Fat Shaming (fatism)- The Apparently Still Publicly Acceptable Discrimination

This is a topic that recently became something of a concern for me after having my own heart attack, just before Christmas. My recovery is going well if not a little slow for my liking at the moment. But it takes as long as it takes.

I digress, however, what I really wanted to post about is fat shaming and the fact that it still seems to be publicly acceptable for people to shame people for their appearance especially if it is a person that is holding extra weight. What has society come to when we rage against all manner of slights and injustices. But find that it is acceptable to make judgements upon those that have weight issues.

I myself have a weight issue, especially after my heart attack because I haven’t been able to output enough energy to create a calorific deficit, which is what fat loss is all about. Outputting more energy then you put in.

Since my heart attack, especially with the meds, I have found that my body is a more resistant to losing weight, whether that be because of the change in my mindset, or through some base level changes in my body after the shock of getting sick, I don’t know.

I have also found that my recovery has become somewhat of a public topic, where people think it is fine to offer all kinds of advice and judgements. It is really amazing how much they think they can say without people taking offence to it.

My current gripe is that people judge my every move. I have made a lot of steps to recovery and not all of them are visible, some are even mental. But because people can’t see them, I am currently relegated tothe fat person that sits in the corner, that doesn’t do anything to get better.

In particular, a couple of people make comment on my going out for lunch with some teammates once a week, something that I didn’t always do before my medical event. Well, now I have been trying to do it whenever I can. I know the food is sometimes not the best of healthy choices and a burger is not great, but I actually do it for the social aspect. This is because apart from that one lunch a week I really don’t participate in getting making lasting friendships with my workmates.

So I take this time once a week if I can to participate and feel like one of the group because since getting sick, I have been isolated. I can’t participate in the high impact boot camps and stuff like that and these are the things that bring them all together.

But regardless of this line of thought and explanation people still think I am trying to force myself into an early grave. Where actually the reserve is true, I’m actually trying to stay connected to the world in which I live.

I have had people say all kinds of things to me over the years, but I find these subtle jabs the worst because I know they are coming once a week, without fail. The main one I receive at the moment is a gentle one but no less hurtful and it is ‘what health food are we having today’, this comes from a person that should know better than to say such things but continues to do it every week.

I guess I write this just to make sure that people know that they need to consider things from the perspectives of others and make sure that those little jokes are not the things that are actually hurting people.

It is hard to make people see that if you haven’t walked in the shoes of others then you probably shouldn’t make comment unless you have had the person ask your opinion or advice.

Would love for you all to comment below of a time that your were made to feel less then what you really are and what you did to get around it!