We aren't all the same.

The calorie numbers recommended by the BMR or RMR charts don't apply to every individual body.

Bodies of the same age and size don't ALL use the same amount of energy, even when their activity levels are similar. Even when the amount of "Calories-in" is the same, the difference in the amount of "Calories-out" can cause different weight results.

Like the author of the article below, I've seen very little acknowledgement, understanding, or acceptance of this very basic truth. I've found that, in general, people are surprisingly resistant to the concept.

Why “Put Down the Cheesburger” is BS
                         by noceleryplease www. fiercefreethinkingfatties.com

So there’s this woman I was talking to last week.

She and I are pretty much the same height.  I am probably 10, maybe 12 pounds heavier than her.  We both exercise, I think, very similar amounts… although she does have a job where she is up and about more than my sedentary desk job.
So we have these two people who are both maintaining a similar lifestyle.

And I happened to be talking about what I would typically eat in a day, and her response was… “That would barely last me through lunch”.

Wait…  two people of similar build don’t require the same food intake to maintain that similar weight?

Hmmmmm…. now this comes as no shock to me, because I know that different people have different metabolisms, and the fact that even though I am heavier than her, I have to eat about a third LESS than her to maintain my weight, well, it’s just one of those things that JUST IS.

But it got me to thinking about all those people in the comments that I refuse to read and how they are all always all “Put down the cheeseburger, fatty” and telling people how to live their lives.

And it occurs to me, that these people may, in fact, really think that significant, permanent weight loss could be achieved, if only the fat people would stop stuffing their faces… because obviously, the only reason someone would be fat is if they were eating ridiculous amounts of food every day.

And why would they think that?

I suspect it might have something to do with the fact they they, at whatever weight they are at, are able to maintain that weight with a fairly comfortable intake of food.  They are not feeling restricted with their intake.  They get to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.  And sometimes “indulge” in “bad” foods, etc…

So if they can maintain their weight, with what they consider to be a perfectly satisfying amount of food,  why couldn’t someone else just eat the same as them?  Why, oh, why, would they be DESTROYING our country, just for the sake of being able to stuff their faces with baby flavored donuts?

And the answer, of course, is… “Hey, JackAss, how’d you like to live on what it would take someone else to maintain your weight?”

Doing a little math here…

The Mayo Clinic handy online calorie calculator tells me that at my age, height and activity level, I should eat 2050 calories a day to maintain my weight.

What if there is no such thing as flawed bodies? What if there are only variations? Different shapes, different sizes, different abilities, but all perfect as they are.

What if, instead of reading another article about clothing that hides those “problem areas”, we realized that our bodies don’t have any problem areas?

What would be different if, instead of suggesting that we, and other people, aren't beautiful, we realized that the problem is that we've been taught to see flaws instead of to see beauty.

What if we looked for beauty in every single person we saw. No more flaws, no more problem areas. What if every time we looked at someone else, every time we looked in the mirror, we chose to find something beautiful.

Imagine making an individual choice to view Life in that way.  

Fitness is not a measure of worth.

People who choose exercise activities, meaning various types of movement or fitness, as a hobby are no more praiseworthy than people who choose anything else as a hobby.

Fitness by any definition is not an obligation.

There is also no personal obligation to have a thin, or a “normal-weight", body.

Seeking weight-loss is not the same thing as living with healthy habits, and thin or "not fat" isn’t the same thing as "Healthy".

There are healthy and unhealthy people at every size, so reaching a certain body size is neither a guarantee of health, nor a sure preventative or cure for disease. Body Size and Health are two different things and people can, and often do, pursue one without the other.

In fact, seeking "Health" is not a moral, social, or personal obligation. People can choose to prioritize and pursue health at whatever level they want. Their choice to seek health by “engaging in a healthy lifestyle” doesn’t guarantee them personal health. It also doesn’t make them better than people who don’t choose to prioritize or pursue health.

There are also different kinds of health. and all of them aren't available to everyone.  For example: Mental health and Physical health are two different things, and these two types of health don’t necessarily go together.

What does "healthy" even mean?

Healthy is simply the opposite of  diseased or dead.  Human beings are born, they live, and they die.  The human body is designed to wear out.  Even the most "healthy" bodies become "unhealthy" as they get old, and eventually every body ceases its function. Sudden or lingering, death comes to everyone, and except for death-by-accident, people of all ages become sick and then die.

While the term "healthy", refers to the general condition of a person's mind and body, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain, that term is now loosely used to refer to various substances, activities, and ideas that allegedly promote that general condition.

However, despite all claims to the contrary, most things ...  including personal values ...  that are sold to us by the diet (and fitness) industry are the exact opposite of “healthy”.

A Bigot is someone who, as a result of their own prejudices, thinks of other people with contempt, or intolerance on the basis of that other person's characteristics. Bigotry is the state of mind of a Bigot, and thoughts often tend to become actions.

Those who wish to be, or appear to be, "politically correct" in today's society, know they must work to filter out their prejudices against various characteristics such as ethnicity, gender, disability, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, etc.

However, even the most "liberal" people commonly practice Bigotry when it comes to the physical characteristics of people who have Fat bodies. Our current society still accepts, allows, and encourages such thinking and behaviors.

Here, the term "Fat Bigot" is used to define someone who is prejudiced against the physical characteristics of people who have fat bodies, not someone who HAS a fat body. 

When Fat Bodies Just Look Wrong 
   
             by Ragen Chastain.

There is a post over on This is Thin Privilege written by a girl who was told that she couldn’t wear the same shorts as a thinner student because she didn’t “present” the same way as the other student.  This highlights a particular kind of fat bigotry wherein fat bodies are judged to look “wrong” doing the same thing that thin bodies do, just because they are fat.

Wrong can take a lot of meanings in this context, one of the first is the idea that they look obscene (remember the Lane Bryant ad that showed about 25% of the skin of a Victoria’s secret ad but was controversial because it was judged look obscene - obscene here meaning “omg big boobs!”?)  Or, as in the example from above, fat bodies are seen as un-presentable, or needing to be more covered/hidden than other bodies.

And how many times have we heard the “fat girl” rules of fashion – black clothes absorb light and hide our shape (aka “slimming”), choose clothes based on their ability to make you look as much like the thin ideal as possible (aka “Flattering“) and that anything else is an affront to everyone who sees us and a moral failing on our part.

This type of situation is often about a bigot asking to be accommodated by a fat person.  The assumption being that if someone doesn’t like fat bodies, doesn’t like looking at fat bodies, doesn’t think that fat bodies should do certain things or dress in certain ways, then the people with those fat bodies have a responsibility – nay, an obligation – to “fix” the situation by doing what the fat hater wants us to do.  As if the solution might not be for them to get the hell over their bigotry, or at least practice the ancient art ...