The war rages...

This is what I would basically call my "diet" journal. My main account, kitty3361 is where I talk about my mundane life of being a college student and everything that goes on in my mind. But this one is devoted to what I'm going to go through to lead a more healthy life.

I'm not into eating disorders or fad diets where you get quick results. I want this to be a permenate thing. Which require a lifestly change on my part. This is going to be hard to do when my life is in uncertain grounds, but I need a place to start and this seems like as good as any.

Any questions, you can reply to this post.

Okay, so I know a couple of you wer ein 80_days but that community kinda died at the end, the only mod disappeared. well there's another community, rovinglunatics and our first goal, to walk around the moon. 6700 miles. The thing is, there are only 16 of us so far. So come and help us. The journy starts September 1st, to October 15. We have several mods this time around (me included) and we're working out the bug on how this will be done, so make those miles you travel count.

Okay so this is me technically studying, while my self-esteem takes a nose-dive.

There is a stigma against obese people, which I am.

Being fat is associated with being unattractive, morally and emotionally impared, alienated from sexuality, and discontent with themselves. Fat people are negatively viewed by thin people, health care workers, employers, peers, potential romantice partners, parents and themselves.

Body weight is the result of genetic and metabolic factors and only modestly related to dietary habits. Adopted children's weight is more closely related to thier biological parents' weight than their adoptive parents' weight. Obese participants across and wide range of studies ate the same or less than normal weight people.

Obesity prejudice can be explained along three dimensions. 1) Dislike - represents disliking people who are overweight. Men are more likely to have this attitude than women.

2) Willpower - represents the belief that people who are overweight are responsioble for there weight problem. Men are slightly more likely to have this attitude.

3) Fear of Fat - Represents the worry that the person responding will become overweight. Women are more likely to have this attitude.

Appears to be linked to similar attitudes as you would fine with people who demonstrate symbolic racis. Believe that the world is a just place and it is deviance from values that leads to obesity. Also found more with people who have an authoritarian personality. More likely to express prejudice in situations where comments can be attributed to something other than the stigma. However, these attitudes are openly expressed to the same extent racism was expressed years ago.

Consequences of the obesity stigma. It is often believed that the stigma is understandable. Attribute lack of interest by dating partners to weight leading to depression and anxiety (oh how I am guilty of this one). High rates of suicide attempts. Reluctant to seek health care services because of embarassment due to weight (*raises hand* me too!). Unlike other groups do not readily identify with other group members. Usually associalte with other group members so you can promote the strong points of the group - overweight people rarely see strong points.

There are six demensions of a stigma. One of these is controllability. Stigmas viewed as controllable when a person is seen responsible for the onset. There is debate ver the controllability of obesity.

Those who successfully recover from a stigma (remediation) are not granted credit for self-improvement. People who have recovered from a stigma seen as 'damaged goods'. This can happen for one of two reasons.
1) can never be certain of permanency of remediation (may be particularly true for blemishes of character) (blemishes of character is when a person is stigmatized because of something they done. Addictions for example, debate on if obesity is a blemish of character as well).

2) Law of contagion - when two objects tough they continue to inflience each other. Things associated with a person is seen as infected..

So if I reach my goal, will I be treated differently? Will I be credited with all the work that I put into trying to make my life better? Will I just be seen as damaged goods because people don't expect the change to be permenant? If that's the case, is this even worth it?


**disclamer** I think the only reason I'm talking like this is cause I'm completely exhausted right now. But this was going through my head after studying and I had to get it out. Hopefully it won't affect me anymore