Britney's Alcove

I’ve always been relatively small when it comes to weight and size. I’m 5’3 in height and oscillated between 100 and 115 pounds throughout high school and college. Despite not always eating right, I’ve been able to maintain a relatively slim figure and a healthy body for the majority of my life. I’m definitely not one of the “lucky” ones with a fast metabolism; I have curves and thighs and a butt. I mainly owe this long term fitness to a couple of years in ballet and over 10 years in gymnastics while I was growing up… Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE to eat. In fact, I LOVE food in general. I love how it looks and tastes. I’m also obsessed with the texture. There are just certain foods that I hate specifically because of how it feels in my mouth; the taste itself may be wonderful, but the texture may turn me off completely from ever wanting to have it again. I enjoy going to restaurants. I enjoy foreign foods (namely Mexican and Thai), and I enjoy trying new ones. I know that I’m not the only one who likes food so much. However, there’s a difference between enjoying food, yet making efforts to eat foods that are good for your body while taking time to exercise and just stuffing your face without a care in the world.

Many people are not in shape. Being “in shape” requires both physical activity as well as good eating habits. It’s a lifestyle change that most people aren’t willing to undergo, but instead of accepting that and willing to make a change, all you get is a bunch people whining and getting sensitive about people calling them fat. I’ll say it plainly: When I see a morbidly obese person I get grossed out. Literally, grossed out. My first thought is “Do you look in the mirror before you leave the house?” My next thought is “How did you let yourself get like that?” Then I just feel bad because it has to be difficult and miserable to live that way.

Sure, I have several friends who are fat. Just because you don’t take care of yourself when it comes to your weight/health, that doesn’t make you a bad person or somehow lower than other people. I wouldn’t define myself as shallow at all. However, I am rational and realistic. There’s no need to sugarcoat it. YOU ARE FAT. Accept it, and if you don’t like that label do something to change it. Take steps and make healthy choices towards becoming physically fit. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. I think the main reason for obesity is simply laziness and an unwillingness to change habitual routine and action, especially if it’s something that you don’t like doing. I think a very large secondary reason why there is so much obesity is because people ignore many objective truths in exchange for trying to make other people feel better about themselves. Fat women nowadays are called “curvy” and call themselves “real women.” There’s people who say things like, “Don’t call girls fat. That’s how you make people get eating disorders…” No, actually that’s not at all how people get EDs. As physically obvious as they can be, they are also (and perhaps most importantly) psychological disorders.

Being mean and cruel about someone being overweight or bringing it up unprovoked is psychologically dangerous. But, if that’s not the case, I think it’s time for us to be honest with each other. If you’re gay you’re gay, if you’re Asian you’re Asian, if you’re tall you’re tall, and if you’re fat you’re fat. If your doctor tells you that you’re 100 pounds overweight and you’re at risk for a variety of diseases, is it really appropriate to huff and throw a tantrum and say that he’s mean? There are certain parameters that are universal and scientifically designed to measure healthy weight.

Telling a friend they need to lose weight is a lot more honest and loving rather than telling them that they look amazing, then they get diabetes or have a heart attack 2 years down the line from being too fat. Wouldn’t you tell someone you loved that they had a booger hanging out their nose or if they smell? I think it’s really important for us to stop lying for the sake of each others’ feelings. If you’re not the blunt type, you can easily make an appropriate joke out of it or make plans to work out together and stick with it. Falsifying and sugarcoating is what’s really cruel.