Is Fat Catching?

friendsSo I read an interesting article the other day which made me think.  It seemed to suggest that if your friends are fat, you have an increased risk of becoming fat yourself. Hmm. Lets just think about that for a second…that’s like suggesting that being fat is contagious, like a disease you might get if you hug me then don’t immediately wash your hands…how bloody insulting.  If word of this gets out I’d best prepare for a mass exodus of friends, after all lets be honest, nobody’s going to want to risk  being around me if that’s the case 🙁

Having said that, after my initial flash-point reaction of thinking the article had clearly been written by some skinny fuckwit with fat issues, I calmed down a bit and thought about it for a while, and you know what, I can see a world in which there might be just a tiny element of truth buried in there somewhere. By definition, I guess the people you hang out with are into the kind of things you’re into. So if you’re into fitness and an active lifestyle, your friends probably are too. If you’re a foodie and your free time is spend hunting down new places to go eat, stands to reason your besties enjoy that too.

Pop quiz – when I get together with my friends, do we

a) Go to a step-class and work out for four hours burning 5000 calories each before going out for a salad washed down with iced water and vitamin pills, or

b) Go to a movie, eat Haagen Dazs and popcorn whilst we’re watching it and then go out for pizza, pudding and cocktails..?

Yes…it’s never going to be option A. We would probably burn off at least half the ice-cream laughing through the course of the evening but it’s not going to be a calorie conscious night out. Well, in pre-diet days anyway.  But still – none of my friends look like I do. They come in all shapes and sizes, as you might expect. But as far as I can see, nobody has caught fat from me yet, therefore that kind of begs the question, why do I look like this, and they don’t..?

I think I can answer that. After our night out, they’ll probably all step off the calories for a couple of days, because that’s what normal people do. It’s all about balance and that’s the bit I struggle with…when I’m not dieting, I eat all the wrong stuff, and portion control..? Doesn’t even occur to me, I mean portion control is what you do when you’re dieting, right?  Not when you’re off the leash.  So I can do dieting, and I can do not dieting, but woven together so I broadly style it out across the week..?  That I can’t do…it’s one (and I get fatter) or the other (and I get skinnier).

So, when the skinny girl breaks out and I get to a size that I feel happy with, that’s the time when I need to wake up and learn a whole new way of being. Old dog, new tricks? Yep, count me in…I’m ready to learn 🙂

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12 thoughts on “Is Fat Catching?

  1. I wonder how much truth there is in the notion that skinny and not so skinny people are always happy to hang out with their chubby mate because she makes them all look thinner by comparison. Heavens when I’ve been out and seen other people I’ve thought, well, I’m not as fat as them. Like it makes a difference, fat is fat.

    I think we do tend to keep company with similar souls, the downside is that they don’t pile it on like we do yet they are sympathetic and they fib, I’ve lost count of the friends and acquaintances who have told me I’m not fat! Why? I’m so tempted to pull up my top and reveal my version of Bibendum lurking twixt my twin peaks and the fatty thighs. That’d learn ’em!

    1. Oh Esther you’re a wicked wicked woman, I am ROLLING on the floor laughing that that one! I think the ‘you’re not fat’ thing comes from a good place, people not wanting to hurt your feelings and so on…but lets just call a spade a spade!

  2. Truth! Balance is key – I’ll be honest – I admire you for doing this LC – I tried this summer for a couple months and eventually found that I not only would have committed assault for a carb but also that I was no longer losing but GAINING because I was eating too much. For me it’s back to WW, I cannot sustain LC – and I don’t want to suffer through it only to do just what I have done in the past – go back to bad real food habits. But as always, that’s me, not you.

    I hope it works beautifully for you 🙂 I know many for whom it does!

  3. Hello, i followed the link from Cranky Fitness.

    If i remember correctly, this study seemed to point out that we are willing to eat what our friends eat, and willing to follow their lead and eat a bit more than we need, and if all of us are “mindless eaters,” just munching and not paying attention, we all tend to eat too much when together.

    Then there’s also the “if he can have dessert, then to heck with it, why not!” idea.

    We do tend to become more like those we spend time with, and if all of our friends jumped off that bridge, we’d be very tempted to do it, at least the psychological studies all seem to point that way.

    You have a great blog, i’m looking forward to more.

  4. Hello, nice to meet you! Visiting by way of Cranky Fitness. 🙂

    I think there is a grain of truth there. While I do enjoy some get-up-and-go activities, I also really enjoy sitting around reading, playing computer games, watching TV etc. Mu husband does not like much of anything resembling exercise, so he’s more likely to encourage me to stay in my chair. When we get together with friends, it is mostly to go out and eat.

    Still, I make my own choices, so I can’t really blame anyone else if I’m not eating properly or getting exercise, can I?

    1. Hello – lovely to meet you too, and welcome to the posse! And you’re right…we’re all accountable. But the asshole in my head encourages me to blame everybody but myself. I’m getting more adept at putting him back in his box!! D x

  5. Sadly it’s not catching…because if it is, I would hang out with all the skinniest people out there hoping that skinny would wear off on me! But yes, 100% the people we hang out with have a direct correlation upon our weight. I know certain friends of mine always push for appetizers and desserts…..things that I can only have in moderation….but really if they are eating them in front of me…..well you know what happens to all my good intentions! ~~~sigh~~~ Oh well, I’m learning!

  6. Hi Julie and Shelley, it’s lovely to meet both of you, welcome to the posse! I’m glad you’re enjoying the blog, I’m having a great time writing it and feedback is just awesome…my hands haven’t had time to go near the biscuit tin since I started writing!
    Hope to see you again 🙂 D x

  7. I came here from Cranky Fitness – how fun to find such a well-written blog! 🙂

    I think there is a bit of truth to that article; however, even when I hang out with my skinny friends and they eat on the wild side, I have to remind myself that I can’t go along with everything they do, because obviously they rein it in quicker than I manage to do – hence, their inherent skinniness.

  8. I found your blog from Sean’s and am enjoying reading your posts! Keep up the great work! Love your sense of humor and writing style. 🙂

    Julie

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