h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

First let me say, I know obesity is a problem in our society, and yes, it is important to get back to a healthy weight, but otherwise, is it worth all the hype?

Secondly, I worry about my weight as much as the next person, so I'm not coming from a 'holier than thou' approach, more of a philosophical one.

Why is our weight so central to our self-esteem? It neither dictates our worth as a person or how much others will like us. It may have something to do with how much someone is initially attracted to us, but a thin person will not maintain that attraction any better than a fat one.

If your weight does not pose a threat to your health, is it worth feeling guilty over every mouthful you eat?

Personally, I think being fit and being able to get up that hill without puffing, having a healthy blood pressure, being not TOO fat, and feeling good inside yourself about who you are, and being happy with the way you look is the best way to go.

...But I must admit, I WOULD like to get into my jeans...

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You do bring up a good point. Being comfortable with the body you've got. As it goes in Mary Schmich's "Wear Sunscreen" (which has officially been done to death in the US but is still the greatest fake commencement speach around): Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Dont' be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

For those who may not have read it or heard the song you may go here: http://www.uni-ulm.de/~s_sstrob/Wear_sunsc.htm

Of course even those of us who are comfy with what we now have like the occasional tune up. I recently rejoined New York Sports Club, though not because of some resolution. Rather I had to cancel my membership as family matters took me away from New York for what was then to be an undetermined amount of time and I just rejoined. That's my story and I'm stuck with it!

For those of you who live in a city where there is something like New York Sports Club (they're in many major US cities, just named after that city - Boston Sports Club etc...) and complain about being bored they have personal entertainment centers at each CV machine!

As someone who has tended to alternate over the years between being overweight and being really quite fit and lean, I can say that there is a very positive advantage to being slim and fit: despite the fact that one is caving in to society's preconceptions, the fact is that it's effectively impossible to avoid doing that; when you're feeling a bit low, if your body's in great shape that can actually help make you feel a bit better about yourself - the knowledge that your body conforms to what our culture has deemed to be an attractive stereotype can, even if you think these stereotypes are essentially shallow and meaningless, still make you feel good about yourself despite yourself.

There are also practical benefits - I am prone to both asthma, back pain and knee problems, but these have all been worse when I've been overweight. And I don't know about anyone else, but in hot weather I sweat less when I'm slim. (Yuk...)

First, weight makes a tremendous difference to your longterm health. 66% of adult Americans are moderately to severely overweight. And this is part of the reason why Americans have a much lower life expectancy compared to people in most other industrialized nations. You can literally add ten or more years to your life if you maintain a healthy weight through much or all of it.

It's nice to think that weight has little effect on one's social status or relationship opportunities, but it's also not true. Obese people do indeed find it more difficult to find a date. This seems to be particularly true for women, who are held to a higher standard of appearance compared to men. It even effects your ability to form friendships. It isn't rational, but some people really believe that an overweight person is necessarily out of control, undisciplined, unhappy, and bad-tempered.

Being overweight even effects your career. My father was obese since before I was born. The end result was that he found it much harder to get jobs after interviewing, even when he was the most qualified applicant. He developed a sad pattern of searching for jobs in distant cities, because he could do phone interviews and avoid having the interviewer judge him on his appearance.

That's why we're doing this entry. I would tend to agree that while we need advice on maintaining a healthy weight, we also need to stand up and admit to our unfair cultural biases against overweight people. And of course, we also need to understand the difference between a healthy weight and a healthy body image. The two things are really very different.

I just want to say I mostly agree with Fragilis. I would like to elaborate on some points a bit. I don't judge people by the way they look. I have known people who were extremely overweight - I mean so bad they could hardly walk and had difficulty breathing. I mean they weigh over 400 pounds. Now, I don't judge those people to be in any way inferior to me, but I must say I feel a bit sad for them because it is a very difficult life. But there are valid reasons for their condition - mostly hormone imbalances. And now let me say that VERY FEW people have such imbalances, and those who do are in real trouble. But even if you don't have a hormone imbalance you might become obese - there are so many ways to get obese: some people just love all kinds of food, others have slowish metabolisms and a love for a particular high-energy food like chocolate, or some people just lead very inactive lives, or they cannot get really high-quality nutritious food so they have to eat a lot of low-quality food, or other people see food as a social activity, or eat when they feel emotionally low, or bored ... there are so many reasons that it is really silly to believe in any simple reason and the stereotype it supports.

And also it is possible to be overweight and healthy. Obese people can sometimes lead long lives. Those height/weight charts are just averages. Overweight people can have wonderful personalities, they can be very intelligent, they can be dedicated and hardworking, they can be great lovers, they can be happy, they can be energetic and active. Heck, they can also be beautiful. Or not. For that matter thin people are also not always attractive. Whether you are a beautiful person or not depends on many factors.

It is very necessary that prejudice against obese people stops. I think the beauty/fashion industry must be confronted and held accountable for giving people ridiculous ideas and role-models. I am against the idea of skinny being beautiful. I think men and women look best when well nourished with good muscular development and there's nothing wrong with carrying a bit of fat in addition to that. I will only encourage people to lose weight if they experience serious health problems as a result of being obese. If they are too skinny (as most models and many actresses are) I will advise them to eat more (healthy food of course) and build some muscles. And I would also encourage all people, irrespective of their shape, to exercise and stay comfortably fit, and to eat a diet that is as nutritious as possible. And as for appearance, every person should decide for him/herself what he/she wants to look like, and society at large should get rid of silly inappropriate ideas relating appearance to character or ability and let people's characters and abilities speak for themselves.

Just a note about longevity: Americans don't live that much shorter than other people - the average male American can expect to live about 73 years, and the average female 80 years. That's not much worse than Japan (the country with the highest life expectancy) where it's 77 for men and 83 for women. It's still very firmly within the limits of industrial nations. Consider Uganda: men can expect to reach 42 and women 44. That's an entirely different league. But I agree that Americans probably don't eat very healthy diets and carry more unnecessary bodyweight than almost anybody else.

Well said, TUMP. I heartily agree with your sentiments.

For TUMP all I have to say is this: Damn Skippy!

In college I had a very good friend who was overweight. She was by far one of the most attractive and charming people I've ever known. She also was extremely capable of attracting interested gentlemen. For friends I know now with weight problems I always wish they could have met her. Perhaps it would have made them realize that a great deal of what others perceptions of us are come from how we perceive ourselves.

I'm not talking about obese people so much as people who, like me, fall into the overweight range, and not so far into it. Yes, there are certainly people who really do seriously need to lose weight for all the reasons you've mentioned, but people like me, who are chubby but not really obese... well, yes, I don't like being like this. I'd rather be thin, but I just object to how much it colours society's perception of us, and our own of ourselves. I think an awful lot about my weight. It just seems to me sad that so much of my time is spent on this.

Anyway, I think I'm losing the thread of my thought. I guess I just wanted to say that if you're not SO overweight that it's a health problem, that there is way too much emphasis placed on it.

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..not as much as I would..!!

..like to get into your jeans, that is..

Hm, well they don't fit ME. They might fit you

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Well fielded there, young lady!

To get back to the point: I agree, too much emphasis is put on appearance, including weight, at least in the popular media. The idea is that people must be made to feel insecure so that they will be willing to spend money. There's a huge industry that preys on people's self images with all kinds of worthless and unnecessary products and systems supposed to make them more attractive.

I mean, people must be made to believe that there's something seriously wrong with them when there's not. It's an entire culture that's being created for the sake of profits.

I mean, people must be made to believe that there's something seriously wrong with them when there's not. It's an entire culture that's being created for the sake of profits.

Don't always blame the media. When covering fashion shows, they can only photograph the models on the catwalk. It's the fashion-houses that decide to use stick-thin 'supermodels'. I suppose the papers could refuse to cover the shows, but it's unlikely. (I wonder what would happen if they did!) They seem to think their female readers want to see anorexic women in unwearable clothes.

As for women's magazines, they're not much better off. If they want to do a fashion-shoot with clothes from a particular outlet or designer, they get one of each outfit, usually in a size 10. It's not so much 'Here's a selection. Pick one that will fit your model' as 'Here's the outfit. Find a model it will fit.' If the magazines boycotted the outlets and refused to use anything smaller than a 12 - 14 (UK sizes, don't know about US), there would be no fashion pages in the magazines and the female readership would get upset.

My real gripe is the way that every magazine I have ever picked up has made me feel inadequate because I don't use cosmetics. I tried using them in my teens, but didn't have the patience to stay with them long enough to get decent results. The last time I wore lipstick I was about 22. I haven't worn make-up since - not even for my wedding. Richard reckons I look great without it. My complexion is wrinkle-free (I've only recently started to moisturise regularly, so it must be in my genes), and I don't suffer from spots, so I don't feel the need for powders and paints. The cosmetics industry is a prime example, IMHO, of a culture created for the sake of profits. And don't get me started on cosmetic surgery, breast implants, liposuction,...

I agree that there is far too much emphasis on appearance. It impacts so many aspects of a person's public "face" and has the greatest possible effect on a person's self-image.

I have recently had my job functions expanded to that of receptionist. This is a position which requires that you look "front office" and has been bringing all sorts of insecurities to the fore. My office does not often have visitors, so it isn't like I work in a place where I would deal with a lot of the public, but I do feel a certain pressure to jazz up my "look". I haven't worn makeup in forever and the fact that I'm even considering it now is disturbing.
PLUS, there's the weight issue. WHEW!!! I'm trying to approach this as an opportunity to get back to my exercise routine and just generally spruce up, but then that passive-agressive thing rears its ugly head (I won't and you can't make me!). Talk about bringing up issues.

I hear you, SpaceCadette.

Why are fat birds like mopeds?

Great fun to ride until a mate sees you





(Livzy dives for cover awaiting the inevitable humourless feministic outrage)

Just wanted to add my twopenneth - I fully agree that we live in a society that is overly focused on appearence and what that "should" be. However, I also regularly observe great differences in the way men and women react; when faced with a weight problem the female reaction seems to be diet in the large proportion of cases, whereas the immeadiate male reaction seems to be exercise and hardly ever diet. Where does this difference come from?