TED Talks : Enough With The Fear Of Being Fat

Its one single item. Having a 5/8 socket doesn’t make a person a mechanic, but just about all mechanics have a 5/8 socket.

Actually, the opposite is probably true. The BMI is a robust (albeit nonspecific) index of health for the vast majority of individuals. It is only with regard to the very, very few who are heavily muscled (but otherwise lean) that the relationship between BMI and health fails to hold.

A little background on the BMI:

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I guess, what do I know… It just doesn’t make sense to me to use such a nonspecific measure when people are so different.

Either way the fatties are going to call you both some pretty robust names, I tell you what.

The “feminists” are probably on route from Tumblr right now to pwn you cis white sizest scum.

Lol, Jesus, you’re right!

Yes, it is nonspecific. But BMI is simply a screening tool–a measure that, if abnormal, indicates to the health-care provider that s/he has some 'splaining to do.

Also, it bears remembering that, for all its faults, BMI is less nonspecific than bodyweight. So any criticisms of BMI apply even more to BW.

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I’ll put on my I’m With Her t-shirt, which will have the effect of a cloaking device–they won’t even be able to see me.

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This would be an amazing social experiment.

Wear the shirt, a diaper pin, a rainbow flag and then speak about how BMI and being overweight is unhealthy and that family court laws need a drastic overhaul due to them being misandrist.

That would be strange, like watching Milo Yiannopoulos talk.

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I don’t agree with everything he says, but I have nothing but respect for Milo.

And honestly love his “F You” in your face approach.

I love Milo. Sucks him and Shaprio have had this falling out. Hoping they can team back up and continue wreaking havoc on people’s feelings.

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I was curious so I plugged in my height and weight at my leanest, now, and when I was 9 months pregnant. Still had a normal BMI on all three measures (18.5-24.9 is normal for women). I don’t know what that means, except it would take A LOT of effort for me to move out of the normal range.

This caught my attention, Brick. On both sides of my family, people really seem to shrink at they age. My grandparents were all small people, but they got smaller in their later years. I see it happening to my parents as well. I’ve been a little bit shocked to see that my dad no longer has the really rounded calves that I inherited from him.

@Benanything I saw the little hand pointing me to this conversation. Thanks. How did you do that? Do you have to start the thread to invite someone to it?

Hey, Estrogen helps keep the fat off my waist!! This is good! At least we distribute fat in some prettier places. wink. About the cardiovascular system being taxed. I’m imagine if you really prioritized longevity, you wouldn’t want the extra muscle either, right? At some point it crosses a line where it’s just making your heart work harder? I would assume this since small women tend to live longest. I’ll gradually back off lifting because I’m planning to be one of those little 95-year-old women who’s outside on a ladder cleaning my rain gutters at 4 am. The goal is just to keep enough fat on me so a good flu doesn’t take me out.

Sounds like your genes include a strong susceptibility to sarcopenia. All the more reason for you to continue lifting.

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Well, I had to look that up but I think that’s about right. We’re bucking the “get fatter” trend in my family and wasting instead. I’m hoping to do this type of thing, but I’d like to skip over the track suit and sunglasses phase and go straight to the tiny but spunky grandma.

Click on the image to see the whole thing.

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The BMI calculator doesn’t scare me near as much as the body fat ones. :frowning: I did the same as PPuff and plugged the numbers in. Totally stoked I can get up to 145 lbs without being fat :wink: Oh wait! The body fat calculator already says I am fat, damn it! I can’t win for losing.

All the way at the bottom between the “flag” and “reply” button, there an “invite”.


Man, this is just too spot on.

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That’s a very good point. When most people talk about health, they mean longevity. Having a lot of muscle and even a high metabolism probably isn’t the most healthy thing. So even being lean and having an obese BMI you may very well be past the peak on the optimization curve.

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This. Great post.

This as a genetic/ health issue that has a behavioral/ psychological component. Obviously, it’s really difficult to “just loose the weight.” She’s tried to change it, and is now making an effort to NOT be miserable about it. Honestly, maybe there’s some wisdom in that. It doesn’t make it healthy, but humans do a lot of things that aren’t healthy. This one is just really hard to conceal.

True, but knowing HOW to do something, and being able to actually DO it consistently over time are two very different things.

As Jason Gay said, “Give yourself a goal. Maybe you want to lose 10 pounds. Maybe you want to quarterback the New York Jets into the playoffs. But be warned: Losing 10 pounds is hard.” Haha.

Culturally, being attractive is still a whole different thing for women. When you ask men what they value in a woman, the number one answer is pretty/attractive and number two is sweet/kind. She’s a beauty, and a total sweetheart equals a TEN. As a society, these are not the same things we value most in men (Not that it isn’t generally advantageous to be handsome and not a total jerk.)

edited

I keep thinking about this. Acceptance feels a little like setting up a needle exchange program or maybe like putting your sexually active teen on BC pills. There’s some defeat there, and acceptance of something you’d probably change if you could. Maybe this bothers us so much because we don’t like to give up, and we don’t want to see someone quit.

I don’t like being told how to think. I’m all about everyone being themselves. They can be fat and be happy in their skin because that’s who they are. Fine. Then I can laugh at you and tell you you’re fat, because I’m an honest asshole deep down in my true self. That’s letting everyone be themselves.

What gets on my nerves is that ISN’T what she’s preaching. What she is preaching isn’t about being herself or making her own decisions, it’s about making my decisions. What it really boils down to is making other people accept her judgments and I find that intolerable.

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