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7:18pm December 10, 2013

karalianne:

Addition-Elle posted this on its Facebook page yesterday. It’s a link to an article on Plus Model Mag about the “fit mom” telling people to stop being fat (basically).

Last week I posted on a different post, two separate comments (that I then turned into a post here) about a model saying she’s a size 12 and that’s plus-size.

Here’s what I commented today on this new post:

I already wrote a loooong comment about this issue on a different post here, so I’m not going to repeat myself on that count.

I am going to point out that even with these diseases that are supposedly caused by being overweight, that’s not strictly true.

Did you know that skinny people can have Type II diabetes? Did you know that it’s got a genetic component that increases your risk by a whole lot? Did you know that having babies who weigh over 8 lbs at birth puts you at risk for developing Type II diabetes? Did you know that having gestational diabetes puts both you and your baby at risk AND can lead to Type II diabetes following pregnancy? Did you know that having Type II diabetes can cause you to gain weight? Did you know that it can also cause you to lose weight? Did you know that whether it causes you to lose or gain seems to depend on whether you have the insulin resistant type or the not making enough insulin type? Did you know that the medication Type II diabetics are prescribed can also cause them to gain weight?

Do you know why I know all of these things? Because Type II diabetes is in my family, and I had to make it my business to learn all I could about the things that contribute to developing diabetes. And to be perfectly honest with you, my weight is way down at the bottom of the list of things that contribute to my risk for developing diabetes. And it is, sadly, the only one that I even stand half a chance of controlling.

You CANNOT TELL how healthy someone is just by looking at them. You CANNOT TELL how much someone WEIGHS just by looking at them. And things like Type II diabetes are far less affected by weight than people think. My mother didn’t “give herself” diabetes, and if I develop it myself it won’t be my fault. Period.

Also, being a bit heavier is better for your bones and makes you less likely to develop osteoporosis. Good reason to stay at the upper end of the so-called “healthy weight range” of the useless chart called the BMI.

I like the “You CANNOT TELL how much someone WEIGHS just by looking at them,” something that is not covered in most things about fat, by anyone.

People seeing me online when I was 180 pounds said I was 300 pounds.

People seeing me online since the last year of health problems have said I am “maintaining my weight” – I’ve lost 50 pounds.

You really can’t tell by looking.  In my case, I have always had a tendency to a double chin even when I was underweight, so being fat, it’s really really obvious.  And I have a few other things that make me look heavier than I am, at least in pictures.  

Of course some of those people were also trying to insult me. 

(FYI, I currently weigh 193-195 pounds, down from 245ish pounds at my heaviest.  I didn’t lose the weight on purpose, I didn’t lose the weight because I’m healthier, I lost the weight because I’m very sick.)