, etc. are ok.

 

I meant the emboldened bit, and nothing else.

 

I hope I misunderstood Skyline, but then Yang Bang said this:

 

"When a person is strictly under/overweight because of the lifestyle they choose to live, that's "uber" disappointing. Of course, there's a range for what counts as a healthy weight and it varies by individual, but if someone is 20 lbs under/over because they eat poorly and never move, that's grounds for being at the end of critical remarks."

 

If I hadn't seen blatant "size-ism" in the gay community, especially among younger people, I wouldn't give it a second thought, but I've been at tables at the local coffee house, like the Abbey in WeHo before it went crazy bar place, and heard the catty comments from my friends about overweight and underweight guys. It always makes you wonder when you leave the table what comments are made about you.

 

I am okay with the large person having to buy two seats if they won't fit into one without spilling over into the next seat, but not the judgment, especially given that overeating is often a symptom of some deeper hurt, ditto for undereating.

 

Basically to clear this whole thing up, your last sentense is exactly what I was saying. At no point in anything I said did I mean that people whom are obese (or anything outside of the majority, black, gay, born with some kind of disease) deserve to be discriminated against, or made fun of. I thought I was somewhat clear about that when I said that I didnt hate them for it. What I was saying is that if you are a certain way by your own choices, which require you to be accomodated for, then you should pay for that service.

 

Using the problem at hand with obese people and paying for seats, I do feel that if someone choose to eat themself into obesity (one way or another, for whatever reason that may be. On an industrial scale, discriminating between one story and the next is not practical) then they should pay to be accomodated for

 

However I also said that this is difficult at best to implement, because some people, are just big human beings. One of my friends whom I played basketball with, is 6'8, almost 300lbs, and I can assure you he is one of the most physically fit people I know. He's just a big person. If we could accurately seperate such differences between biology and conscious choices, then I say go for it.

 

You mentioned swapping out 'large' and 'fat' for gay, bisexual etc. I feel that this is not fair, nor logical to do. I cannot think of an instance, in which a person would need to be accomodated for because of their sexuality, or whom they choose to be with, or what they choose to look like, IN A PRACTICAL SENSE. The only cases in which these would become relevant, is if they were being refused something on the grounds that they were gay, or whatever, which I DID NOT, say was ethical or fair.

 

Hopefully that was more transparent in meaning.

[PrivateTim]

It is pretty disappointing when your friend seems very underweight by choice, so I'd assume the same for a friend very overweight by choice. Again, it's not really making fun of someone, it's just disappointment in someone's poor judgment.

 

Edit: It's not really up to me to decide what is poor judgment. That's just my opinion

 

Ha I love words.... by being "disappointed" in their judgment, aren't you saying poor judgment without the poor?

 

People might "choose" to be underweigt, overweight, to cross dress, to act queeny, to butch it up... if you say you are disappointed in the choices, are you not judging?

 

I'm just saying....

[Arpeggio]

Er, judging and being disappointed are two different things. If I'm disappointed in my friend, I'll probably get over it shortly or forget about it with my little peanut sized attention span.

 

....

 

huh?

 

-wanders off-

 

Edited April 6, 2010 by Arpeggio

[KJames]

It was his opinion on airline seats being accommodated for obese people. He said if they are overweight due to lifestyle choices, then they suffer the consequences by paying for extra seating on airplanes. If you read it again, he really didn't mean overweight people need to suffer consequences by being made fun of. He didn't mention anything at all other than his opinion on the airplane seats.

 

Seems like you might have taken his words out of context, I'm not sure.

 

And, to be fair, the airlines have been slowly adding seats to all classes of service over the last few years..."to maximize revenue per flight" or some such BS.....

[thephoenix]

I think it depends on a person's body structure, although in some cases it may not be immediately obvious.

 

Ectomorphs are naturally skinny and can even eat more than an endomorph who is overeating without gaining a pound of weight. This is the most common body type in Southeast Asia (or Asians).

Personally, I fall into this category because I need to consume obscene amounts of calories to gain weight (leading to obscenely high grocery costs), yet I lose weight even if I miss a single meal. It would be insulting to call an ectomorph "skinny" just how it would be insulting to call an endomorph "fatty". It would VERY difficult to make an ectomorph ...fat.

 

Mesomorphs are the perfect body type. They maintain a perfect height to weight ratio no matter how much or how little they eat. They are the genetically gifted in terms of body structure. They can gain muscle and lose fat easily.

 

Endomorphs are the opposite of ectomorphs. This is the most common body type among those in North America or Europe (or Caucasians). People with this body type can eat less than an ectomorph when they aren't trying to gain weight...and still gain weight. Much of the nutrition or diet..."industry" is catered towards people with this body type, and it's less expensive for an endomorph to lose weight than an ectomorph to gain weight. It would be difficult to make an endomorph too skinny, but not as difficult as making an ectomorph fat. Calling someone who is an endomorph, "fatty" would be very offensive, perhaps as offensive as calling an ectomorph "skinny".

Calling an endomorph skinny may actually be a compliment, but it would be much preferable to use the term "slim". Calling someone fat though, whether ectomorph, mesomorph, or endomorph would be offensive no matter what.

Edited October 1, 2010 by thephoenix

[DragonMando]

That's absolutely ridiculous. What about people with narrow hips whose thighs will touch no matter how slim they are unless they're dangerously anorexic? Skinny has always been something I've though was gross. Slender, maybe, but male or female, "skinny" is just gross.

 

*linked for being possibly disturbing

http://www.nothinspiration.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/anorexia-thinspiration-model-pro-ana.jpg

 

Yeah, that's so attractive

 

There are extremes either direction, but all the best physically is somewhere in between.

 

Of course, physical appearance isn't really all that important as long as the personality behind it is a winner

[Menorain]

Oh man I DESPISE being told I'm skinny. Especially by girls. Since a lot of ladies seem to have a hang up about weight they say "oh you're so thin", but it's almost insulting. The tone in which it's received makes one feel a bit ashamed about their body size and all that. It's not as if I'm like REALLY skinny either. I was, not that long ago, but I'm mainly muscle nowadays. BUT STILL, if it wasn't for my confidence and self belief I'd probably be going off having feasts and then making out with toilets.

 

Rant.com haha

[thephoenix]

Hmm...I'm kind of in the same boat, and after thinking for a bit, I feel I need to rephrase my previous post.

 

For guys, being told that they are skinny, is actually insulting. The "slim" compliment I was referring to would only typically apply to women who are constantly trying to slim down.

 

For guys, the ideal body shape in my opinion is the swimmer's build. Not as slim as the runner's build but not as bulky as the champion bodybuilders.

 

As for me, I need to consciously eat a large amount of calories to gain weight because I need to gain weight to achieve the ideal physique. What I was referring to in my previous post was that those on the other end of the scale need to "slim down" or just ..lose weight..to get to the ideal physique, but not to the point of being "slim" for guys.

Edited December 1, 2010 by thephoenix

[Soaran]

I like Tarins idea of cheaper child seats and more expensive "comfort" seats that would be kind of cool going in and them asking you do you want a Small, Medium, or Large? I would get the Large all the time especially flying across country I am to tall to sit comfortably in those air line seats with my knees against the seat in front of me, Especially on 3 hr + flights. And on that note I think its gym time lol.

[Curti]

That's absolutely ridiculous. What about people with narrow hips whose thighs will touch no matter how slim they are unless they're dangerously anorexic? Skinny has always been something I've though was gross. Slender, maybe, but male or female, "skinny" is just gross.

 

Um yeah my thighs touch does that mean I'm fat? Yet you can see all my joints and you can see my cheekbones, as rknapp mentioned earlier, hell you can see my clavicle, parts of my ribs, greater trochanter, etc. so I guess I'm uber skinny or skeleton skinny as someone was saying. However I'm a perfect body weight. I get sick of people trying to generalize what's skinny and what's fat. We were all made differently. Sure for me, I may be slim but not skinny. I really really hate having people tell me I'm skinny. They always have that tone of almost envy when they say it and it kind of hurts. Especially after middle and high school when I had been made fun of a number of times because of my weight. However, I finally realized that I could only make myself sick from overeating so many times before I had to accept my body. And I'm proud of who I am. We should just accept who we are and let others be who they are. We were all born differently. I was born with a small body and slightly overlarge ribs, who cares? Someone else may be born larger. What right do I or anyone else have to mock them for it. If god made us all the same, life would be hella boring.

 

Oh and P.S. "When feeling self-conscious about your own body just remember everybody has something that they are conscious about on their own body." - quote from Nicole my structural instructor

[Former Member]

I think that what we consider to be fat or skinny depends, to and extend, on the media. We are pretty much bombarded with images of people who are too slim to be real, thanks to Photoshop, and then people want to look like that, 'cause they start to think that that is how they are supposed to look and they become skinny. Too skinny, in a lot of cases, and that looks unhealthy and anything but attractive, if you ask me. There was this classmate of mine who did gymnastics as a hobby, and she often complained about how fat she looked, but her stomach was flat! There was no fat to be seen anywhere!

 

As for women, aren't we supposed to have some belly fat? I have some, and I think I'm pretty, not "ugly", or "fat". A little fat is only healthy. I'd rather be someone with a little too much fat than someone whose bones are visible everywhere.

 

As for the seats in the airplane thing: yes, I've heard about that, too, but I don't think people who need two seats should pay for both. One seat, plus a little extra, okay, that would be reasonable, but not for two seats! Those seats aren't that big anyway, I think the seats on the bus are bigger

 

Oh my, am I ranting.

[Raijen]

It really is a matter of perspective and actual health risks. I've been chubby before, then I lost a lot of weight through borderline anorexia, and after battling with my metabolism for a while I've finally gotten things back under control. I'm "slender", according to my friends, but i also have days where the body dysmorphia kicks in and I think I'm fat or I pick out one part of my body and obsess over it. I blame the ideals of beauty portrayed in the media along with the "eager to please" syndrome my mother unconsciously taught me, but just because I can place blame doesn't mean that I'm not responsible.

 

I walk, a lot. I work out when I get the chance. I drink water and stay away from soda. I eat food that I make from scratch, and eschew fast food. Yes, it's a pain in the ass sometimes, and there are times when i by a box of chocolates and gorge (I call it a reward lol). It basically comes to to a few things:

-Eat wholesome, healthy food

-Keep sugar to a minimum

-Drink at least a half a gallon of water a day

-Stay active as much as possible.

 

And it really is a matter of self-discipline. I know for myself that it's easy for me to gain weight. Flip side is that it's also easy to lose weight.

 

It does irritate me though... I dislike admitting this... But I do tend to have a prejudice against chubby guys. I'm not rude to them, no, but they tend to get skipped over when I'm scanning a room for cute men. *shrugs* Is it "right"? Probably not. I definitely ain't meaning to be rude or anything. Just pointing out that some prejudices are difficult to change, on every side of the issue.

[Zolia Lily]

Your friend should stop reading women's magazines! lol- i don't know if she does.... but apparently nothing destroy's a woman's self esteem faster than the very mags which are supposed to be all about women and all positive and feel good. They aren't. They're out to destroy you so you'll buy all the cosmetics they advertise and go to those spas and keep buying the magazine for more tips about how to be yourself and lose weight and feel great and how to love yourself (only 5 kilos lighter) and keep spending money on things that are never actually going to help you just so their editors can earn your hard earned money! (Ok. Rant over. Sorry.) ....

 

I'm a slender build, but i (usually) do not think i'm underweight, or "skinny". I think i'm pretty normal, actually. I HATE it when people make a big deal out of my size. I have to pack in the carbs and sugar to put on weight- and i don't think that's healthy. As long as i eat right and excercise, i think i'm healthy, and i don't think anyone has the right to judge me for being the size and shape i am. (I say usually since i've recently been sick and lost a fair bit of weight... but not enough that people should have started talking about me being anorexic behind my back! Which they apparently did!!!! And it's ok. I went back to the doctor this morning.)

 

I often wish i had curves- and actually was shaped like a woman. Half starved models on a catwalk aren't real people, they're wax dolls who are filling in for coathangers ... why are they the ideal to which women (or anyone!) should be compared? Starvation is not cool or hot. Health is waaay more important. And apparently it's actually more healthy to be fit and slightly overweight, than it is to be underweight and unfit. I think good health and confidence are the most attractive things on anyone.

 

the obese thing is tricky. I am often quick to judge, and say that, like smokers who get lung cancer, they can't have been blind to what they were doing to their bodies.... But then i also know that it isn't always easy. But in the end, on a flight you pay for the weight of your luggage and the space you take up... if you take up more and weigh more, then on one level, sure you should pay more. But if they do that, how about making kids pay less as well? Makes sense to me.