Nobody Like a Fat Kid

[Simon]

Damn it, I just realized that in my haste to start this topic, I screwed up the name. It should have obviously been Nobody LIKES a Fat Kid. Damn it.

[gillie99]

I was listening to one of Paul's podcasts and the subject was anorexia & I remember being jealous - how sick is that>

I remember reading somewhere that large doses of vitamin A (or maybe D) could induse anorexia

I am so tired of this battle

[stimpy]

The biggest bully for me was always the one in my head. If someone yelled "you have freckles!" at me, I would think "uh. yeah." and go about my day. It's the bully in my head that gives meaning to the word "fat." Even now, externally not fat anymore, my bully is in there, with her big stick, waiting. That's just one of the harms of childhood bullying. Kids are so open and vulnerable; it plants the bully right in the child's head.

[AlmostWell]

I just read through this forum and am deeply saddened. What terrible experiences many of you have had.

I have always been overweight, but am tall and carry it well. Also, being a male, there is far less of a societal (and parental) importance on weight. Even with all that, I still have issues. I was picked on as a kid a lot, sometimes because I am very very pale, like the beach, and live in a place where everyone is tan. People used to call me "ghost" and avert their eyes. As a result, I am very self conscious.
Also, my mom used to pick on me for having a snaggle-tooth (and still does). For YEARS I would worry whenever I smiled.

But you know what? It turns out that people are still attracted to me (my wife is pretty hot as far as I'm concerned), and through the years, 3 women have independently told me my tooth made me interesting to kiss. It was a lesson well learned. I think it is our imperfections that make us interesting, not our perfections. Every porn star has big tits and a six pack, but interest lasts in them how long? Exactly.

Anyways, I'm rambling. Back to the original point - I feel deeply for you and wish and hope that society wises up soon. Every woman and man has beauty if people are willing to look. It is other people's losses if they miss that.

[Cheesehead]

Nobody likes a fat kid or fat adult for that matter. And if they do they have some sort of fetish because of it. Let's face it, there aren't many people these days who aspire to be fat. Being thought of as fat isn't what most people want. I think that is more because people see fatness as a character flaw that is completely in that person's control. "If only the fat person would put down the donuts/pizza/cheeseburger/any fatty type food and eat right and exercise they wouldn't be fat. Being fat is a choice. It's all a numbers game...calories in v.s. calories out." And since being fat is something that person has control over, it's not seen like other types of bullying of a kid or person because of something that is beyond their control. It's almost like fat people ask for it by being fat...cause if the bullying caused them so much pain and discomfort they could make the choice to do something about it.

[Livian82]

I think the fact society has become so messed up in general that you're practically not allowed to be overweight, even slightly, just frightens me.

Speaking of those c*** trainers on biggest loser though, does anyone get the feeling they're so abusive because they're secretly afraid of their own inner fat kid? I worked with a girl who was a personal trainer on the side and she was literally obsessed with having zero body fat. She'd drink the powders and eat as little as possible and criticize our lunch choices, even someone said they were having a chicken and avocado foccacia and she turned around and said no you're having fat fat fat and lettuce. But she'd see someone else eating potato bake and practically drool everywhere so she was clearly starving. I think these fitness fanatics should also be diagnosed with a disorder, if your obsession with losing weight becomes that extreme clearly you have other issues you're not dealing with. I'm willing to bet money these biggest loser trainers struggled at some point emotionally and now just go on the show to berate others for becoming what they're so deeply afraid of being.

I lost a ton of weight from stress and was almost diagnosed anorexic based on my weight. My own best friend in grade 7 told everyone I was throwing up at her house and in the end my school called my dad to tell them I may have an eating disorder. My weight went a bit nuts later in life and now I've even been asked three times if I was pregnant, by women, which I thought was like totally against all laws of feminism and common decency.

I do believe eating disorders should not just be limited to those who starve or binge and purge. Any struggle with food is an eating disorder as far as I'm concerned.

I also watched a UK doco about anorexics receiving treatment in a particular facility, and they were forced to eat high caloric foods to regain their weight. They had very strict orders when they were allowed out to eat to have specific meals and if they failed to their privileges were taken away. One girl was clearly suffering from some kind of anxiety disorder since she couldn't even sit still and not exercise or sleep and in the end refused to even ingest water. What scared me was no one was treating this anxiety of hers at all, she was basically made out to be completely delusional and unable to be reasoned with when all I was thinking was jesus just medicate the poor girl so she can at least get some sleep. According to a friend they now treat anorexics with Pristiq to lessen the obsessive thinking over food.

[Cheesehead]

I would think that the majority of people in the entertainment business or on a tv show, trainer or not, if they didn't have some sort of eating disorder/body image problem they would after being in the industry. I mean if you think the pressure to be thin is bad in the everyday world, it has to be a million times worse in the entertainment industry. I can't imagine the pressure put on those trainers (and the poor contestants) on the Biggest Loser to produce amazing results. Everyone involved-trainers, contestants, producers, viewer-want to see people losing big amounts of weight...that's the whole purpose of the show. People wouldn't watch the show if contestants only lost 1-2lbs a week, didn't exercise 8 hrs a day, etc.

It's such a shame that we as people put such superficial aspects of people, such as weight, looks, etc., as important as to how we assess them as humans and valuable. One thing that I have personally struggled with as an adult is the fact that I have totally bought the idea of my weight being attached to my self worth as a person...and the higher my weight is the less self worth I have. I wish I could have been stronger as a person and given the rest of the world the big ol' middle finger and been able to fight against society, but I was just a kid. I have more moments as an adult where I can stand up for myself, but they are often fleeting and easily replaced by the negative thoughts.