Cool! Thanks for organising

I've got work drinks that night but can hopefully pop along for a bit later.

I too have memories of moments pre-puberty which make me believe that I was born with this fetish. Of course, it's evolved and grown and the internet is to thank for much of that. Finding like-minded people is very reassuring.

That said, none of my girlfriends (at least, none that turned into serious relationship) have been fat. Clearly I have work to do coming out of the closet, as it were, although I have told a number of people about being a feeder (but usually not in that language!).

Cheers

I'm sure others have more to add, though. At least I hope they do as this is an interesting area!

Ooooh, interesting topic!

OK, a few random thoughts:

Morbidity vs mortality

It's important to distinguish between these two. I have no desire to live past 80 if I have very poor quality of life beyond this point. However, I try to lead a healthy life so that I compress morbidity as much as possible. Dying in a surfing accident at 105 years old would be fine by me! (note to self: learn to surf)

"Natural" life expectancy

An interesting question... why do women live beyond reproductive age? For much of our evolutionary history this was probably a rarity so it didn't confer an evolutionary advantage, but having grandmothers around is likely to increase the survival of their grandchildren. Clearly there is some sort of limit to how long people can live, but we may not in fact be all that close to it yet. Average life expectancy is still rising.

Sport and health

People often hold up athletes as paragons of health, but they aren't - they are paragons of performance. Ignoring the issue of performance enhancing drugs, there comes a point where there is a trade-off between performance and health. Yes, exercise is good for you but you can have too much of a good thing.

It is also important to remember that all sports are an abstraction of proper human movement. We are all inherently capable of a huge diversity of movement, and each sport taps into just a small subsection of that. This is the source of a lot of injuries, from over-use, muscle imbalances, over- or under-joint mobility etc.

I think exercise is hugely important for the health of people of all sizes, but not all exercise is created equal and doing too much or operating in too narrow a field can be detrimental.

Natural weight

I'm going to stoke a little controversy and say that it's not natural to be very overweight... but that's because our bodies are responding to a very unnatural stimulus. Processed foods are designed to be over-consumed by companies seeking bigger profits. They are made hyper-palatable and moreish as this is good business. To get fat on real food (meat, fish, vegetables, tubers, fruit, nuts, good fats etc.) is not easy as our bodies are very good at telling us when we've had enough of these foods. Junk food short-circuits these hormonal mechanisms so we don't feel full. They break us, and that's not natural.

Weight and health

There are many diseases that are associated with being overweight - heart disease, diabetes etc. However, these aren't necessarily caused by being overweight per se. I'd argue that both being overweight and having these diseases is symptomatic of the kind of poor diet I outline above. This leaves room for being overweight and being healthy. Eat right (real foods, not packaged stuff with "Low fat" or "Healthy" written on it) and move around. You aren't likely to be huge if you do this, but you can certainly be overweight and healthy.

Sociological issues

Yup, I believe these play a big part. Poverty is an issue as the poor fall victim to the poor quality food pushed by the food industry, partly through means (i.e. it's cheap), partly through culture (e.g. peer pressure) and partly through lack of education. As pointed out above, stressors such as financial uncertainty, poor housing and low relative social standing also have a negative effect on health. In the US in particular, a lack of access to healthcare is a big (and frankly appalling) issue.

I agree with Lancila that emotional health is important too. In fact, I'd argue that both physical and emotional health are intertwined far more than most people would think.

Erm, congrats?

Hmm, I sense a slight rant coming on. Apologies in advance!



Rubbish. Your doctor is not there to be nice to you, he/she is there to keep you healthy. Sometimes that will involve telling you things you don't want to hear. Deal with it!



It would probably be fair to say that ceteris paribus a "normal" weight person is healthier than an overweight one. But to say that there's no healthy way to be overweight is both defeatist and wrong. Ignoring for the moment the ridiculousness of BMI as a proxy for health, there are many people who are fat who are healthier than those who are thin.

What you eat and how much you exercise are much more important factors for health than how much you eat. Personally I think any feedee who doesn't take steps to mitigate potential the health impacts of weight gain is being unwise. I'd imagine for many people it'd be perfectly possible to be both fatter and healthier.

I wouldn't get too hung up on bone structure. I'm quite lightly built in my limbs - thin ankles, knees, wrists etc. - but I have still been able to put on a decent amount of muscle through regular weight training. It probably doesn't help, but it's not an insurmountable issue either.



If you want to get bigger, your body needs the right nutrients. If you only eat crap then it will struggle. I'm guessing that you don't want to just put fat around your torso, but get bigger overall. On your limbs particularly, this involves putting on a bit of muscle. If you do this, you'll be healthier, shapelier (I appreciate this is a bit subjective) and will have a higher quality of life by being able to move better. If you put on 50lbs of fat onto a small frame it will slow you down considerably.

To do this you need to eat well and exercise. Just adjust the quantity of food up a bit!