I recently had a discussion with my wife after visiting a Wal-Mart and again being amazed by how fat the average person is. I told her that I feel sorry for them, that it must be like being stuck in a prison, and on the flip side I am throughly disgusted by them. Then the debate started as to whether or not they could be truly happy. I said no. She thinks that they can be, that they just focus on an area of their life that they are pleased with. I think they might be happy with some aspects of their life however I can not believe that they are truly happy. I mean, how could you be happy when you are disgusted with what the mirror is reflecting back at you after a shower?
You show me someone’s who totally happy with themselves, no insecurities, and I’ll pay you $100,000,000 cash, on the spot.
There is no such thing as being totally happy with yourself. If you really believe you are, then that means you are just not looking at yourself critically. It means you stagnated in your life and you don’t want to challenge yourself to move further ahead.
As far as overweight people being happy with life, sure they can. They simply just don’t care. Sure, they might wish they were thin, but most of us wish we were bigger/faster/stronger/etc, and I think most of us are happy with life. Who knows, they might be looking at us and thinking they don’t know how we could be happy not choking down a box of twinkies per day, or we smoke, or drink, or whatever. Just because we couldn’t be happy with it, doesn’t mean they can’t.
Being from a fat family (hell, my mother outweighs me by about 150 pounds, and she’s still about 100 pounds under her husband) I can promise you that overweight people can be happy. Yeah, they could be happier, but couldn’t we all?
I don’t feel the least bit sorry for fat people. They make me mad. Its their fault they got there and they can and should’ve already done something about it. I’m 15-20 overfat and it makes me mad. I’ve been working on it but it’s nobody’s fault but my own that I got there.
Happiness depends of the quality of life of any person. I see people at my gym, strong and well muscled but whom have never travelled or experienced anything different. Just go to work, the gym, see the family and have a few drinks at the weekend. Again and again and again. That’s being trapped in a prision.
If you lose your six pack because of injury or sickness or just age do you feel self loathing? Does the strict regime and discipline control your life? It does for many and then limits what they will do in their lives. In many ways being stuck with a constant compulsion, obsession, to look ripped or great is more a prision than enjoying life for all it's worth.
What constitutes fat?
Isn’t it largely a question of what has been culturally indoctrinated?
It used to be that if someone (like me) got their bodyfat percentage down from 17% to 11%, that was considered a wonderful accomplishment and maintaining it there would be a fine thing. I’m probably back around 14% right now after taking the last month off completely from the gym to move to a new state, recover some injuries, stretch, and prepare for some brutal grad. school entrance exams - I feel fatter than ever but in reality I’m probably 6 weeks away from bringing myself back down to ‘normal’
I know a lot of people who are much more overweight than I am (if I even am - in terms of fat to muscle ratios), and they seem happy to me. I was happy enough when I was considerably heftier. I was happier after I got a job landscaping and dropped about 30 pounds - was it the weight loss/fat loss or was it the fact that I spent my summer outside moving?
I think that if someone is overweight, they might find more happiness in doing a lot of the things that might make them lose weight. Some people are heavier or have food sensitivities or other issues and they may be very active and enjoy fulfilling lives.
Of course, the people who drive to the Krispy Kreme a block away from their house and complain about having to walk up a flight of stairs - they might need more than just weight loss to find joy.
How many people really care how fat they are? I’ve got friends who are overweight(not obese.) They’re happy. Sometimes I wonder why I care how big my muscles are or what my bodyfat percent is. We all have different priorities. I know guys that have no muscle, a good wife, a good job and are happy. Do rich people look at poor people and wonder how they can be happy? Why don’t they work harder, get an education and make more money? Some of you would be disgusted to be in the shape I’m in, but I’m thrilled with my progress. To me, the satisfaction from being in shape is better than the satisfaction from eating a Krispy Kreme. Unfortunately, I’ll probably get electrocuted from my blender making my protein shake and die before him.
I think the average person who became overweight did it by eating refined foods with lots of sugar content. They dont realize the real reason they’ve gained weight, and they are not motivated to lose the weight because it’s so difficult (cause they dont know how they got fat in the first place). Then again, there are some people that eat everything in sight and just dont care. If you are 300 pounds of fat, I think you fit into this latter category.
All the fatties love to say how satisfied they are with their bodies. When they refer to themselves as BBW’s or BHM’s I view them with a mix of anger, disgust, and pity. Every one of them would change themselves in a second if possible. But you know all the disgusting slobs just make me look better, and provide the constant reinforcement as to why I follow a strict diet and weight train with the intensity that I do. So I say, eat up Mr and Mrs fattie americans, at the very least you provide me with constant entertainment!!!
even knowing how to correctly lose weight, its still a bitch to do, and too hard for most (weakminded) people to do.
You’re missing the distinction between being happy and having aspects of yourself that you’d prefer to be other than they are. One can be happy, live a life of no regrets, and still want to make improvements (as they see it). It’s all about different goals, different things you find to be important. I’ve always seen the level of a person’s maturity to be equal to what makes them mad.
Is anyone happy all the time? I have been both fat and thin, of course I like the way I look better thin, however, it doesn’t equate a greater level of happiness. Being satisfied, being content, or being happy, however you choose to define that, hopefully is not entirely dependant on your reflection. If it is, your physique is the least of your problems. This board, for example, is full of people who claim to have great bodies. That may be true, but if you were to judge entirely on their posts it is obvious that being thin, fit, or having some muscles, doesn’t make you any happier than being fat makes you miserable.
“only the mediocre are really satisfied…” is what comes to my mind on regarding why many of us on this forum have chosen a physically active lifestyle. I know that I am indeed happiest when striving for a goal - no matter if it’s for the bod or for my brain.
I don't think that only the "fit, slim and active" folk are the only ones justified to be truly happy. People of all shapes and sizes can be happy. As long you don't let such negative things like envy and greed get in the way.
I question how happy the person who constantly looks for faults in others is.
I’ve spent most of my life being fat, not stupid fat, obese, but just fat! Like many people, I grew up with the eat-all-of- the-food-on-your-plate-and-sop- up-the-gravy-with-your- bread-type mentality. When dieting (more times than I can count!) it was nothing more than starving myself, and of course it never lasted. I Played Racquetball nearly every day for several hours and couldn’t lose weight because of the crap that mom served. I don’t blame my mom (she rocks!) She just didn’t know that mixing a cup of flour with half a cup of pig fat was overly fattening. Now when I see fat people walking about, I have to surpress the urge to give them advice, they always think that I’m secretly ridiculing them, that I can eat anything without getting fat therefore I have no idea of their problem. Sometimes I feel like printing a picture of my “before” picture on my shirt with the text, “ask me why I’m not fat anymore.” I feel sorry for the people who don’t know how to get in shape, but I fume at the hogs that ridicule anyone (misery loves company) who wants to change their bodies.
If all these fat people are so happy, why are companies making a fortune from low fat foods, fat burning supplements, fat loss prescription medication? Sure some of them dont care and are happy, but I think there are more fat people out there who arent.
Some of these posts on this thread, including the initial post, are kinda pathetic. I mean, what the hell is wrong with you people that you’re sitting around feeling these rather strong emotions for people who don’t even know that you exist? I can state with 100% confidence that hell yeah, there are millions of people with bodies that range from imperfect to obese that are in general extremely happy people, and don’t even think twice about the imperfections of their bodies, unless some asshole tries to put them down or ‘feel pity for them’ (what a freakin’ joke). There are also many many people with bodies close to what most would consider ‘perfect’ that are completely miserable people. If your happiness derives entirely from your physique, and you can feel satisfaction or self-loathing solely because of that, get some freaking psychotherapy before you bore the people around you to death.
All I can say is that being overweight was a symptom of bigger problem. After 6 months of therapy, I realized that I can be happy right now, and just love myself for who I am. Then the weight just fell off after that. Yet there are times when I still get blue and scared even though I am fit now.
Half the girl mates I have are on a diet at any one time, but are they unhappy? no. They would like to look better but it is not an all encompassing pre-occupation. But then it depends what you mean as fat. I am talking of women and men 14-20lbs overweight, not obese. The guys, are not bothered really. As for obese people, no I think the majority especially not women are not happy, tho obese men can still get by on charm and no problems, but women as you know are alot more body conscious. Also remember the people on this site do not reflect the general menatlity of people. i have body dysmorphia. I would not leave the house if I put on 20lbs of fat, yet my mates are as happy as larry and getting married. So remember that perspective
Wow, thanks for the replies. Great answers. To ThetaChi guy I think I might be totally happy if you fork over the $100,000,000.00
But maybe not…let’s try it and see.
Guys…just a thought…and this is for ANYBODY, whether they are obese or not…
I’m ALWAYS wary when someone is obviously trying TOO hard to “prove” that they are happy…more often than not, they really aren’t…
Again…just a thought…