I’m not a nutritionist and I know practically stuff all about the BMI, yet I can tell you when someone is overweight.

Sure it can be marginally subjective from person to person but there’s always that crystal clear threshold that once crossed, you realise a person is overinflated just that little too much.

Fatties getting the long end of the stick on society is nothing new. Whilst there’s definitely been a shift towards the unrealistically thin stereotype over the last few decades, I’m at a loss to recall a period in history where fatties were looked upon favourably.

If anyone can recall a time then it’s news to me.

Whatever the reason, there’s also been a dramatic increase in our waistlines and with this has brought the notion that it’s ok to be overweight.

Despite my protests, “Let’s not celebrate the fatties just yet“, the fact is that fatty numbers have exploded in the last decade has brought with it a strength in numbers supporting fatties and their body sizes.

Trashing diets, refuting scientific studies and dismissing anyone who suggests being fat as anything but healthy, ‘fat acceptance’ appears to be the centrepiece of this movement.

After writing about Magda Szubanski’s anti-cyclist rant yesterday I saw an inbound link pop up from Australian blog ‘Fatlotofgood‘, run by 30 something year old, size 22 and 130kg ‘Bri King’. As I do with most of my inbound links I curiously headed over to see what the site was about.

The title of the blog post I’d been linked to was ‘I think I’ve recovered now so let’s have some Fat Acceptance 101‘ and as I read on I couldn’t believe the nonsense showcased in the post.

Fat Acceptance is not about encouraging people to gain weight. It is about learning to accept and love who you are at this present moment and working with what you have to have a happy and fulfilling life.


Whilst I’m glad that the site supposedly doesn’t encourage people to put on more weight, what’s all this nonsense about being complicit with not fitting through doorways or causing more damage to footpaths then trees?!

If you’re fat, there’s a reason you might be finding it difficult to have a happy and fulfilling life – YOUR BODY IS TRYING TO TELL YOU SOMETHING!

Diets are not the answer to long term weight loss. There is currently no guaranteed answer to long term weight loss.


Sure, dietS might not be the answer to long term weight loss but surely Bri you’re not suggesting that dieT has nothing to do with it?

I mean really, what you fuel your body with has no bearing on your weight? Next you’ll be telling us breathing in air puts on the kilos.

Fat does not equate with ill health, just as thin does not equate with good health.


Seriously when was the last time you saw a healthy fat person? Why is it that outside our ‘over-consuming, stuff your face till you explode’ society being overweight doesn’t exist? How many fat people are there in poor countries?!

You don’t get fat by being healthy, you do however maintain a healthy weight by living healthy.

I’m not even going to address the thin comment as whaling on thin people doesn’t in any way justify eating more food in one sitting then an African nation eats in an entire year.

Fat people are not all lazy, gluttonous slobs who spend all day sitting on the sofa eating donuts. Just as not all thin people are out exercising daily and eating nothing but leafy greens.


Here’s a newsflash for you, most people have to put some effort into maintaining a healthy weight. Sure there are metabolic exceptions which keep people thin but by and large fat people are the result of their own lifestyles.

Having said that even with the skinny metabolic exception people the fact is that they are burning off their energy somehow before it is stored as fat. For this to happen you have to put the donuts down and get off the couch.

Sorry but there’s no way around this.

You cannot believe everything reported in the media regarding the so called ‘obesity epidemic’.


Forget the media, get off the freaking couch and go have a look for yourself!

Shopping centre food courts are the worst but even walking down a footpath in Melbourne’s CBD – Jesus Christ some people need one of those escort cars carrying a wide load sign to follow them around so that the rest of us don’t get bowled over.

You cannot believe everything you read in Results section of studies – you need to learn how to analyse such studies and consider things such as the sample, the methodology and who is sponsoring the research.


I assume you’re talking about studies into heart disease and the other stuff commonly associated with being fat. Well ok, let’s discount all that, where’s all the studies showing there’s no link between them?

On the most basic of levels being overweight causes extra stress on your body (forget science, it’s clearly visible when you ask a fat person to do anything more physically strenuous than lifting  a donut to their mouth) which in turn wears out the heart faster.

Then there’s cholesterol clogging your arteries and everything making the heart work harder again. Yes skinny people can have cholesterol problems, but it’s largely due to the same reason fat people have it – a crap diet.

This shared symptom in no way justifies being overweight.

Show me one doctor who’s going to stand up and say ‘being fat carries no associated health risks’.

Fat people deserve to be treated with the same dignity and respect that average weight people do.


Yeah no.

What then, we remove the hounding of overweight outcasts and it becomes normal. Then one day we wake up and realise average weight is what ‘overweight’ was 10 years ago and overweight is beyond morbidly obese.

Society’s bias against fat people exists for a very good reason, to discourage people from joining the ranks.

The BMI is a flawed measure and not appropriate for categorising body weight.


I don’t care about the BMI so stop hiding behind it.

If I look at you and my eyeballs feel like they’ve just been sodomized, you need to lose some weight.

If you find yourself stuck in a doorway, you need to lose some weight.

If you get into a car and the car groans and tilts to one side, you need to lose some weight.

We don’t need ‘scientific measurements’ to tell us who is and isn’t overweight, it’s blatantly obvious.

There is such a thing as ‘thin privilege’ and it pervades Western society (and probably other societies as well).


It isn’t thin privilege, it’s ‘fat disadvantage’. And as I said before, rightly so. Encouraging people to be fat by reward and preference is dangerous.

People are fat for a variety of reasons. Some people are fat because of medication, some are fat because of genetics, some are fat because they eat a lot. It doesn’t matter why someone is fat. It is irrelevant why someone is fat. Every fatty deserves to be treated with respect regardless of WHY they are fat.


All I see is excuses.

‘waaah the anti-depressants I take to cope with my depression from being fat makes me overweight’

‘waaah *munchmunchmunch* I have fat genetics *munchmunchmunch* it’s not my fault!’

I agree it doesn’t matter why someone is fat but it’s certainly not irrelevant. Respect is earned and you don’t earn it by disrespecting your body. Weight wise your body is a literal physical representation of how you treat it.

Correlation does not equal causation. In other words it has not been proved that fat actually causes diabetes, heart attacks and all the rest. There is a correlation between fat and those conditions but it has not been shown how actual body fat could cause these illnesses and until it has, that is correlation which does not equal causation.


Jesus Christ stop deluding yourself already. This sounds like some bullshit a mother would tell her fat child whilst she makes them a bacon hamburger for breakfast after the child complains about being picked on for being fat.

Fat people put tons more stress on their bodies when doing day to day normal tasks, you don’t need to be a scientist to put two and two together and see how over time this can cause heart attacks.

As for diabetes, hello? Massive sugar laden diets?!


I’m not for a second advocating anorexia but I’ll certainly stand up and say that going around telling fatties it’s ok to be fat is equally as dangerous and destructive.

Fat people are a huge burden on our medical system, are horrendous to look at, damage the environment and expect us all to just accept that it’s in their genetics or some other such rubbish.

Sorry guys, not going to happen. Instead of huddling around the internet in your protected self help groups preaching to each other that being fat is acceptable how about you get off your arses and set yourselves some worthwhile goals.

Being average weight isn’t some exclusive elite club that is difficult to join, you just need to put a little effort in and make some lifestyle changes. Diet (not necessarily dieting), exercise, moderation and balance.

That’s pretty much all there is to it.

Oh and don’t bother trying to hold a discussion on Fatlotofgood, Bri clearly states she’s got her fingers in her ears when it comes to people who don’t share her opinion;

Maybe troll types don’t read newspapers like The Age? Oh well, I am sure they will show their teeth sooner or later and when they do, they will get the same response they always get – NONE. Instant deletion. End of story.


Yes anyone who disagrees with you is a troll. How precious.

Related posts that might interest you:

1. Fat Acceptance: How fat is too fat?
2. The stigma of firing fat people
3. Let's not celebrate the fatties just yet.