Casual Conversation

Unsolicited advice based on someone's physical appearance is generally regarded as pretty rude where I'm from. Rude enough to worry that saying it to an unknown person might even trigger a violent response.

On the internet, however, there's a pretty low risk of any kind of reaction that would affect the person who made the comment.

It might be my most boomeresque opinion, but I think people simply are increasingly not learning what is considered rude and that they then shouldn't do those things.

This is a pretty old topic in modern discussion, but there's no reason to downvote it when bringing it up in a legitimate, honest way. Sorry for the casual negatives, OP.

In any case, it's certainly easy to be overweight for a variety of reasons, as I've discovered myself in the post-Covid era, when my main form of local exercise got shut down. (two forms, really)

IIRC there are also studies finding that some people can gain weight eating the exact same diet as control subjects, and the science is still working to understand the totality of mechanisms involved.

How the hell would people know you are fat.

Besides, people could have their own reasons to be fat. Maybe they don’t have time to work out, maybe they have some physical problems that don’t allow them to work out or maybe that’s just the way they want to live.

Absolutely. There's also: they could have a medical condition, it could be their "least worst" way of coping with stress/trauma, they could live in a food desert, ... But ultimately, like you say, it's THEIR business how they do the "pursuit of happiness" thing.

The whole focus on fatness shifts away focus from the two problem a society has - poor nutrition, poor basic education, and work culture.

That's why you see so much toxicity towards fatness in the USA vs other countries - because the government and corporations push that forward.

That people are overworked to extremes where cooking is difficult, that beef is subsidized so much while broccoli isn't , that education is so underfunded a course on actual nutrition is nearly non existent - those are all problems caused by the right wing and the oligarchy. And if you turn people against being fat, rather than being healthy, then it's easier to not pay attention to the real problems that society has.

And now, there's even an added financial reason now to avoid focusing on health and instead just purely on appearance, with drugs like Wegovy existing.

Being fat doesn't mean unhealthy, and neither does being skinny. You can be overweight but easily lift your own weight, you can fat and run a km under 7 minutes, and you can be skinny as a twig but struggle to open a jar or easily break your bones because you only eat 800 calories a day but 500 of those come from cookies.

In any country without universal healthcare, someome else being fat is 100% not your problem.

I think part of the issue is that someone being fat does often become other people's problem, in ways that are not obvious. For example: a while ago I was on vacation, and met up with some friends. We were gonna go to a museum. One of those friends brought their (obese) friend. Suddenly, the four block walk from the parking garage to the museum needed two rest breaks. Then we needed to take a rest break every 20 minutes in the museum. Then instead of walking to dinner, we needed to get taxis. Not to mention the nearly constant vader breath punctuated by bitching about being tired.

I mean, I'm not gonna call someone out for being too fat to function. But they do notice when I stop inviting them places.

At one point they casually mentioned that the last time they gave their 8 year old kid broccoli, the kid threw a tantrum as soon as they saw it on the plate. Apparently, the only way they can get their 8 year old to eat is with pizza. Guess what shape that 8 year old is?

I don't mind fat people to be honest but just don't be overweight or unhealthy for your system to handle 😅 coming from someone who is borderline red on bmi

I don't think bullying is ok because it causes psychological harm.

But IMO it's wrong to view obesity as something personal and not affecting others.

Fat people consume more resources than their body needs. These extra calories could (in theory) be used to support lives of the starving. No wonder gluttony is considered a sin among most cultures.

I mean, it's not contagious?

But it is contagious. Being surrounded by fat people increases the likelihood that you will be overweight too. And it works the other way around and with drugs, and smoking etc too.

When I hang with healthy people, I usually end up eating a lot less junk and being more active.