#Cw diet culture

[lastoneout]

"sugar is poison" sugar is your body's preferred fuel choice and if you stop eating it entirely you will die

[elsinore-and-inverness]

This is random and from ages ago but I was thinking of the 2000s era TV interview where David Tennant was like I’ve been ill and I haven’t eaten in a week and I’ve lost too much weight, clearly looking for some sympathy and concern, and instead getting the response of “I wish I could lose that much weight” and you just see him sort of falter and shut down, and the fear in David’s eyes when Alan Carr made him step on the talking scale “to see how much holiday weight he had to lose” - like. fuck diet culture. everyone deserves better.

[cartoonscientist]

this is about keto but it reads like someone giving advice to an obligate carnivore ghoul who is married to a human

[notdeezy]

I do love tomodachi life but my god if Nintendo ever releases the sequel I do hope that they remove all the strange fatphobic dialogue and game features

(e.g. being able to gift your miis a scale, the description of the strawberry shortcake saying "worry about the diet later", a striped shirt with the description "the stripes make you look thinner!", a news report about a running bus stop where the news reporter says "it helps them lose weight", etc.)

[thus-spoke-lo]

Man I do not miss being fat in office culture.

Retail seemed easier somehow, especially because I worked at a store that carried my size (well, except for the time an employee referred to Miss Piggy when she didn’t know I was in the immediate area and then another manager physically threatened her over it but anyway). But office culture was so obsessive over weight. So so obsessive. Everyone was gaining weight or losing weight and everyone was on a diet and if I had to hear about keto one more time I was going to shit myself.

Now working from home my only coworkers (my partner and my cat) either enjoy or have no opinion on my size depending on the day, and I can be fat and not worry about saying no to a piece of a donut because my god what if they think I, a fat person, eats?

[foone]

Hi, came here from the gender slider post. What's the worst thing you've coded in VBA?

I've written a lot of terrible things in visual basic (3d video games! IRC clients! GRAPHICAL IRC clients! comic book readers!) but as for VBA, the worst thing is when I implemented a sliding average for a diet program I was doing in a spreadsheet, but I implemented a fun feature:

it calculated how much I was losing on average and took my target weight and calculated how long it'd be until I hit that point. So it'd be like "based on your current weight loss trajectory, you'll reach your goal weight in 1 year, 3 months".

but I fucked up. I picked the wrong cell for the target weight. it was a cell next to it. an empty cell. which VBA interpreted as a zero.

So it instead told me how long it would take to lose ALL MY WEIGHT. To get down to 0 pounds (0 kg).

as expected that date was surprisingly far into the future and I was confused for a while. I wrote this bug around 2010 and it's still amusing me 14 years later

[unhetalia]

dreaming about historical model Alfred…..

This is purely self-indulgent

In a nations-are-known scenario: yk those videos that are like “hair through the decades” where they do the most popular hairstyles from 1890-2010 on one model. Like that but times a billion. I want magazine style fashion history. I want Georgian era clothes to 1950s retro to armor.

Realistically I think sightings of AFJ would be much more akin to Adam Sandler but in my heart he’s a model. & I also think (again, in my heart,) he has at least close to the ideal male proportions. Maybe not perfect but like… perfectly average while still being considered unique. Just enough wiggle room in the measurements to be uniquely pretty while still conforming to the ideal. Does any of this make sense. What I mean is he’s a good dress up doll and I want to play dress up with him.

Hi, I love this! I have no idea about Adam Sandler (is he not sighted regularly? Is that why he was brought up? Or do you mean he dresses terribly when he's out and about?) but here are my AFJ thoughts in a public AU (which, great timing, I have a fic I'm writing that features that so my brain is SUPER thinking about this).

In terms of public appearances — AFJ is seen out and about a lot. Probably the only one seen around more is Arthur, who is a diplomat and knighted and just a very prolific member of the British government. AFJ, unlike Arthur, is a private citizen, and in fact, his right to criticize the government is literally in the constitution (I want to get more into this at some point but not now), so not only is AFJ seen out and about a lot, he's chatty.

But in terms of his wardrobe — well, my thing has always been that AFJ doesn't give a shit, alas, but also he's... ethereal, and so despite not being fashionable in the traditional way he's a bit of a trendsetter. People will ask him where he got his shurt and his answer will either be the 1800s or an op shop, but he makes it WORK. There's a whole series of coffee table books that's just his wardrobe over the years.

I've mentioned before how in-universe I firmly believe Alfred's considered the most attractive, even among the Nations. I think his face is just... pretty. He looks youthful, with long eyelashes and large, doe eyes. Just androgynous enough to make him look unique, but not teetering towards looking feminine.

Body wise, I actually adore how Hima drew him here —

in that I LOVE the softness of his body even while he looks obviously fit. He doesn't have abs, you can see some softness around his tummy but you can also see that slight hint of muscle there, too, then it curves to his breedable hips. I think this is Al at a 'healthy weight'. In my head, Alfred sometimes loses weight because of disordered eating, both because he's the type of person who doesn't eat when working (canon) and also because he DOES have body image issues that causes him to diet (also canon). Due to the fact Hima has NEVER shown AFJ actually looking overweight while showing him despairing at weighing scales, it really built in my head this idea that Al has some body dysmorphia.

Shit? That got dark? ESPECIALLY because I think this is something the public would notice.

Back to lighter topics - there's an "eco friendly fashion" movement inspired by Alfred's ability to look stylish while also only buying secondhand/keeping clothes for a long time. It's actually very neat! People also acknowledge that Alfred's fashion only work on him because he's so beautiful anything he wears seem chic, but also people do some really cool stuff with secondhand stuff or even like. Making their own clothes. In order to encourage people to do this, they do competitions on best outfits and whoever gets the most votes actually has their outfit worn by Alfred aka LITERAL DRESSING AL LIKE A BARBIE JUST FOR YOU, ANON.

[cherrypikkins]

went thru an entire work day without a single carb - i don’t know how diet culture expects us to put up with that without committing murder

[shamebats]

Oblivious privileged US American trans people when someone asks for advice on how to pass pre-HRT replies simulator:

Comment 1: go on T/E

Comment 2: just start hrt it's like the bare minimum if you ever want to pass

Comment 3: I went on hrt the very moment I realized I was trans, just do that and then you can start transitioning for real

Comment 4: why no hrt?

Comment 5: I didn't come out until I was 5 years on HRT with a full beard and both top and bottom surgery with a body builder figure because I knew I could never pass as a man without all that it's literally impossible

Comment 6: it's simple, ok so if you want to pass as a man you'll need new glasses, a haircut (dye your hair dark), a whole new wardrobe, new shoes, voice training, minoxidil, a gym membership, protein powder, pre-workout, these 10 supplements and also you'll have to lose 20% of your body weight and remove all your piercings and get rid of any clothes in a color that isn't black, grey or blue, train yourself to always look annoyed and serious, also don't ever laugh or raise your voice when speaking and don't ever be friendly to people

[myfatfuckingface]

The beauty of practicing fat liberation & radical self love is that “scare tactic” ads like this don’t work on my anymore:

Like what are you talking about “lose 37 pounds”, this person is gorgeous & has many people’s preferred body type, if this photo was unaccompanied by weight loss text I would reblog it without any critical commentary. Like I was legitimately confused when this scrolled onto my dash.

[lastoneout]

CW: Discussions of weight loss, fatphobia, eating disorders, and cancer.

I still cannot get over how when I dropped 30lbs in part because I had a massive IBS flare for like two months that was so bad I was going to get multiple tests to make sure I didn't have cancer and yet I could not and STILL can't even mention it to a doctor(or most people) without them congratulating me. Like there are a few things a doctor can say that piss me the fuck off but congratulating me for dropping 30lbs during a period of my life where I thought I might be DYING instantly makes me hate them. I'm STILL having to say "I got really sick and lost 30lbs" to make people shut the fuck up. I was getting skinny so fast it was scaring my family AND me but whatever I guess being skinny is SO great and I should be thankful I went through hell that permanently changed my body in a way that I genuinely don't like!

'Cuz that's the other thing, I don't like how I look now. I gained like ~8lbs when I was in bed with the blood clot and ngl I started actually liking the way my body looked again. I don't like how I look rn, my fiance does(he loves how I look 100% of the time and I appreciate that endlessly) but even he admits I looked happier and healthier when I weighed 160lbs and now I kinda just look like I'm exhausted. When I got up to 143lbs I was looking in the mirror like "oh, I almost look like myself again, I forgot what it felt like to be happy with my body" like I looked healthier!! But nah the weight is already falling off because 135lbs is my new baseline and there's nothing I can do about that. (Also I hated how I had to get new knee braces made because my old ones don't fit anymore and I had to buy new clothes because the ones I enjoyed don't fit anymore and augh the only thing that is making me like my body rn is dressing butch, if I didn't have that I'd be going insane.) And I still have to deal with people acting like this thing that has legit ruined years of body positivity work is a good thing. Because at least I'm skinnier.

Society is so sickeningly "skinny positive" it legit disgusts me. And like this isn't even a drop in the bucket compared to what fat people go through, and it's why I'm so fucking passionate about fat liberation, I've watched tons of people I love completely destroy themselves to look more like me and I have to sit here and not only feel awful because I love them and don't want them to have to go through this but also because I know even looking like me wont be enough. Doctors still tell me to lose weight because I'm like a couple of lbs outside of "healthy" on the BMI scale, which is insane I weigh less than 10lbs more than I did when I was SIXTEEN atm and I can't say anything because I know they won't listen if I explain that even just being this thin is making me hate myself and feel like shit.

Fatphobia is so fucking evil. It absolutely destroys people. I genuinely baffles me that most skinny people can't see it because it's being used against us too, just in an affirming way and to me that is genuinely repulsive. Every compliment on my weight loss makes me want to punch through a brick wall. Knowing my story is going to be used to bludgeon other people with my condition becuase I lost weight without doing anything so "everyone" should be able to makes me so angry I could cry. It actually makes me feel sick to be praised for this, to know I'm a "success" story, to be lumped in with people who hate the people I love for the way their bodies naturally are, who want my loved ones to destroy themselves, who think I'm better than them when I am absolutely not.

Fat liberation is what we need to work towards, not "skinny positivity" or whatever, this is a systemic issue just like sexism and racism and homophobia and ableism and it must be dismantled if we want to create a better world for us all.

[spacedocmom]

Doctor Beverly Crusher @SpaceDocMom If I ever wanted to test a Vulcan's emotional control, I'd show them articles, ads, and self-conflicting medical advice from the toxic weight loss/diet culture of your era. The lack of logic in all of it might make them retroactively rescind their engagement with us. emojis: black heart, blue heart, masked 3:32 PM · Oct 18, 2023

[cartoonscientist]

I have a tinfoil hat conspiracy that most Americans are lacking essential nutrients in their diet due to combination of processed food monopolies displacing complex fats and sugars + fiber and diet culture encouraging people to cut calories wherever they can, literally saying a diet coke is healthier than a banana because it’s lower in calories, which makes people feel super tired and depressed all the time and also end up overeating on side dishes/snacks like chips and feeling really bad about it so they eat less the next few days and it just cements the cycle of removing nutrient-dense food (which could be anything from a cheeseburger to a salad, just anything made of actual food) from the diet

[prince-liest]

kicks my feet and sighs contentedly

I saw the old Voxtagram post about Val getting Angel Dust a dieting video as a "present" right after Angel had a nice day out with Cherri and brought a pastry home, and it grew permanent roots into my gray matter as any fucked up disordered eating shenanigans always do

anyway, did you know that ballerinas and idols in training in some places have to literally weigh in every week at their respective schools, and if they're a couple pounds over, they get in trouble for it? atrocious! /jazz hands

[shiftythrifting]

The pig on the scale is by far the worst thing I've ever found. Would have bought the oddly specific hat but it was like 6 dollars

[unhetalia]

I really want to talk about fatphobia for a second. This isn't directed at anyone in particular, but it's still something I want to talk about.

Let me start off by summarising an incredible article from The Guardian -

Fatphobia is a problem in our society, and it's a problem that kills fat people. Fat women are less likely to receive cervical cancer screening and breast cancer screening than non-fat women, and are more likely to die from both conditions than non-fat women. All on the basis of weight.

Unfortunately, while leftist spaces have become more aware of issues such as racism and homophobia, fatphobia has basically remained pretty rampant, and a study done at Harvard showed that "body-weight attitudes showed the slowest change toward attitude neutrality" (read an article written about the study here, if you don't want to read through that .pdf).

Mostly it's because fatness is often perceived as a choice, despite a lot of research that disputes this. Whether it's genetics or environment, stress, inequality, or even the medication you take, fatness isn't necessarily a choice someone makes, and that even when someone successfully loses weight, it's often temporary, with "sustained weight loss was found only in a small minority of participants, while complete weight regain was found in the majority."

It's hard to explain what this has to do with Hetalia, and why I'm posting this on my Hetalia blog, but I'm going to try.

I am sometimes frustrated by Himaruya's depiction of Alfred's 'struggle' with weight.

Alfred is drawn as very fit and thin - so to me, his fear of scales, his obsession with diet, asking other countries how they eat to stay thin... all of it looks like it stems from body dysmorphia. EXCEPT, other characters validate Alfred's obsession. We have the Hetalia strip where Alfred has to convince his boss that his weight gain is due to muscle, and not because of fat.

It's difficult, because as a reader, we're supposed to understand that in this case, Alfred represents the U.S., yet at the same time, Himaruya brings Alfred back into it by discussing his physique. So now I'm left wondering why you would think someone like Alfred, who is very much not drawn as a fat man, is being forced to justify his weight to anyone.

Then we as a fandom pick it up, and he's still incredibly fit and thin but at the same time he's fat-shamed, and characters talk about how his burgers and fries and cola and grease are making him fat, once again perpetuating that being overweight is a character failure, and one that Alfred has (and secondarily, all Americans).

I just wish we were a little bit more careful about this in the same way that we became more careful about differing cultures and politics because, as I have tried to highlight above, it's a prejudice that is rampant in society and we should care about not perpetuating it.