Is People Magazine glorifying obesity or celebrating diversity?

[Anonymous]

Only an idiot would question why People put her on the cover. It's to make money and generate discussion about People Magazine. It has nothing to do with fat people.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Glorifying obesity - seriously? Does anyone actually think that one magazine with an obese person on the cover - among the thousands of magazines with thin people on the covers - is going to make people aspire to obesity? I promise it won't. It won't even make people think that "obesity is OK," although people should think that, actually.

Obesity is not a lifestyle or a behavior or a moral failure, it's a body size. With few exceptions (none that I know of), obese people have suffered for their weight, do not want to look as they do, and have lost weight with varying degrees of success. Yet public debate about obesity assumes that fat people spend all their time binge-eating, don't care about their health or are too stupid to know how to be healthy, and are happy with how they look. Psychological research on willpower shows that it's not actually the magic key to weight loss; fat people do not score lower on self-control. It's very, very complicated biologically. Yes, the calories in < calories out equation is technically correct (absent medical issues), but it's just not that easy 95% of the time. (95%, btw, is the long-term failure rate of attempts to lose weight.)

We all have our struggles and our flaws. Maybe yours is your weight. Maybe it's something else not so good for your health - smoking, drinking too much, abusing prescription meds, driving aggressively, starving yourself, being sexually promiscuous. Maybe it's something not health-related - spending too much money, gossiping, yelling too much, cheating on your spouse, trolling online, generally being a shitty human being.

Anyway, obesity is "OK." It's as OK as any human imperfection. And I don't think that only people who can "pass" for perfect based on physical appearance deserve to be seen in public or celebrated for their accomplishments. No one is obligated to attempt to meet anyone else's definition of beauty. No one is entitled to be shielded from seeing people they consider ugly.

And honestly, if you do believe that people become obese because they've actively chosen a binge-eating, no exercise "lifestyle," so what? It's a free country and I can choose that if I want to. You are certainly free to choose differently and to teach your children differently. Exposure to someone with different values will not change your kids' values, any more than seeing a magazine with the Pope on the cover will make them convert to Catholicism.

Yes! To the whole damn thing!

YES to this!!!

I am technically obese, but you would probably just call me overweight based on my appearance (BMI of 30.8). I have actively tried to lose weight and I am trying to lose weight right now. For the past 6 weeks, I have tracked every single piece of food that enters my mouth. I do not eat more than 1200 calories a day. I walk at least 20 minutes every day and do 30 minutes on the elliptical 1-2/week in addition.

I have lost a grand total of 3 lbs in those 6 weeks. My thyroid is normal. There is no medical reason why I cannot lose weight. I eat whole grains and very little processed food. I eat out very rarely. My metabolism just sucks.

And I don't need other people telling me that I should be unhappy with my body and that, by my mere existence, I am setting a bad example for other people.

Cut out carbs and all sugar.

Done it. Did South Beach diet religiously. Did not eat any refined sugar or as much as a piece of fruit for a month. Lost zero pounds. My doctor doesn't know why I can't lose weight. Neither does the nutritionist I worked with, to whom I provided detailed food diaries.

I am a smart, educated person. But people who look at me see someone who they assume just has no willpower.

It's not about what you eat. It's all about how much you eat. Portion control. It's not rocket science. It's willpower.

Did you miss the part about eating only 1200 calories a day? Everything I eat is measured. I know about portion control. It's not all about willpower when your metabolism slows down any time you reduce calories.

I'm sure I could lose weight if I actually ate nothing. But no medical professional is supportive of me eating less than 1200 calories per day due to concerns about worsening my metabolism any more in the long term.

I am not trying to be rude or cause offense, but absent a major medical issue, it makes zero sense and is basically impossible that you are actually eating only 1,200 calories a day, exercising 20-30 minutes a day, and not losing any weight.

An interesting study was done that found obese individuals claiming intakes at 1,200 calories or less a day were significantly underreporting their intake and over reporting their exercise.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1454084

Some obese subjects repeatedly fail to lose weight even though they report restricting their caloric intake to less than 1200 kcal per day. We studied two explanations for this apparent resistance to diet--low total energy expenditure and underreporting of caloric intake--in 224 consecutive obese subjects presenting for treatment. Group 1 consisted of nine women and one man with a history of diet resistance in whom we evaluated total energy expenditure and its main thermogenic components and actual energy intake for 14 days by indirect calorimetry and analysis of body composition. Group 2, subgroups of which served as controls in the various evaluations, consisted of 67 women and 13 men with no history of diet resistance.
RESULTS:
Total energy expenditure and resting metabolic rate in the subjects with diet resistance (group 1) were within 5 percent of the predicted values for body composition, and there was no significant difference between groups 1 and 2 in the thermic effects of food and exercise. Low energy expenditure was thus excluded as a mechanism of self-reported diet resistance. In contrast, the subjects in group 1 underreported their actual food intake by an average (+/- SD) of 47 +/- 16 percent and overreported their physical activity by 51 +/- 75 percent. Although the subjects in group 1 had no distinct psychopathologic characteristics, they perceived a genetic cause for their obesity, used thyroid medication at a high frequency, and described their eating behavior as relatively normal (all P < 0.05 as compared with group 2).
CONCLUSIONS:
The failure of some obese subjects to lose weight while eating a diet they report as low in calories is due to an energy intake substantially higher than reported and an overestimation of physical activity, not to an abnormality in thermogenesis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question re metabolisms...

I've talked to naturally skinny people that just can't gain weight. They say they eat and eat but their metabolism is just too fast and so they don't gain. I think most people this type of person exits.

But then, a fat person says they diet and diet but can't seem to lose much weight. Say they have a very slow metabolism and losing weight is very hard for them. And people call them a liar - tell them they are actually reducing calories, etc.

I find this odd.

Agreed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question re metabolisms...

I've talked to naturally skinny people that just can't gain weight. They say they eat and eat but their metabolism is just too fast and so they don't gain. I think most people this type of person exits.

But then, a fat person says they diet and diet but can't seem to lose much weight. Say they have a very slow metabolism and losing weight is very hard for them. And people call them a liar - tell them they are actually reducing calories, etc.

I find this odd.

I have a sibling who is obese, while I am quite slim. While I do have a faster metabolism than her, she eats like crap. She claimed when we were growing up to not eat that much, but to easily gain weight, but she would sit down and eat an entire bag of potato chips in front of the TV after school, snack on fun sized candy bars, and then go on to eat a full sized dinner. She lost a ton of weight through diet and exercise, but gained part of it back after she started eating like crap again. She simply eats way too much to keep her weight down. While she complains I can eat anything I want and that is true, I don't want to eat four plates of food at a buffet plus dessert and I exercise 4-6 times/week. I eat a ton of fruit and veggies every day and have small, healthy meals and snacks throughout the day. So while I do have the benefit of genetics on my side and she has a tougher time, she consumes way more than I do every day and doesn't exercise enough to offset the calories she's taking in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question re metabolisms...

I've talked to naturally skinny people that just can't gain weight. They say they eat and eat but their metabolism is just too fast and so they don't gain. I think most people this type of person exits.

But then, a fat person says they diet and diet but can't seem to lose much weight. Say they have a very slow metabolism and losing weight is very hard for them. And people call them a liar - tell them they are actually reducing calories, etc.

I find this odd.

I have a sibling who is obese, while I am quite slim. While I do have a faster metabolism than her, she eats like crap. She claimed when we were growing up to not eat that much, but to easily gain weight, but she would sit down and eat an entire bag of potato chips in front of the TV after school, snack on fun sized candy bars, and then go on to eat a full sized dinner. She lost a ton of weight through diet and exercise, but gained part of it back after she started eating like crap again. She simply eats way too much to keep her weight down. While she complains I can eat anything I want and that is true, I don't want to eat four plates of food at a buffet plus dessert and I exercise 4-6 times/week. I eat a ton of fruit and veggies every day and have small, healthy meals and snacks throughout the day. So while I do have the benefit of genetics on my side and she has a tougher time, she consumes way more than I do every day and doesn't exercise enough to offset the calories she's taking in.

You sound like a great sister and an all-around awesome person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question re metabolisms...

I've talked to naturally skinny people that just can't gain weight. They say they eat and eat but their metabolism is just too fast and so they don't gain. I think most people this type of person exits.

But then, a fat person says they diet and diet but can't seem to lose much weight. Say they have a very slow metabolism and losing weight is very hard for them. And people call them a liar - tell them they are actually reducing calories, etc.

I find this odd.

I have a sibling who is obese, while I am quite slim. While I do have a faster metabolism than her, she eats like crap. She claimed when we were growing up to not eat that much, but to easily gain weight, but she would sit down and eat an entire bag of potato chips in front of the TV after school, snack on fun sized candy bars, and then go on to eat a full sized dinner. She lost a ton of weight through diet and exercise, but gained part of it back after she started eating like crap again. She simply eats way too much to keep her weight down. While she complains I can eat anything I want and that is true, I don't want to eat four plates of food at a buffet plus dessert and I exercise 4-6 times/week. I eat a ton of fruit and veggies every day and have small, healthy meals and snacks throughout the day. So while I do have the benefit of genetics on my side and she has a tougher time, she consumes way more than I do every day and doesn't exercise enough to offset the calories she's taking in.

You sound like a great sister and an all-around awesome person.

y u mad? I'm just providing insight on what I've seen first person going on with someone who claimed to not eat that much, but was really eating a ton of food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question re metabolisms...

I've talked to naturally skinny people that just can't gain weight. They say they eat and eat but their metabolism is just too fast and so they don't gain. I think most people this type of person exits.

But then, a fat person says they diet and diet but can't seem to lose much weight. Say they have a very slow metabolism and losing weight is very hard for them. And people call them a liar - tell them they are actually reducing calories, etc.

I find this odd.

I have a sibling who is obese, while I am quite slim. While I do have a faster metabolism than her, she eats like crap. She claimed when we were growing up to not eat that much, but to easily gain weight, but she would sit down and eat an entire bag of potato chips in front of the TV after school, snack on fun sized candy bars, and then go on to eat a full sized dinner. She lost a ton of weight through diet and exercise, but gained part of it back after she started eating like crap again. She simply eats way too much to keep her weight down. While she complains I can eat anything I want and that is true, I don't want to eat four plates of food at a buffet plus dessert and I exercise 4-6 times/week. I eat a ton of fruit and veggies every day and have small, healthy meals and snacks throughout the day. So while I do have the benefit of genetics on my side and she has a tougher time, she consumes way more than I do every day and doesn't exercise enough to offset the calories she's taking in.

You sound like a great sister and an all-around awesome person.

y u mad? I'm just providing insight on what I've seen first person going on with someone who claimed to not eat that much, but was really eating a ton of food.

I'm sure some people - both thin and fat - underestimate their caloric intake. But if you've seriously tracked everything you eat, measured out ingredients, weighed servings with a food scale, etc., you're probably not underestimating TOO much. And if you're doing a plan like Nutrisystem or Jenny Craig, where all of the meals are pre-portioned, there is really no room for error. Yet some people's metabolisms just will not let them lose weight.

Look, if someone is able to eat only prepackaged Nutrisystem meals for 6 months and work out with a personal trainer 5x/week for 6 months, they will probably lose weight. But for most people, doing that is not sustainable. Plus, they usually gain a large amount of the weight back afterwards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glorifying obesity - seriously? Does anyone actually think that one magazine with an obese person on the cover - among the thousands of magazines with thin people on the covers - is going to make people aspire to obesity? I promise it won't. It won't even make people think that "obesity is OK," although people should think that, actually.

Obesity is not a lifestyle or a behavior or a moral failure, it's a body size. With few exceptions (none that I know of), obese people have suffered for their weight, do not want to look as they do, and have lost weight with varying degrees of success. Yet public debate about obesity assumes that fat people spend all their time binge-eating, don't care about their health or are too stupid to know how to be healthy, and are happy with how they look. Psychological research on willpower shows that it's not actually the magic key to weight loss; fat people do not score lower on self-control. It's very, very complicated biologically. Yes, the calories in < calories out equation is technically correct (absent medical issues), but it's just not that easy 95% of the time. (95%, btw, is the long-term failure rate of attempts to lose weight.)

We all have our struggles and our flaws. Maybe yours is your weight. Maybe it's something else not so good for your health - smoking, drinking too much, abusing prescription meds, driving aggressively, starving yourself, being sexually promiscuous. Maybe it's something not health-related - spending too much money, gossiping, yelling too much, cheating on your spouse, trolling online, generally being a shitty human being.

Anyway, obesity is "OK." It's as OK as any human imperfection. And I don't think that only people who can "pass" for perfect based on physical appearance deserve to be seen in public or celebrated for their accomplishments. No one is obligated to attempt to meet anyone else's definition of beauty. No one is entitled to be shielded from seeing people they consider ugly.

And honestly, if you do believe that people become obese because they've actively chosen a binge-eating, no exercise "lifestyle," so what? It's a free country and I can choose that if I want to. You are certainly free to choose differently and to teach your children differently. Exposure to someone with different values will not change your kids' values, any more than seeing a magazine with the Pope on the cover will make them convert to Catholicism.

Yes! To the whole damn thing!

YES to this!!!

I am technically obese, but you would probably just call me overweight based on my appearance (BMI of 30.8). I have actively tried to lose weight and I am trying to lose weight right now. For the past 6 weeks, I have tracked every single piece of food that enters my mouth. I do not eat more than 1200 calories a day. I walk at least 20 minutes every day and do 30 minutes on the elliptical 1-2/week in addition.

I have lost a grand total of 3 lbs in those 6 weeks. My thyroid is normal. There is no medical reason why I cannot lose weight. I eat whole grains and very little processed food. I eat out very rarely. My metabolism just sucks.

And I don't need other people telling me that I should be unhappy with my body and that, by my mere existence, I am setting a bad example for other people.

Cut out carbs and all sugar.

Done it. Did South Beach diet religiously. Did not eat any refined sugar or as much as a piece of fruit for a month. Lost zero pounds. My doctor doesn't know why I can't lose weight. Neither does the nutritionist I worked with, to whom I provided detailed food diaries.

I am a smart, educated person. But people who look at me see someone who they assume just has no willpower.

It's not about what you eat. It's all about how much you eat. Portion control. It's not rocket science. It's willpower.

Did you miss the part about eating only 1200 calories a day? Everything I eat is measured. I know about portion control. It's not all about willpower when your metabolism slows down any time you reduce calories.

I'm sure I could lose weight if I actually ate nothing. But no medical professional is supportive of me eating less than 1200 calories per day due to concerns about worsening my metabolism any more in the long term.

Most people underestimate how much they eat. If you are fine being overweight just say so.

I'm not fine being overweight. I keep trying to lose weight. I keep going to different medical professionals. I just get frustrated when people assume that fat people are fat because they are lazy and don't know how to eat (the right amount of) healthy food.

You don't need a professional to tell you to eat less. You are looking for a professional to tell you it's not your fault that is hard to lose weight. It is hard to lose weight. Eating less is hard when you are used to eating more. Stop looking for someone to justify your eating. Eat less.

I'm not looking for a professional to hold my hand and tell me they get that it's hard. I'm looking for someone who can figure out why I can't lose weight. I don't eat much. I measure servings. I track everything I eat. If I don't know the nutritional value, I don't eat it. I don't have trouble eating less. But for some people, eating less =/= losing weight.

Not a doctor but you may be eating too few calories putting your body into survivor mode. Up your consumption by a 100 calories until you see a change. I only lose weight when my carb consumption is ~25 percent of my calories. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Wow live fast die pretty must be her motto, because she is a heart attack waiting to happen.

[Anonymous]

She's on there because she's a story, not because she's a role model. It isn't Women's Health.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She's on there because she's a story, not because she's a role model. It isn't Women's Health.

The story is about how she is a hero and role model for fat acceptance. Her cause is called "Eff your beauty standards" So the story is about her being a role model....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's on there because she's a story, not because she's a role model. It isn't Women's Health.

The story is about how she is a hero and role model for fat acceptance. Her cause is called "Eff your beauty standards" So the story is about her being a role model....

People isn't saying they condone her lifestyle. They have murderers on the cover sometimes! She's making news, we're talking about her, she's a person, so she's on the cover of People. I don't see it as a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's on there because she's a story, not because she's a role model. It isn't Women's Health.

The story is about how she is a hero and role model for fat acceptance. Her cause is called "Eff your beauty standards" So the story is about her being a role model....

People isn't saying they condone her lifestyle. They have murderers on the cover sometimes! She's making news, we're talking about her, she's a person, so she's on the cover of People. I don't see it as a big deal.

They don't call murders they put on their covers role models though. You are really missing the point of the OPs question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's on there because she's a story, not because she's a role model. It isn't Women's Health.

The story is about how she is a hero and role model for fat acceptance. Her cause is called "Eff your beauty standards" So the story is about her being a role model....

People isn't saying they condone her lifestyle. They have murderers on the cover sometimes! She's making news, we're talking about her, she's a person, so she's on the cover of People. I don't see it as a big deal.

They don't call murders they put on their covers role models though. You are really missing the point of the OPs question.

I'm not, though. Nowhere do they call her lifestyle a model one. Her mentality? Confidence and anti-discrimination? Sure. But nowhere does it say others should strive to look like her, and reading that into it is really a stretch.

Again, she's on there because she's a story. When she's on the cover of Fitness, it's an issue.

[Anonymous]

Jesus what an ugly ugly ugly thread. I think all of you talking about the dangers of 'glorifying obesity' should go spend some time with teenage (and preteen and even child) girls or even reading some research about teenage girls' mentality. Because most young girls are taught to start finding flaws with their body by 10 years old. Four out of five 10 year olds are AFRAID of becoming fat. You most certainly will not find a teenage girl who thinks obesity is a great goal. You will find a lot of teenage girls would think that obesity is basically the worst thing that could possibly happen to them. You will find teenage girls that believe that their BMI is the most important thing in their life.

Sure, obesity isn't a great health choice, but guess what, there are worse things that could happen to a girl. Instead of focusing on education, on not being used by a boy (or girl), on learning how to believe in themselves, on seeing their worth as human beings, they are worried about being fat. So while Tess is most certainly on the extreme end, I DO think it is valuable to show these girls that obesity is not something that will cease to make them count as human beings, and that is what society and 80% of this thread is telling them every single day. Every single day they are told they aren't pretty or thin enough, and the one time a magazine has the gal to put it out there that someone can be obese, even morbidly obese, and still find joy in the world and is still able to find value in themselves as a human being they are told they are perpetuating fatness.

It SUCKS to be fat in America. It sucks to even be chubby in America. This is not going to change, so you all have already won. All you do in moments like these is make sure the fat people know how much you truly hate and loathe them. And that, to me, doesn't seem like a recipe to get them motivated to change. It seems like a motivation for depression. And it seems like a poison we are infecting our young girls with.