Modern society still disapproves of being overweight. Thin and more or less slender people unanimously shame overweight ones – especially women, and they begin to argue why they need to lose weight and how to do it. Meanwhile, many do not even suspect that their opinion is formed under the influence of stereotypes.
People are not averse to gossiping about those who are overweight. Many with a smart look say: “If she thought a little about health, she would go on a diet and go in for sports”, “Is it really so difficult to stop overeating?” and even: “She sets a bad example for the children!” Really?
Anyone who is annoyed by overweight women should remember that fat shaming has not yet helped anyone lose weight and defeat obesity. Especially when you consider that the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and health status is, to put it mildly, questionable. To be more precise, it has nothing to do with medicine at all.
“The man who invented BMI warned that it should not be used as an individual measure of completeness,” writes Keith Devlin, director of the Stanford Open Mathematics Education Program. – This value has been known since the beginning of the XNUMXth century, and it was calculated by the Belgian Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet – a mathematician, not a physician. He created a formula by which it was possible to quickly and easily calculate the average degree of obesity of the population, which was very useful to the government in allocating resources.
Devlin explains that the concept of BMI is scientifically meaningless and contrary to physiology, because it does not take into account the ratio of bone mass, muscle and body fat, not to mention other parameters. But bones are denser than muscles and twice as dense as fat.
It turns out that a slender person with a strong skeleton and developed muscles will have an increased BMI. If you still doubt that BMI is an unreliable indicator, pay attention to how many myths go around obesity and overweight women. People allow themselves to speak disparagingly of them, although many beliefs do not correspond to the facts.
10 most common misconceptions about bbw
Myth 1. Fat women do not know how to eat right.
Not true. Because modern society is highly frowned upon for overweight women, many of them are so knowledgeable about healthy and unhealthy foods, calorie intake and exercise that they deserve a degree.
If you are fat, you will not be allowed to forget about it. Doctors (and with them homegrown “experts”) assure that any ailment can be cured with exercise and proper nutrition. Passers-by turn around and make snide remarks. Friends try to “help” and slip fashionable diets. Believe me, a woman who is struggling with obesity knows much more about nutrition than a nutritionist, and information about calories, fats, carbohydrates is far from all that she “needs”.
Myth 2. Fat women do not play sports.
This is also not true, primarily because you can be fat, but fit. Many large women exercise regularly. Why are there so few overweight people in gyms and treadmills? Probably because no one likes to be teased, ridiculed, stared at, or praised condescendingly. Hear “Hey friend! Well done! Keep it up!” or “Come on girl, you can!” unpleasant.
Myth 3. Fat women are more accessible than thin ones.
There is no point in explaining why this fallacy is completely absurd. A plus size woman will not go hand in hand just because she has curvaceous. Where did this outrageous lie come from? It’s hard to figure it out. But I would like to remind you that the full have no less intelligence and prudence than the thin. Most women want to meet a reliable, loving partner. There are no statistics that would confirm that full girls are more accessible than slender ones.
Myth 4. Fat women set a bad example for children.
It is a bad example for children to hate, scold, and endlessly criticize themselves and others. You don’t have to be fat to act like this. But to love yourself and children as they are is an example worthy of imitation. By accepting ourselves, we take care of ourselves. Taking care of yourself doesn’t mean being skinny. It means eating right, taking care of your body, exercising, and not torturing yourself – physically and mentally.
Myth 5. All overweight women are sick
It is foolish to judge someone’s health only by appearance or weight. Much more accurate are blood tests, energy levels and quality of life. Studies show that an accelerated metabolism leads to premature death more often than obesity. That is, weight has nothing to do with it: to find out whether we are threatened by early death, it is better to focus on objective health indicators than on BMI.
Myth 6. All obese people suffer from compulsive overeating.
This is not true. Research on compulsive overeating (CB) has shown that “Weight per se is not a risk factor for CB. This eating disorder can develop in people who are obese, overweight, or of normal weight.” It cannot be argued that a person has an appetite disorder, including compulsive overeating, only on the basis of how he looks.
Myth 7. Fat women do not have willpower.
Everything is the opposite. As already mentioned, plus size women have tried so many diets and restrained themselves so many times that we never dreamed of. But, as you know, food restrictions help for a short time. Let’s return to the persistent misconception about obese women: in order to improve their health, they need to lose weight. In fact, it is difficult to maintain a normal weight through fasting and extreme exercise. Numerous studies confirm that spasmodic nutrition (more precisely, weight cycling) is not good. And remember, fat shaming doesn’t work.
Myth 8. Overweight women have low self-esteem.
Slimness alone does not give self-confidence, and fullness does not necessarily indicate low self-esteem. There are many insecure women in the world with a distorted body image – not because they are fat, but because the media endlessly tells them that they are not good enough. Self-esteem is an internal work, a conscious rejection of imposed external attitudes. And the number on the scales is far from everything.
Myth 9. A fat woman will never marry.
Excess weight is not a hindrance to love and marriage. Men like different women, because the main thing is not the parameters of the figure, but the closeness of views, trust, passion, spiritual kinship, respect and much more. Sometimes women who are always losing weight blame their loneliness on weight and do not look for reasons within themselves.
Myth 10. Fat women should be on a diet.
Nobody should be on a diet. Most people who are addicted to diets regain lost pounds. Many of those who started low end up with eating disorders and overweight. As experts who have studied weight cycling and spasmodic nutrition have found out, “one to two thirds of the weight lost is restored in a year, and after five years the weight returns completely.”