polimicks | "I'll take 'No Shit!' for $2000, Alex."

New study from Kansas State says that negative self-image keeps people from staying active: http://frontierindia.net/pharma/k-state-study-finds-a-negative-self-image-stops-men-and-women-from-exercising-long-term/1011

In other news, water is wet, fire is hot, and that guy who owns the Total Gym in Denver is a fucking douchebag.

Ok, yes, I know I said I wasn't going to swear near as much here, but he is!! Have you ever listened to the vile spew that comes out of that man's mouth? Ugh.

Anyway, back to the study. It found that regardless of gender, if someone has low self-esteem or a negative self-image, they are less likely to stick with exercise, and while this affects both men and women who have low self-image, it disproportionally affects women who are, after all, much more likely to have a low self-image.

This is not a surprise to anyone who has been, or is, fat.

It's hard enough to want to either get up early, or stay out after a hard day of work, in order to go to the gym. But frequently when fat people do go to the gym, we get a ration of shit. My favorite, apart from the high school football player who called me a whale, was the girl who said if she ever got as big as me she'd kill herself or never leave her house. She apparently didn't realize that she was talking louder than usual with headphones on, or that my mp3 player had run out of juice.

Then I trebled her weights on the machine she'd been using, and she shut the hell up and practically ran from me.

Good.

Or when fat people, particularly women, try to go for walks or jog, or ride their bikes. Friends of mine have had things thrown at them, been spit on and been run off the road by people in cars yelling lovely compliments like, "Fat Cow!!!" and "Moooooo!" or the perennial favorite, "Sew your mouth shut, fat bitch!"

Mmmm, yes, the sound of a concerned citizenry worried about our weight and health. Gosh, they're just so darn CARING, that's what I love.

In case you're not quite getting that, it's sarcasm.

The thing is, for most people exercise isn't categorized as fun.

Yeah, I don't get it either. I love going to gym. I could pick heavy shit up and put it back down all damn day.

But for most people, it isn't fun.

So, what happens when you pair something that isn't fun, with the likelihood that the person who already doesn't want to be there is going to be publicly humiliated by "someone who just cares that much?"

Yeah, they don't go.

You guys want fat people to lose weight? Not that it's any of your damned business. Shut up. That's the best thing you can do. See, we know we're fat. And we know you probably don't like it. But even if we are eating like shit and never exercising, still none of your god damned business.

And if we are eating right and exercising, you're just pissing us off for no reason. Quite frankly nothing makes me crave junk food like some sanctimonious prick preaching at me about how I should be eating better. Particularly, when what he's advocating isn't near as healthy as how I already eat. It just makes me want to eat a twinkie and seductively lick the cream frosting off my fingers while moaning in rapture, and then fellate that spongecake like it's God's own cock, just to be a bitch.

I don't even like twinkies.

Ok, I was gonna stop there with that stellar mental image, but...

The thing is, fat people, particularly fat women, have an encyclopedic knowledge of weight loss tips and tricks. There is, literally, nothing that you can tell us that we haven't heard, tried, and failed with. NOTHING.

So just shut the hell up, already. Because all you're doing is reinforcing that negative mental image, which makes us less likely to do what you ostensibly want (exercise and be healthy), so way to shoot yourself in the foot, and your fat friends in the soul. Go team you.