Are you a weightist?

[Kire]

When I was a kid, I looked down on fat people because I thought they were just lazy, ate too much and refused to do anything physical. I grew up and learned that all of our bodies are not the same, but I still run into skinny people who don't understand this, then will down 2 quarter pounders, and later have a chili dog that day, and haven't excercised in years. Meanwhile, I work out at least an hour a day (sometimes 2 hours), mostly eat small meals, and still struggle with being slightly overweight (I used to be much worse). I used to be like them, but you'd think they'd grow up and see this truth.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/sto...4568813&page=1

Still, I can't help but think someone will be a better worker or more reliable if they're not overweight, but this has NO relevance at my workplace...NONE. The reason I say this is because we have fat, skinny, all sorts of shapes of people here, and the level of their competance seems to have nothing to do with their skill or work ethic. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are both overweight, and they're incredibly successful. Sure, I've met some fat lazy people, but I've met many skinny lazy people as well.

Are you a "weightist?" I still catch myself having unfair assumptions about fat people, despite being proven time and time again that it's not relevant. How much do you think you know about a person based on the shape of their body?

[Nixon]

Re: Are you a weightist?

I didn't really think about it until I befriended someone that was truely huge and I saw how people reacted to him.

I try not to let someone's weight affect how I feel about them, but I still get annoyed when I'm crushed between a gigantic obese person and the bus window, since they fill more than one seat. You never know if it's genetic, a health condition, or if they just decided that being that large was okay for some reason.

I get a lot of grief for being thin, but the women on my mother's side of the family are just built that way. I eat all the time, but people assume I'm starving myself, and they feel free to let me know. My response is usually "if you feel that way, let's order a pizza,"

[IRC]

Re: Are you a weightist?

Just ask them if they're buying.

[Big Rick Cook]

Re: Are you a weightist?

Hey fatty fat fat. Fatty fat fat.

I have nothing worthwhile to add to this.

[DK]

Re: Are you a weightist?

Karma?

[Biggie]

Re: Are you a weightist?

I used to be very skinny as a kid, until six or so, when I got the sega genesis, then I got into average weight. A few years later something called the Nintendo 64 came out, and I got one of those too, then well, I pretty much grew into a fat kid.

Then when I was 17 I weighed about 245 pounds. It was pretty bad. So I quit drinking pop, eating fast food, and starting drinking lots of water. I lost about 40 pounds in a year, just from changing my lifestyle alone. Then in the past year I lost about 10 pounds. Now I'm really at the point to where I don't really need to lose weight, but be in better shape. I suggest that Kire starts a pavilion fit club 2. I'm still a little overweight, but at least now I can get a date now. Can't say that about myself in highschool.

As for me being a weightest, yeah, I kind of can be. I can't stand the type of morbidly obese poeple that need to be wheeled around the airport, and never thought to make a healthy choice in their lives. But again for me that falls into the unnecessarily helpless poeple party that I dread.

[John Mora]

Re: Are you a weightist?

For some reason, I've found that people that used to be fat hate fat people a lot more than someone that's just been average.

[Kire]

Re: Are you a weightist?

Karma?

Nah...genetics. My Dad was an amazing athelete (HS football MVP, returned kicks, running back, and wide reciever) and a rediculous sprinter. He's still a great athelete, but he's also overweight, a living contradiction. I used to see him outrun kids 30 years younger than him on a weekly basis, rode the bike 5 days a week, and he's still overweight...it's one of the reasons I'm so paranoid about my own health.

[Shard]

Re: Are you a weightist?

I used to be egregiously overweight, now only moderately so. I went from about 315 (on a 6'2" average build) to 215 currently. I still find myself mildly disgusted with my own body, and more so of those who are vastly heavier than I am/was.

I don't really associate laziness with it at all, or job performance. But I can't help but wonder how people could let themselves get to that point (morbidly obese), even having been pretty close to it myself.

As a side note, I found myself to be a much more desirable job candidate after I'd lost the weight, though my other qualifying factors...education, experience, personality, etc...hadn't changed.

[Sejon]

Re: Are you a weightist?

I will forever be underweight no matter what, thanks to genetics.

But eh, I like being skinny.

[Denmo]

Re: Are you a weightist?

Working at the theme park, I see a lot of fat families. The mom's huge and usually on a wheelchair, the dad's got a beer belly, and the kids' heads are the size of melons. It's sickening to me. And you can usually tell that they aren't fighting it, because they'll go to the snack bar and order sodas and french fries and all that, or the parents smoke with the children nearby.

I know it's probably just a Southern thing (what with their diet of barbeque bacon rib sandwiches and Sweet Tea), but lately I've been seeing more and more overweight people walking around. Can you really blame just genetics on something this rampant?

I mean, come down to GA and please tell me that every last person you see here is fat by genetics only. What about the cost of healthy food vs the cost of junk food? What about cars, television, and technology removing our immediate need for exercise?

[jacquel]

Re: Are you a weightist?

I'm much too lazy to go find the study but apparently people act in response to stereotypes concerning fat people/weight more than they do skin color, gender, or age in job interviews.

I don't think much of it normally, but if I see unattractive qualities like someone who is obnoxious, loud, rude, etc, if they're also overweight it just seems to catalyze my disdain. I'll be quite honest.

[Valkysas]

Re: Are you a weightist?

Healthy food is far cheaper than junk food. fresh fruit is cheap. you can buy pre-mixed salads for 3 dollars in a pretty big bag.

it's the convenience factor. it takes no effort to prepare most junk food. usually no cleanup either. it lasts longer too.

[Denmo]

Re: Are you a weightist?

I only look down on people who don't seem to give a damn about the harm they're doing to themselves and to others. People smoking in public places near others and their kids. Parents who use the television to babysit. Fat people using the disabled person's kart to move around when they could easily get up and walk.

America's so full of ignorance these days, it's hard not to be discriminative.

[Kire]

Re: Are you a weightist?

Um...everywhere I've been, healthy food is way more expensive than fast food...but that's just me.