From: geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks)
Newsgroups: alt.support.diet
Subject: Re: Last 10 lbs / Losing Control
Date: 14 Aug 92 18:31:32 GMT
Organization: Decision Systems Laboratory, Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA.

In article <1992Aug13.191621.383@spdcc.com> dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer) writes:
>
>I don't mean to deny other people's experiences on this topic, but
>I think I am gifted with being oblivious.  I have never ever received
>any abuse or been victim of any discrimination for being heavy.  That
>I'm aware of, of course.
>
You couldn't have been a fat kid then, or else the schools you
went to were very much different from the ones I did.  I don't
think I was hallucinating.  Adults who are very successful professionals
are less likely to see the overt discrimination.  Those who
have to work at a more low level job will.  But I'll say that
most of the abuse was self-abuse due to low esteem, but I think
that was caused by the way I was treated as a youngster because
of my weight.  With the loss of weight, the self-esteem climbed
immensely, and at this point, I think people think I have too much
of it.

>I think I'm a fairly successful individual: intelligent, straight-
>forward, and I've never been treated in any other way both professionally
>and among my friends and acquaintances.  I'd be shocked if I experienced
>this regularly.  I can't even recall an isolated bozo making a crack.
>
Few adults will make cracks directly to the person, but as we
have had many examples reported here (recall the fellow who
when he got off the elevator heard a remark "well, that should
help") about how people think of obese people.  Being sensitive
to it, I know that many people form stereotypical judgements
of obese people.  It happens a lot.  Let me tell you about just
one case.  Another professor and I visited a chemistry professor
whose office was very cluttered.  The chemist was obese.  After
we left, the other man said "ever notice how fat people have
sloppy offices?"  My black colleagues don't have remarks made
to them like "you probably just got here by affirmative action",
but I hear that sort of thing all the time, and *they* know that
people talk like that, just as fat people know that they are
stereotyped.  I'm not equating obesity with being black.  You
won't get hasseled by the police for being fat or lynched.  
Regardless of my telling myself I was a worthwhile person,
knowing that some people couldn't stand the sight of me
was still painful psychologically, at least it was for me.

>
>That's all quite true.  And it's a terrifically personal and individual
>pleasure.  But at the same time, "worrying about making a spectacle of
>yourself" is an internal fabrication, and it helps to remember that.

Oh, I know that.  But when I gain enough weight that I have "love
handles" I get very self-conscious of taking my shirt off.  I
expect it had something to do with the ridicule I got in junior
high school phys ed classes from the other boys.  But at this point, I
just can't help it.  And when I'm thin with no handles, I vainly love to
have people take my picture out boating or at the beach.  Silly, I know.

>A few weeks ago people were discussing the advantages of being heavy,
>specifically buoyancy.  It didn't meake a big impression on me than,
>but at the beach, I realized how great it was not to have the force
>of gravity pulling down on my stomach.  I felt like I was on the moon.
>And when I lumbered out, I felt as awkward as those original lungfishes
>making their first steps on land, as gravity reasserted itself.

Although you look better thin at the beach, you definitely float
better fat.  Once I get below 190 I have a terrible time trying
to swim.  I'm a poor swimmer and at that weight if I don't keep
paddling I sink right to the bottom.  Over 200 and I could float
all day.  Funny how 10 lbs makes so much difference there.

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gordon Banks  N3JXP      | "Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect, and
geb@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu   |  it is shameful to surrender it too soon." 
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From: brooksp@hpcc01.corp.hp.com (Peter Brooks)
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 17:59:14 GMT
Subject: Re: Throwing away the bathroom scale?
Organization: the HP Corporate notes server