FAT RANT: Why are we so fixated on weight?

DISCLAIMER - This is a sweary, ranty post and also promotes fat people, so if you do not like that please click the big red 'X' in the corner of your screens. 

Living away from home and being at University I either seem to return home and someone will say ‘ooh you’ve lost some weight’ or my mother will hint that I’ve put it on and inquire about my commitment to the gym. In a way I can understand this, the body is one of the first things you notice about someone and I am also guilty of this when I see people.

The point of this post is to ask: why are we so fixated on weight? Does it really define me as a person? I’m a nice person, I care about others, I’m trustworthy, I have lots of friends and a pretty solid relationship with my boyfriend. I have also achieved a lot, I am at University, have a part-time job and write a blog. But the fact I am fat seems to cancel all of this out.  Does the fact that I like to eat and sometimes don’t really want to go to the gym after a day studying in the library really make me a bad person? If someone skinny held the door open for you would it be a kinder, more meaningful act than if a fat person held the door open? (I fucking hope the answer is no). Weight does not measure a persons value, so stop fixating on it. 

I don’t want to start a sob story but I was bullied during a lot of my school life, mainly because I was overweight. At the time it was shit. However in hindsight, I think, at least I wasn’t bullied for being stupid, ignorant, arrogant or selfish… I’d rather be called fat than most of the other negative things a person can be. My weight only affects me, being ignorant, or selfish or just plain horrible affects other people so surely those are the people who should be ridiculed? Weight should not define you as a person and you should not be judged because of your weight. 

Another issue I want to address is the fucking gym. I have a gym membership, I go as often as I can (which actually is not that often) and when I can be bothered in all honesty. As I mentioned before, after a day writing an essay or being at work do I really want to spend my evenings sweating my bollocks off? (The answer is no for those who failed to guess). I can’t help but feeling that I get judged for not going and I would even go as far as saying I would be judged even more if I was not signed up for a gym. It has become the cultural norm to visit the gym regularly and if don’t participate you’re not normal. Do not allow people to judge your worth by whether or not you pay gym membership. Just because you have a gym membership does not necessarily make you healthy and it certainly does not increase your value as a person. I will stop there with my argument as my house mate actually wrote a blogpost regarding gym membership and I strongly recommend you read it as for one, it made me laugh but more importantly brought a few things into perspective for me. Click HERE.

So to summarise, stop calling people fat and stop being fixated on weight. Do not let your weight become your value, you are worth so much more. Weight does not define someone and I certainly will not let it define me.