Jacob Riis Beach hosts the day of body positivity and fun, in the city at the heart of the fat acceptance movement
Fat Beach Day events are springing up across the US in an effort to fight back against fat-phobia, reclaim safe spaces for the community and honor plus-size culture. Today, one of these celebrations is being held to coincide with Pride month at Jacob Riis Beach in New York, a location deeply ensconced in the city’s activism space.
Do you have any idea how many medical conditions keep people from not moving enough (thereby causing people to eat more calories than they need)? It’s NOT rare. Hell, lower back pain is one of the most common reasons people go to the doctor, and guess what’s a lot harder to do when your back is screwed up? Exercise.
I am a bicyclist. I love riding. I ride any chance I get. I also currently have chronic problems in my upper, middle and lower back, including a herniated disc in my low back, and it’s aggravated by bicycling more than anything else. I’ve been seeing doctors for 20 years for my back problems, since I was a teenager. I had back problems when I was a size 2, and I have back problems as a size 12.
People will probably want to respond to my comment by saying that diet is a bigger factor in losing weight than exercise, or that people should adapt and find other ways to be active if they can. What I am saying is that weight, medical conditions, and eating more calories than a person can burn – they’re all connected and it’s a very common problem.
Just because something is harder to do, doesn’t mean not doing it is okay. Overeating when overweight is abuse, full stop.
There are people that have a harder time quitting smoking, there are people that struggle not to cut themselves.
Nobody should look at an 8 year old with a cigarette and say “it’s probably just genetic.” Nobody should look at a junkie passed out in an alley and say “yasss, they’re just living their truth!” Nobody should be incensed when they go a hospital complaining about abdominal pain and the doctor recommends they remove a piece of rebar they fell on.
Cool, now I’m a self abuser. Good to know.
Your comment is abhorrent and misses the point completely.
As someone who also struggles with weight gain… yes, it is a form of self-harm.
Have you tried recumbent bicycles? they are a lot easier on my lower back, and there are some real fun designs out there like trikes that could make bicycling a reality again. Or swimming, when I hurt my knees and couldn’t run/bicycle without pain, I started swimming laps, and holy cow is that a lot of exercise if you’re not used to it.
Additionally, refined sugar is addictive. I know my previous comment might lead you to believe I have no sympathy for wider folks, but I truly do. I’ve lost 100lbs over a year once. I gain back when I go through periods of depression, and then I force myself to lose weight again. Over last holiday season I was separated from my family and spent it entirely alone. I gained about 25-30 lbs. Since then, I’ve restricted my calorie intake to around 1200-1500 calories a day, with around an hour of exercise also each day. I’ve lost ~25 lbs since starting that in March. I know how hard losing weight can be. I’m also a (former) addict, so I know how hard quitting something that’s ubiquitous throughout society can be (alcohol). But it can be done. Sugar is addictive just like alcohol is, which is why Jenny Craig modeled her fitness groups after AA.
The problem is that losing weight is uncomfortable at first. You’re hungry because your stomach is all stretched out, despite taking in enough calories for the day. It takes time for your stomach to shrink to the proper size, so for the first couple weeks, you’ll be eating all your body needs, but it will feel like you’re not. and it’s uncomfortable. Weigh this discomfort against all the discomfort that being overweight has constantly provided, and decide which one you’d rather live through. The temporary discomfort of feeling hungry and not knowing what to do with your hands after you’re done eating for the day (and only for the first couple weeks of dieting), or the constant discomfort all over your body and in your own mind, every day that you’re overweight.
But I never brought up the idea that people are being forced to eat more calories; you did.
I explained how medical conditions, health, and mobility are intertwined with calorie intake and expenditure and that it’s a common problem.
You don’t have to exercise to lose weight, you don’t even have to drastically change your diet.
Eat. Less.
You can lose weight on a diet of pizza, donuts and laying on the couch if you simply eat less calories than you burn.
You quite frankly sound like one of the many enablers that wants to make every excuse possible about why it’s impossible to lose weight rather than taking responsibility for the countless poor eating decisions that lead to obesity. No one is born fat and no one wakes up fat, take responsibility.
You also completely ignored the point I was making so that you could tell a stranger to eat less.