I am Fatphobic
Or so, they say
Many of my frequentations say that I have an issue with fatness, overweight and obesity. That I am not body-positive and low-key mean. But as much as I would like to say that it is not true, it is. I am indeed scared of “fat people”.
As a history enthusiast, I discovered quickly that a “fashionable” silhouette is really just a fling of time. While being used today as means to showcase that one ought to love themselves and appreciate what they are, there is a noticeable backside of the “body positivity” movement: the lack of objectivity when talking about health.
We all know we are faced with a complete lifestyle change everywhere: people are less active, the food more processed and generally of lower quality; that means people get fat, fatter and faster.
And while it seems like nobody’s business, the obesity epidemic has become a reality, especially among children. Yet, I will not come here and pretend that anyone being nice, slender, or thin is healthy. Because it is not true even the healthiest person can be a little curvy, even fat to a certain extent while maintaining good life hygiene. However, it is wrong to systematically market “fatness” as something that is healthy[1]. Whatever the reason.
People are different, their metabolisms have different speeds, their bone structures are bigger or smaller or their bodies can be fleshier. But a thing that people do not seem to realise is that the moments that really matter and can change things are those when there are no problems. To understand what I mean, I shall explain the process of gaining a lot of weight.
The body is a really nice machine wired to survive for as long as possible (age) as well as possible (health). And will take what is needed to survive, nothing more or less; because too much of anything cannot be good, it never is. Well, when you first start to “gain” weight[2] you do not actually see it, because it happens inside. But as things change whether it be diet, exercise, hormonal imbalances or all of it; the body will also change its way to function. Instead of trying to get rid of the sugar or fat, it will start stocking, instead of peeing the water out, it will retain, instead of maintaining the muscle, it will replace it with fat and by the time you notice what is happening, it will be really hard to stop the snowball. The machine has been rewired and you need a new code if you want it to stop.
So now, there is nothing inherently bad that has happened, yet. Still, the code is now running and the problem with an imperfect code is the cracks. And as the energy to run the code is diminishing, bigger and more numerous are the cracks. And that’s what scares me: the potentiality of the body self-destructing.
I think no one needs a drawing of the consequences of weight: diabetes, cardiac and lymphatic problems, immobility, hypertension and I miss many others. A peculiar and funny thing with these “diseases” is that they pile and erupt from each other -you don’t wake up a day needing an endarterectomy - but you’ll be more tired, which will make you less mobile, which will start to hurt your joints making you in pain, tired and even less mobile. Then you would probably start to retain water too, usually, at this point your diabetes[3] would have already presented itself with your hypertension, making you even less mobile. Also, fat is heavy, going from your feet, through your knees, hips and finally back, your articulations will start to give in. At this moment your body does not work for you anymore, it just works to not die and deal with itself. Your heart is tired as well as your lungs, overworked by too much of you.
Now, you will say that it is a really dramatic scenario and that it does not happen every day. True, I can concede that. But considering the way things already are, is it really not that farfetched? Also, all these medical possibilities are just probabilities, some smoke all their lives and are completely fine forever, yet the “unnatural” augmentation of these percentages should still frighten a little, especially when it starts so young.
Still, I do not want to give a narrative of self-hate or guilt nor do I pretend it is easy, like said in the beginning, a lot of these changes are societal and hard it is to swim against the current. But it does not mean you can do nothing or should say nothing. A thing that truly marked me when watching and reading documentaries was to see the regrets of these people, and said: “Oh, I did not listen, I thought they were exaggerating when they said I gained weight because it wasn’t that bad until it became so bad that even I could not do anything about it”, “I hope what I am doing now will allow me to be with my children longer”, “I do my best so my children do not live like me”. And these are real people, not potentialities or proportions.
Is sparing someone from a might be harmful comment worth all the pain later on? I do not think so.
Post-scriptum
Why do I use the title fat and not obese?
Because people be in denial, I swear to you. People be 1m65 for 110kg[4] and will try to gaslight you into thinking that it is completely healthy and that they are not obese. You be talking about the obesity epidemic and they do not feel concerned, at all.
[1] I mostly refer to the February 2021 Cosmopolitan UK issue case.
[2] You will understand later that the problem is not really weight per se.
[3] Did you know that diabetes can get you amputated?
[4] I actually do not know the number but it seems like a lot, too much to be okay.
