Our Fat Society

As I’ve posted previously, in the last year I’ve gone from about 285 pounds (due to football weight) down to a current 210 or so. Although I consider myself a work in progress, I’m very proud of myself and the work it took to get here.

Upon reciently seeing me, my parents accused me of being anorexic. Now, anyone that knows anything about nutrition or fitness would know in a second that me being anorexic is just retarded, but that got me thinking. I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of people in my life consistently make my fitness goals more difficult to achieve than they have to be.

It’s the little things: my girlfriend buying us pizza, people I work with finding any excuse they can to bring food to work, whatever. People always say “oh come on, have a bite” when I politely decline a serving of whatever disgusting sugar-filled food they’re shoving in their fat face or give me hell because I’m “into nutrition” like I have an embarassing rash.

I’m sure you all have your own stories you could share. What really intrests me is how I almost feel like people around me are working against my goals. Am I making this up in my head? If not, what is their modivation? Are they jealous of the modivation I have that they don’t? Are they driven to pull be back to the social “norm”? Do they just want me to die of heart disease at 35 like themselves? Do they have stock in Krispy Creams? Let me know what you think, but I’m kinda getting tired of fat people wanting me to be fat. If I sound a little hateful, I don’t mean to. If you want to have high cholesterol, go for it. Just don’t drag me down with you.

I dropped 35 pounds in a summer a while back (on purpose) and was also accused of being anorexic… Looking back I might have lost too much weight too fast. I wouldn’t do that again, But then, I’m pretty lean now, I won’t have to again. I’ll drop about 6-7 pounds to get ripped for summer.

Hardly am I anorexic. And no-one now would accuse me of that.

People are always trying to get me to drink more, eat more crap, just have a bite, etc.

Eating healthy is one way I define who I am. It took me a long time to figure that out…

I live with 2 room-mates, and every night they cook for each other. They would cook for me as well, but they know better. Tonight they had 2 grilled processed cheese samwiches and Mr. Noodles for dinner. I was only half done cooking when they were finished eating, but I think deep down they were jealous watching me eat ww pasta, sauce, lean ground beef, salad and oil and vinegar dressing. They had cool-aid… I had water and an orange.

Live, and let live. But I won’t let anyone bring me down to their level of poor dietary standards either.

That’s why we have T-Nation; here we generally think alike. At least, that’s why I’m here…

Here are my virtual room-mates. And they are cooking boneless skinless chicken breasts and making protein shakes with frozen blueberries.

At least you better be… Or I’ll kick your ass.

[quote]mithious wrote:
I dropped 35 pounds in a summer a while back (on purpose) and was also accused of being anorexic… Looking back I might have lost too much weight too fast. I wouldn’t do that again, But then, I’m pretty lean now, I won’t have to again. I’ll drop about 6-7 pounds to get ripped for summer.

Hardly am I anorexic. And no-one now would accuse me of that.

People are always trying to get me to drink more, eat more crap, just have a bite, etc.

Eating healthy is one way I define who I am. It took me a long time to figure that out…

I live with 2 room-mates, and every night they cook for each other. They would cook for me as well, but they know better. Tonight they had 2 grilled processed cheese samwiches and Mr. Noodles for dinner. I was only half done cooking when they were finished eating, but I think deep down they were jealous watching me eat ww pasta, sauce, lean ground beef, salad and oil and vinegar dressing. They had cool-aid… I had water and an orange.

Live, and let live. But I won’t let anyone bring me down to their level of poor dietary standards either.

That’s why we have T-Nation; here we generally think alike. At least, that’s why I’m here…

Here are my virtual room-mates. And they are cooking boneless skinless chicken breasts and making protein shakes with frozen blueberries.

At least you better be… Or I’ll kick your ass.
[/quote]

sorry…i prefer peanut butter in my shakes…plz don’t hurt me

it’s the life that we all have chosen.

we all know the shit we soemtimes get when we don’t go out to party another night, or don’t share with the pizza etc.

we get shit for it, but my muscles are more than worth the price of politely declining… then saying “no really, i dont want any” then finally saying “i hate that shit, get it away from me”

something along those lines usually does the trick.

as i have an apple, turkey sandwich, and a peice of grilled chicken w/ water

Every time I go home to the States, I always get re-surprised at how many fatasses I see. You shouldn’t feel bad about not joining in on the hog-fest if you don’t want to…

Hey, im 22 years old, and the bullshit i have to put up wiht from people my age. Most people my age in my city smoked weed. So I have to avoid alot of poeple.
“Hey man, want to smoke weed?”
“Weeds cool man, it improves your athletic abilities man”, “just eat this big mac right afterwars and you will feel like a million dollars man”.
(Ok, so thats not quite what they say, but they might as well)

You are trying to have and keep a good thing in your life, and do something positive for yourself.
Remember that there is no such thing as good, without evil, and there is no positive without negative.
Allow them to be your inspiration. Think, I dont want to be like that.
Works for me most of the time.
Just try not to hate at the same time.

Cyah

Is it really that hard to say no thank you and just eat your apple?

Shugart talked about this type of thing a while back:
http://www.T-Nation.com/findArticle.do?article=05-atomicdog-020

I’ve never been a victim of any huge sabotage but I’ve seen it happen and it boggles my mind.

If you train hard, nothing happens if you eat some pizza.

[quote]Imen de Naars wrote:
If you train hard, nothing happens if you eat some pizza.[/quote]

Whatever. That’s just rationalization like the rest of the country. When I eat pizza, I know full well what I’m doing. It’s a conscious choice, and as I’m trying to add a few pounds it’s acceptable to me at this moment in time to do this on occasion. But I never rationalize to myself that it won’t add fat.

Saboteurs all around you man. They, in fact, are jealous of your willpower and success. Maybe they won’t admit it to themselves, but it’s the same reason people cry “steroids” at anybody that’s remotely well built. They just don’t want to face the fact that they lack the cajones to do it themselves.

They sabotage themselves, and they try to sabotage you with them. I used to get crap all the time. I still do a lot of times, but I give as good as I get. Occasionally I say something that pisses someone off, but I always tell the truth. If they don’t want to face it that’s their fault.

Stick to your guns, and build a body that will make them regret their own weak-willed, mediocre, lack of direction. Nobody “gets” it, but everybody wants it. Iron reveals the character of a man. It is a mirror that never lies to you.

“The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you’re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black…two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.”-Henry Rollins

[quote]Imen de Naars wrote:
If you train hard, nothing happens if you eat some pizza.[/quote]

You missed the point my man. He’s talking about the compilation of dozens of little things, they add up over time. Especially for someone who’s recently lost a lot of weight.

I say congrats man, good for you. I’m on the other end of the spectrum, trying to find time between classes and work to eat enough to gain something but I know the struggle works both ways for sure.

You’ll definitely find that people will try to sabotage your progress, be it jealousy or just ignorance. My parents can’t even fathom why I hit the gym 5-6 days a week and eat 7-8 times per day. Fortunately I’ve got a fantastic girl who’s just as into fitness/nutrition as myself.

Expect delays with your friends/family but they’ll come around sooner or later, whether they embrace your new lifestyle and possibly join you or they just accept that you have a desire to improve yourself and they’ll leave you alone on the subject.

Keep up the good work man!

Laugh at them. Hate them. Let that hate fuel your desire. Hate is the best motivator in world. It can make you do horrible things and it can make you do wonderful things. Picture them eating that cake or pizza while you push out that last rep that makes you feel weak and dizzy.

I read on this site the other day, sorry for not giving credit where credit is due, that you must remember that food is for fuel, not for entertainment.

[quote]hoosegow wrote:
Laugh at them. Hate them. Let that hate fuel your desire. Hate is the best motivator in world. It can make you do horrible things and it can make you do wonderful things. Picture them eating that cake or pizza while you push out that last rep that makes you feel weak and dizzy.

I read on this site the other day, sorry for not giving credit where credit is due, that you must remember that food is for fuel, not for entertainment. [/quote]

This reminds me of something Howard Stern once said:
“I still feel like I gotta prove something. There are a lot of people hoping I fail. But I like that. I need to be hated.”

[quote]kmanley wrote:
Shugart talked about this type of thing a while back:
http://www.T-Nation.com/findArticle.do?article=05-atomicdog-020

I think back to when I had ask my mom to please stop baking cookies when I came to visit and how i pretty much had to stop hanging out with a lot of good friends that always went out drinking.

I’ve never been a victim of any huge sabotage but I’ve seen it happen and it boggles my mind.[/quote]

That article is exactly the point I was trying to make. “Stay in your fucking box!”

Don’t think I have many self-destroyers in my life, but I defientally have a lot of saboteurs.

[quote]Aragorn wrote:

Stick to your guns, and build a body that will make them regret their own weak-willed, mediocre, lack of direction. Nobody “gets” it, but everybody wants it. Iron reveals the character of a man. It is a mirror that never lies to you.

“The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you’re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black…two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.”-Henry Rollins[/quote]

That reminds me of one of my classes last semester…

My friends in class all know that I bring food everywhere I go, and if I’m cutting reallly hard then it’s tuna fish and spinach all the way. I’ll eat it while we’re on break…

Well, one of the guys I know is a fat piece of shit and he likes to poke fun at me, saying things like ‘I wouldn’t touch that shit…’ No wonder you’re 40lbs overweight buddy…

Anyway, one day I was eating with a friend and the subject of that guy always having wise shit to say came up, and my response was simply, “He’s trying to portray his mental weakness on me, and he won’t get very far.”

[quote]BigAlSwede wrote:

I’m sure you all have your own stories you could share. What really intrests me is how I almost feel like people around me are working against my goals. Am I making this up in my head? If not, what is their modivation? Are they jealous of the modivation I have that they don’t? Are they driven to pull be back to the social “norm”? Do they just want me to die of heart disease at 35 like themselves? Do they have stock in Krispy Creams? Let me know what you think, but I’m kinda getting tired of fat people wanting me to be fat. If I sound a little hateful, I don’t mean to. If you want to have high cholesterol, go for it. Just don’t drag me down with you. [/quote]

Negative energy is all around us if we allow ourselves to be consumed by it. I’m a very optimistic person…positive, upbeat and always have been. It’s difficult to stray from the norm and stand alone with our eating/training habits. People mock what they don’t understand or can’t achieve…so fatties are usually quick to ridicule the lean, mean dudes here on T-Nation.

Congrats on the progress my man, and keep up the good work. It sounds to me like your are a former fat boy by Shugart’s words…

By the way, I owned Krispy Kreme stock awhile back, and my mom asked me why I would buy something like that even if I thought it was a good investment, since I’m so healthy. I told her it’s not like people aren’t getting fatter by the second…they’ll always have room for a donut.

I’ve neer had a weight problem, except for maybe being too light, and over that past 4 or years I’ve been fine tuning my diet and life style.

The most signifigant thing I did last year was pretty much quit drinking. Mainly due to anxiety at the time, and I’m going to do the whle 2007 without touching 1 alcoholic drink.

My friends constantly invite me for drinks and insist. Even though I mentioned it brings on anxiety. Some people just dont get it.

Girlfriend always have too much chocolate or icecream in the house. I can be pretty diciplined, but I can also finish off every bit of junk food in sight.

You really need to surround yoursefl with like minded people. And hopefully the ones you love will catch on and start caring about themselves too.

Not unlike diferent trining methods. If you use a not so conventional method, people tend to try and pull you down.

Its because they arent ready to change and maybe never will.

Sometimes you just have to do what you do for yourself.

Get good results. Have fun doing it. When others see this and want it- show them how you did it.

If some people become critical of your choices, screw 'em. Yu don’t owe them an explanation, and they wouldn’t understand the one you provide. They’re lost causes.

I know what you mean by turning down food that is unhealthy. I haven’t been to a party in 2-3 years because everyone would try to get me to drink. After a few weekends they realized I never would so they left me alone, but they still didn’t get it. Most people don’t like seeing people succeed. If they try to stop you from your goals you don’t need them. It’s their problem, not yours. Most of my friends don’t even care, it just means more pizza for them haha.

By the way, great job on the weight loss. I am trying to do the opposite. I can’t imagine losing weight, I imagine that would be a lot harder than gain it.

Keep up the good work man!

I can’t stand when I am at a party and I get shit for not drinking. “Come on man too good for us”?

Like the post before, the iron doesn’t lie.