Fat Acceptance...My Arse.

...here he goes, about to get himself in trouble again.

Monday morning 3:15am, crawl out of bed to go open the gym. Insert the i.v. caffeine drip, turn the flow valve to flood stage and switch on the news.

First article up at 3:30am. "There's a new movement sweeping across..." You know the lead in. This time is was talking about "fat acceptance." The impetus behind the article was a model that had found new life after deciding she wasn't going to starve herself and allow her body to exist at it's seemingly more natural weight and size 12. Good for her.

Immediately thereafter a parade of clinically obese men & women (noticeably heavier than the above mentioned model. Nice bait and switch there.) traipsed across the screen jumping on the bandwagon. "Accept me for who I am. I am proud of my body...happy with who I am...tired of prejudice...beautiful and healthy at this weight...always being judged...this is who I am...don't try to change me...we're loud, we're proud..."

Ok. Back the truck up. You know what? You are a special and beautiful person. Everyone is. Even at a BMI of 45 (morbid obesity), you're still a valuable member of society (although an expensive one as far as our current health care system goes). But let's look at the healthy, judgment and prejudice side of this.

Having been a fat kid myself, I know what it can feel like to be laughed at by everyone else on the playground, but we're not 12 anymore. Give your fellow adults a little credit that they aren't covering their mouths to snicker at you behind your back in the lunch room. Some people are ass holes. Let's just face it. I get that. Most adults I know feel a good deal of sympathy, or even empathy for people struggling with serious and substantial weight issues.

The fact of the matter is that "Fat Acceptance" is bullsh*t. While the person should be accepted and loved, the state of being overweight, obese or morbidly obese is recognized by the A.M.A. and C.D.C. as un-healthy and should not be accepted in any way. It's like they said in church when I was growing up, "Hate the sin, not the sinner." Only here it's "hate the disease, not the patient." Obesity is a disease and needs to be treated as such. If you're running around at 5'5" and a 180lbs or so (BMI 31. Obese), you need to stop and treat the illness.

For every 2lbs of fat carried in the body, your system has to generate an extra 2.2 miles of veins, arteries and capillaries to supply that fat with blood. How much extra strain on your heart is that? How much extra strain on your heart is the 40lbs you keep meaning to lose?

"Stop telling us we have to be thin." The government is telling us all more and more every day to stop smoking. They remind us daily not to drive while intoxicated. Same thing. Fat will kill you. You are a beautiful and special person. We want you to be around for another 40 years or so. Lose the weight.

Need help? Just reach out. Although it may sound harsh sometimes, you're not being judged. You're being encouraged. Think of losing weight not as conformation or changing who you are, but as preventative medicine.