It is sadly typical that this comment thread is full of discussions of how the protagonist should lose weight. Thanks for reminding me, HN, how fat women do not automatically deserve basic politeness [1].
I could be a skinnier person myself by counting calories and sprinting along with my Olympic lifting and kettlebell workouts. I know that my effort could be rewarded with a svelter frame. But you know what? I HAVE MORE INTERESTING THINGS TO DO! Maybe the protagonist, too, has something better or more fun to do with her life.
[1] A small sampling of evidence:
Uberphallus living up to name: "At this point I just don't understand why I should feel pity and display consideration to fat people..."
Driverdan: "I would also add that people who don't have a medical condition and who overeat cause the stigma people with medical conditions receive for being overweight." (Being fat causes stigma why?)
Marknutter: "I feel for her and the negative comments are reprehensible, but what I hear in this particular paragraph are excuses....My advice: ignore the haters and come up with a game plan with your doctor to lose the weight in a steady and health way." (re: OP's paragraph on having PCOS, being healthy.)
Alright. Time to do those more interesting things.
> Maybe the protagonist, too, has something better or more fun to do with her life.
I think the article would have had more impact if that was the reason she gave for her weight, rather than citing her medical issues. Instead, citing her medical issues seems to say that she is interested in losing weight, but sees those as insurmountable obstacles, and I was questioning their insurmountability. Apparently encouraging people to overcome difficult obstacles is considered offensive.
I debated about including the quote from your content. It was not obviously offensive, unlike some others. It did assume that she was interested in losing weight, as you say above, which may or may not be true. Why do we give excuses, after all? Because we don't really want to do stuff :)
It's true that I'm happier now that I can usually just say I don't care or would rather do something else instead of making excuses. It's also true that a fat person saying they don't really care about losing weight is looked at like a two-headed guinea pig.
I think there are two ways to deal with being overweight (or being really skinny as I was growing up, which can be very detrimental socially for a guy), and that is either to accept your weight and love yourself as you are or do something about it and lose the weight (or in my case, build muscle). What I hate to hear is people making excuses for not choosing either one of those solutions. As soon as someone else who has the same afflictions you do conquers their weight issues, your excuses are rendered moot. Either learn to love yourself at your current weight or get to work.
I could be a skinnier person myself by counting calories and sprinting along with my Olympic lifting and kettlebell workouts. I know that my effort could be rewarded with a svelter frame. But you know what? I HAVE MORE INTERESTING THINGS TO DO! Maybe the protagonist, too, has something better or more fun to do with her life.
[1] A small sampling of evidence: Uberphallus living up to name: "At this point I just don't understand why I should feel pity and display consideration to fat people..."
Driverdan: "I would also add that people who don't have a medical condition and who overeat cause the stigma people with medical conditions receive for being overweight." (Being fat causes stigma why?)
Marknutter: "I feel for her and the negative comments are reprehensible, but what I hear in this particular paragraph are excuses....My advice: ignore the haters and come up with a game plan with your doctor to lose the weight in a steady and health way." (re: OP's paragraph on having PCOS, being healthy.)
Alright. Time to do those more interesting things.