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In Yee Olden Days, when everybody lived in filthy huts or uncomfortable castles and put unnecisary 'e's on the end of words, there was a common medical procedure. It was well known that sickness got in the blood. Therefor, the best way to cure what ails you was to get some of it out. And so bloodletting and medicinal leeches were discovered. And in a few cases, like swellings that needed to be reduced, it help. And in most cases, people got worse, more bloodletting was prescribed, and they died.

Fast forward to the civil war era, when the USA, having run out of immediate weaker enemies to wipe out in accordance with manifest destiny, decided to beat up itself. In that time, doctors would get very angry if you questioned them prescribing chamomile and ipecac for a case of diareha. The problem was something nasty in your digestive track, so purging it would work. Infections were treated by amputation, even though the limb usually still got infected again anyway because they had nothing approaching sterlization.

Up until recently, left handedness was beaten out of people. Women who showed signs of becoming tall were still being given preventive therapy in the fifties.

And now, we have diets.

It makes sense. If somebody is fat, they must be unhealthy and unhappy. Why? Because fat messes up the glands and stuff, so you get depressed, and people only eat when they're depressed, and that's unhealthy, carrying all that weight. And if they are fat, then they must have self esteem issues, otherwise why would they eat and not excercise? And if they don't want to lose weight, and obviously they don't because they would have succeeded, then they have no self-respect, and it's okay to torment harass and humiliate them. Okay? It's your JOB. It's a GOOD thing to insult people and outcast people for being fat. It's "encouraging" them to loss weight. It's your duty, it's your right.

So, lose weight. But how? Well, fast, that's for sure. Nothing fits your size, clothes or airline seats, nobody likes you, because if you're fat, especially if you're a fat woman, then NOBODY could be attracted to you sexually, physically. What if there are? Then they obviously must be neurotic sexual predators. Why? Didn't I tell you already? Nobody in their right mind would be attracted to a fat woman because anybody attracted to a fat woman isn't in their right mind. Anyway, they're not important. Forget I mentioned them.

You've got to lose weight. And how do you do that? Well, losing weight means necrosis. There's not enough energy, or their's too much stress, or exertion, so some of your tissue has to go. But, blood-letting is only temporary, and doesn't work fast enough. And you can only cut off so many limbs before you're back at being a fat person who now can't even use a stairmaster. Starving works. But it's not fun. Here's a better idea then: eat stuff that is undigestable. If your body is built for mainly carbs, cram it with fat that will slide through you like s**t through a bulemic goose. This way it will keep losing weight, wasting away, but it won't bother you with those annoying hunger pangs that are a desperate plea for energy and nourishment. Or take some pill, something that will have the same positive effect on your digestive track that an EMP will have on a microsoft warehouse. Anything that makes you sick will work really, because the primary effect of sickness is weight loss, whether it's an inability to digest or just killing off chunks of fat and taking important bits with it.

Fat people are evil too, because gluttony and sloth are sins. Yes, there are skinny people who eat a ton, or eat "unhealthy food", or laze about, but they're attractive (remember, nobody is attracted to fat people) so it's okay. It's a moral failing. It's a sign of no self respect. They aren't lacking self respect because people insult them and reject them, they're fat because they lack self respect in their first place. And if somebody is fat and seems happy, they're probably in denial. Anybody who, oh gods, tries to gain weight, in as healthy a manner as possible, while checking up with a doctor and getting a clean bill of healthy all the way, you KNOW there's something wrong with them. You need to corner them on a talk show or take them to a padded cell. It's only people who can stand their own bodies who are psychologically sound

Fat people are unhealthy. Did I mention that? Oh well, it's true. Nobody fat lives long. It's horribly insiduous too. Many people go a long time without even realizing how bad their health is. Maybe they live to their eighties staying fat and active without any health problems and die of natural causes or a car accident, never having realized how fat was ruining their life.

Back in the mid-evil times, corpulent ladies were considered healty and wealthy, as well as beautiful. So "Plesantly Plump" was a VERY good thing. But also, food was a bit scarce, so plump ladies were kinda hard to find. Now-a-days, that idea has completely switched. Why's that? Because of society. I still say that bigger ladies are shmexy...AND I'M PROUD OF IT!! scream

Thank you. ^^

I'm not going to bother with that fancy wording, in olden days fat chicks were considered hot because they were healthy. In a time when starvation is common, the few women who can afford to eat are going to be healthy because they're the least likely to die during child-birth and the most likely to continue giving you babies.

Of course, this meant that the poor, vast majority, at the time wasn't fat.... You can still see this logic today in countries in Africa where women pile on clothes to make themselves appear larger, because it means they're better suited to bear children than their skinny friends.

Up until modern times, pale skin was prized because it meant the women was wealthy and didn't have to work on the land... you can still see this sentiment in asian countries. It was only when the rich began being able to afford homes in the carribbean and trips to the beach that being tan became cool--because it's a sign of affluence and if somebody is wealthy they can most likely afford to take care of themselves--which comes in handy when they're birthing your babies. Even the attraction to breasts and lips comes from an attraction to somebody that looks healthy and will provide you good offspring.

Dieting has become popular in response to unhealthy foods introduced to us by modern convience. In the fifties women didn't have to worry all that much about their size, although I promise you they still did, because they didn't eat over-processed food and grease-coated dinners. Candy wasn't common, diets were healthier themselves--when you already eat realatively healthy, why diet (this can even go back to ye olden days when your diet was relatively healthy if you could afford food at all, thereby making added weight sexy)? My mom has dieted since probably the mid-sixties, it's not a terribly recent event. The word diet itself is usually associated with losing weight, but it's basically what you eat, you can diet to gain weight. Going back to modern convinience, we're all rushed and stressed, we don't feel like prepairing nice, healthy meals, so it's usually the wealthier people who can afford to take the time or pay somebody else to take the time to make healty, delicious meals for them.

So, long rambling response short, our modern perception of what is ideal and beautiful is based on our wealth and the ability of ones health to aid in producing babies. I'm tired 'cause I just worked thirteen hours and so I probably don't make sense.

See, here is my fear about this guild; that the people who want to lose the weight are going to be ridiculed.

Don't be afraid to do that here, I want to lose weight myself, but it's also not the top of my priorities since I'm very healthy, I'm just naturally bigger... Although I've gained extra pounds this holiday season which must go.

Ahh, by all means I agree to be bitter with them. One of the things I posted originally was I wasn't quite sure exactly what the point of your post was (it seemed to me it branched off in a couple directions and I chose the wrong one xp ), but it seemed worded awkward so I took it off.

I totally hate that people make up crap about extra weight being unhealthy-- you can tell when it gets to that point.

I've even heard "Dr." Phil lecture people about their weight--he's not too skinny himself! And he's not even a real doctor!

If y2k happened, we would have been the survivors.

Wow. whee That's awesome.

As for the weight, what if it's a nice comment? =(