#i am fat btw - and i wasnt always and i got a lot of grief when i became fat - so i get it i really so

[rubensmuse]

i don't think i phrased this very well so i wanna add on that like. i don't think the (predominantly) women who make these are lying or otherwise misrepresenting their diets. i think the foods they make or buy throughout their day are genuinely the foods they authentically enjoy and eat with some frequency. but all social media content, especially on photo or video platforms, is heavily curated in apprehension of a potential audience's response, and the same is definitely true here.

the premise of these videos - that the creator is a fat person existing in the world and not harming themself in an attempt to become thin - is already going to get them hate and negative attention. fatphobia is just that deeply ingrained into most people, that "i am a fat person eating normally" is a statement that drives certain people into a frothing rage. and because of this, it wouldn't surprise me if most of these videos are showing the least "objectionable" meals that person could theoretically eat. you don't pick a day where you got pizza, you don't pick a day where you ate almost nothing for breakfast and compensated with a big lunch, maybe you even avoid the day where you got "healthy" takeout. instead you pick the day where you have loads of uninterrupted time to execute the most perfectly nutritionally coordinated meals in your repertoire (comprised of foods you do like, foods you do eat, but might be a pain to prepare with regularity). because then, the quiet fatphobes are satisfied that your fatness is not "your fault", because your meals look "healthy" to them; and the loud ones look like bigger assholes to more people when they take issue with you eating anything at all. it's a trade-off - making an important statement about your right, and others' right, to not care about being thin, but losing a little authenticity in the process to protect yourself.

and i dunno. i just wish we didn't have to do that

honestly never was a fan of those "what i eat in a day as a fat person not trying to lose weight" videos, bc the ones that get any substantial attention and reach are the ones made by body positive or whatever influencers who have time (or can make time) to homemake meals that would still be entirely inoffensive and "healthy" to all but the most virulent fatphobe. all rolled oats with fruit or tofu-chikin sandwiches grilled at home in a pan. just once i'd like to see a video that's like "for breakfast i lacked the executive functioning to make real food so i had half a bowl of special k with almond milk that my roommate's boyfriend bought too much of, and a cookie. then for lunch i got a bacon egg & cheese on a croissant at dunks on the way to work, with one of those shitty seasonal iced lattes, then i went to work where i ate a third of a bag of chocolate peanut butter trail mix at the register, then by the time i got home i was feeling super duper tired so i just cracked an egg and shook some frozen veggies into instant ramen. then for dessert i had half a pint of ben & jerry's (americone dream) aaaand that was my day 💗" i'd just feel a lot more seen by that i think