It seems "logical" to some people to connect fat people with eating, or eating more. But a lot of studies show that fat people do *not* eat more than others. The connection between being fat -or being any weight, for that matter- is not a simple "calories/energy in, calories./energy out" relationship.
It is sad that many fat people seem to believe that they eat too much - whatever they eat.
I remember that in second grade, a classmate of mine named Phil -who liked me, as I learned later- said to me, "Why are you fat? You don't eat so much." I said, "I don't know." He said, "I eat more than you do and I'm not fat." I had no answer for that one.
What surprised me then is that I assumed that I ate too much. My mom had already tried to limit my food intake, with not a whole lot of success. She sent me to camp (not fat camp, just sleepaway camp), starting at eight, because she thought that moving a lot, as one certainly does at sleepaway camp, would help me to lose weight. It did, each summer. Then I gained back the weight each time, and more. I learned to like certain sports, and become good at them. But I didn't lose weight permanently.
I did not want to make known/assumed/stereotypical associations between food and fat people. There was one wonderful poem, not included, that discussed this area. I hope to include it and to remedy some of that lack of connection in Fat Poets 3.
Well said, Frannie. My ex ate more than me and was a tall, skinny White boy. Metabolisms, like everything else in bodies, differ from person to person.
ReplyDeleteElle, I wish that people would understand exactly this. So many attempts are made to rubber stamp metabolisms. Like their owners, metabolisms are unique!
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